Kat Dennings to join Tim Allen in his new ABC sitcom Shifting Gears

Tim Allen is returning to ABC in a new comedy [*Tool man grunt*]. The Toy Story star is a veteran of the network, having starred in the popular 90s series Home Improvement for eight seasons, then coming back as the lead in another sitcom, Last Man Standing, which had a run of nine seasons. Last Man Standing had concluded its last season in 2021 and Allen will now be starring in a new show with the current working title Shifting Gears. The series will be written by Mike Scully, veteran writer of The Simpsons and Parks and Rec, along with his wife Julie Thacker Scully, who has also written for The Simpsons.

According to Deadline, Allen will also be joined by fellow sitcom vet Kat Dennings. Dennings would star in the CBS show Two Broke Girls, which would run for six seasons. Dennings is also on board as a producer for Shifting Gears. The plot according to Deadline says, “Shifting Gears centers on Matt (Allen), 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. Dennings’ Riley butted heads with her father growing up and left to marry the boyfriend he hated. Now divorced, Riley’s forced to move back home with two kids, hoping she and her dad can make it work this time.”

Mike Scully and Julie Thacker Scully are also on board as executive producers of the show with Last Man Standing executive producers Allen, Marty Adelstein, Becky Clements, Richard Baker and Rick Messina. After Two Broke Girls concluded its run, Dennings would go on to reprise her character from the Thor movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe for the Disney+ series WandaVision, which was directed by Matt Shakman, the director of the upcoming Fantastic Four. She would also return to the role for the fourth Thor movie — Thor: Love and Thunder. Meanwhile, Tim Allen returned to a beloved role as dad-turned-Santa in Disney+’s continuation of The Santa Clause franchise — The Santa Clauses. There was recent talk about there possibly being a revamp of Home Improvement. However, Patricia Richardson, who played Tim’s wife, Jill, on the show, was not expressing interest to return.