Tim Allen and Kat Dennings. Getty Images (2)
Tim Allen and Kat Dennings are keeping it in the sitcom family with the new showrunner of their upcoming ABC sitcom, Shifting Gears.
Michelle Nader has been brought on as executive producer and showrunner on the new series, according to Deadline. This reunites Nader with Dennings, 38, after they previously worked together on CBS’ 2 Broke Girls and Hulu’s Dollface.
Nader replaced Mike Scully and Julie Thacker Scully, who served as writers and executive producers on the Shifting Gears pilot. The duo exited before the project was picked up to series at ABC.
Shifting Gears, which is a working show title, follows Matt, the stubborn and widowed owner of a classic car restoration shop. His life gets turned upside down when his estranged daughter, Riley, moves into his house with her teenage kids. Matt’s son, Nick, is also involved as he puts his life on hold to help his father at the shop.
Allen, 71, and Dennings play Matt and his estranged daughter, Riley, respectively. Daryl “Chill” Mitchell, Maxwell Simkins and Barrett Margolis round out the cast. The role of Matt’s son has yet to be cast.
The ABC series comes three years after Allen’s previous sitcom, Last Man Standing, wrapped its nine-season run. Before Last Man Standing, Allen was known for his role as Tim “The Toolman” Taylor on the ABC sitcom Home Improvement, which ran from 1991 to 1999.
“The word that keeps me alive is ‘grateful.’ I love what I do. I get far more enjoyment out of entertaining people than anything monetary,” Allen exclusively told Us Weekly in 2020. “I love the live audience we have. I tell them every night, ‘This is old-school stuff, what television and broadcast started with.’ I don’t know the future, but this [show] is rare.”
He added: “We did the same thing as we did with Home Improvement. It’s all about the relationships — we don’t get into topical stuff. But 1727393919, I’ve just got girls, so you see how a man differs in his perspective when he has so many strong women around him. We never make fun [of each other]. It’s an affectionate family. I like the fact that we honor and make fun — at the same time — marriage, institution, kids, babies, people. But in the same way, we honor it. We’re not being snarky about it.”
Dennings, meanwhile, has a history with network TV, playing Max in CBS’ sitcom 2 Broke Girls from 2011 to 2017.
