History YMMV / HomeImprovement

** In another VerySpecialEpisode, Brad admitting to occasionally smoking marijuana is treated by Tim and Jill as akin to him being a hardcore drug dealer. While this opinion has not entirely vanished (especially in more conservative areas of the United States), smoking marijuana has become far more accepted in recent years as many states have decriminalized it or even legalized smoking it entirely (Michigan being one of them). Slightly justified in that he was 1) driving after smoking it and 2) stashing it where his younger cousins could access it.

* CriticProof: The show was never a big darling of the critics (having to compete with edgier shows like ''Series/{{Roseanne}}'', ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' and ''Series/{{Friends}}''), the cast got nominated a few times but only Tim Allen won a Golden Globe. However, it was extremely popular with the People's Choice Awards, it was a top ten show (#1 a few years) for its entire run.

* MemeticMutation: Al's "I don't think so, Time".

** In one episode, Randy comes home with an "embarrassing haircut," with Jill saying the stylist used too much mousse. The audience busts a gut laughing, even though the style (short messy top, slicked-back sides) would become a huge trend a handful of years later, and persist as an almost standard men's haircut for decades. Bonus points for Brad mocking Randy while sporting a chin-length bob cut few teen boys would be caught with today.

* IconicCharacterForgottenTitle: No, the name of this show is NOT "Tool Time". Tim Allen himself made an inverted mistake in a blooper during a Tool Time segment, calling that show "Home Improvement."

* MemeticMutation: Al's "I don't think so, Tim."
** From the video game: "REAL MEN DON'T NEED INSTRUCTIONS." [[labelnote:Explanation]] The instruction manual for the game consists solely of this sentence.[[/labelnote]]

*** Brad (and by extension his actor, Zachary Ty Bryan) actually could be TheWoobie on a meta level during the last half of Season 5 through the end of Season 7. In Season 5, Brad had some CharacterDevelopment to start becoming a good student at the same time, Johnathan Taylor Thomas's character, Randy skipped two grades to join Brad in High School as to enable the two of them to have High School plotlines together. Unfortunately, JTT's career really took off at that time and combined with his more intellectual character and strong episodes like ''The Longest Day'' or the one where he wrote a big paper article slamming Tim's employer Binford, he started to overshadow Brad, who mainly got stuck with romantic or sports storylines. Taylor's departure for Season 8 ultimately allowed Brad and Zachary Bryan to get a season in the limelight dealing with him prepping for college.

* ParodyDisplacement: ''Tool Time'' is a parody of ''This Old House'', with the main host (Tim) being a charismatic salesman and his co-host (Al) being an anti-charismatic, bland, flannel-wearing man who nonetheless possess unrivaled expert knowledge of the topic at hand being a direct parody of Bob Vila and Norm Abram's screen presence. In addition, scenes outside of ''Tool Time'' point out how most of the actual renovation work is done by a trained crew and that the hosts' contributions are mostly symbolic. However, as ''Home Improvement'' has managed to remain popular and remembered in popular culture more than 20 years after it first aired while Vila and Abram have been eclipsed by newer, younger talent in the "Home Improvement" genre such as Ty Pennington and Mike Holmes, the fact that ''Tool Time'' is a parody is largely lost on those who watch the reruns today.

* AcceptableTargets: The overweight; however, Tim's restriction of his fat jokes to Al, Al's mother, and Jill's mom (before she lost weight) may have been meant to imply it's only all right if it's a friend and they know you're joking (though judging by Al's reaction, they don't have to think it's ''funny''). It should be noted that at Al's mother's funeral, it was revealed that she thought Tim's fat jokes were funny.

* TheProblemWithLicensedGames: The SNES "adaptation" of the show. Note that the word "adaptation" is [[InNameOnly in quotations]], as the game had ''nothing'' to do with the show. Several reviewers had issues with this:

** Averted in general. While there are elements of the show that make it undoubtedly from TheNineties (such as an episode where Al buys what was then considered a luxury item - a cellphone, which is the size of a brick), ''Home Improvement'', in both visuals and humor, has aged rather well, especially in comparison to a lot of the other sitcoms from its era. The lack of topical humor and the Taylors being a working-class family that largely ignored popular trends contributes largely to this. It helps too that the main topics of home repairs, sports and car restoration aren't really subjects that are in constant flux with the times.
** That said, the kids' fashion sense, particularly their [[NinetiesHair curtained hairstyles]], in the later season can make it fairly obvious it takes place in TheNineties.

* RealismInducedHorror: The plot of "The Longest Day" is very frightening for parents to think about: you take your child to the doctor for a routine check-up and instead find out that they might have a serious disease.

** That said, the kid's fashion sense in the later season can make it fairly obvious it takes place in TheNineties.

*** The Silverdome, Joe Louis Arena, The Palace of Auburn Hills[[note]]home of the Detroit Pistons from 1988 to 2017[[/note]] and Tiger Stadium[[note]]home of the Detroit Tigers from 1912 to 1999[[/note]] were previously mentioned in several prior episodes as well, and all have now been demolished.

*** The Silverdome, Joe Louis Arena and The Palace of Auburn Hills[[note]]Home of the Detroit Pistons from 1988 to 2017[[/note]] were previously mentioned in several prior episodes as well, and all have now been demolished.

** A VerySpecialEpisode revolves around Brad taking up smoking marijuana. Zachery Ty Bryan would end up getting arrested for marijuana possession after the show ended.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Al is this in real-life. See AscendedExtra.
** Al is this in universe as well with Tool Time: Most fans of the show that meet Tim usually tell him how much they love or idolize Al, or they will confuse Al for being the star of the show. This always annoys Tim.
** Wilson, too. Originally, the character had limited screentime that was simply to have Tim seek advice on his current problem. However, producers liked both actor and character, so they gave him increasingly more to do over the run of the show. (Episodes centered around him, regular interactions with the other characters, a love interest, etc.)
** Of the kids, Randy was the most popular for being very smart and snarky, and able to play off his dad better than the others. Supplementing this was Jonathan Taylor Thomas being a great actor and rising to TeenIdol stardom, the producers took advantage of this by giving him some of the meatier story arcs.
** Tool Time itself was this. A number of fans actually enjoyed the home-project-slapstick more than the actual sitcom.

* HarsherInHindsight: InUniverse example - Every other joke about Al's mom lost some of their humor when she passes away in Season 8's "Dead Weight".

** The fact that in-universe Tim is a host of a fairly popular home improvement show (Tool Time) dates it to a pre-''WebSite/YouTube'' era as well, as home improvement shows had largely disappeared in the latter half of the TurnOfTheMillennium with ''[=YouTube=]'' instructional videos having largely displaced them.

*** Both the Silverdome and Joe Louis Arena were previously mentioned in several prior episodes as well, and both have now been demolished as of 2021.

** In another VerySpecialEpisode, Brad admitting to occasionally smoking marijuana is treated by Tim and Jill as akin to him being a hardcore drug dealer. While this opinion has not entirely vanished (especially in more conservative areas of the United States), smoking marijuana has become far more accepted in recent years as many states have decriminalized it or even legalized smoking it entirely. Slightly justified in that he was 1) driving after smoking it and 2) stashing it where his younger cousins could access it.