Highlights
- Patricia Richardson quit Home Improvement after its 8th season.
- ABC wanted to continue the show and even planned to kill off Richardson's character, Jill Taylor.
- Richardson and Tim Allen briefly lost touch after the show ended.
At the height of Home Improvement's success, the show was one of the most popular sitcoms on television. Thanks to that success, ABC was willing to pay enough that the cast became rich and Tim Allen wound up making a fortune from reruns.
Since some TV stars have been paid $1 million per episode, Home Improvement's Patricia Richardson could have cashed in if the show continued. Despite that, Richardson wound up completely refusing to come back for one more Home Improvement season for an interesting reason.
Why Did Patricia Richardson Quit Home Improvement?
Once Home Improvement became a huge hit for ABC, there were two of the show's stars who were thrust into the spotlight. Thanks to Home Improvement, Tim Allen became a movie star and Jonathan Taylor Thomas was turned into a teen heartthrob.
While Allen and JTT got the lion's share of the attention, another actor was key to the show's success. Cast as Jill Taylor, Patricia Richardson's Home Improvement character stood out in television history.
While Jill Taylor is remembered as a loving wife and mother, the character also had her own career and education aspirations. Since far too many TV wives were defined by their husbands, many Home Improvement fans loved that Jill Taylor was her own character.
On top of viewers enjoying Jill Taylor's storylines, a key factor in the character's success was Patricia Richardson's performance. After all, Richardson imbued Jill with inner strength, and she often seemed to really like her husband and kids. In short, Richardson made Jill Taylor more of a three-dimensional character.
After Home Improvement fans grew to love Richardson, her character and Home Improvement disappeared after its eighth season. As it turns out, the reason Home Improvement ended when it did is that Richardson decided to walk away from the show.
In 2015, Richardson participated in a Reddit Ask Me Anything session. During that process, a fan asked Richardson a question that seemed perfectly crafted to help fans understand why she exited Home Improvement when she did. Keep in mind, Richardson decided to leave Home Improvement after its 8th season.
"You are three quarters of the way through the 7th season on Home Improvement: are you feeling excited/challenged by the role at this point, or are you getting a little checked out?"
In response to that question, Richardson went on to reveal that as was suggested she was dragging her feet even earlier than fans knew. According to Richardson, she was the last Home Improvement star who stayed until the end to sign on for an 8th season.
"I was the only person still there during the 7th season that didn't have a contract for the 8th season. Johnathan also didn't hav a contract for the 8th season but he decided to leave so we knew he wouldn't be there. I told everyone I would stay on for the next season."
Richardson then went on to reveal that she had a really hard time negotiating her contract for the 8th season. Unlike many TV stars who hold out for more money, however, Richardson was holding out for less episodes.
"It was very difficult for my lawyer to negotiate that contract because Disney would not hear no to the 9th season. They wanted to attach it to 8th season's contract. I kept saying "not enough money in the world did they not understand?" It took my lawyer the entire 7th season to the work out the contract."
Throughout television history, there has long been the concept of shows jumping the shark. A reference to an often mocked episode of Happy Days, a show jumps the shark at the watershed moment when it goes downhill.
In the years since Home Improvement ended, there have been many arguments about when it jumped the shark. While that is up for debate, one thing is undeniable, Patricia Richardson's interest in starring in Home Improvement definitely hit a wall.
As Richardson went on to explain in her response to the aforementioned AMA question, there were two reasons she left Home Improvement. Richardson's reasons were influenced by her artistic passions and personal life.
"The show was getting tired. We were all getting tired but we thought we could all squeak out one more year. Mostly I just missed having a life and my kids. I felt like I hadn't seen my family in years."
Are Tim Allen And Patricia Richardson Friends?
When Patricia Richardson decided not to return for a 9th season of Home Improvement, she did it for herself and her family. While that is admirable, Richardson's decision definitely made some people involved with Home Improvement upset.
As it turns out, ABC really wanted to keep the Home Improvement money train going. As a result, the people at the network wanted the character Jill Taylor to die, so the show could go on. However, Tim Allen refused to keep Home Improvement going without Richardson.
That said, Allen reportedly tried to convince Richardson to keep the show going. That means that Richardson's decision cost Allen millions.
Years later in the mid-2010s, Richardson and Allen worked together for the first time since Home Improvement ended. The reason for this is Richardson took a cameo role in Allen's sitcom Last Man Standing.
Since it was a big deal for Allen and Richardson was interviewed about the cameo. During that conversation, Richardson revealed that she lost touch with Allen after Home Improvement.
As Richardson explained to Entertainment Tonight, that left her worried about working with Allen again. The reason for that is Richardson worried that Allen had "never really forgiven [her] for not wanting to do the ninth year."
Fortunately for Richardson, it seemed like she didn't have anything to worry about. When Allen and Richardson were interviewed together about reuniting, he described working with his ex-TV wife in a sweet way. 'We've both, you know, matured a little bit, but it's like being around family."
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