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The wild success of ABC’s “Home Improvement” may have only resulted in one spin-off, but Tim Allen’s Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor found his way over to Dan Aykroyd’s “Soul Man” long before the two co-starred together in 2004’s “Christmas with the Kranks.” Though Aykroyd’s series wasn’t a direct spin-off, Tim Taylor’s visit to Reverend Mike Weber’s (Aykroyd) Royal Oak, Michigan, confirmed that “Home Improvement” and “Soul Man” took place in the same universe. Both shows were created by Carmen Finestra, David McFadzean and Matt Williams.
The underseen “Soul Man” – which premiered in 1997 and aired two seasons — followed Mike Weber as he juggled his responsibilities as a widowed father of four with his church and its congregation’s wacky hijinks.
How did Home Improvement and Soul Man cross over?
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While the “Soul Man” pilot episode stood on its own despite sharing a creative team with “Home Improvement,” it wasn’t long before Tim Taylor made his way from suburban Detroit to Royal Oak. Tim Allen guest starred in the series’ second episode, “Communion Wine and Convicts,” where his traditional brand of construction whoopsie daisies resulted in a holy water basin mishap.
Allen’s Tim Taylor wasn’t the only “Home Improvement” guest visit, either. Richard Karn’s Al Borland made his way over to “Soul Man” for the Season 1 finale, “Cinderella and the Funeral.” In Season 2, Zachery Ty Bryan’s Brad Taylor headed over for “Public Embarrassment and Todd’s First Sermon” and, eventually, Dan Aykroyd’s Reverend Weber appeared on “Home Improvement” to act as Al Borland’s priest.
It’s worth mentioning that “Soul Man” sat in the primetime 8 p.m. timeslot, which meant tough competition from other networks. When the decision was made to pull the series from ABC’s lineup, the creators went on record about their displeasure over their perceived mistreatment of their show with The L.A. Times. Matt Williams even went so far as to call out Bob Iger directly, alleging that the ABC president at the time “has never seen eye to eye creatively with us.”
