Tim Allen’s New Sitcom ‘Shifting Gears’ Learns Its Fate As ABC Decides If It’ll Return For Another Season

The hilarious Hollywood star Tim Allen managed to achieve sitcom success once again this year with his new hit ABC show Shifting Gears.

Despite the show being a huge hit, ABC didn’t immediately renew Shifting Gears for a second season after the season finale last month. This led many fans to fear that the sitcom might not be coming back.

Now, Shifting Gears has finally learned its fate – and fans are going to be very happy!

Is Shifting Gears Coming Back?

Thankfully, ABC executives finally came to their senses and renewed Shifting Gears for season two. Sources told Deadline that the pickup is for ten episodes. While this may not seem like much, the insiders explained that ten episodes isn’t unusual for a show that launches midseason.

Shifting Gears was a smash hit when it premiered back in January. Indeed, it scored 17 million cross-platform viewers over its first week, making it ABC’s biggest new series launch in over six years.

Related: Tim Allen’s New Sitcom ‘Shifting Gears’ Is Dominating The Competition In The Ratings

Shifting Gears Premise

In Shifting Gears, Allen plays auto restoration shop owner Matt Parker. He’s a widowed father of two whose life is thrown upside down when his daughter (Kat Dennings) moves back home to live with him with her two teenage kids.

Rounding out the cast of Shifting Gears is Seann William Scott, Daryl “Chill” Mitchell, Maxwell Simkins, and Barrett Margolis. Dennings serves as a producer on the sitcom as well.

Allen has made no secret of the fact that he’s loved making Shifting Gears. He previously starred on two popular sitcoms. First, Allen was the lead in Home Improvement from 1991 until 1999. He then starred in Last Man Standing from 2011 until 2021.

“Somebody I was talking to called me the Tom Brady of TV with those three sitcoms, and I hadn’t thought of that but it got in my head,” Allen recently told USA Today.

Related: Tim Allen’s New Sitcom ‘Shifting Gears’ Is Dominating The Competition In The Ratings

‘There’s Nothing Like It’

Even after all these years, Allen is still in love with the sitcom format. One of his favorite things about Shifting Gears is getting to shoot the show old-school style in front of a live studio audience.

“Back in the day, this is how it was, you rehearsed it and shot it in front of real people, and I love that,” Allen explained. “In the movies, OK maybe I make the crew bust up, but that’s it. Doing Shifting Gears, I get to aim for the whole audience plus the crew. There’s nothing like it.”

Shifting Gears was one of the funniest shows to premiere this year. It is one of the few television comedies that families can actually enjoy together these days. That’s why we’re hugely relieved and excited that Shifting Gears is coming back for a second season in the fall!