Home Improvement and Last Man Standing star Tim Allen is returning to ABC in the new comedy Shifting Gears opposite Kat Dennings (2 Broke Girls). The logline: Allen stars as Matt, “the stubborn, widowed owner of a classic car restoration shop. When Matt’s estranged daughter (Riley Dennings) and her teenage kids move into his house, the real restoration begins.”
The cast of Shifting Gears also includes Daryl “Chill” Mitchell (NCIS: New Orleans) as Stitch, described as “a former Marine” and “a mechanic at the shop,” and Maxwell Simkins (The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers) and Barrett Margolis as Riley’s kids, Carter and Georgia. The role of Riley’s younger brother Nick, described as “a game coder who put his life on hold to come home and help his father at the shop,” has not been cast yet.
Allen is executive-producing alongside Last Man Standing EPs Marty Adelstein, Becky Clements, Richard Baker, Rick Messina and pilot director John Pasquin. Duncanville creators Mike Scully and Julie Thacker Scully, who were originally slated to serve as showrunners, will executive-produce the pilot.
Previously, Tim Allen spent 14 years at ABC, eight in Home Improvement (1991-99) and the first six seasons of Last Man Standing (2011-17). Fox revived Last Man Standing for three additional seasons beginning in 2018. Kat Dennings had a six season run in 2 Broke Girls on CBS opposite Beth Behrs from 2011-17.
