This Was One Of The Most Expensive Scenes Of Home Improvement

When you think of television shows with big budgets, series like Game Of Thrones, The Mandalorian, and Westworld are likely ones that come to mind due to their exotic location shoots, groundbreaking CGI, and high cast salaries. You wouldn't think most sitcoms would cost much considering their lower stakes and simpler shoots. But you'd want to think again. Shows like Friends and The Big Bang Theory both wound up with extremely high budgets as their success grew and their casts demanded higher salaries, per Mental Floss.

Home Improvement was another series where, as the show's popularity grew, so did the paychecks of its actors. While its stars eventually turned down eight-figure salaries to keep the show going, according to Mental Floss, the producers certainly found ways to spend the money the popular show brought in. One episode, in particular, incurred very high costs due to its location choice, which had to be spacious enough for star Tim Allen to race against a real-life TV host.

In an episode from season 3 of Home Improvement titled "The Great Race II," Tim decides to hold an auction to help Jill raise money for the library. During the fundraiser, This Old House host Bob Vila (who admits he recently built a hot rod) enters and ends up raising more money than Tim. Vila had previously beat Tim in a lawnmower race, so Tim challenges the host to a hot rod race. They agree to compete at an old airport.

In reality, the scene for the big race was filmed at Burbank Airport. Bob Vila wrote on his website that "they shut down a runway at Burbank Airport to shoot the big scene."

While Vila did not reveal the exact amount of money the producers had to pony up for the shoot, one can presume it wasn't cheap, considering that the airport provides services for millions of passengers every year, according to its website. Vila ended up winning the race, so it's no wonder he mentions it on his website.