4 days ago
Home Improvement Episode Goes Viral For Being Woke
It's no exaggeration to say that there's an entire section of society who are quick to diminish any display of equality or morality as 'woke' or 'leftist' these days, with much of their disdain for these things seemingly stemming from the misconception that being 'politically correct' is a new and unwarranted phenomenon.
Which is why a resurfaced clip from the '90s sitcom Home Improvement has caused quite a stir, with viewers pointing out that the overriding message of the episode would spark outrage from this particular group of people if it were to air on our TVs today.
For reference, Home Improvement followed the life of DIY TV show host Tim Taylor, played by Tim Allen, his wife Jill, and their three sons. It originally aired on ABC between 1991 and 1999.
And earlier this week, scenes from the Season 6 episode 'The Feminine Mistake" went viral on TikTok for the lesson Tim teaches his son Brad, played by Zachery Ty Bryan. The episode initially aired in May 1997, and shows Brad telling his girlfriend Angela to make him a sandwich — also suggesting that she make one for his dad, too.
'I don't need Angela to make me a sandwich,' Tim tells Brad, who insists: 'She doesn't mind,' which Angela echoes. Tim reiterates: 'I don't need you to make me a sandwich, thanks.'
'Very smooth, Brad,' Tim says to his son when they are alone in the next scene. 'I'm talking about you and Angela; the way you snapped your fingers, and she just jumped into action… You ever wonder why she does stuff like that?'
'She enjoys it,' Brad responds, but Tim argues: 'I'm not so sure. Sometimes girls do that because they're afraid if they don't do stuff like that, men won't like them.'
'You're just saying that because you ended up marrying someone like Mom,' Brad says, prompting a furious 'excuse me?!' from his father.
'I didn't 'end up' with Mom, I love her. I love her because she's a strong woman,' Tim asserts, to which Brad asks: 'You like that she gives you a hard time?
When Tim says that he does, Brad asks: 'And you think that's good?' and Tim reasons: 'Well, I don't know, it works for me… But maybe having Angela as your sandwich girl works for you, your whole life is sandwiches!'
Later, Brad stops Angela from making him a sandwich, and when she insists that she doesn't mind, he says: 'Well, I do,' later adding: 'I like you… I don't think a girl should do stuff for a guy when he can do it on his own.'
Since being posted to TikTok, this clip has been liked almost 200k times, and racked up thousands of comments — with many of them saying the same thing.'this would be called woke today,' a popular comment reads. Somebody else echoed: 'They tried to do a story like this these days MAGA would call it 'woke' and call for a boycott of everyone involved.''Funny how back then the audience would have perceived the dad as a 'good man', whereas now the same audience would call him 'woke/soft/leftist,'' another user added.'now you would have 300 guys complaining it's woke,' one more agreed, while somebody else observed: 'It's almost like 'wokeness' that people keep referring to has always been there, it just wasn't wrapped up in inflated egos fueled by political rhetoric.'And one more concluded: 'I got so many of my lessons in being a man from 90s sitcoms. Just human lessons, not activists lessons.'
