25 years after Home Improvement came to an end, Patricia Richardson what really caused the hit sitcom to go off the air.
During a recent interview with The Los Angeles Times, Richardson, who played the leading lady Jill Taylor, stated that ABC pulled the plug on the TV show over an equal pay proposal.
“When I took the job, they said it wasn’t meant to be the Tim Allen show,” she explained. “It was meant to be our show.”
However, Patricia Richardson noted that when it came to equal pay and credit on Home Improvement, she and Tim Allen weren’t at the same level.
During the show’s third season, Richardson recalled managing to renegotiate her contract to have four episodes per season to focus on Jill. There was also a profit share point that entitled her to a backend percentage of the series’ earnings.
“I knew that residuals just get less and less,” Richardson said. “And I felt that I am going to end up being a huge part of whatever this show is. It’s going to work because of me almost as much as because of Tim.”
Patricia Richardson also said that she was able to give her input on her Home Improvement character. But she was denied any producer credit. She noted that was allegedly due to a fear that it would set a precedent for other actors.
Meanwhile, she pointed out that her co-star Tim Allen was credited as an executive producer during the show’s first season. He later was executive producer for the show’s sixth season.
Patricia Richardson Says She Used the Pay Disparity Between Her and Tim Allen to Leave ‘Home Improvement’
While continuing to reflect on her time at Home Improvement, Patricia Richardson said she was ready to leave the show by the time it reached its eighth season. This was due to her wanting to spend more time with her children following her divorce from her ex-husband Ray Baker.
Richardson said at that time she was receiving $1 million per episode. However, her co-star Tim Allen was making $2 million for each episode. She said she used the pay disparity to her advantage.
In her proposal, she said ABC should pay her the same amount as Allen. She also asked to give her executive producer title. If the studio didn’t meet her contract’s demands, she said she was prepared to walk away.
“I knew that Disney would in no way pay me that much,” Richardson said. “That was my way to say ‘no’ and was a little bit of a flip-off to Disney. I’d been there all this time, and they never even paid me a third of what Tim was making, and I was working my ass off. I was a big reason why women were watching.”
When her proposal was rejected, it was announced that Home Improvement was canceled. She went on to address the tension between her and Allen afterward.
“I was mad at Tim because he was leaving me alone being the only person saying no,” Richardson declared. “Which made me feel terrible and like the bad guy and he was upset with me for leaving.”
The duo eventually reunited on the small screen. Richardson appeared on Allen’s hit sitcom Last Man Standing in 2015. But Richardson added that she and Allen don’t keep in touch.