Home Improvement star Tim Allen is to star in and exec produce a non-scripted building series for History.
The actor who played Tool Time star Tim Taylor on the ABC sitcom for eight seasons, will be joined by his Home Improvement co-star Richard Karn in Assembly Required(w/t).
The ten-part series will spotlight the best and brightest builders from across the country, at their home workshops, as they compete to breathe new life into everyday household items in desperate need of fixing. In each episode, Allen and Karn will also dive into the history around these items to celebrate the men and women who crafted them, and the techniques used.
The series is produced by Wheelhouse Entertainment’s Spoke Studios, ITV America and Boxing Cat Entertainment. Exec producers include Allen, Karn, Brent Montgomery, Ed Simpson, Joe Weinstock, Will Nothacker, Simon Thomas, Vince Cariati, Katherine D. Fox, Eli Lehrer, Mary E. Donahue and Max Micallef.
“We’re living in a throwaway society,” said Allen. “We buy, break, replace… rinse and repeat. Whatever happened to repair and rebuild? There are some people who unfriend, unfollow and dispose of anything that offends, annoys or breaks so I’ve created a show to remind people of the satisfaction and pride that comes from rebuilding something on their own. And who better to join me than my buddy from the old Tool Time days – Richard Karn.”
Rob Sharenow, President of Programming at A+E Networks, speaking about the show in a panel, moderated by Deadline, at the virtual Edinburgh International TV Festival, described the format as Forged In Fire for mechanical building.
Sharenow admitted that some of its long-running formats, which include Pawn Stars, Forged In Fire and American Pickers, may end soon, hence the search for new titles.
“I think we’ve had so many highly successful formats that we’ve grown a little fat on them and some of them could be sidled out and we need to replace some of those heavy hitters with new formats and that’s a big priority for us,” he said.
Sharenow added that it was also working on a core history format that explored the genre in a new way with talent. “Contemporizing the voice of history through these formats is something that I’m highly motivated to do,” he said.