Tim Allen, 71, returns to the small screen with new ABC comedy series Shifting Gears alongside Kat Dennings
More than 30 years after his iconic TV series Home Improvement first aired on ABC, Tim Allen is finally returning to the network.
ABC has just given a series order to the 71-year-old comedian’s new comedy series, titled Shifting Gears, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Normally, series orders are placed during each network’s upfront presentations in May, but just before the upfronts, it was reported that the pilot episode would not be filmed until June.
Original creators and showrunners Mike Scully and Julie Thacker Scully (The Simpsons) have parted ways with the series on good terms. The series is now looking for a new showrunner.
It’s unclear when production on the series will begin and when the network might expect a debut, but it seems likely that it will happen sometime mid-season.
More than 30 years after his iconic TV series Home Improvement debuted on ABC, Tim Allen is finally returning to the network
ABC has just given a series order to the 71-year-old comedian’s new comedy series, titled Shifting Gears, according to The Hollywood Reporter
The series follows the character Matt Van Allen, a widower who runs a business that restores classic cars.
His life is turned upside down when his adult daughter Riley (Dennings) moves back in with him, along with her teenage children.
Also starring are Daryl “Chill” Mitchell as Ed, a former Marine and mechanic at Matt’s shop, and Froy Gutierrez as Nick, Matt’s son and Riley’s younger brother.
Nick was said to work as a ‘game programmer’, although he, ‘“He put his life on hold to go home and help his father in the store.”
The cast also includes Maxwell Simpkins and Barrett Margolis, making her acting debut, both playing Riley’s children.
The Scullys will still serve as executive producers on the pilot episode, which was directed by John Pasquin.
Allen will serve as executive producer, along with Marty Adelstein, Becky Clements, Richard Baker, Rick Messina and Pasquin.
Shifting Gears was one of two comedy pilot episodes ABC developed for the 2024–25 television season, along with Forgive and Forget.
The series follows Allen’s character, named Matt, a widower who runs a business that restores classic cars.
His life is turned upside down when his adult daughter Riley (Dennings) moves back in with him, along with her teenage children
Allen will serve as executive producer with Marty Adelstein, Becky Clements, Richard Baker, Rick Messina and Pasquin
Forgive and Forget, starring Modern Family’s Ty Burrell, also wrapped filming in June, but ABC is not moving forward with that series.
The series would follow Burrell as a man who receives an unexpected medical diagnosis and tries to reconnect with his adult son (Sean Rodriguez Marquette).
If Shifting Gears is eventually added to ABC’s lineup, it will be only the network’s third comedy series, joining Abbott Elementary and The Conners, which will air its final season in 2025.
Allen recently starred in The Santa Clauses and the comedy series Last Man Standing, which first aired on ABC in 2011 and ran for six seasons before being canceled. The series was eventually rescued by Fox, where it aired for three more seasons.