'Home Improvement' star reveals what led to Patricia Richardson's exit
Former "Home Improvement" star Taran Noah Smith is looking back at Patricia Richardson's time on the hit sitcom and what he says contributed to her decision not to return for a ninth season.
Smith, who played Mark Taylor, the youngest son of Tim and Jill Taylor, recalled how Richardson regularly pushed back on storylines she felt were unrealistic for her character as a mother.
"She had just given birth to twins, and she had one older kid who was about my age. And she really brought a lot more of a realistic mom [energy]," Smith said during a resurfaced episode of the "Outgrown" podcast. "She fought throughout the whole show to keep the show more realistic and tell the writers, 'a mother would never say this' and get them to change it."
"Home Improvement" starred Tim Allen as Tim Taylor and Richardson as his wife, Jill Taylor. Smith played their youngest son, Mark, alongside Zachery Ty Bryan as Brad and Jonathan Taylor Thomas as Randy.
The ABC sitcom ran for eight seasons from 1991 to 1999.
Smith said the show's behind-the-scenes dynamics shifted after the first few seasons.
"The original creators only did the first couple of seasons and then they moved on and they brought in a whole other group of writers/producers," Smith said. "And those guys, very few of them had kids and the show started to go in a different direction."
Smith said Richardson continued to push back when she felt dialogue was out of character or written simply to set up a joke.
"It was really Pat, the mom, who fought the good fight to make it more realistic," he said.
Smith said Richardson often took the lead in pushing for changes.
"Tim was always I think more hands off with that, not wanting to be tyrannical which meant that it was a lot more on Pat to push," Smith said. "That's one of the reasons why the show ended up eventually ending... She was as tired of it and of having to fight to make it realistic all the time."
Smith said money was also a factor in Richardson's decision not to return for a ninth season.
"Tim was getting far more money than she was," Smith said. "And that was her actual way of stopping. She was like, 'She'll do a ninth season if she got paid the same amount as Tim.' And knowing they wouldn't do it."
Decades after "Home Improvement" ended, Richardson has remained close with some of her former TV sons.
In July, Richardson reunited with Smith and Thomas, sharing a photo of the three former co-stars together on Instagram.
"My other boys," Richardson captioned the photo at the time.
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