Tim and Al show the viewing audience on Tool Time how to touch up ceiling texture, by using Binford 6100 Acoustical Spray. Despite the directions saying not to add too much water, Tim pours in the entire cup, forgoing a traditional measuring cup for a much more reliable system: his eye. Miraculously, he adds the spray without any mishap. Al admires it and says he'd be proud to have this ceiling in his living room...and then, right on cue, it craps on him. At home, Brad tries to have a sophisticated phone conversation with Ashley, swearing there is no other girl in his life, in his room, but unfortunately, since he shares the room with Randy, he comes in and starts acting like a jackass. So Brad chases him downstairs, Randy laughing like a loon. Tim and Jill manage to break them up and send them off to school, wondering what to do about their oldest sons' persistent fighting. Tim hits upon the solution of separate bedrooms...but unfortunately he won't be allowed to build another one until Season 5, so he'll have to make do with what they've already got. So, he thinks they should move Brad into Mark's room and Mark in to Randy's room, whether they like it or not, because Tim feels a parent's strict authority should never be questioned. I don't see this working out right at all. Sure, Brad will benefit from having his own room, but that puts Randy and Mark at a disadvantage: having to share a room, and they're, like, 4 years apart.
Soundproofing is the subject at hand on Fool Time, and it just so happens Tim and his crew have built a soundproof booth, but it's only soundproof as far as Al knows. Tim steps inside and you can't hear a word he says, and he's never sounded better. However, when Al is invited to try out the booth, he discovers Tim's ruse too late. Right after he disses his haircut and sings I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General, making a flannel spectacle of himself. Back at home, those little wiener-heads are still fighting over their room, so Tim tries to intervene, first going with Jill's suggestion of talking to them like mature human beings to get to the bottom of their fighting, and when that doesn't work, Tim puts his foot down and says they're switching rooms. Brad likes the idea, but as expected, Randy hates it. As for Mark, he's reluctant at first, but Tim tells him this will be a nice way for he and Randy to bond, perhaps even team up against Brad. When Jill gets home, she's peeved that Tim went and made the decision without consulting her and allowing them all to discuss it as a family, then it becomes a battle of the genders as Tim says men make decisions faster than women. After that, he consults Wilson about whether or not he did the right thing. Wilson compares the situation with Brad and Randy to wart removal: just cutting it off won't do, you have to dig beneath the surface. Meanwhile, Jill talks with Randy, the shafted middle child who wants his own room, but can't until Season 5. She tells him about her own experiences not getting her own room as a child and always living in the shadow of her older sister who got to wear a bra first. Long story short...too late... she tells him to make the best of it any way he can. After that, Jill and Tim finally come to terms, more or less, realizing the problem with Randy is that Brad is growing up and leaving him behind. You know something? History has a way of repeating itself: because NOW, Randy and Mark are fighting over the room! However, SOME good does come of this ill-advised plan, as it seems Brad and Randy's little feud is dying down and they seem to get on better than they had been. So, at least THAT worked out.
In closing, let's reflect on what we've learned from this episode: 1) if you're going to have kids, have only one. But if for some strange reason you feel you just have to have more, make sure you PLAN ahead and get a house with enough bedrooms to sustain the infinite number of kids you plan on having. And 2) sometimes hasty decisions DO work out...more or less. So, was Tim right in separating the boys the way he did? Well, from his point of view, he saw it as the only option. Incidentally, have you ever noticed that their bedroom has NO blankets on the beds? What's up with that? Now, I'm sure many parents in the audience have preteen and teen kids who have to share a room and fight over it on a daily basis, and so their only option seems to be to separate them. All in all, Room for Change is an OKAY episode. I think it would've felt more satisfying if the Taylors only had two kids, because with this arrangement, Mark gets the shaft. And Randy will get his own room in the fifth season, as stated before, and as for Tim's idea of Randy and Mark bonding and turning against Brad, it actually turns out, later in Season 8, that Brad and Mark bond when Randy moves out, but that's another story.
Soundproofing is the subject at hand on Fool Time, and it just so happens Tim and his crew have built a soundproof booth, but it's only soundproof as far as Al knows. Tim steps inside and you can't hear a word he says, and he's never sounded better. However, when Al is invited to try out the booth, he discovers Tim's ruse too late. Right after he disses his haircut and sings I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General, making a flannel spectacle of himself. Back at home, those little wiener-heads are still fighting over their room, so Tim tries to intervene, first going with Jill's suggestion of talking to them like mature human beings to get to the bottom of their fighting, and when that doesn't work, Tim puts his foot down and says they're switching rooms. Brad likes the idea, but as expected, Randy hates it. As for Mark, he's reluctant at first, but Tim tells him this will be a nice way for he and Randy to bond, perhaps even team up against Brad. When Jill gets home, she's peeved that Tim went and made the decision without consulting her and allowing them all to discuss it as a family, then it becomes a battle of the genders as Tim says men make decisions faster than women. After that, he consults Wilson about whether or not he did the right thing. Wilson compares the situation with Brad and Randy to wart removal: just cutting it off won't do, you have to dig beneath the surface. Meanwhile, Jill talks with Randy, the shafted middle child who wants his own room, but can't until Season 5. She tells him about her own experiences not getting her own room as a child and always living in the shadow of her older sister who got to wear a bra first. Long story short...too late... she tells him to make the best of it any way he can. After that, Jill and Tim finally come to terms, more or less, realizing the problem with Randy is that Brad is growing up and leaving him behind. You know something? History has a way of repeating itself: because NOW, Randy and Mark are fighting over the room! However, SOME good does come of this ill-advised plan, as it seems Brad and Randy's little feud is dying down and they seem to get on better than they had been. So, at least THAT worked out.
In closing, let's reflect on what we've learned from this episode: 1) if you're going to have kids, have only one. But if for some strange reason you feel you just have to have more, make sure you PLAN ahead and get a house with enough bedrooms to sustain the infinite number of kids you plan on having. And 2) sometimes hasty decisions DO work out...more or less. So, was Tim right in separating the boys the way he did? Well, from his point of view, he saw it as the only option. Incidentally, have you ever noticed that their bedroom has NO blankets on the beds? What's up with that? Now, I'm sure many parents in the audience have preteen and teen kids who have to share a room and fight over it on a daily basis, and so their only option seems to be to separate them. All in all, Room for Change is an OKAY episode. I think it would've felt more satisfying if the Taylors only had two kids, because with this arrangement, Mark gets the shaft. And Randy will get his own room in the fifth season, as stated before, and as for Tim's idea of Randy and Mark bonding and turning against Brad, it actually turns out, later in Season 8, that Brad and Mark bond when Randy moves out, but that's another story.
