Grunt Work: THE Podcast about the TV Show Home Improvement – Details, episodes & analysis

Hey Gruntheads!

We wanted to give you a preview of our new show Movie Memory Machine, a podcast dedicated to forgotten movies. 

If you like what you hear, subscribe to Movie Memory Machine wherever you listen to podcasts. New episodes drop every Friday.

Movie Memory Machine is a forgotten movie podcast. Each week the Machine sends us backward and forward through time and forces us to watch a wide release film that history has forgotten, then decide if we should send it back to modern memory or leave it drifting in the ether of space.

This episode the Machine sends us to August 4, 2006 to watch the Nickelodeon animated film Barnyard, with voices by Kevin James, Courtney Cox, and Sam Elliot.

The animals at a sleepy little farm deep in the country have a big secret: whenever the farmer isn’t looking, they all walk on two legs, talk, and engage in all sorts of lighthearted shenanigans. The leader of the animals is Ben (voiced by Sam Elliott), a tough and stoic Holstein cow who keeps all the others in line, makes sure humans don’t find about their anthropomorphic lifestyle, and defends the farm from the vicious coyotes that lurk beyond the fence. His carefree son Otis (voiced by Kevin James) is more interested in goofing around with his friends than learning the principles of leadership - until Ben dies in a coyote attack, and it falls to Otis to lead the farm. As he struggles to balance his inner party animal with the new responsibilities that have been thrust upon him, Otis relies on the wisdom of his friend Miles the Mule (voiced by Danny Glover) and flirts with Daisy (voiced by Courtney Cox), a widowed pregnant cow who has just arrived on the farm. 

Written and directed by Steve Oedekerk.

Support the Machine to keep it running for as little as $1/month over at Patreon.

Movie Memory Machine is part of the Grunt Work Podcasts network. For more information on today’s episode, visit moviememorymachine.com.

Theme song by Porky’s Groove Machine.

Special thanks to Nate DuFort.

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Transmitting April 26, 2024 — subscribe now on your favorite podcatcher or visit https://www.moviememorymachine.com/

Movie Memory Machine is a podcast dedicated to films that are forgotten but not gone.

Each week the Machine sends us backward and forward through time and forces us to blow the dust off a wide release film that history has forgotten to decide if we should send it back to modern memory or leave it drifting in the ether of space.

Title: Joe Somebody (2001)

Joe Schaffer is leading a humdrum life that he never wanted, a low-level communications employee at a pharmaceutical company, but when he is confronted by the company bully and slapped in front of his daughter, he vows to turn his life around.

This episode was originally released: Jan 11, 2024

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Title: Insult to Injury

Season, Episode: Season 6, Episode 21

Broadcast date: Apr 15, 1997

Starring: Tim Allen, Patricia Richardson, Richard Karn, Earl Hindman, Zachery Ty Bryan, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Taran Noah Smith, and Debbe Dunning

Guest Starring: Marcelo Tubert, Michael Holden, Derek Wilder, Chet Nichols, Rick Cramer

Directed by: Geoffrey Nelson

Written by: Eric Horsted

This podcast episode was originally released: Aug 18, 2021

Episode Synopsis: Tim is over the moon when he learns that his next episode of Tool Time will break Bob Vila's record for most consecutive tool show appearances - and to mark the occasion, Al and Heidi have arranged for a live on-location shoot where Tim can lay asphalt using a steamroller. But when Tim badly injures his shoulder the day before the shoot, his doctor informs him that he'll need emergency surgery and cannot film the show. Unwilling to be shown up by his nemesis Bob Vila, Tim sneaks out of the hospital to film his record breaking show - and gets so badly re-injured in the process that he has to miss the air show he was going to take Mark to that weekend. With Mark and Jill both furious at him, Tim has to figure out a way heal his son's opinion of him while healing his shoulder injury.

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Title: My Son, the Driver

Season, Episode: Season 6, Episode 20

Broadcast date: Apr 1, 1997

Starring: Tim Allen, Patricia Richardson, Richard Karn, Earl Hindman, Zachery Ty Bryan, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Taran Noah Smith, and Debbe Dunning

Guest Starring: Tammy Lauren, George DeHoyo, Al Unser, Al Unser Jr., Al Richard Unser

Directed by: Andrew Tsao

Written by: Laurie Gelman

This podcast episode was originally released: Aug 4, 2021

Episode Synopsis: Brad has just gotten his driver’s license, and Jill is a nervous wreck. Before Brad takes the car out to celebrate with his friends, Jill sets a lengthy list of safety rules and insists that he be home by 10:00. Tim and Jill go to dinner with friends, where she spends the entire evening worrying about Brad getting into a car crash. Eventually, Brad calls to let them know he did get into a minor accident when he backed into a phone pole. In reality though, Brad rear-ended another driver and is lying to his parents so they won’t take away his driving privileges. But when his brothers blackmail him to play along with his lie, the driver he hit threatens to sue him, and the guilt over deceiving his parents begins to mount, Brad finally comes clean and accepts the consequences.

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Title: Communication Breakdown

Season, Episode: Season 6, Episode 19

Broadcast date: Mar 11, 1997

Starring: Tim Allen, Patricia Richardson, Richard Karn, Earl Hindman, Zachery Ty Bryan, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Taran Noah Smith, and Debbe Dunning

Guest Starring: David DeLuise, Shirley Prestia, Blake Clark

Directed by: Geoffrey Nelson

Written by: Eric Horsted

This podcast episode was originally released: Jul 28, 2021

Episode Synopsis: Between Tim, Jill, and three teenaged boys, there's a lot of competition for the phone at the Taylor house - resulting in a testy argument between Tim and Mark when the boy refuses to get off the phone. When Tim finds out that Harry's son Dennis has a job installing home automation systems and other technology, he jumps at the chance to get a second phone line installed. But when Dennis has to leave halfway through the installation, Tim fiddles with the exposed wires and winds up ruining all of the house's phone lines - and when Harry finds out, he's furious at his son for leaving a job undone with Tim on the prowl. Harry and Dennis's conflict threatens to leave the Taylors phoneless - and prompts Tim to reconsider his own harsh treatment of Mark.

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Title: Something Old, Something Blue

Season, Episode: Season 6, Episode 18

Broadcast date: Feb 25, 1997

Starring: Tim Allen, Patricia Richardson, Richard Karn, Earl Hindman, Zachery Ty Bryan, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Taran Noah Smith, and Debbe Dunning

Guest Starring: Sherry Hursey, Blake Clark, Jimmy Labriola, Tammy Lauren, William O’Leary, Keith Lehman, Milton Canady

Directed by: John Pasquin

Written by: Elliot Shoenman, Marley Sims

This podcast episode was originally released: Jul 22, 2021

Episode Synopsis: At long last, Al is getting married to his longtime sweetheart Ilene. But when he confesses to Tim at his bachelor party that he’s been having second thoughts, Tim takes him to Jill to try and convince him that this wedding is the right idea. Al decides to go through with it, and on the day of the wedding Jill learns from Ilene that she too is having second thoughts. Moments before going to the altar, Al and Ilene finally have an honest conversation about their feelings and decide to call off the wedding.

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Title: Wilson’s World

Season, Episode: Season 6, Episode 17

Broadcast date: Feb 18, 1997

Starring: Tim Allen, Patricia Richardson, Richard Karn, Earl Hindman, Zachery Ty Bryan, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Taran Noah Smith, and Debbe Dunning

Guest Starring: Jimmy Labriola, Blake Clark, Adam Lawson, Robert Forrest, Jennie Vaughn, Josh Di Donato, Ray Pieva, Richard Phillips

Directed by: Andrew Tsao

Written by: Jennifer Celota

This podcast episode was originally released: Jul 15, 2021

Episode Synopsis: When Wilson attends a coffee house open mic night to share some wild stories from his world travels, he is humbled by a review from a theater critic who complains that he's out of touch with everyday Americans. Determined to get in touch with the common folk, Wilson starts shopping at big box stores, buying tons of pork rinds, and invites Tim and the guys over to watch the big game. Meanwhile, Tim and Al compete to see who can make the most delicious pairing of two seemingly unrelated foods.

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Title: A Funny Valentine

Season, Episode: Season 6, Episode 16

Broadcast date: Feb 11, 1997

Starring: Tim Allen, Patricia Richardson, Richard Karn, Earl Hindman, Zachery Ty Bryan, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Taran Noah Smith, and Debbe Dunning

Guest Starring: Anne Francis, Janeanne Garofalo, Anthony Russell

Directed by: Peter Bonerz

Written by: Charlie Hauck

This podcast episode was originally released: Jul 7, 2021

Episode Synopsis: Tim receives an invitation to meet with Liddy Talbot, a lounge singer who was the mother of one of his high school classmates. At a hotel bar where she’s singing, Liddy explains that she and Tim’s father dated before he met Tim’s mother. Liddy alludes to the fact that she and Tim’s father remained close after they broke up. Tim grows worried that his father had an affair with Liddy and he flees the meeting before he can learn anything else, not wanting to compromise his memories of his father as a decent man. After a chat with Wilson, Tim decides he needs to know the truth about his father no matter what and returns to the hotel. Liddy tells Tim that she and his father were nothing more than friends after they broke up, and that he loaned her money to buy her first piano - a debt that she now wants to repay to Tim.

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Title: Totally Tool Time

Season, Episode: Season 6, Episode 15

Broadcast date: Jan 28, 1997

Starring: Tim Allen, Patricia Richardson, Richard Karn, Earl Hindman, Zachery Ty Bryan, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Taran Noah Smith, and Debbe Dunning

Guest Starring: Harry Groener, Craig Richard Nelson, Gretchen German, Drew Carey, Peter Bonerz, Bo Brundin, Fredrik Cavil, David Powledge, Eric Saiet, Marilece Andrada, Milton Canady

Directed by: Peter Bonerz

Written by: Jon Vandergriff

This podcast episode was originally released: Jun 30, 2021

Episode Synopsis: Uff da! A group of Swedish broadcasters have arrived at Tool Time to see about buying the rights to air the show in Europe, and Tim, Al and their anxious producer Fred have to put on the best show of all time so they can make a good impression and become international superstars. With some help from Wilson, a manly gym and a special guest from the Cleveland area, they pull out all the stops to try and impress their Scandinavian guests - but things keep going wrong!

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