The Hollywood star Tim Allen, who has long been known as one of the only openly conservative stars in Hollywood, may be returning to ABC for the third time as the network has ordered a pilot for his latest sitcom “Shifting Gears.”
Allen’s New Sitcom
Variety reported that Allen, 70, is set to both star in and executive produce “Shifting Gears,” which will additionally be written and executive produced by Mike Scully and Julie Thacker Scully. In the show, Allen will portray Matt, who is a “stubborn, widowed owner of a classic car restoration shop. When Matt’s estranged daughter and her teenage kids move into his house, the real restoration begins.”
Others who have signed on to executive produce the show include Marty Adelstein, Becky Clements, Richard Baker and Rick Messina.
This is the latest collaboration between Allen, ABC, and Disney, which began with his show “Home Improvement” (1991-1999). Allen later starred in the sitcom “Last Man Standing,” which aired on ABC from 2011-2017 before moving to Fox from 2018 until 2021.
Most recently, Allen both starred in and executive-produced the Disney+ series “The Santa Clauses,” which saw him reprise his role as Scott Calvin/Santa. Of course, Allen has also spent decades voicing the character of Buzz Lightyear in Disney’s Oscar-winning Toy Story movie franchise.
Related: Tim Allen Defiantly Refuses To Change His Comedy For Offended Liberals – ‘That’s Not American’
Allen Is ‘Very Excited’ About New Show
Allen opened up about returning to ABC in an interview last week.
“I am very excited,” Allen told Entertainment Tonight. “You know, I tried really hard with ‘Home Improvement,’ and then ‘Last Man Standing.’ Maybe three’s a charm! Maybe I can finally make a statement with this.”
“It was a big event for me, ’cause I really loved ‘Home Improvement,’ [so] to do ‘Last Man Standing’ was a big push, and then I love that family so much,” Allen explained. “But then ABC said, ‘If you come up with an idea,’ and I said, ‘If I did it, it would be this.’ And we came up with this idea, and we’re getting there.”
“I’m very geeked to be given this opportunity,” he concluded with a smile.
Related: Patricia Richardson Defends Tim Allen – Says Her ‘Home Improvement’ Co-Star Deserves More ‘Credit’
‘Last Man Standing’ Mocked Progressives
Allen’s last ABC collaboration “Last Man Standing” was widely beloved because it was one of the only shows on television that had the guts to poke fun at liberals.
In 2018, Allen told USA Today, “We were sticking it to progressives – not Democrats. The really noisy part of the Democratic Party, just like the really noisy part of the Republican Party, is easy pickings. We were doing that constantly.”
As “Last Man Standing” came to an end, Allen got reflective of how the show mocked leftists.
“It’s funny that this group, left and right among us, we didn’t like when we were told early on by both networks [ABC and Fox] that we might want to avoid talking about [politics],” Allen told Entertainment Weekly back in 2021.
“I loved that we all are the type of people who said, ‘Well, screw that, we’re going to talk about it anyway,'” he continued. “What I’ve always appreciated about this group is that we have a broad range of attitudes. We really pushed a little bit, and I really admire that.”
There are virtually no shows on television today that make fun of liberals in any way, so it would be great if Allen uses “Shifting Gears” to take shots at progressives once again. Here’s hoping that “Shifting Gears” makes it through the pilot process and that Allen ends up with another hilarious sitcom on the air!
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