Just as Tim was taking care of his enormous bill at Harry's Hardware, Al bursts in with some great news: he's going to be in his own video! It's not an exercise video, thank God, it's an instructional video for beginners on how to stock your tool box. Since Al would be producing, Harry asked to be in the video, but he turned him down, however Harry was nice enough to let them film the video in his hardware store to garner a little business. It seems the flannel-master is also looking for a director, and he's got just the guy in mind: Tim. Wait, what? Al thinks Tim has a visual style and creativity that is unmatched...which is true, actually. So even though this wasn't a paying job, Tim still agreed to go along with it and accepted the chance to direct. At home, Jill is busy setting up her brand new computer: state of the art technology that 1996 had to offer, including a CD-ROM, remember those external drives? Tim meanwhile brushes up on How-To videos in preparation for his directorial debut. I mean, what's the worst that could happen? If you have to ask that, you weren't paying attention these past five years.
Al's video takes off without a hitch, and he wants to keep it nice and simple, with only 2 days to film. Tim, on the other hand, wants more fancy camera-work, panoramic views of whom he deems the real stars: the tools. He goes over-the-top and out of control, as usual, going so far as to drive away paying customers from Harry's. That, and Harry's constant nagging to be in the video by showing his limited method acting skills forces Al to make a very difficult decision. He takes Tim to dinner at Sarrentino's, you know, the Italian restaurant with the smart-ass waiter, and breaks it to Tim that he wants to get a new director. The Tool Man doesn't take the news lightly, the two get to bickering, then arguing over who will pay the check, with Tim succeeding...and getting a tray of spilled desserts added to it. So Tim goes home to pout about being terminated, which Jill feels was justified after hearing Spielberg only filmed 5 minutes in one day. Anyway, on to Epic Fail Time with Tim and Al still at odds with each other. Today's show is about caulking, so of course they get into a caulking gun fight, with master plumber Felix Myman caught in the middle. It escalates to the point where the dickhead takes out a caulking bazooka and sprays Al, but he just stands there like a bitch and takes it. So hopefully Wilson can calm everybody down and give Tim a few words of wisdom. Pretty much. Bottom line: Tim knows jack about directing and took some much misguided advice. So Tim comes by Harry's as Al prepares his final shot, he's had some humble pie and admitted he was wrong, they make amends...and Al stupidly wants Tim back for the grand finale. Harry says no dice, this is HIS scene, so Al locks him in the backroom and he and Tim shoot the scene. We end this mess with Tim losing all of Jill's work on the computer to play Monkey Town, but then she was dumb enough not to save it first, so they both lose.
I DESPISE this episode. It may be among the worst of the series. Just the IDEA that Al would trust Tim with such a project, KNOWING him like he does. I saw this episode the first night it aired, and I hated it. I still hate it now. It's not that it was badly made, the whole concept was just ridiculous. It was predictable, unfunny, and just downright MEAN. I especially hated the scene on Tool Time with Tim and Al fighting with caulking guns. I actually wanted to see it escalate to fisticuffs. It's like they needed filler. I do NOT recommend Al's Video. It's terrible, it's stupid, it's a complete waste of time and it demonstrates that neither Tim nor Al should EVER be trusted with making an instructional video. However, there is one shred of irony. You know all those times Tim joked about firing Al on Tool Time? We know he could never bring himself to do that, which was demonstrated at the beginning of Season 5, so Al firing Tim here is just a bit ironic. The episode still sucks though. Home Improvement is a GREAT show, but let me tell you, when they have a bad episode, they have a BAD episode.
Al's video takes off without a hitch, and he wants to keep it nice and simple, with only 2 days to film. Tim, on the other hand, wants more fancy camera-work, panoramic views of whom he deems the real stars: the tools. He goes over-the-top and out of control, as usual, going so far as to drive away paying customers from Harry's. That, and Harry's constant nagging to be in the video by showing his limited method acting skills forces Al to make a very difficult decision. He takes Tim to dinner at Sarrentino's, you know, the Italian restaurant with the smart-ass waiter, and breaks it to Tim that he wants to get a new director. The Tool Man doesn't take the news lightly, the two get to bickering, then arguing over who will pay the check, with Tim succeeding...and getting a tray of spilled desserts added to it. So Tim goes home to pout about being terminated, which Jill feels was justified after hearing Spielberg only filmed 5 minutes in one day. Anyway, on to Epic Fail Time with Tim and Al still at odds with each other. Today's show is about caulking, so of course they get into a caulking gun fight, with master plumber Felix Myman caught in the middle. It escalates to the point where the dickhead takes out a caulking bazooka and sprays Al, but he just stands there like a bitch and takes it. So hopefully Wilson can calm everybody down and give Tim a few words of wisdom. Pretty much. Bottom line: Tim knows jack about directing and took some much misguided advice. So Tim comes by Harry's as Al prepares his final shot, he's had some humble pie and admitted he was wrong, they make amends...and Al stupidly wants Tim back for the grand finale. Harry says no dice, this is HIS scene, so Al locks him in the backroom and he and Tim shoot the scene. We end this mess with Tim losing all of Jill's work on the computer to play Monkey Town, but then she was dumb enough not to save it first, so they both lose.
I DESPISE this episode. It may be among the worst of the series. Just the IDEA that Al would trust Tim with such a project, KNOWING him like he does. I saw this episode the first night it aired, and I hated it. I still hate it now. It's not that it was badly made, the whole concept was just ridiculous. It was predictable, unfunny, and just downright MEAN. I especially hated the scene on Tool Time with Tim and Al fighting with caulking guns. I actually wanted to see it escalate to fisticuffs. It's like they needed filler. I do NOT recommend Al's Video. It's terrible, it's stupid, it's a complete waste of time and it demonstrates that neither Tim nor Al should EVER be trusted with making an instructional video. However, there is one shred of irony. You know all those times Tim joked about firing Al on Tool Time? We know he could never bring himself to do that, which was demonstrated at the beginning of Season 5, so Al firing Tim here is just a bit ironic. The episode still sucks though. Home Improvement is a GREAT show, but let me tell you, when they have a bad episode, they have a BAD episode.
