If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. And that’s how Patricia Richardson feels about revisiting one of her most famous roles.
Richardson, who starred opposite Tim Allen on the ‘90s sitcom “Home Improvement,” opened up about doing a reboot of the series during an interview on the “Back to the Best” podcast published Thursday.
The actress, who played Allen’s TV wife Jill Taylor, reflected that it was “so weird” to see news that her former co-star was discussing plans to revive the show.
"I would hear (Tim) was coming out publicly and saying this stuff about how everyone was on board to do a ‘Home Improvement’ reunion. But he never asked me, and he never asked Jonathan (Taylor Thomas), who I talk to,” Richardson recalled. “So, I called Jonathan one day and said, 'Has he asked you about this? And he went, ‘No, and why's he going around telling everybody that we're all on board when he hasn’t talked to you or me?'"
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In 2023, Allen reportedly revealed in an interview with The Messenger that he’d been brainstorming a “Home Improvement” spinoff with co-star Richard Karn (Al Borland), as well as his TV sons Thomas (Randy Taylor), Zachery Ty Bryan (Brad Taylor) and Taran Noah Smith (Mark Taylor).
"One of the conversations we've had recently is how weird it would be if ‘Home Improvement’ would be about the kids' kids," Allen told the outlet, per Entertainment Weekly. "Like, if all of them had children, and I'm a grandparent. ‘Home Re-Improvement’ or something like that. It's come up."
Aside from the alleged “Home Improvement” reboot, Richardson also addressed a previous rumor that she and Allen were attached to a series spinoff starring her character Jill Taylor, which she denied in a December 2023 post on X.
"(Tim) was kind of lying to people and telling them that I was on board, and I didn't know anything about it,” Richardson said. “So, I wrote a big thing on Twitter and just said, 'I'm not involved in any kind of series with Jill, and I've also never even been asked to do another 'Home Improvement' reunion thing.' But I would not want to.”
USA TODAY has reached out to representatives for Allen for comment.
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As for why she’s not keen on a “Home Improvement” reunion, Richardson said changes in the series’ main cast – including the legal troubles of co-star Bryan – would make it difficult to recapture the show’s essence. Bryan was recently charged with a felony after his February arrest in California for allegedly driving under the influence (his fourth DUI charge overall). The actor is also facing a misdemeanor charge of a hit-and-run and property damage.
"I mean, Zach is now a felon. Taran hasn’t acted since he left the show; he's not an actor anymore," Richardson said. "And Jonathan's not really interested in acting. He wants to direct and write. And we don’t have Wilson (played by the late Earl Hindman)."
She added: "It's not gonna be the show, at all. And people think we can just magically go right back to who we were 30 years ago and do a show that was 30 years ago, and we've all changed quite a bit, I think, since then. It would be very weird."
Richardson concluded that the legacy of the show doesn’t need any additions. “We did it well,” she said. “We quit at the right time before it got really bad, and it should just stay like it is."
Contributing: Taijuan Moorman, USA TODAY
