Home Improvement (TV Series) Tim 'The Landlord' Taylor (1998) User Reviews

An Underrated Episode

[shawnlaib-1 · 9/10 · 6 December 2009]

This mid-seventh season episode of Home Improvement has quite a few hilarious parts in it and is overall a very good episode, like all Home Improvement episodes are. It's not one of the very best episodes in the series, but it definitely has it's usual hilarious moments.

Tim rents out a house to Al after a Tool Time segment they do on the house. Tim gives Al an overly large lease to sign, insinuating to Al that he doesn't trust him. This leads to one of Tim and Al's biggest arguments, leading to Tim wanting to evict Al and Al wanting to sue Tim if he needs to. The reason why Tim gets so mad is because Al forces Tim to fix his house for him because he is the landlord, even though Al can fix the house on his own. And the reason Al is mad is obviously because of the large lease, and because Tim is reluctant to fix the house for him. Tim eventually talks to Wilson as usual, he comes to his senses, and him and Al apologize. There is also a hilarious subplot of Brad and Randy buying and wearing the same shirt and having to decide who gets to wear it on a date with their girlfriends.

In conclusion, this episode has the usual Home Improvement hilarity, but really isn't an extreme standout when thinking of the series' best episodes. I do think that it is very underrated as it seems that a lot of people don't like this episode very much. I loved it, and in my opinion, I think that it is a great episode. Not one of the best, but an average Home Improvement episode, and we all know that an average episode of Home Improvement is still better than every TV episode of every other show ever made combined! This episode gets a 9/10.

Home Disprovement

[ExplorerDS6789 · 1/10 · 27 November 2010]

Is this episode good? I don't think so, Tim. This episode is by far one of the worst in the show's entire run. "Home Alone" from Season 8 is probably the worst, but "Tim 'The Landlord' Taylor" is #2 on the list. It's not funny, it's just mean from start to finish. This was a sure sign that Home Improvement was running out of steam and unfortunately, it kept getting worse, even though some of the later episodes are very good, the quality definitely showed signs of waning. So, why is "Tim 'The Landlord' Taylor" such a horrific mess? Let's see: we start on an amusing gag of Brad and Randy having bought the exact same tacky shirt, which is okay, then Tim comes in talking about some rental property he and Jill bought. For what reason, I don't know, it's only talked about vaguely and it comes out of nowhere. So naturally Tim does a Tool Time segment at the house to get free renovation, according to Al. Behind every door and shudder Tim has planted a large sign with his phone number and pleas for this dump to be rented, and this clearly annoys Al, but a few minutes later, he wants to rent it. Tim thinks he's joking and tells him not to play around, even though he's the one who hid signs all over the freakin' thing! Now WHY in the world would Al want Tim as a landlord? It's bad enough he has to be under him on Tool Time, why would he want him hovering over him at home? So Tim reluctantly agrees, he calls Al's mom a pet and then he returns the next day with a 2,000 page lease with the stupidest attempts at gags ever: a no-gravy-in-the-bedroom clause, plus Tim took references, does a credit check, does everything but have Al strip-searched. Is this funny? No.

Al begins to find problems with the house and rather than fix them himself, seeing as how he's a master carpenter and the more competent side of Tool Time, he wants Tim to do it, seeing as how he's the landlord and Al wants to exploit him and his ridiculous lease. WHY does Al want him to work on his house? What show has he been on for the last seven seasons?! So, Tim goes about his befallen task of doing minor repairs around Al's house, while he acts like a jerk about it and doesn't help. Finally, Tim gets fed up and threatens to evict Al, who will counter with a lawsuit if he does. I'm still not laughing, is this supposed to be funny? Anyway, Tim has no qualms about evicting his new tenant after forcing that stupid lease and all that humiliation on him. Yeah, Tim is such a likable guy, isn't he? So the big douche-bag goes out to talk to Wilson who calms him down and helps put the matter into perspective: Tim has lost his first tenant, his best friend, he has a huge photocopy bill, but at least he has a cheese monument. So, Jill tries to intervene and talk to Al. He admits to being a jerk, and they both have a good laugh at Tim's expense when suddenly The Fool Man comes by to make amends with Al and in the process, rips up the lease...which turns out to be Al's life insurance policy...ah ha ha ha NOT FUNNY!

In case I wasn't clear before, I hated, hated, HATED this episode! I mean, I HATED it! It was so MEAN, so THOUGHTLESS, so tortuously UNFUNNY. I have no idea how this episode was greenlit, that script was terrible. The directing was terrible, the acting was terrible, NO effort was put into this AT ALL. Let's see, Tim and Jill buy some investment property...why? So Al can conveniently rent it from them? WHY? Then he forces Tim to make repairs while acting like a jerk. WHY? I am STILL, to this very day baffled as to why Tim Allen agreed to this episode. Must have given him a hell of a bonus. Anyway, please, take my advice, DO NOT see Tim 'The Landlord' Taylor. It's AWFUL. It's STUPID. It will infuriate you to NO end!