CRAZY FOR YOU

Home Improvement

Season 3 (1993)

After the excellent "The Haunting of Taylor House" Home Improvement continued its tradition of top notch Halloween episodes with Season 3’s “Crazy for You.”  This episode relies on the Prank War trope, which I’ve never been all that keen on. Maybe it’s just because pranks and practical jokes were never part of my personal All Hallow’s oeuvre, but this type of storyline always feels better suited to April Fool’s Day than Halloween.  But the good far outweighs the bad here so let’s delve in!

Zombie Tim ponders his options.

After years of Halloween scares at the hands of husband Tim, Jill engineers the ultimate prank, convincing him that he has an obsessed fan named Rose.  With the help of her knockoff Rosie O’Donnell friend (it was the 90s; every female film and sitcom character had a friend who looked and acted like Rosie O’Donnell), Al and even neighbor Wilson, “Rose” sends Tim threatening notes and slowly ups his paranoia, culminating in a confrontation at another lavish Taylor family Halloween party. 

A red-veiled "Rose" creeps up on Tim

Once again my enjoyment of this episode is less for the story than for the awesome party scene.  The Home Improvement set decorators do not disappoint!  Some of the highlights include a giant minotaur, a dummy dressed like the homicidal wheelchair-bound grandfather from Texas Chainsaw Massacre and a decapitated head wine bucket.  There is also a cute Halloween doormat hung on the wall for decoration, which is a great idea. Really, I need to develop some sort of “I Spy” game for the backgrounds of these Home Improvement episodes; I could spend hours studying the decorations!

At one point in this episode Tim asks a phone operator the number for 9-1-1. Tim Allen does the exact same joke in The Santa Clause.  I love it when Halloween and Christmas overlap!

Ignore the Taylor boys (all dressed like Moe from the Three Stooges) and check out the fun witch towel and pot holder set instead!

Recurring Themes: Jill and Tim engage in a Prank War.

Halloween Quotient: While I’m not the biggest fan of the whole “prank war” subgenre there are plenty of Halloween goodies to enjoy, so this gets a 3.

See It, Skip It, Own It?

Definite fun for the Halloween season, so see it and enjoy!