Well, I would like to review this episode of Home Improvement, except there's a problem: nothing happens! No story, no plot, it's just Tim screwing around for 30 minutes as he tries to write a book. Yes, it's an episode about writers' block, which I'm very sure the writers had when this "script" was produced. It all begins with a filler Tool Time segment where Tim and Al attempt to interview a famous Japanese inventor, Nobo Nakamura, only to find out he's only in to novelties, which he brings with them to demonstrate. They're all ridiculous and Tim chides him for them. After that bit of nonsense, Tim rejects an invite from Al to hang out over the weekend, because he's got to work on his book. Yes, Tim is writing a book, because....um...reasons. And as expected, he hasn't even written a single word, let alone a single page. Hopefully with Jill, Brad and Mark out of the house for the weekend, it will give Tim the peace and quiet he needs to gather his thoughts and put them into words. Fat chance! Tim talks to himself for a little while, then he screws around on the computer for a while, then he gets hungry. He doesn't want to eat the so-called "food" Jill left for him, so he orders a pizza. He screws around on the computer more, gets his ear chewed off by a telemarketer. Figuring his playing on the computer is counterproductive, he switches to a legal pad...and ends up doodling. So he goes to the couch and tries to dictate his thoughts into a tape recorder...which he plays around with too. I'd just like to mention we're 12 minutes into the episode and not a damn thing has happened. Tim should've blown up or broken something by now!
After showing off his hot rod to the pizza boy, Tim becomes fatigued from his afternoon of fooling around and procrastinating, so he falls asleep on the couch and dreams that he's written a best seller. He gets critical acclaim and praise from such big names as Jay Leno, Leeza Gibbons, Oprah, and he's even awarded a check for $10,000,000 and a new Ferrari. Wow, Tim must have written a hell of a book. He's asked to read it before the audience, and shock of all shocks, the book is full of blank pages! So after the world curses the day Tim was born, he wakes up from his dream, goes on a coffee bender and rattles off his problems to Wilson. It seems Tim's underlying problem is he doesn't know how to write a book about men in general, so Wilson suggests he write about himself. So, he takes the advice to heart and finally churns out the minimum three chapters, and... that's the story of how Tim wasted a perfectly good weekend.
Nothing is ever said about Tim's book for the rest of the series, but I think that's good. It means they decided to forget about this mess. Where do I start? This episode is BORING. Boring, obnoxious, annoying, pointless, but at the same time, it did convey a great message about people who have writers' block, and although most people can relate to this, they didn't need to make a 30 minute sitcom episode about it. It's like Waiting for Godot, it's a classic play with a terrific, deep message, and yet it's boring as all hell. I would compare this Home Improvement episode to a fourth season episode of M*A*S*H called "Hawkeye", which was 20 straight minutes of Hawkeye babbling and jabbering to people who didn't understand him. It was terrible. While "Home Alone" is somewhat better than "Hawkeye" because at least some familiar characters have cameos here. "Hawkeye" was just Hawkeye. No Radar, no B.J., no Hot Lips, nobody! Just Alan Alda and some Korean people they found on the street. Anyway, I don't recommend this episode. It's horribly boring and it's just Tim Allen making an ass of himself for half an hour, and this perplexes me. Allen got his start doing one-man shows, and he was great at it! Why does he all of a sudden falter when having to do one here? I guess because the material given to him here just sucked. He was apparently instructed to screw around, act like a child and not be funny for the duration, but then what else can you do with a concept like this? This episode shouldn't even exist! Two people wrote supposedly wrote the script for this abomination: Jennifer Celotta and Adam England. How could anybody claim to have written this? It all seems improvised and ill-timed. It sucks, I advise skipping it.
After showing off his hot rod to the pizza boy, Tim becomes fatigued from his afternoon of fooling around and procrastinating, so he falls asleep on the couch and dreams that he's written a best seller. He gets critical acclaim and praise from such big names as Jay Leno, Leeza Gibbons, Oprah, and he's even awarded a check for $10,000,000 and a new Ferrari. Wow, Tim must have written a hell of a book. He's asked to read it before the audience, and shock of all shocks, the book is full of blank pages! So after the world curses the day Tim was born, he wakes up from his dream, goes on a coffee bender and rattles off his problems to Wilson. It seems Tim's underlying problem is he doesn't know how to write a book about men in general, so Wilson suggests he write about himself. So, he takes the advice to heart and finally churns out the minimum three chapters, and... that's the story of how Tim wasted a perfectly good weekend.
Nothing is ever said about Tim's book for the rest of the series, but I think that's good. It means they decided to forget about this mess. Where do I start? This episode is BORING. Boring, obnoxious, annoying, pointless, but at the same time, it did convey a great message about people who have writers' block, and although most people can relate to this, they didn't need to make a 30 minute sitcom episode about it. It's like Waiting for Godot, it's a classic play with a terrific, deep message, and yet it's boring as all hell. I would compare this Home Improvement episode to a fourth season episode of M*A*S*H called "Hawkeye", which was 20 straight minutes of Hawkeye babbling and jabbering to people who didn't understand him. It was terrible. While "Home Alone" is somewhat better than "Hawkeye" because at least some familiar characters have cameos here. "Hawkeye" was just Hawkeye. No Radar, no B.J., no Hot Lips, nobody! Just Alan Alda and some Korean people they found on the street. Anyway, I don't recommend this episode. It's horribly boring and it's just Tim Allen making an ass of himself for half an hour, and this perplexes me. Allen got his start doing one-man shows, and he was great at it! Why does he all of a sudden falter when having to do one here? I guess because the material given to him here just sucked. He was apparently instructed to screw around, act like a child and not be funny for the duration, but then what else can you do with a concept like this? This episode shouldn't even exist! Two people wrote supposedly wrote the script for this abomination: Jennifer Celotta and Adam England. How could anybody claim to have written this? It all seems improvised and ill-timed. It sucks, I advise skipping it.
