Richard Karn said Monday that Assembly Required will return but with a new name. Fans rejoiced at the news. The History Channel show’s fate has lingered in limbo since the first season ended in April.
Karn responded to a fan that the reality competition show will return but under the name More Power. It’s a reference to co-host Tim Allen’s catchphrase from their beloved 1990s sitcom Home Improvement.
The History Channel hasn’t confirmed the return of Assembly Required or the name change as of Monday afternoon. It’s also unclear when fans can expect to see new episodes. But that didn’t stop them from celebrating.
“More power is a great name. Always used to love the calamities caused by going over the top on Home Improvement. Classic wig being sucked into the Air Conditioning scene comes to mind,” one fan posted.
“OMG are you serious!?! You just made my day and my heart explode with happiness!! Thank you for giving us this bright light to look forward to!!!!” another person replied.
“YAY!!!! We need you guys back on TV!!!” someone else wrote. “Right now the world is so crazy …we need some laughter in our lives!!!”
Assembly Required pitted home builders against one another to repair and reinvigorate old, broken items. And, yes, oftentimes add a little more power to them. Tim Allen and Richard Karn highlighted the history of those items and discuss how they were created. April Wilkerson, a YouTuber and DIY specialist, explained the technical aspects of the items.
It’s unclear if the format of the show will change along with the name.
Pandemic Plagued First Season of ‘Assembly Required’
The initial pitch of the Assembly Required was for the contestants to compete head-to-head in a studio with the hosts being able to interact with them in person. But the pandemic required producers to shoot everything remotely. Contestants worked from their homes, while the hosts filmed from Tim Allen’s garage.
Allen told Parade magazine in May that he’s glad he had Richard Karn to work with on the difficult shoot. They spent years honing their schtick on Home Improvement, and they were able to fall back on that relationship during filming.
“Richard has helped me to do this,” Allen said. “It’s long days and it’s ad-libbed a lot, but not really. So it’s kind of a combination of television. It was really stressful for me because I come from stand-up, which is fully rehearsed. Theater, which is rehearsed. Movies, which is, of course, rehearsed. A sitcom is kind of rehearsed. I ad-lib quite a bit in mine, and this is a merging of all that.”
Allen worried that filming contestants in different locations would hurt the show. But seeing the tinkerers at work under those conditions added something extra he didn’t expect.
“I’d watch these guys, because of COVID we had to go to their homes, they couldn’t come to a big studio, and I was amazed at these men and women, at what they do in their homes and garages,” he added. “It got very motivational. They fix it and think of stuff. It’s everything I want it to be.”
