When you consider the greatest sitcoms of all time, it’s extremely possible that your thoughts will return to a number of reveals that centered on households. And at any time when you may have a household comedy, you’ll often get to the floundering teen years of not less than one character, which is precisely what occurred on the Tim Allen traditional, House Enchancment, when Mark Taylor (the youngest son) went goth. Whereas that storyline was thought-about a bit awkward by many, you possibly can guess it pales compared to how Mark’s portrayer came upon what impressed it.
What Impressed Goth Mark On House Enchancment?
Whereas House Enchancment lead Tim Allen has gone on to star in two different household sitcoms (the additionally long-running Final Man Standing and the 2025 TV schedule entry Shifting Gears), few can neglect the favored ‘90s comedy that put him on the map. The present featured Allen as a married father of three boys, along with his character’s youngest son being Mark, who was performed by Taran Noah Smith.
Followers will possible keep in mind that Mark went via a change for a part of his teen years, when he grew to become “Goth Mark.” This section undoubtedly anxious his mother and father, and felt moderately sudden for followers, but it surely was much more awkward for Smith, as soon as he was confronted with the inspiration for his character’s angle adjustment. As he lately informed the Outgrown podcast:
The entire storyline of the older brothers beating up on me or teasing me did not actually work anymore as a result of now I used to be taller than each of them. I came upon later the pinnacle author on the present, he had a son that was proper round my age. And after about midway via the season, I am in wardrobe — black fingernails, and canine collar and all of the stuff on — and I went backstage and got here nose to nose along with his son, who was not in wardrobe, however appeared similar to me. And we had this very awkward second of like, ‘Oh, I am your dad’s means of type of coping with you. Sorry.’
Mark had all the time been portrayed as being essentially the most inventive and introspective of the boys, who was thought-about dorky by his older brothers and was pranked/affected by them on an extremely common foundation. Finally, Mark’s teenage years noticed him befriend a goth child named Ronnie, which led to him beginning to put on all black, portray his fingernails black (he flirted with black lipstick at one level, as effectively) and even carrying a canine collar and shaving his head for a time.
As Smith famous, when he grew to become the “little” brother who’d really outgrown his older siblings, it didn’t fairly work as effectively to have him be, primarily, bullied by them anymore. However, who might have guessed that Mark’s sudden shift was prompted by the pinnacle author having a son who’d additionally had the identical goth flip in actual life. Are you able to think about simply hanging out backstage and being confronted along with your mirror picture and each of you realizing what was occurring? I’m getting second-hand embarrassment simply enthusiastic about this case!
By the point House Enchancment ended (with some behind the scenes controversy), Mark was effectively again to being his previous self, and turned out simply superb. And, I hope the identical is true for that author’s child, whether or not he’s nonetheless rocking that canine collar or not.