"
More power!
More power!" And
more laughs as
Home Improvement launches its seventh season. As ever,
Tim Allen stars as Tim Taylor, host of the popular cable-TV fix-it series "Tool Time," with
Patricia Richardson as Tim's wife, Jill, and
Zachery Ty Bryan,
Jonathan Taylor Thomas, and
Taran Noah Smith as the Taylors' ever-growing sons Brad, Randy, and Mark. With this season, Debbe Dunning moves out of the "recurring" category to become a full-fledged regular in the role of Tim's TV "Tool Girl" Heidi. Episodes worth noting during season seven include "
Losing My Religion, with
Dan Aykroyd appearing as Father Mike Weber, the actor's character on the like-vintage sitcom
Soul Man; "
The Dating Game, in which Tim's assistant, Al (
Richard Karn), must face the fact that his former fiancée, Ilene, has found someone else; "
Bright Christmas, featuring
Polly Holliday as Jill's flibbertigibbet mother; "
An Older Woman, wherein son Brad may or may not be getting married to a college girl; and the season's next-to-last installment, "
Tool-Thousand-One: A Space Odyssey, featuring guest appearances by real-life astronauts Ken Bowersox and Steve Hawley.
Home Improvement tied with
Frasier as America's tenth most popular series during the 1997-1998 season. Also, after missing out the previous year, lighting director
Donald A. Morgan won his sixth Emmy award.
