For years, Phoenix-based artist Sean T French has been showing his futuristic sculptures in local galleries and gatherings like Burning Man.
Now, the rest of the world will get a peek at his body of work, which often blends history, science, and mythology: He s appearing on a new TV series called
Assembly Required, which premieres February 23 on the History Channel at 8 p.m., Phoenix time.
French is one of three makers featured on the first episode of the show, which is hosted by Tim Allen and Richard Karn, who starred in the 90s sitcom
Home Improvement, along with DIY woodworker and YouTube personality April Wilkerson. The network describes it as “a new competition series that spotlights the best and brightest builders from across the country.”
Richard Karn (L) and Tim Allen reunite to host Assembly Required. Photo courtesy of History Channel
Richard Karn (L) and Tim Allen try out flamethrowers on Assembly Required. Photo courtesy of History Channel
Tim Allen hosts Assembly Required on the History Channel. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 23 (UPI) Tim Allen and Richard Karn, who played co-hosts of fictional show
Tool Time on
Assembly Required as much the same characters. This is an expansion of that relationship, Allen said on a recent Television Critics Association Zoom panel ahead of Tuesday s premiere. We re very similar to the characters we play in that show.
USA TODAY
If Tim Allen and Richard Karn reuniting for a reality building competition reminds you of their classic sitcom Home Improvement, that s the point.
History Channel s Assembly Required (premiering Tuesday, 10 EST/PST) lets the pair be exactly like we were in Tool Time, the DIY show-within-a-show in ABC s former hit sitcom Home Improvement, Allen told a Television Critics Association panel last week.
Joined by DIY woodworking expert and YouTube star April Wilkerson, Allen and Karn will oversee a competition between makers across the country as they build a variety of contraptions from a dual, all-season ice-melter/leaf blower and all-in-one riding comfort mower to a do-it-yourself jacuzzi and BBQ bicycle, the network says.
KXLY
February 23, 2021 4:00 AM Matt Roush, TV Insider
Posted:
Updated:
A selective critical checklist of notable Tuesday TV:
Assembly Required (10/9c, The History Channel): Can it really be 30 years ago this fall that
Home Improvement exploded on the sitcom scene? Best not to dwell on such things and just enjoy the camaraderie of former
Tool Time pals Tim Allen (aka Tim Taylor) and Richard Karn (Al Borland) as they banter their way through their hosting duties on a new competition series all about building cool stuff. “Yeah baby!” Allen regularly shouts as he and Karn watch three builders go to work, remotely, in their workshops. First is a “Make or Break” challenge where they have 90 minutes to construct an item from materials delivered in a mystery box. (First project: a fire extinguisher.) The two who score highest on quality, design and functionality move on to a five-day “Run With It” challenge, where inventing something new say, a combination l
BRUCE R. MILLER
Tim Allen and Richard Karn werenât just toolinâ around on âHome Improvement.â They actually do like tinkering in a workshop.
âI like taking stuff apart,â Allen says by Zoom from his expansive home shop. âIâm pretty good, but Iâm very confused about plumbing.â Karn is equally at home in a shop but, like Allen, says, âPlumbing is a little bit out of my reach.â
Now, sans plumbing, the two are joining forces for âAssembly Required,â a 10-part reality competition that pits builder against builder, repurposing household items.
Itâs âTool Time,â you might say, for experts.