Sorry, Netflix fans, the streaming giant is going to be pulling a fan-favorite show off the platform in the coming days. Home Improvement, the 90s sitcom starring Tim Allen, will no longer be available on the platform from August 2.
Videos by Wide Open Country
The iconic show, built around Tim 'The Tool Man' Taylor and his family, continues to be a draw for fans, both millennial and boomer alike. Home Improvement first hit our television screens back in 1991, with its debut occurring on September 17.
Allen played the accident-prone Taylor, who often struggled to balance life and family commitments while usually struggling to accomplish tasks he'd set out to do on his live show. With a solid blend of realistic life problems, calamitous comedy and relatability, Home Improvement ran for eight seasons. That's a total of 2024 episodes.
During the show's run, it consistently ranked within Nielsen's top 10 ratings for viewership.
Despite being dated, Home Improvement continues to draw viewers. Of course, most of those viewers check in for nostalgic purposes or view the sitcom as a comfort show. Therefore, there will be countless Netflix users who will be disappointed by this turn of events.
Netflix Isn't To Blame
According to Suggest, the decision to remove Home Improvement from Netflix's offering doesn't come from the company itself. Disney owns the rights to the sitcom, and as usual, after roughly 18 months, they tend to remove access for companies outside of their umbrella.
"Turns out, Disney isn't exactly known for sharing its toys. ...Licensing agreements mean Disney shows typically stick around on Netflix for just 18 months before heading back to the vault (or their own streaming platforms)," Suggest reported. "So blame the mouse, not the platform, for yanking Tim Taylor's toolbelt off your screen."
Fortunately, Home Improvement is heading off to a digital junkyard somewhere. Instead, it will now be available to stream on Disney+. Of course, if you only have a Netflix subscription, that's not going to help you very much.
Nevertheless, in the age of multiple streaming outlets, all battling each other for monthly subscribers, platforms have to do what's best for them. In this case, Disney is bringing a popular show into it's offering, and for them, that's another big win.
