Fasten tool belts.
Tim Allen and Richard Karn, perhaps better known as Tim “The Toolman” Taylor and Al Borland of “Tool Time” in the 90s primetime comedy “Home Improvement”, are getting together on a new competitive show on the History Channel.
The makeshift series, dubbed “Assembly Required”, has face-to-face competitors to build wild inventions and home appliance mashups, including a combination of ice melter / leaf blower, a lounger lawn mower and something called a “barbecue bike “, Variety reports. It will open Tuesday at 10 pm
Allen, 67, described it as a “sort of live version of ‘Tool Time'” for reporters at a Television Critics Association press conference on Thursday with Karn, 65, and do it yourself YouTuber April Wilkerson, who will be the show’s resident construction specialist.
The series of 10 episodes every hour has already been filmed – remotely, which proved difficult for a program that is based on playing with physics and scale. The zoom-based criticisms made by the panel of experts were also frequently questioned by technological interruptions – illuminating the lack of access to public services in many rural areas.
“You realize that nationwide Wi-Fi and the ability to gain access to the outside world are not so easy for everyone,” said Karn, during the press panel.
A benefit of the remote aspect, added Wilkerson, is that competitors use their own equipment in their own workspaces and this can encourage viewers at home to start their own projects.
“I think the more people who participate, the more it inspires other people to get into it too. Because, I think, at the root of our DNA, we all want to build and create, ”she said.
Allen and Karn starred in “Home Improvement” together for eight seasons from 1991 to 1999.