“I Was Mad at Tim.” Home Improvement Star Has Revealed Why She Left the TV Series. To Tim Allen's Displeasure, Her Decision Led to the End of the Sitcom
Sitcom Home Improvement ended after eight seasons following the departure of one of its stars. Tim Allen was reportedly unhappy about this.
Tim Allen's beloved sitcom Home Improvement ended after 8 seasons, despite the fact that the production's star would have loved to appear in more. Unfortunately, the decision of Patricia Richardson, playing the wife of Allen's character, determined that the production did not continue.
Years later, Richardson, in an interview with the LA Times, revealed the reasons behind her decision to end her appearances on Home Improvement, despite being offered $1 million per episode to star in the 25-episode season. At the same time, Tim Allen was reportedly offered $2 million per episode. The actress explained that years of large pay gaps between her and Allen partially contributed to her departure.
Besides, she felt that they had already told everything they wanted to tell, and it made less and less sense to continue, especially since they were coming to work with people who, as reported by the LA Times, didn't know Home Improvement well enough, making it necessary for the actors to fight with them to stay true to their characters.
Richardson, despite her decision to leave, decided to test Disney. She said she would stay if they offered her the same thing they offered Allen, which was $2 million per episode and giving her the role of executive producer.
I knew that Disney would in no way pay me that much. That was my way to say “no” and was a little bit of a flip-off to Disney. I’d been there all this time, and they never even paid me a third of what Tim was making, and I was working my ass off. I was a big reason why women were watching.
As Richardson predicted, no such offer was made to her and the TV series ended at season 8. Unlike her, Allen did not reject the producers' offer to appear in the next season and accepted the money offered to him. In turn, this left Richardson feeling left alone on the battlefield.
I was mad at Tim because he was leaving me alone being the only person saying no, which made me feel terrible and like the bad guy and he was upset with me for leaving.
Home Improvement ended with this situation. Without Richardson's character, there was no sitcom. Tim Allen, according to the actress, was not happy with this solution and reportedly never forgave her.