Assembly Required

I am 42 years old so Home Improvement is one show I always watched and loved as a teenager. Tim and Richard are still pretty good in this. Solid banter. Most of the makers (contestants) are pretty talented and watchable. As far as April Wilkerson, I actually watched a handful of her YouTube videos 2-4 years ago and found her somewhat talented and interesting. On this show she adds nothing. Her scenes are all completely scripted. Almost cringeworthy actually. I just don't buy for a second that she knows many if any of the "hacks" she does.

I have to start by saying I was a producer on 2 episodes of Assembly Required. It's not often that I watch the content which I produce. In this case, I couldn't wait to see the show. Sean T French was one of my makers. To see this episode lead off the series was thrilling to say the least. To me, the cast and crew of this show has been nothing short of phenomenal. These are the projects I find to be a true joy to be involved with. At times in the television and film business, our careers reach a point of near 'stalemate'. It's shows like these which breed new life into a tired career. I cannot thank Justin Healey enough for allowing me to be a part of this show, I truly enjoyed my experience. Thank you for the opportunity to be involved with such a fun production! Cheers!!

What happened to Tim Allen? I'm a big fan, and only on episode 1, but Tim seems drunk or sedated on pain meds. He's slow, his eyes are bloodshot, and his eyes are glassed over and don't blink in sync. I had to check IMDB to see if he's had any recent medical issues such as a stroke.

The content of the show just seems to drag on, and the banter between Tim and Karn is painful to watch. I'm not sure of their purpose, other than to just give a play-by-play analysis. Also don't like the format, as mentioned, the play-by-play and the remote aspect of the show. Maybe if Tim and Karn had more interaction and hands-on.

Like the builds featured on the show, some extra polish and finishing touches are needed. The premise is solid and the best part is watching what the contestants can take from their mind's eye and put into action. I think one of the difficulties for the show is that it is done remotely. That can't be easy for social interaction between the contestants the hosts, which, if improved, would be beneficial for the show. The banter with Tim, Richard and April is good. More April would be nice. She has talent and I'm sure has more than her simple hacks they show. Maybe show how she would fix the purposely sent problem to the builders in the second round? Seeing her fix would be cool. One annoyance I have is the obvious product placement with Google and iFixIt. Google has been used for verbal internet searches, setting a timer, and simple math. Wow, so amazing... not. I'm sure the small tools/bits from the iFixIt kits are useful but viewers don't see that shown explicitly.

Maybe we had high expectations because of the cast and the concept. However, the humor felt forced and jokes fell flat. Possibly everything was a bit too scripted. Possibly it didn't work because of the Zoom format (necessary I know). It all seemed more suited to a 15 minute YouTube video. Makes me sad, hopefully they'll fix what didn't work. I'd love to see this succeed.