TGI – Home Improvement 112 “Yule Better Watch Out"

Our holiday cheer continues, now just next door to the Boy Meets World soundstage, for a rewatch of Home Improvement’s Season 1 Christmas episode, “Yule Better Watch Out!”

 

The gang breaks down the cinematic directing choices that help this episode still hold up, and Will reveals his secret fantasy of stealing Tim Allen’s career.

 

Rider reveals why he hated Home Improvement before it even premiered, but reveals how now, thanks to a well-paced balance of multiple storylines, a Christmas pageant and the always relatable Santa dilemma, he’s a changed man.

 

So come along and grunt with us, when Tool Time becomes Yule Time, on a brand new Pod Meets World!

 

Follow @podmeetsworldshow on Instagram and TikTok!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
M Danielle, you're you're cheating on us and starting another podcast.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
I would definitely not call it cheating on you.

Speaker 3 (00:27):
Never would.

Speaker 4 (00:28):
You're you're polly podcasting.

Speaker 3 (00:29):
That's what it is.

Speaker 1 (00:31):
You're a Are we opening this We already did for
Danielle with What's Happening Now exactly.

Speaker 5 (00:38):
Danielle with what about pod meats TWORLDU.

Speaker 4 (00:41):
That was that was just part of this feed.

Speaker 3 (00:42):
That was also it was about you.

Speaker 5 (00:46):
That was all a good podcasts should be.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
If we did a show about you, that's that's what
What's your other podcast?

Speaker 5 (00:54):
Danielle, listen, I like you saying poly podcasting.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
I am a polly pocket person with poly podcasts.

Speaker 3 (01:01):
You were in an open podcast relationship.

Speaker 1 (01:03):
I am tell us about the tell us about the
other podcast you're seeing?

Speaker 4 (01:09):
Is he was he mad?

Speaker 2 (01:10):
Mad? Mad?

Speaker 4 (01:12):
Was he nice?

Speaker 3 (01:13):
How did you eat the podcast? Walk us through it?

Speaker 4 (01:15):
He's taller and richer than us, isn't he? It's okay,
that's who it is. But you take it.

Speaker 3 (01:19):
I get it. We're short, poor kids. I get it.
It's fine.

Speaker 4 (01:23):
He's a movie star, isn't it mine.

Speaker 5 (01:25):
He's a teen star.

Speaker 2 (01:27):
He's on the cover of all the teen magazines of course,
of course.

Speaker 6 (01:32):
No.

Speaker 2 (01:32):
My new podcast I'm very excited about it is called
teen Beat. I, as you know, love the teen Beat
magazines from our youth. Uh, and yeah, I'm going to
be interviewing people my hold on, hold on, hold on,
hold on.

Speaker 4 (01:48):
So we played clips of you interviewing me.

Speaker 1 (01:51):
Yeah, when you were correspondent for teen Beat or The
Bop or whatever.

Speaker 4 (01:56):
So is that literally what's happened is that you've taken.

Speaker 2 (01:59):
This troked into the very the first job I was
given as an interviewer, I was like, Hey, why don't
I do that again?

Speaker 4 (02:09):
Okay, So what is the theme or is there a theme?

Speaker 6 (02:11):
It's not going to be randomly asking like trying to
get everyone to ask you out like you did when
you were a kid.

Speaker 3 (02:16):
Right, A weird podcast?

Speaker 4 (02:19):
Get for Valentine's Day? Please those questions.

Speaker 2 (02:24):
But here's the best part is that, thankfully I've improved
as an interviewer since then.

Speaker 5 (02:28):
I will no longer ask a question and then immediately
answer it. What's your favorite pizza topping writer?

Speaker 2 (02:35):
Well, my favorite topic is pizza and I love.

Speaker 5 (02:42):
Sometimes I'm not in the move for my novel.

Speaker 4 (02:46):
Yeah, I have to take a breath.

Speaker 3 (02:47):
It's brilliant, brilliant, So what is it?

Speaker 4 (02:49):
What is the theme?

Speaker 2 (02:50):
The theme is the hook of the show is that
I gave you my teen years.

Speaker 5 (02:58):
It's time we yours.

Speaker 2 (03:01):
And so all I'm asking my guests to do is
come to the show, come to the table with a
story about what they were like as a kid or
a teenager. It can be something awkward, it could be
something hilarious. It could be a dating story, it could
be a family vacation story. But just come to the
table with a great story about what you were like

(03:22):
as a kid and maybe how that has translated into
who you are as an adult. And that's going to
be the jumping off point for what I hope to
be great conversations with all walks of life.

Speaker 6 (03:34):
Wow, if you first of all, great idea, you're going
to you know that Rider and I are going to listen,
we spot time.

Speaker 3 (03:39):
We tell Ryder I'm your first guest. That's actually not
true at all.

Speaker 6 (03:43):
But if you don't do a segment that literally is
five or six questions like what are your favorite pizza toppings?

Speaker 3 (03:51):
You can't call a team being.

Speaker 5 (03:52):
What do you look for in a girl?

Speaker 3 (03:53):
You have like you have to have that segment.

Speaker 5 (03:56):
Married for years. I don't care. I don't care, I
don't care.

Speaker 3 (03:58):
What is it?

Speaker 5 (03:59):
What do you look like?

Speaker 7 (04:00):
Say?

Speaker 6 (04:00):
Another thing we talked about is your mom and my
dad did the same thing where we still have somewhere
all of our teen magazine.

Speaker 5 (04:08):
I have hundreds me too of teen magazines, Like do.

Speaker 3 (04:12):
You still have yours? Rider? Do your parents save any
of them?

Speaker 5 (04:15):
Or anything?

Speaker 3 (04:16):
I never would have looked parents the parents. I know
we save them.

Speaker 1 (04:19):
I think my parents have a couple that Shiloh and
I were both in together. I feel like I've seen
that around the house.

Speaker 3 (04:25):
There you go.

Speaker 6 (04:25):
So we should just all send all of our teen
magazines to Daniel and.

Speaker 4 (04:29):
She could use from them.

Speaker 5 (04:31):
Yeah, that's a great idea.

Speaker 4 (04:33):
Oh this is so cool. So you're you're doing not
You're not like actors.

Speaker 2 (04:38):
Actors, musicians, everyone, everyone definitely not going to be related
to you know, only kids, or only actors who had
been prior kid actors, just everyone. I feel like everyone's
got a great story about what they were like as
a kid, and I'm.

Speaker 5 (04:53):
Looking forward to talking to more people.

Speaker 2 (04:55):
Debuts on January seventh, right here on this very feed.
So you can actually send us a voice memo to
Teenbeatpod at gmail dot com with your most embarrassing or
your funniest or just any story that you feel like
really tells what you were like as a child or

(05:16):
a teen, and I will be playing them for my
guest every week and we'll be sharing along in the horror,
right alongside all of you. Trust me, we all have
stories and I want to hear yours. We can't wait.
Welcome to Pod meets World. I'm Danielle Fischel, I'm Rader Strong,
and I'm Wilfordell. Just days away from Christmas, in the

(05:51):
start of our own season seven recaps, we are taking
another look at our contemporary's most memorable holiday episodes. And
now we're just taking a few steps outside of the
Boy Meets World studio and entering the wonderful world of
home improvement.

Speaker 5 (06:07):
Our literal neighbors.

Speaker 2 (06:09):
For the first two seasons of Boy Meets World, and
our basketball opponents who shared a cage with us, but
also who happened to have the number one show in
America helping define the decade's definition of family sitcom.

Speaker 5 (06:22):
Can I ask you both a question now?

Speaker 2 (06:24):
As a wrestling fan and also a recent competitor on
Dancing with the Stars. I know the power of an underdog.
I think it would be safe to say that the
legacy of Boy Meets World over thirty years has overpowered
that of Home Improvement.

Speaker 5 (06:41):
Do you guys agree with that or is that a.

Speaker 1 (06:44):
Too hot No, I'm with you.

Speaker 3 (06:47):
Yeah, I think there's Yeah, I agree with you one
hundred percent.

Speaker 6 (06:51):
And I think the reason is because when you're targeted
specifically to a younger audience like we are, they grow
up with us, whereas something like Home Improvement had a
lot of adults that and I don't think there's the
same nostalgic.

Speaker 1 (07:01):
This exact conversation on our podcast before about Home Improvement.

Speaker 5 (07:05):
Yeah, listen, maybe I feel like we.

Speaker 1 (07:07):
Did, because the analogy that comes to my mind is
that it's like our show was a little more like
vegetable protein that lasted a little bit longer, where the show.

Speaker 3 (07:16):
Never had a vegetable protein conversation on.

Speaker 5 (07:18):
The vegetable protein they were.

Speaker 1 (07:21):
They were like a perfect pizza meal that was like
ordered at the right time.

Speaker 4 (07:26):
Just but it doesn't.

Speaker 1 (07:27):
It just kind of comes and goes in your life,
and it's like it was great. It's like watching this episode,
I was like this show is really well made.

Speaker 4 (07:34):
It feels very nineties. I laughed.

Speaker 1 (07:37):
I was like, I'm with it. I'm never going to
think about it again.

Speaker 3 (07:40):
Oh where, I don't think I disagree with that.

Speaker 6 (07:43):
I mean again, I think there's there's reasons why it's
been in the press for the last couple of years,
occasionally here and there, but other than that. Yeah, and
even when we have because we've had what we've had
Richard Karnan, we've had a couple of people from from
Home Improvement on and I.

Speaker 1 (07:57):
Either, this show is so funny, it's so forgettable, but
it's like a.

Speaker 3 (08:01):
Snapshot than it's like a moment.

Speaker 1 (08:04):
Like what was impressive to me, especially after coming off
A Full House, was like this show was so innovative,
it's so nineties.

Speaker 4 (08:11):
Like it's so whereas like Full House could.

Speaker 1 (08:12):
Have almost been like a nineteen sixties sitcom, do you
know what I mean, Like in terms of how it's shot,
how it feels, whereas like the Home Improvement feels of
the moment.

Speaker 4 (08:20):
It's so like perfect for.

Speaker 1 (08:23):
Nineteen ninety one through nineteen ninety eight, and that's kind
of where it stays.

Speaker 6 (08:27):
Yeah, it seems to me it's almost like a bridge
show between the shows from the fifties and the later shows.
I mean, you literally have the wacky neighbor who you
never get to see, you have the three cute kids.

Speaker 3 (08:37):
So that is very kind of fifty sixty show.

Speaker 5 (08:41):
But I couldn't disagree with you guys.

Speaker 2 (08:43):
More so, Yeah, I actually thought one of the things
I think about Full House that makes it more not forgettable,
because it's not forgettable, but like that makes it feel
more dated to me is that, like writer mentioned, the sweaters,
the real over the top campiness of all the performances,

(09:05):
the real wacky hijinks of the adults and the precocious
little kids. Full House feels like it's more of a
has more nineties tropes and stereotypes.

Speaker 5 (09:16):
Whereas the directing John pass.

Speaker 4 (09:19):
Hway, it's good, it's great.

Speaker 2 (09:21):
The way it was shot didn't feel nineties to me.
It felt timeless. It felt like I could it felt
like almost like I was watching a movie a lot
of times, like wow, I'm really this is a cinematic show.

Speaker 3 (09:32):
Full House felt eighties to me, not nineties.

Speaker 2 (09:35):
Yeah, well, it does feel a little late eighties early nineties,
but it feels like of a time period, and I felt.

Speaker 5 (09:41):
Like although Home Improvement had.

Speaker 2 (09:45):
Like Will said, you know and the neighbor you don't
get to see it had a couple of those, they
didn't actually play that for laughs. That's that's a laugh
that happens just because you know what happens every week.

Speaker 3 (09:56):
But like he's Feenie.

Speaker 5 (09:58):
Yes, he's Feenie, and.

Speaker 2 (09:59):
He's really he's giving you actually every episode see him
giving good.

Speaker 5 (10:05):
He's like the family therapist.

Speaker 1 (10:07):
And so then why hasn't it lasted based on your
own hypothesis that that boy meets World overshadows it?

Speaker 4 (10:13):
Now, why hasn't.

Speaker 1 (10:14):
Because I agree, you're right, You're absolutely right storytelling visually
it's better than any sitcom I've ever seen, Like when
that Santa falls in the foreground of the frame with
like the shot, you know, like there's visual storytelling on
a level that totally goes above and beyond any other sitcom.
And or maybe nowadays you know Pasquin still does it,
or you know some directors are still pulling this off,

(10:35):
but no, like it is so I hear what you're saying.
But then there is something to your original point, which
is why hasn't Home Improvement stayed as a cultural touchstone
or personal touchdown for people in the same way that
something like Boy Meets World has.

Speaker 5 (10:49):
I think a lot of that might just be the
very simple fact.

Speaker 2 (10:52):
That we were kids on a kid and it's true,
it's who it's targeted for. And so we were a
show that did a mix of family friendly humor.

Speaker 7 (11:04):
And and people grew up with it, and I grew
up with it and touched the emotional I mean, did
did Home Improvement have the kind of you know, yes,
that's Son of Sean joining a cult?

Speaker 3 (11:15):
But yees, do we have those episodes of Home and
prop you've never seen the episode?

Speaker 6 (11:18):
I mean, I know that they did a whole storyline
with Jonathan Taylor Thomas's character as a child might have
childhood cancer. I mean they did, like they did a
whole bunch of that kind of bullying.

Speaker 3 (11:27):
I think they kind of they kind of touched on everything.

Speaker 6 (11:29):
And then you've got Tim Allen at the Helm, who's
the perfect sitcom dad, especially for the nineties, Like you
could not have built a better sitcom dad.

Speaker 3 (11:38):
Now.

Speaker 6 (11:39):
It was awesome then because he was Tim Allen and
it was kind of new you watch I Love You, Danielle.
But shifting gears and stuff like that he hasn't changed.
I mean, he's still just doing Tim Allen in his
new show. But people, there's a comfort to that. I mean,
there's a comfort to Tim Allen as the dad underneath
the car in whatever kind of show you want to
put him on. He's got that kind of nineties masculine trope.

(11:59):
But then and at Home, and it's they touch on
the thing that I hate without ever getting to the
point of like, I'm just lucky to be with you, dear.
She's got her own own opinions, and it's kind of
like you could be an idiot.

Speaker 3 (12:12):
But he'll fight back on that, and it's so it's
they don't. It doesn't.

Speaker 6 (12:15):
It's not like you're just the slob who's lucky to
be with me, which is kind of a trope they
did in the nineties. He never really hit that kind
of mark. So, yeah, this, I think you're right. I
think you're both right in a way, which is funny
where I think it is timeless in a way, but
it was also just a snapshot in television history that
hasn't kind of translated past that moment it had.

Speaker 3 (12:38):
You know, I don't know because I had to look
up where it was streaming.

Speaker 6 (12:42):
I mean, there's certain things where you know where they're streaming,
where it's like, oh, if I want to watch this designers.

Speaker 3 (12:45):
Like, where is Home Improvement streaming?

Speaker 1 (12:46):
Oh?

Speaker 6 (12:47):
I got to google it because I mean, are people
binging this show? I'm not even sure that's a thing
that people are binging Home Improvement.

Speaker 3 (12:52):
I don't know.

Speaker 5 (12:53):
Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I do you know.

Speaker 2 (12:55):
I don't think it can be denied that people talk about,
at least for us in our universe. It feels as
though Boy Meets World is in the lexicon a lot
more now than Home Improvement is, but only one of
us has a show on ABC currently.

Speaker 6 (13:09):
So yeah, well again, yeah, he's he's.

Speaker 4 (13:12):
That maybe he's part of the reading to plug maybe yeah.

Speaker 1 (13:14):
Well, but maybe that's part of the reason is that
it feels like Home Improvements still on's had a show
on for this entire time, so because because what was
it was men behaving?

Speaker 3 (13:24):
What was the last standing?

Speaker 1 (13:26):
Yeah, I feel like he's always been on television, and
so maybe he just maybe there's just not as much
energy put into singing his praises or his show's praises
because they just kind of still feel like they're out there.

Speaker 3 (13:38):
Yeah, I think we're also.

Speaker 6 (13:39):
Yeah, we also being at the stage next to them,
saw this meteoric rise in the way he was treated.
Where we'd go out and there be a new porstche
with Clause one on the back, and you know how
Disney was.

Speaker 3 (13:50):
I mean we saw that all firsthand. So it was
like that show was.

Speaker 6 (13:53):
Everything When we were on the air, it was just
there was Home Improvement, then there was everything else.

Speaker 1 (13:59):
Yeah, which, by the way, watching it, I loved it
and you know, like I I just how good are
the everybody?

Speaker 4 (14:08):
It's just so great.

Speaker 3 (14:09):
Oh god, it was a good episode of television.

Speaker 2 (14:12):
I honestly after watching this episode was like maybe I
want to start binging Home Improvement, Like I want to
just I have. I've never watched all the episodes, and
it's so good.

Speaker 4 (14:22):
Really good, it really is.

Speaker 6 (14:24):
Couldn't have enjoyed it more balance of family and wacky,
and it was this is the kind of show I
want to bring back this.

Speaker 3 (14:31):
Yeah, I talk about titcom it's this one.

Speaker 2 (14:33):
Even the relationships among the siblings. I'm like, I buy
remember you writer asked did you buy one moment in
this full House Christmas episode and in this I on everything.
I buy their marriage, I buy his relationship with the
with the neighbor next.

Speaker 4 (14:52):
You don't know who everybody is.

Speaker 1 (14:54):
Within like a second, you know exactly who they are,
what their point of view is, and it's unique from
everybody else.

Speaker 4 (14:59):
Yes, it's crazy.

Speaker 1 (15:00):
Like all three of the boys, every single one of
them has a complete perspective, a complete approach to life.

Speaker 4 (15:05):
And we see it and we laugh at it, and.

Speaker 1 (15:07):
Then the other person gets to comment on it's it's
such good and.

Speaker 6 (15:10):
Giving him his own show that you can cut to
him literally looking at the camera and connecting with the audience,
with his with al next to him, and it just
opens itself up for the quote unquote wackiness is.

Speaker 3 (15:25):
It's so brilliant.

Speaker 6 (15:26):
It's just genius to give you that place to go,
which again, that's just another room. He's not going to
some big you know, while we've got to establish his
he's just in another room with a Christmas tree and
al and get it.

Speaker 1 (15:39):
You know how important it is that there's an audience
that loves us because because it sets him up as
success out in the world in a way that you're
ready for that to be undermined every step of the
way so that when every like, I mean, the best
the best joke is like at the ender of the
end of the episode when they're like, oh, so he's
the assistant and you just feel Tim like struggling to

(16:03):
maintain his you know, and it's like right because he's
established as successful within some sort of manosphere, but at home,
can't keep it together, can't beat the neighbor.

Speaker 4 (16:14):
It's just it's perfect setup. It's so perfect.

Speaker 6 (16:17):
Also, talk about the heart. This is exactly the conversation
we were just having. They know, was the whole thing.

Speaker 3 (16:23):
When do you tell him? Do you lied? Do your brothers?
Tell what?

Speaker 2 (16:25):
It's the and the spirit of Christmas?

Speaker 5 (16:28):
And a touch of the full house? Is it the
real Santa?

Speaker 2 (16:34):
But without being for multiple scenes where you're going, wait
what and a message on a lap you're doubling down.

Speaker 5 (16:41):
It's just a little bit of Christmas magic.

Speaker 4 (16:44):
And this was season one.

Speaker 1 (16:45):
Yes, yes, this felt like a season three or four
of a sitcom, didn't it.

Speaker 4 (16:51):
The characters felt.

Speaker 3 (16:52):
So lived in This is how many episodes.

Speaker 1 (16:54):
In twelve that's nothing I think about how well established
all three kids are already and the parent, I mean,
it's insane, it's so people done.

Speaker 6 (17:04):
People don't Our audience doesn't know this because of the
you know, obviously they don't know how how often we record.
But I'm so happy that we watched Full House yesterday
and Home Improvement today and they're both Christmas episodes, and
they're both from the same network, and they're both from
around the same time, just to see how different two
television shows can be.

Speaker 4 (17:24):
Absolutely yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 2 (17:27):
Well, today we will be talking about season one, episode twelve,
a show early in their development called You'll Better Watch Out.
It aired originally on December seventeenth, nineteen ninety one, and
is available to stream right now via Hulu, Slash Disney Plus.
Before the synopsis, small warning for our listeners with kids.

(17:47):
This episode deals with SA NTA n same.

Speaker 4 (17:55):
Not and this time you can't blame.

Speaker 3 (17:57):
Me no show itself.

Speaker 2 (18:00):
The shortage childhood's a lot writer, right, It's always.

Speaker 3 (18:05):
Going to bring Satan back in our lives. It's just
the way it is, a little bit of.

Speaker 2 (18:09):
Satan and possible realizations about s A NTA. So maybe
proceed with the ule tiede care and caution. Okay, here
is the synopsis. Tim goes all out creating the ultimate
Christmas display, determined to outshine everyone in the neighborhood. Meanwhile,

(18:31):
the family deals with Mark's doubts about Santa Claus. Directed
by a name I know very well, John Pasquin, a
frequent collaborator with Tim Allen. John directed thirty nine episodes
of Home Improvement and a various number of shows like
Give Me a Break, Growing Pains, George Lopez, and Roseanne.

Speaker 3 (18:50):
He only did thirty nine episodes of Thought.

Speaker 5 (18:52):
He did like Held. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (18:55):
He also he was a producing director. But he also
did all of the Santa Claus movies and.

Speaker 6 (19:03):
The guy who did everything for for Wow Home Improvement.

Speaker 1 (19:07):
But man, what a genius. He must have done the pilot.
Did he do the pilot of Home Improvement?

Speaker 3 (19:10):
He must?

Speaker 5 (19:11):
That's a good question.

Speaker 2 (19:11):
I would assume that the answer is, you look at
the jib and it's just beautiful.

Speaker 5 (19:19):
He is no stranger to Christmas.

Speaker 2 (19:21):
He directed the blockbuster Tim Allen movie The Santa Claus,
as well as another Alan movie, Jungle to Jungle, and
Sandra Bullock's Miscongeniality Too, most.

Speaker 4 (19:31):
Recently Number One Pretty Good.

Speaker 2 (19:38):
He produced and directed almost every episode of Last Man Standing,
and I collaborated with him on Tim's new show Shifting Gears,
which he is also an executive producer and a director for.

Speaker 5 (19:49):
He Is Great.

Speaker 2 (19:50):
It was written by Billy rye Back, a producer on
Home Improvement. Rye Back wrote eleven episodes of the show
and would also work on the Sweet Life of Zach
and Cody and thunder So. It stars Tim Allen is
Tim Taylor, the stand of God, his very own show,
introducing the entire world to his masculine grunt, and still
working on whatever he wants to this day. In the end,

(20:13):
he may be best known as the voice of buzz
Light Ear in Toy Story.

Speaker 3 (20:17):
He's the career. He's the career I want. If somebody
said Tim to pick yep, go.

Speaker 6 (20:23):
From sitcom to sitcom to sitcom some of the biggest
voiceover gigs around exactly. He's not out in the public
eye a whole lot. He just kind of does his
work and goes home. Give me Tim Allen's career any
freaking day of the week, I would take it and run.

Speaker 3 (20:34):
That would be my That'd be my sign. Oh my god,
I would love that. Oh perfect.

Speaker 2 (20:39):
And then Patricia Richardson as Jill Taylor, the matriarch of
the show, was in every episode and also appeared on
The West Wing, Blind Spot, and Gray's Anatomy. She also
made a guest appearance on Tim's other shows, Last Man
Standing and recently Shifting Gears. Earl Hinman played neighbor Wilson
Wilson Junior, but you'd never know it. His face was
obscured by a piece of picket fence every episode. He

(21:02):
passed away in two thousand and three at the young
age of sixty one years old.

Speaker 3 (21:06):
Oh that sucks.

Speaker 1 (21:07):
In the episode that I was in, there was a
joke where he's carved a pumpkin of himself.

Speaker 4 (21:13):
And it's him behind the fence. So cute, so many
good bits.

Speaker 2 (21:19):
Taran Noah Smith is Mark Taylor. Smith left the business
soon after Home Improvement. In two thousand and five, Smith
formed a California based non dairy cheese manufacturer and restaurant, Playfood,
specializing in vegan and organic foods. Smith is also the
technical manager for the Community Submersibles Project, where he teaches
people how to pilot submarines. What, of course, yeah, yeah, wow,

(21:42):
duh yeah, obviously yeah underwater he's super magic.

Speaker 3 (21:46):
He's a he's a vegan submarine driver, obviously like you do.
Of course, we find the.

Speaker 1 (21:54):
Greatest child actor our ever Tarran. You guys remember Terren?
Of course, of course, so tern I did not.

Speaker 4 (22:03):
I have not kept up with this obviously he went.

Speaker 5 (22:06):
He went from being a child actor to.

Speaker 2 (22:08):
Being a restaurant owner who teaches people how to pilot submarines.

Speaker 4 (22:15):
Can we please get him on our podcast?

Speaker 6 (22:18):
I don't, frankly, I don't know if the radio signal
reaches that deep into the ocean, but we'll have to
find out.

Speaker 2 (22:23):
Wouldn't it be great if we interview and he's just
on a submarine bubbles.

Speaker 5 (22:27):
Oh man, that'd be so cool.

Speaker 3 (22:28):
That might be the greatest thing I've ever heard.

Speaker 7 (22:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (22:31):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (22:32):
The iconic Jonathan Taylor Thomas plays Randy Taylor. JT T
was the it cover boy for teen magazines of the time,
and he voiced young Simba in The Lion King. He
also starred in movies like the Adventures of Pinocchio, Man
of the House, I'll Be Home for Christmas, and Wild America.
Jonathan has lived a life primarily outside of the public eye,

(22:54):
but he does direct, and he appeared in Tim's Last show,
Last Man Standing around twenty fourteen.

Speaker 3 (23:01):
He also opened a peacha shop and teaches you how
to apply to rigibles.

Speaker 6 (23:05):
It's a very interesting lifestyle, so yeah.

Speaker 2 (23:11):
And then Zachary ty Bryan as Brad Taylor. Zach also
appeared in Fast and the Furious Tokyo Drift and has
since just appeared in headlines for some awful behavior, so
we we'll keep it at that. And then Richard Karn
as Al Borland. He's a former guest here on Pod
Meets World. Wildly interesting guy who also cameot on Boy

(23:31):
Meets World. Go listen to that episode and learn all
about him. And Pamela Anderson as Lisa. After being discovered
on a hockey game JumboTron and appearing in Playboy, This
role as Tim's co host on the show Inside a
Show for the first two seasons of Home Improvement is
what brought her to the mainstream. She would go on
to star as CJ on Baywatch and the rest is history.

(23:54):
She's most recently starred in The Comeback Vehicle, The Last Showgirl,
and The Naked Gun reboot.

Speaker 5 (24:00):
Have either of you ever met Pamela Anderson?

Speaker 3 (24:04):
Yes? Yeah, No, I don't know. I think so. I
think we all met her. I think we all met.

Speaker 6 (24:11):
Them at like the ABC parties back in the day,
like the original ninety three ABC Party ninety four that's
where I met Richard carn And I think I met
the kids for the first time because remember we've talked
about this on the podcast A bunch where that was
Jim Class.

Speaker 3 (24:24):
Jim Class was with Tara and yeah, JTT.

Speaker 2 (24:28):
And and but did home Improvements start in ninety three
two or did they start in ninety one?

Speaker 3 (24:33):
They started in ninety one, so I think a couple
of yeahs. So maybe she was.

Speaker 5 (24:36):
Gone, she wasn't there.

Speaker 6 (24:38):
You know, you run into these people and they were
right next to us, so you know it was you
never knew who you met and who you didn't and
all know stuff.

Speaker 2 (24:46):
So yeah, Well, guest starring David Warshowski as Fireman number one.

Speaker 5 (24:52):
This is one of David's first jobs and in one
of the weirder things we've ever documented on Podmets World.
He would later play Fireman number two on Friends.

Speaker 3 (25:02):
Oh my god, I.

Speaker 2 (25:04):
Wonder if it's like, wait a second, number one. He's
already been Fireman number one. Let's makeing Fireman number two.
Add Law and Order Taken, Mad Men, Sons of Anarchy,
Captain Phillips both. Now you see Me movies, and three
episodes of Barry to his resume, do you guys watch

(25:24):
Barry No? Or did you hear It's amazing? He is
a common go to actor for policemen, firefighters, and FBI agents.
And then Gary Bayer played Fireman number two, not to
be confused with David Warshowski Fireman number two in Friends.
Beyer appeared in the movie All That Jazz and Notts Landing,

(25:45):
but he passed away in twenty seventeen. So let's jump
into our recap. The Home Improvement intro plays. I think
it's only fair we kick off the episode with our
impressions of the famous Tim Allen grunt. Let's go, oh,
that's my good one, that's mine.

Speaker 1 (26:02):
I don't never I've never thought about this, what what what?

Speaker 5 (26:05):
I can't do it? It's in the episode. He's like,
well that's good too.

Speaker 2 (26:12):
Yeah, Hey yeah, Will's does the there's like two versions
of it. There are two versions. There's the one that's
like the one Will did do it again, Will.

Speaker 5 (26:24):
Yeah, And then there's the one that kind of like
the one that was in.

Speaker 2 (26:27):
This episode, which is like him singing jingle bells or
it's mostly.

Speaker 3 (26:32):
Just like stuff like that. Yeah.

Speaker 6 (26:36):
Yeah, as somebody who hasn't watched a bunch of these episodes,
is this because this is the season one? Is this
the same opening title sequence for the entire series or
do they change.

Speaker 3 (26:45):
It at all?

Speaker 4 (26:46):
I knew the song the second it started. I was like, oh,
I remember this, so I think.

Speaker 3 (26:50):
The song stays the same. They might do small visual
differences as they grow up.

Speaker 6 (26:54):
Because the kids grow up and all that kind of stuff. Gotcha,
But but.

Speaker 5 (26:59):
No, that's full I know, I know, I know. It's
that sounds familiar.

Speaker 3 (27:10):
Anything. The most famous grunt is yeah, it does that too.

Speaker 6 (27:18):
I think the pilot of Home Improvement is the one
where he blows the back of the dishwasher out, which
is like that famous TV scene. It's him, it's him
with Terran and they both have their shirts off and
little utility belts as he's he's like fixing up the
washing machine or not the dishwasher, and then it ends
with him turning it on and blows the whole like
it's a great thing to see how a sitcom like

(27:39):
the entire back blows out into the into the living
room and it just set up the whole show because
then no matter what he does, you're waiting for that.
You know you're gonna screw this up somehow? How's it
going to work? And it's even though you know.

Speaker 3 (27:49):
It's coming, It works.

Speaker 4 (27:50):
It's great.

Speaker 2 (28:03):
While jumping into the show, and we start in Tim's garage,
Tim Taylor's sitting next to a decorated Christmas tree in
his Tooltime TV show set, wearing a festive tie and
dress socks. He addresses the camera the important thing to
remember this holiday season is to make it a safe one.
He calls out for his Tooltime girl Lisa, who hands
him afraid wire. He teaches the viewer never plug in

(28:24):
afrayd wire. He walks over to his nearby sidekick and
comedic foil Al Borland, who was wearing a goofy elf cap,
and asks, do you suppose they call it afraid because
it's scared of something?

Speaker 5 (28:35):
Al is not enthused. He highly doubts it.

Speaker 2 (28:38):
Tim agrees and hits a little bell on his hat. Then,
though he never volunteered, Tim gives Al the task of
safely taping up the wire and makes a buzzing noise
just to scare him a bit. Tim walks away and
informs viewers there's nothing more fun in the world than
sitting around a beautifully decorated Christmas tree in your home,
grunting your favorite Christmas carols. He dons a bright red

(28:59):
suit jacket and starts to grunt jingle bells prancing around
the stage. He unsuccessfully tries to get Al to perform
a solo and then throws it to the audience, who
grunts along with him. What a time to be a lot.
He goes on to explain that his problem with Christmas
trees is that you spend so much time working on

(29:19):
the front of it, you never get to see.

Speaker 5 (29:21):
The back of it.

Speaker 3 (29:22):
This is true.

Speaker 5 (29:23):
I know this is truering the back.

Speaker 3 (29:26):
Oh see, we do because there's a big picture window.

Speaker 4 (29:29):
Yeah, we do.

Speaker 3 (29:30):
To the idea of a slowly rotating Christmas tree is
brilliant thing.

Speaker 5 (29:38):
It's so smart. It's a great idea, like a little
music box, but for your Christmas tree.

Speaker 3 (29:43):
Yes, why is that not a thing? And that seems
like a genius plan. Yeah, I don't know.

Speaker 5 (29:49):
Rider's going to make it smelted.

Speaker 3 (29:52):
Smelt it for us, Rider, So.

Speaker 5 (29:55):
What we're doing.

Speaker 1 (29:58):
Yeah, I'm actually surprised because a lot of people don't
have fake Christmas trees nowadays. Anyway, So it seems like
those fake Christmas trees would have built in motor.

Speaker 5 (30:06):
You'd think such a good idea.

Speaker 2 (30:10):
So Tim reveals an idea he got from his old
college turntable. He's going to motorize the Christmas tree. As
he explains the powerful motor they'll be using, Alan or
Jax wondering if Tim set this up correctly, Tim's insulted.
Does Al know who he's talking to? And I'll responds deadpan,
Yes I do, Tim, Tim.

Speaker 1 (30:27):
I mean this is the dynamic between the two of
them is just so perfect, great perfect. Richard never has
to say an now, he could literally just give looks
and he would get the same laughs.

Speaker 4 (30:37):
It is so funny.

Speaker 5 (30:38):
It also funny.

Speaker 6 (30:39):
I know we'll get into it as the show goes on,
but did you guys realize how many storylines are going
at the same time.

Speaker 3 (30:47):
Yeah, and it doesn't feel like an A story and
a B story.

Speaker 2 (30:50):
My favorite thing is that Lisa's story, Pamela Anderson's story
is the is the most is she in this episode
she walked out and handed him to be a freight one.

Speaker 3 (31:00):
That's right, yeah, but she did it well. But I mean,
I was thinking about this.

Speaker 1 (31:06):
Because every character has an arc basically, yeah, but they
also intertwined.

Speaker 3 (31:11):
It's so great.

Speaker 6 (31:12):
It's he's competing with his neighbor, dealing with his son
trying to figure out Christmas. His son's trying to figure
out if Santa Israel. His other two sons are auditioning
for a play. The mom is building the thing to
make sure that she gets to play because she's going overboard.

Speaker 3 (31:26):
Wilson's teaching them about the spirit of Christmas.

Speaker 6 (31:29):
Then he's on the roof and the firefighters co There's
like nine different storylines going at the same time.

Speaker 3 (31:34):
And it works.

Speaker 5 (31:35):
I know, I know, great writing.

Speaker 3 (31:38):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (31:39):
Well, Tim insists there's more than than one way to
do it, and he instructs Lisa to turn it on.
She flips a switch and the Christmas Tree begins to
spin around seamlessly. It worked, Tim boasts, When you know
what you're doing, folks, anything is possible. On cue, the
Christmas tree sparks and the motor picks up speed. The
Christmas Tree is now spinning extremely fast, flinging ornaments all

(31:59):
over the place. Tim shouts incoming and everyone ducks.

Speaker 3 (32:03):
For cover, and you knew it was coming, and it
still worked, and.

Speaker 2 (32:06):
It still works, it's still funny. It's a great visual.
A digitized ornament flies to the camera and transitions into
all the.

Speaker 4 (32:14):
Like comure graphic stuff in between.

Speaker 1 (32:17):
Feels very of the moment, but also isn't dated in
a weird way kind of. It's like used effectively, so
it's like just correctly over the top. So even though
it's cartoony, you're like, cool.

Speaker 3 (32:28):
It shouldn't have been.

Speaker 6 (32:29):
I think it should have just been a laptop, just
a laptop from the early nineties.

Speaker 2 (32:33):
So exactly, we're in the tailor's kitchen. The house is
decorated for Christmas. Mark comes running in holding a very
long list and asking for more paper. His mom, Jill,
examines the Christmas list and isn't sure Santa can bring
all of these gifts because it would make this lay
too heavy. He decides he will cross out the heaviest thing,

(32:55):
a Cocker Spaniel by Floppy.

Speaker 5 (32:58):
I thought that was so cute.

Speaker 2 (33:00):
Jill encourages him to pick out his absolute favorite thing
from the list and put a star next to it.
He decides on the remote controlled dinosaur, and he plops
onto the couch to further examine his list, and Tim
walks in carrying a box of heavy Christmas decorations. Jill
points out that's the twelve box of decorations, and he
insists he's just grabbing one more, but once pressed, he
admits that there are a couple more in his car

(33:21):
and buy a couple he means ten the oven dings.
But it doesn't stop Jill from grilling her husband. You're
just doing this because you can't stand that Doc Johnson
always wins the Christmas decoration contest. It doesn't bother you
that he's added those three giant candles to the roof.
Tim Deniser claim and clarifies there's four of them, and
there's a little dancing olve, but that doesn't bother me.

Speaker 1 (33:44):
So there's a competition for yeah, we have these in
our neighborhood.

Speaker 3 (33:48):
Really, yeah? Who.

Speaker 2 (33:54):
I cannot reiterate this enough that every show I have
directed has done a Christmas episode where there is a
competition and there's people who walk around and judge.

Speaker 6 (34:03):
And so right near where Danielle and I live, there's
a place called Candy Cane Lane, and if you go there,
there's people dressed like Santa handing out coco. There's popcorn makers.
I mean, it's like there's cars that are stacked lining up.
It made the news because there was a fist fight
there last year.

Speaker 2 (34:19):
It's changed, but it was.

Speaker 6 (34:23):
It's apparently you can't sell your house to anybody unless
they sign a contract saying they will continue the decorating.

Speaker 2 (34:31):
And by the way street, a lot of them have not,
and I don't know why. Really, it's very sad.

Speaker 3 (34:36):
Now.

Speaker 6 (34:36):
Oh no, I haven't been there for a while since
I started that fist fight last year.

Speaker 5 (34:41):
I allowed back. I just say, five hundred yards away from.

Speaker 1 (34:48):
Lane.

Speaker 4 (34:48):
It's got to be the saddest state of being.

Speaker 2 (34:54):
She begs him not to set the roof on fire again,
like last year when the night ended with an r visit.
Tim clarifies, except last year, when was the last time
you drove me to the emergency room? She answers the eighties.
He scoffs, you mess up one decade and you'll never
let me forget it, which I thought was a funny
way of them acknowledging.

Speaker 1 (35:17):
He asked, why, what was I actually don't know anything
about this.

Speaker 3 (35:21):
Being a cocaine.

Speaker 5 (35:22):
Dealer, he was a cocaine smuggler.

Speaker 3 (35:24):
He was a cocaine smuggler. Yeah. Famously yeah, yeah, like
waight too.

Speaker 5 (35:31):
It wasn't like a little bit.

Speaker 3 (35:33):
No, he wasn't caught with some coke. He was like
did he and he.

Speaker 4 (35:35):
Actually went to prison?

Speaker 3 (35:36):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (35:37):
Wow?

Speaker 2 (35:38):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (35:38):
You never see his mug shot with the big mustache.

Speaker 1 (35:41):
No, no, and he was a stand up comedian at
the time or no after I think gotcha.

Speaker 2 (35:46):
Jill suggests he takes the year off from competing with
Doc Johnson, but Tim says he was only trying to
spread some Christmas cheer, but she sees right through his bs.
Then Brad and Randy walk in as Jill sets out
freshly baked Christmas cookies. She asks how the boy trials
for the Christmas pageant went, and Brad admits terrible. I'm
a shepherd again. Randy says he only has himself to blame.

(36:06):
He was auditioning to be one of the wise Men
and they were and said they were carrying gold and Frankenstein.

Speaker 3 (36:14):
They were good. But these three kids were so good.

Speaker 5 (36:17):
They're so good.

Speaker 2 (36:18):
Also, did any I did not remember that Jonathan's name
on this show was Randy?

Speaker 3 (36:24):
Oh you didn't? No?

Speaker 5 (36:25):
Randy?

Speaker 2 (36:26):
What a weird name for a child.

Speaker 5 (36:31):
How many Randy's do you know?

Speaker 1 (36:33):
Randy's one of the main characters in Scream. Oh that's right,
what Yah, it's Randy and Stu?

Speaker 3 (36:39):
Was it Randy also one of the Jackson five. Wasn't
there a Randy? I think there was a Randy Jackson?

Speaker 2 (36:46):
Sorry, I just think Jonathan was so famous at the
time that like nobody thought of him as a character name. Ever,
the exact opposite problem we had.

Speaker 3 (36:57):
Yeah, everyone was.

Speaker 5 (36:57):
Like, and there's JTT.

Speaker 6 (36:59):
I also forget he had that voice where he'd come
in and be like I was trying to do it,
like he had like this cute It's.

Speaker 5 (37:05):
Great, the cutest voice I've ever heard on a kid.

Speaker 6 (37:07):
But to get those three kids to cast those three
is pretty amazing. To not have a dud in the bunch,
I mean the great.

Speaker 2 (37:15):
And going back to what we were talking about with
John Pascua in the way he directs the fact that
their opening lines all take place up still by the
door when they're taking off their coats, like her yelling
up to.

Speaker 5 (37:26):
How are the tryouts terrible?

Speaker 2 (37:28):
I'm a shepherd again, and like not being worried about
having two eyes on camera.

Speaker 5 (37:33):
Yep, it's just everything about it.

Speaker 6 (37:35):
Close to the At one point he's getting the soda
and you're on his back and it works.

Speaker 2 (37:40):
Cuts the fridge and he grabs a drink and it's
just like, yes.

Speaker 4 (37:44):
To your point, will I auditioned maybe six times for
Home and Provement. They were searching.

Speaker 1 (37:48):
It took I remember, for one of the kids, for
one of the three kids, multiple kids, because I was
I was between, like, I just remember going back constantly
was like, oh, the stupid Home improvement show. I hated
it before it came out because I had to keep
auditioning for it. I probably met John Pasquin. I remember
multiple rooms and it was like, which character am I

(38:08):
right for? Randy or the older brother. It was like,
because I think Jonathan is actually older than Zach.

Speaker 5 (38:14):
Yes soldest supposed to be.

Speaker 1 (38:16):
Yeah, so, but they were constantly shuffling the kids, and
I remember I hated it so much because I had
to keep auditioning for it. And then I finally got
the guest star role. They brought me in on the
Halloween episode, which is the second season or whatever, and
by then I was like, oh, this show's really good.
I already liked it by then, but yeah, man, they
they they did their job.

Speaker 4 (38:37):
Even listening to Richard Carno. He got his part.

Speaker 3 (38:40):
They were seeking.

Speaker 1 (38:41):
They were rewriting and reworking the show perfectly to their cast.

Speaker 4 (38:45):
It's so smart, it's incredible.

Speaker 2 (38:59):
Well, Brad argues that his brother is no better off.
He's relegated to the role of the stupid innkeeper. Tim
asks how many lines does the stupid innkeeper have? Randy
size one lousy line, then the entire family recites it together.

Speaker 5 (39:12):
There's no role with me in.

Speaker 2 (39:16):
Tim suggests he adds a little flair to the line
by tagging it with he should have called the one
eight hundred reservation hot line, but Joe instructs her son
to ignore him. Randy admits, I wanted to play Joseph,
but they said there were too many lines for me.
George Lon again got that part, and Jill is shocked
he couldn't remember the words to Happy Birthday at your party.

Speaker 6 (39:36):
I thought they missed a joke here. I thought they
missed a big joke here, which they should have said.
You know, they said I didn't have enough. You know,
I don't have the memory to remember this many lines.
And she should have said, well, who got the part?
And he should have said, I don't.

Speaker 5 (39:49):
I don't remember.

Speaker 6 (39:50):
Yeah, I thought they missed a great joke, great opportunity
for a joke there.

Speaker 2 (39:55):
Yes, but that's one joke, but it takes away the
fact that it sets up her entire story.

Speaker 3 (40:00):
But it's such a good joke joke.

Speaker 6 (40:02):
And well then you have the older brother come in
and go it was Brad Lanaga. Oh right, whatever, Yeah,
that's how you would have done it.

Speaker 5 (40:08):
Randy reveals that George's dad built the set, and Jill scoffs,
that's just favoritism. Tim, you should have built the set.

Speaker 2 (40:16):
He sarcastically wonders, is that the voice of the Christmas spirit?

Speaker 5 (40:19):
I hear?

Speaker 2 (40:20):
Jill doubles down. He forgot the words to Happy Birthday?
Is that the Joseph?

Speaker 5 (40:24):
You want?

Speaker 2 (40:24):
What's he gonna say? Meet my wife? The Virgin dies Sheila.
Randy insists they don't care about the pageant, but Jill
insists they do. This family has the Christmas spirit. When
I finish showing your costumes, you're gonna be the best
dressed Hebrews in Bethlehem. Meanwhile, Mark is still filling out
his long list for Santa, and Brad snatches it, Mom
and Dad aren't going to buy you all this stuff.

(40:45):
Mark is offended. Why would they? Santa will make it.
Brad shakes his head in disbelief. Are you going to
be a dork your whole life? Mark is now concerned,
I hope not. Randy decides to take a gentler approach. Mark,
you're too old to believe in Santa Claus. Kids are
going to start making fun of you. He just comes
out and says it, There is no Santa. Mark can't
believe it. Well, who drinks the milk and eats the

(41:07):
chocolate chip cookies? Then Brad tells him Dad loves the
chocolate chip cookies. Mark calls them poop heads and takes
his list back. Randy quickly changes course. There used to
be a Santa, but he died six years ago.

Speaker 1 (41:22):
That's such a great funny. He does exist, but he's
been dead like such a mean little brother.

Speaker 5 (41:33):
Oh my god, Brad smirks, Yep, you just missed out.

Speaker 2 (41:37):
Randy explains he had a terrible accident with a reindeer
blitz and fell on him. Mark can't believe what he's hearing.
He's really dead. Brad and Randy hammered home.

Speaker 5 (41:45):
Kick the bucket six feet under, pushing.

Speaker 2 (41:48):
Up the daisies deader than a door nail, stiff is
a board, cold as ice, mad is maker all as
they're completely out of the room now alone, Mark looks
at a nearby Santa, figuring when after a few seconds, just.

Speaker 5 (42:02):
Over so beautiful.

Speaker 6 (42:05):
By the way, we just recapped a dcom called Twas
the Night that so perfectly answers the question of how
Santa carries all the presents.

Speaker 4 (42:14):
Oh really, so it's an infinity bag, isn't it.

Speaker 6 (42:17):
Well, it is, but it's an infinity bag where every
time he reaches in magically he grabs exactly the presence
he needs for every kid.

Speaker 3 (42:25):
But they're like slightly bigger than grains of sand.

Speaker 6 (42:28):
So then he puts them under the tree and then
presses a button and they pop up to regular size
so he can have all of them in the in
his bag.

Speaker 1 (42:36):
Does the same thing in something else. I was like, shrinking,
it's a way to feel like there's another Yeah, there's
another movie that does the idea of shrinking is cool,
But yeah, I almost thought it was just like a
bag of holding.

Speaker 5 (42:47):
And like it's just yeah, there's never ending and it
doesn't have a bottom.

Speaker 2 (42:52):
Yeah, And then we're back in the tailor's kitchen. Later on,
Jill comes bursting through the door carrying an array of boxes.
She announces to Randy, who's sitting on the couch watching,
that she found some great stuff for his costume. Again,
another John Pasquin shot them, starting on Jonathan sitting on
the edge of the couch hitting your remote and the
Dolly moving over.

Speaker 5 (43:11):
To the side. Her coming in.

Speaker 2 (43:13):
That first shot is longer than any other shot we've
had on board.

Speaker 1 (43:17):
And just think about the structure of the living room,
even the set with the outside right next door. You
see the through the windows, you can see the neighbor,
you can see their backyard, you can see.

Speaker 4 (43:26):
The neighbor's yard. And the fact that the couch is sideways.

Speaker 1 (43:30):
Think about the how revolutionary that is because that makes
everybody's job harder, but it makes it so much deeper.

Speaker 4 (43:36):
And more dynamic of the set. It's brilliant.

Speaker 6 (43:39):
You also having Jonathan sit on the back of the
couch that could in any other show just look like
bad blocking, but it so works for his character character.

Speaker 5 (43:45):
Aiyah, it works, Okay works, I know.

Speaker 2 (43:50):
She shows off a long gold piece of fabric this
is your cape, as she drapes him in it. Randy
reminds her that he is just an innkeeper, but she
corrects him, you are a very successful innkeeper. She then
pulls out a big red hat that looks more like
a pincushion than costuming, and she places it on his head.

Speaker 5 (44:05):
She thinks it looks perfect, but Tim walks in and
addresses his son as Ali Baba.

Speaker 2 (44:10):
He wonders what in are Mary and Josephs staying at
this year Caesar's palace. Jill shows him off and asks
Randy to say his line. He recites it with little enthusiasm,
so Jill suggests a little more emotion. In response, Randy
breaks out and fake tears and screams it in pain.
And then in the backyard, Tim approaches Wilson, the identity
obscured neighbor, and asks if he has a diesel generator

(44:34):
to borrow for a revolving Santa that needs power. Wilson
says he just loaned it to Doc Johnson, and based
on Tim's reaction, he notices tension between the two neighbors.
Tim insists he's just decorating his house. He notes that
Wilson never decorates his house, though, and Wilson explains he
has a tree in his heart, a wreath in his mind,
and a star in his soul. Tim assumes he plugs

(44:55):
it all into his belly button.

Speaker 5 (44:56):
Then Brad comes running outside.

Speaker 2 (44:58):
Dad, Doctor Johnson just put a two huge spotlights. Tim
can't believe the news. He pulls out his binoculars to
get a look. Those aren't spotlights. Those are seven thousand
watt Xenon super troopers. He calls Doc Johnson sick and
grabs a nearby wooden Santa to bring to the roof.
It's you and me, Santa against the doctor.

Speaker 6 (45:18):
Now did this survide any of you of the side backyard,
sideyard Phoenie Yes. Situation to me, that's all I saw
was like, it's it's wider, obviously it's got They've got
more depth than we did.

Speaker 3 (45:29):
But it's like, huh, it's a straight up Foenie yard.

Speaker 2 (45:31):
Yeah, it is where it's like you can tell there's
more yard back and around, and so I'm back.

Speaker 1 (45:36):
I actually wondered if there was some inspiration here, because
this is maybe one and the idea of like, oh
my neighbor is my teacher, which is a huge part
of the boy meets World pitch. I wonder if they
were envisioning and they they're pitching the same network, it's
Touchdown Television, same studio, same network. Michael might have just
said he'll be like the Wilson. He's right over the

(45:57):
fence and and Corey will go for advice just like
Tim Allen does.

Speaker 4 (46:01):
I bet you that.

Speaker 1 (46:02):
Was literally part of the pitch, because if the whole
first season you have like you have this scene every
two or three episodes, Corey goes to Fienie for advice.

Speaker 6 (46:10):
But even with the different levels, like Tim climbs the
ladder at the end, whereas we were climbing into the treehouse. Uh,
it's like everything kind of matched up this whole scene.

Speaker 3 (46:20):
It was great.

Speaker 2 (46:20):
Now we're on the tailor's roof. Tim's drilling Santa Claus
and Elf cutouts into the shingles as Brad watches on
from inside. Tim announces they're about to have a trial
run and reminds his son always attached the spur gear
to the final drive. Tim plugs into an extension cord
and Santa starts to rotate. Satisfied with his work, Tim
tells his son he'll be right in after he grabs
his tools, and just as he adjusts himself. Tim notices

(46:44):
the roof is slick with snow, and he falls face
first onto a hammer. As he slowly gets back up,
we see the tool is now stuck to his tongue
As Tim struggles to remove it. Brad watches on in
horror as Tim panics he was repeatedly hit by the
moving Santa and his giant sack of presence, throwing him
to the ground over and over. I thought that little

(47:05):
gag was done so well.

Speaker 4 (47:07):
Yep, yep.

Speaker 5 (47:08):
All those moments just so funny.

Speaker 6 (47:10):
And they also subverted it because you thought he was
going off the roof exactly, and so it was like,
we're not gonna do that.

Speaker 2 (47:16):
You're like, oh, it's slick with snow, that's not going
to be the fall. Yeah, he's not going to fall.

Speaker 3 (47:19):
It's great.

Speaker 2 (47:21):
And then we're in the tailor's living room. Jill thanks
the two firefighters who've managed to detach the frozen hammer
from her husband's tongue. One admits he was surprised at
the side of it and apologizes to Tim for laughing.
He adds, we watch your show all the time. I
think it's really great. The other firefighter wonders why didn't
you have al here to help you.

Speaker 5 (47:38):
I love that guy.

Speaker 2 (47:39):
Yes, this adds insult to injury for the tool man.
One of the firefighters jokes they'll see him again next Christmas,
and Jill hands the rescue workers some treats for the road.
As they walk out the door, they're greeted with paparazzi.
Jill looks at her husband and asks him to promise
to stop this foolishness.

Speaker 5 (47:56):
Why was there press?

Speaker 3 (47:57):
I didn't know. I wasn't even gonna ask. He's famous.

Speaker 5 (48:01):
I guess local, like local fame.

Speaker 6 (48:04):
Yeah, yeah, okay, or maybe they you know, this happened
to firefighters, happen all the time.

Speaker 5 (48:08):
I don't know. I don't get the sense that it's
a national show.

Speaker 3 (48:11):
It's a local access thing. I think.

Speaker 5 (48:14):
Okay, So what the city are they in?

Speaker 3 (48:16):
Detroit or near Detroit?

Speaker 6 (48:18):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (48:19):
I think Michigan.

Speaker 5 (48:20):
Yeah, yeah, okay. It seems like a lot of press.

Speaker 2 (48:23):
Yes it did, especially for like almost almost Christmas, because yeah,
it's it's pretty okay. So Tim size, I'm through. They're
judging the competition in two hours.

Speaker 5 (48:34):
What more can I do?

Speaker 2 (48:35):
But once Jill leaves, Tim quietly dials a number on
his landline and pretends to be Doc Johnson. He asks
for his power to be turned off in two hours
because he and his wife will be off to dinner.
What did that? Did anybody ever? Did anyone ever call him?
Just be like for two hours, I'm gonna be gone.

Speaker 3 (48:54):
No, that doesn't make any sense. I love the set though.

Speaker 6 (48:56):
I love how he can go around the fridge one
way and you can go.

Speaker 4 (49:01):
And then she can sneak in behind.

Speaker 3 (49:03):
It's so well done, really great.

Speaker 1 (49:05):
Yep, yeah, yeah, really really Danielle, you've talked about to
us about Shifting Gears doing a similar exactly saying the
depth and.

Speaker 2 (49:13):
Like John Pasquin is such a genius the set. I'm
realizing there are so many similarities on the Shifting Gear set.
It's a very well done, modern take on it. But
it's it's very similar in the sense that there is
lots of living space and things to do deep in
the set, multiple entrances, the kitchen and living room area

(49:36):
being right off of, or at least the kitchen and
dining area being right off of a wall that's all
windows that leads to the yard, so people can be
in the backyard you can see them, or people can
go out that way.

Speaker 5 (49:47):
Just yeah, it's.

Speaker 4 (49:48):
It's so brilliant.

Speaker 1 (49:49):
It's so one of the things that I remember David
Trainer talking about our set, how perfect our Hallway set,
second season Hallway set was, And I think it was
because Trainer came from theater and he called it a
great Shakespearean set because it had multiple levels and different spots.
But what Pasquin is doing is probably better for television.

(50:11):
So he's thinking because I think, you know, obviously sitcom
evolved out of the theater tradition, so you have these
great sets in most sitcoms where you have some depth,
but for the most part it's center. You have spots
for people to sit, you know, little corners. But Passwin
is clearly thinking like a lens, like a camera lens,
and a jib where the camera can get into the setactly,
which is so much smarter and more contemporary.

Speaker 4 (50:34):
And it's so interesting that more.

Speaker 1 (50:35):
Sitcoms didn't pick this up that, like the Disney Channel
still kind of reverts to old school. I mean, on
Girl's World, we have the bay window, right like that
really kind of not great for camera sets. They were
good for theater sets, but they're not great for cameras.

Speaker 5 (50:50):
So interesting.

Speaker 2 (50:51):
You know, what it boils down to is that you
either have to agree to a fifth camera every week,
which is an expense because now you need a camera
operator a jib itself. Renting a jib is expensive unless
you already own the jib, and so they just have
to be willing to put the budget in for it.
And or it needs to be a show that has

(51:12):
a lot of like performances and then you're able to
get a jib. But it's like on a week to
week basis, do you think you're going to need a
jib for this? On a John Pasquin show, there is
a jib all the.

Speaker 4 (51:24):
Time, and fourth camera with a jib as a fifth.

Speaker 2 (51:28):
Cam camera with a jibs and then also then in
some sets the jib works as the fourth camera. It
will play in the X camera position or in the
A camera position as.

Speaker 5 (51:38):
You need it, or anywhere really, but you have five cameras.

Speaker 3 (51:43):
It's kind of nice.

Speaker 2 (51:44):
But while Tim was trying to sabotage his neighbor Jill
has creeped up behind him and is listening in. And
on top of that, the operator has figured out it's Tim,
especially because he tried to pull this last year too.
A frustrated Tim hangs up, and Jill immediately hounds him.
You were going to turn off the power and the
house of a seventy six year old retired proctologist. She
calls himpathetic, and he tries to change the subject to

(52:05):
the Christmas pageant. She claims she's just trying to build
up the boy's self esteem, and Tim asks by making
them dress up as the goobor sisters.

Speaker 6 (52:14):
See, they're both this is the joy. This is why
it's not that typical sitcom. The husband's an idiots. My
wife knows everything.

Speaker 5 (52:21):
She's doing it too exactly.

Speaker 6 (52:22):
They're both that kind of just want the best of
their kids and they're gonna do It's a great dynamic
between the two. I also, after seeing her, I'd like
to watch more episodes of this because my guess is
she would be put up there as one of the
better sitcom moms.

Speaker 4 (52:36):
Oh yeah, ever, oh yeah, I mean, it's.

Speaker 6 (52:39):
Just she's great, and the dynamic the two of them
have together I think would probably cement her in that lexicon.

Speaker 2 (52:45):
I think you're right right. Then Mark walks in with
the news that Santa Claus died six years ago. Tim
insists Santa's not dead, he's old. And when Jill reminds
Mark that he sat on Santa's lap at them all,
his mom and dad have a real hard time explaining
how he can be at all of them all's once,
but they don't.

Speaker 6 (53:01):
Do you also realize this is if I'm unless I'm wrong,
this is kind of the premise of the movie Tim
Allen brought them the Santa Claus, Yeah, which is Santa
Claus dies, right, and he takes over as the new
Santa cl But he doesn't just take over.

Speaker 5 (53:12):
He's unwillingly. He like he's like he buys them whatever.

Speaker 3 (53:17):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4 (53:18):
So do you think that they came up with this
because of this?

Speaker 3 (53:21):
I don't know.

Speaker 4 (53:21):
I mean it's only two years later right now.

Speaker 6 (53:24):
Yeah, and he doesn't with John and all that kind
of I mean, this might be you never you never
know where ideas come from.

Speaker 3 (53:29):
This entire episode could have been then like.

Speaker 4 (53:31):
What yeah, I found Yeah, my god, that's so great.

Speaker 3 (53:37):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (53:38):
His mom and dad have a hard time explaining how
he can be at all the malls at once. Jill
pivots and calls them helpers, like how al is Dad's helper?
Mark gets it.

Speaker 2 (53:47):
Now, so they do all the Workably hurt, and he
emphasizes they assist Santa, but Mark yep agree, Santa's got
to be alive because you and Dad wouldn't lie to me.
Once he runs off, Tim points out the obvious, we
just lied to him. Jill reminds him that Mark is

(54:07):
their last baby. She just wanted him to have one
more magical Christmas. Tim hopes they're doing the right thing,
and then in the backyard, Tim is fiddling with the
Christmas decorations again and Wilson's standing by a fire, Surprised
to see Jill didn't put the kibosh on the display
after the accident. Tim is offended. It's his home and
he can do whatever he likes. But when Wilson asks
what time Jill left, Tim responds ten minutes ago. Tim

(54:31):
asks Wilson for some advice on what to tell Mark
about Santa Claus. Wilson responds by reciting Hamlet, there are
more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of
in your philosophy. Tim explains that Randy and Brad already
told their little brother that Santa was dead, and Wilson admits, well,
technically that's true. He died in the year three forty two.
When Tim sarcastically asks, well, then, who's at the mall,

(54:52):
Wilson tells him all about the original Santa Claus, Saint Nicholas,
the Bishop of Myra and Asia Minor, who went to
poor people's houses and dropped gold down there chimney. Tim
hopes the Saint Nicholas can put a remote controlled dinosaur
down his chimney for mark because the stores are all
sold out. Wilson says it could happen. The spirit of
Santa lives on. Then Wilson gets back to his chestnuts, Uh,

(55:17):
we have to obviously keep things kind of concise for
these recaps, But I think there are two jokes in
here that in this scene that were both very funny
that did not make it into this little recap.

Speaker 5 (55:27):
But Wilson saying that reminds me of a song and
then singing.

Speaker 2 (55:31):
The other song I thought was a really smart joke,
and then Tim saying why would he drop donkeys down
the chimney? And he said it in a way that
was like he really just missed, he really just misunderstood.

Speaker 5 (55:48):
So I thought it was, so, what why would he
drop donkeys?

Speaker 3 (55:52):
Jimney that just really good writing.

Speaker 2 (55:57):
And then in the Taylor's living room, Jill returns home
with Rand and Brad, who were yelling at each other
about blowing it. Jill admits she got carried away when
it came to their Christmas pageant. Tim asks what happened?

Speaker 5 (56:06):
I don't know why he wasn't.

Speaker 6 (56:08):
There, wearsing, well, he's no longer playing the Christmas play,
so yeah, there was rehearsal.

Speaker 3 (56:18):
I thought the same thing, yet I reound its like
why is he not there? Like okay, that makes.

Speaker 5 (56:23):
Sense, okay.

Speaker 2 (56:24):
Jill reveals that Randy is no longer playing the Innkeeper
because he added some extra lines. He doubled the price
of the room and asked the wise men for id.
Randy throws his arms up in the air. They made
me a sheep, Jill reminds them, no TV, it's part
of their punishment for telling Mark that Santa was dead.
She offers everyone some hot chocolate, and Mark asks his
parents a question, how does Santa get gifts for everyone

(56:46):
in the world in one bag? Tim hans this went
over to Jill, who plainly states that he folds them.
Tim nods in agreement. Then he has missus Claws sit
on the bag so he can tie it.

Speaker 3 (56:56):
Shit.

Speaker 2 (56:57):
Mark knows that doesn't make any sense. How do you
fold a goldfish or a pony? And now they know
they've run out of excuses, Jill decides it's time for
the talk. Tim starts to explain that as you get older,
you learn a lot of new things along the way,
the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus. Then there's a knock at
the door. Jill continues to talk about the spirit of Santa,
and Tim goes to open it. Sure enough, Wilson, now

(57:19):
dressed in a full Santa outfit, is standing at their
front door. He makes his way inside with a bag
of gifts. Mark lights up. Is this the real Santa?
The mad nods and Randy argues, no, that's Wilson, but
Jill shushes him before Mark can hear. Santa k new
Mark needed a little extra Christmas spirit in his heart,
so he pulls the remote controlled dinosaur out of his bag.

(57:40):
Mark is thrilled. It's not even folded, he thinks, Sanna
before giving him a big hug. Brad pipes up anything
for us Sanna. Sanna admits that although the boys now
no longer believe in him, he still brought them gifts anyway.
He hands Brad a rubber band too.

Speaker 1 (57:57):
Yep, come on, play against the sentimentality. If the moment
as written, the moment as you're pitching, it will probably
be like oh. And then he gives the other kids
for exactly then No, I'm gonna give him a button
and a rubber band. Yeah, perfect, perfect.

Speaker 5 (58:11):
I couldn't agree more, says.

Speaker 4 (58:13):
Little f you. That's so obvious, just like the crappiest here.

Speaker 5 (58:21):
Play with this entertaining yourself with a rubber band?

Speaker 3 (58:25):
So good.

Speaker 5 (58:26):
He hands Brad a rubber band and Randy a button.
He also gives Tim and Jill a couple words.

Speaker 2 (58:30):
Of advice when it comes to the true meaning of Christmas,
it's about coming together and sharing. He has some mistletoe
as a reminder, and he holds it over Jill to
see if it works. They peck and Jill thanks him
for everything. Then Santa looks at Tim, but the tool
man says, don't look at me, man. Santa bids everyone
a farewell, and Tim admits to Jill sometimes that Wilson

(58:50):
is a fine neighbor. Jill stares into their backyard and asks,
in shock, you mean that Wilson. Sure enough, Wilson is
still tending to his chestnuts in his back yard. Mark
runs to the front door and stares out into the
snowy night sky in awe as we hear Christmas bells
jingle in the background. And then we're in the tag
the tailor's home. Tim is excitedly alerts his family that

(59:12):
the decorations are ready, so the family congregates in front
of the house. He flips a switch and everything lights
up beautifully. Even the decor is revolving and pivoting without
a hitch. But then there's a spark at the control
box and everything turns off in a flash. Tim grunts, Oh.
Then we go to the tailor's chimneys. The credits roll,
and Tim grunts jingle bells once again?

Speaker 5 (59:34):
Did Indy watch this with you?

Speaker 1 (59:35):
Writer?

Speaker 5 (59:35):
Did you have to explain?

Speaker 4 (59:37):
I wish she had now here.

Speaker 1 (59:39):
He had already gone to bed, So I'm bummed because, yeah,
he would have loved this.

Speaker 2 (59:43):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, he would have liked it. And I
want to know, how do you explain the Tim Allen grunting.
It's like a catchphrase. The explanation, Well, I couldn't have
loved that. I really, couldn't have enjoyed it more, couldn't
have loved it more.

Speaker 1 (01:00:00):
Me too.

Speaker 6 (01:00:00):
This is when I talk about wanting to bring back sipcom.
I'm not talking about friends as much as I would
love that, and I'm not talking about Seinfeld as much
as I would love that.

Speaker 3 (01:00:07):
I'm talking about this. I'm talking about the twenty two
minutes of a family together at what do you want
to solve everyone's problems? Twenty two minutes? Yes, that's exactly
what I want to bring back.

Speaker 6 (01:00:17):
So when I saw this, I was like, Oh, this
is what I'm thinking about when it comes to sitcom,
Like I want to I want to see this again
because it was so much fun.

Speaker 3 (01:00:25):
It was great.

Speaker 5 (01:00:26):
Yeah, it's good times.

Speaker 2 (01:00:28):
Thank you all for joining us for this episode of
Pod Meets World. As always, you can follow us on
Instagram pod Meets World Show. You can send us your
emails pod meets Worldshow at gmail dot com and we've
got merch merch will send us out.

Speaker 3 (01:00:45):
We love you all, pod dismissed.

Speaker 6 (01:00:48):
Podmeats World is nheart podcast producer and hosted by Danielle Fischel,
Wilfordell and Ryder Strong. Executive producers Jensen Karp and Amy Sugarman,
Executive in charge of production, Danielle Romo, producer and editor,
Tara Sudbasch producer, Maddy Moore, engineer and Boy Meets World
super fan Easton Allen. Our theme song is by Kyle
Morton of Typhoon and you can follow us on Instagram

(01:01:09):
at Podmets World Show or email us at Podmets Worldshow
at gmail dot com