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 issued a series order for the 71-year-old comedian’s new comedy series entitled Shifting Gears, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
While series orders are typically made at each network’s upfront presentations in May, it was reported just before the upfronts that the pilot wouldn’t film until June.
Original creators and showrunners Mike Scully and Julie Thacker Scully (The Simpsons) have amicably departed the series, which will now seek a new showrunner.
It’s unclear when production on the series will begin, and when the network may be eyeing a debut, though it seems most likely to arrive at some point in midseason.
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 issued a series order for the 71-year-old comedian’s new comedy series entitled Shifting Gears, according to The Hollywood Reporter
The series will follow Allen’s character named Matt, a widower who runs a classic car restoration business.
His life is turned upside down when his adult daughter Riley (Dennings) moves back in with him, along with her teenage children.
Also starring is Daryl “Chill” Mitchell as Ed, a former Marine and mechanic at Matt’s shop, Froy Gutierrez as Nick, Matt’s son and Riley’s younger brother.
Nick was said to have worked as a ‘game coder,’ although he, ‘put his life on hold to come home and help his father at the shop.’
The cast also includes Maxwell Simpkins and Barrett Margolis making her acting debut, who both play Riley’s children.
The Scully’s will still serve as executive producers on the pilot episode, which was directed by John Pasquin.
Allen will serves as an executive producer with Marty Adelstein, Becky Clements, Richard Baker, Rick Messina and Pasquin.
Shifting Gears was one of only two comedy pilots that ABC was developing for the 2024-2025 TV season, along with Forgive and Forget.
The series will follow Allen’s character named Matt, a widower who runs a classic car restoration business
His life is turned upside down when his adult daughter Riley (Dennings) moves back in with him, along with her teenage children
Allen will serves as an executive producer with Marty Adelstein, Becky Clements, Richard Baker, Rick Messina and Pasquin
Forgive and Forget, which starred Modern Family’s Ty Burrell, also shot its pilot in June, though ABC will not be moving forward with that series.
The show would have followed Burrell as a man who received an unexpected medical diagnosis and tries to reconnect with his adult son (Sean Rodriguez Marquette).
When Shifting Gears ultimately joins the ABC lineup, it will be only the third comedy series at the network, alongside Abbott Elementary and The Conners, which will air its final season in 2025.
Allen most recently starred in The Santa Clauses and the comedy series Last Man Standing, which debuted on ABC in 2011 and ran for six seasons before it was canceled, and ultimately saved by Fox, where it ran for another three seasons.
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