If he would have stuck around for the last season of Home Improvement...

It is hard to tell, but I don't think he would be. He values his education and would have still went to college etc. I actually think things wouldn't have gone much differently to how they have gone.
However, if he and Tim left on better terms, who knows. Maybe Tim might have backed Jonathan for a successful adult career? Good question.

Cheers.

I think that leaving Home Improvement was a bad career move anyway, and also that is true about Tim Allen. I think if Tim had really backed Jonathan, it would have been great for Jon. Tim is a producer, so he could have probably put Jon in some movies, also maybe Tim could have helped Jon network. Tim could have chosen to work with Jon doing different projects, and also given Jon exposure. There would have been great possibilities there, having a great relationship with a powerful force in show business. I don't think it's ever really smart to burn your bridges.

I know for a while Tim and Jon, at least reportedly, were close, almost in a father/son way. It was also reported that Tim took a special interest in Jon because of Jon's dad not being around very much at that time. It would have been smart for Jon to keep that relationship with Tim going and strengthen it, and doing that could have lead to Tim wanting to continue to work with Jon. After all, Tim did say before that he loved working with Jon. If Jon had kept that going, it would have been smart on his part. But Jon chose to stop working with Tim and leave Tim's beloved show. I still wonder why he really did that.

I do not know if staying with Home Improvement would have made the difference. I also think if Jon had known before about what has happened to his career now, he probably would have gone about his education differently. I don't think Jon realised how much time away could hurt his career.

In addition, maybe there were other people, besides Tim Allen, involved with Home Improvement that could have helped Jon? People like producers, the director, etc. And maybe these people even gave their opinions about Jon to other producers? In the E True Hollywood Story, I think it was one of the producers who said this about Jon: I don't blame him, I blame the business and what it does to people.

My point being that I think Jon angered at least some of the other people involved with Home Improvement and that could have also hurt his reputation around Hollywood? And these producers etc., who could have potentially helped Jon by either putting him in a show or movie, or helping him network, now wouldn't want anything to do with him? I just think some people took it pretty hard that Jon left. And that could have potentially hurt Jon's career.

You have some really good points (and really well explained, too) :)

I'm gonna start a {r/e/v/o/l/u/t/i/o/n} from my bed.

I too think it was a horrible career choice to leave Home Improvement. To be completely honest, I think his story about "wanting to get an education" was a lie. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure education was important to the guy. But was that the reason he actually left the show? I honestly don't think so. BUT! I have theories! (I'm so lame, oh my God...)

He was obviously the most popular person on the show, second only to Tim. Jonathan was huge. From reading some stuff and watching the Biography, I've come to understand that there was some tension building between the three boys. Basically, Zach Ty Bryan and Taran Noah Smith were jealous. Jealous that he got more lines, jealous of his popularity, jealous that he was the "favorite", jealous of his natural talent (I specifically remember Zach Ty Bryan saying this in an interview). This started around 1994, when Jonathan really started to get big (also the year that The Lion King came out). Apparently, nothing too serious happened between the three of them or we would have heard about it, and so they were all on pretty good terms when he left. Anyway, JTT keeps doing movies, keeps getting more popular, keeps having teenage girls stalk his every move. I think that toward the end of the 6th season (or before they started filming the 7th), he might've thought to himself that he could have a pretty decent film career. So he decides he wants to bite the hand that feeds him and leave HI.

It's around this time (the 7th season) where things are starting to get bad with Tim. Here's where it gets kind of weird to me. Tim has said countless times over the years that he was only mad at Jon after he found out that Jon spent the summer after he left the show filming a movie. Apparently, JTT had told Tim that he was going to be doing nothing but college prep and crap like that that summer. Only what Tim has said all this time isn't entirely true. People who were on the set during the the 7th season have said that by that time, tensions were already high between Jon and Tim. Now, answer me this...Why was Tim mad at Jonathan throughout the filming of season seven? He had no reason to be. As far we know, the only thing Tim knew during filming was that Jonathan was leaving the show for school. The only reason that I can think of is that school wasn't the reason he was leaving, and Tim found this out pretty quickly. Tim and Jon were very close, so it's understandable that Tim got really mad.

I personally think that the real reason he left was either a) he wanted to start a film career, or b) he was sick of being there. I'm kind of leaning more towards option B because it would explain things people have said about him over the years, like the quote HomeImp posted: "I don't blame him, I blame the business and what it does to people." Now, how the hell does that relate to him leaving for education purposes? It sounds to me like he just wanted to distance himself from that environment, and everyone around him could see that. He became too popular at such a young age. He was treated unfairly by the studio. Many people seem to believe that he was tricked out of a lot of money somewhere down the line. If this is all true, then hell, I would leave and blame the business too.

Plus, you make a big deal in the media about going to college. The you go for one semester, leave, and don't go back for another...what? Six years? When did he enroll at Columbia? Seriously. It. Doesn't. Make. Sense.



Why, I'm an expert on padded cells.

Someone hit the nail on the head! I think you've gotten closer than any of us to solving the mystery.
JTT was bigger than Beiber! And he was younger when the whole "fame monster" thing happened for him.
If that's the true story, no wonder he wanted out. It can't be easy working on a set where your cast members are potentially jealous of you; how awkward would that be?!
After all that crazy I hope he's happy now, wherever he is.
Cheers.

Well, I don't think there were any major issues between the three of them. No one ever blew up at each other or anything. ZTB has said before that he and JTT were like brothers and used to hang out a lot off the set. Like I said, they were all on rather good terms when he left.

But yeah, there was jealously there, that much for sure. As for it being the reason he left the show, I highly doubt that it was. I just don't buy that it escalated into such a huge issue to where Jonathan had to leave.



Why, I'm an expert on padded cells.

No. Sounds like he was never all that into acting in the first place. He probably just did it because people around him wouldn't let him leave. When he got older, he had enough and just bolted.