If you were around in the '90s, you probably grew up hearing the familiar “Huh?!” sound on the decade's long-running sitcom, Home Improvement. Love it or hate it, the Tim Allen-led show about the Taylor family, led by the overconfident Tim The Toolman, was pretty ubiquitous during its eight-season run, even winning seven Primetime Emmys. But at some point in 1999, the show went off the air and the “Huh?!” sound stopped appearing in prime time. He left behind a legacy that included Jonathan Taylor Thomas, the often-unseen wearable neighbor Wilson, and Alleged misconduct by Tim Allen and on record terrible opinions.

It wasn't until 2024 that another layer was added to the show's legacy when co-star Patricia Richardson, who played Tim's long-suffering wife Jill, spoke to Los Angeles Times for the 25th anniversary of the show's final season, revealing that a pay dispute ultimately led to the show's demise. Like many sitcoms that came before and after it, from "seinfeld" on "Friends" of "The Big Bang Theory" salary negotiations played a role in the show's plans for future seasons. In this case, however, Richardson says she wanted to leave the show late in its run, and studio executives' apparent reluctance to fix the huge gender pay gap sealed the deal.

Home Improvement aired on ABC and debuted before its parent company merged with Disney, but was also produced by Disney-owned Touchstone Television. Richardson was under contract to Disney when she began playing Jill on the show, and told the LA Times that she regularly provided creative behind-the-scenes input on the show. According to Richardson and writer/co-executive producer Rosalind Moore, Richardson would push back against some of the show's script decisions (which were primarily made by men), helping to create a richer character for herself in the process. This was reportedly not unusual for the show either, as she and Allen usually gave feedback to the writers and producers during read-throughs.

However, despite her influence on the series, Richardson said she was never given the producer credit she sought. (Allen, meanwhile, executive produced 77 episodes of the show.) According to Richardson, the explanation she was given was that if she got the credit, the other actors would want one too. However, she was able to hold out in negotiations, achieving a profit-sharing clause and a guarantee of four episodes centered on her character per season during a 1993 contract renegotiation. According to Richardson, however, she consistently earned less than a third of Allen's salary throughout the show's run.

Fast forward a few years, and Richardson was ready to leave the series. “I told everybody, there's not enough money in the world to make me do the ninth year. This show is over. It needs to end," she told the LA Times. Between Richardson wanting to spend more time with her family, the influx of new directors, and Thomas' departure, work just wasn't the same for her. ABC apparently really wanted another season, although it appears that Home Improvement was hit consistent rating), and offered Allen $2 million per episode for 25 more episodes, according to Richardson. Meanwhile, she was offered $1 million per episode - a very large amount, but still half of her co-star's offer. This is a frustratingly common problem that many, many women talk about. In 2017, Natalie Portman summed it up with telling the Guardian"Compared to men, in most occupations, women earn 80 cents on the dollar. "In Hollywood we make 30 cents on the dollar."

Richardson countered the expected but frustrating lowball with his own proposal: $2 million per episode and an executive producer credit — the same things Allen already had or is now offering him. “I knew there was no way Disney was going to pay me that much. It was my way of saying no and it was a bit of a flip for Disney,” Richardson explained. "I've been there all this time and they've never paid me a third of what Tim did and I've been working hard. I was a big reason why women were watching." She was right. The offer was declined, and in what was perhaps a testament to how important her role was to the show, apparently no one was really considering continuing Home Improvement without Richardson.

Although they reunited for the TV show "Last Man Standing," it sounds like Allen and Richardson's relationship was complicated by her taking a stand for herself in the negotiations, especially since Allen had already said yes to the deal. "I was mad at Tim for leaving me alone to be the only person saying no, which made me feel awful and like the bad guy," she explained, "and he was upset with me for leaving." Strangely, art will imitate life in the series finale of Home Improvement, when Tim was offered a raise and an executive producer credit to continue filming his show, Tool Time, but ultimately turned it down for to allow Jill to follow her dream of working. as a child psychologist in Indiana.

It's a sweet conclusion to a show that hasn't always put its female lead — the glue that holds its fictional family together — first. It's a shame that the real gender politics playing out behind the scenes were a lot messier than the Taylor family's happy ending.