Tim Allen has made a profession out of being a sitcom dad on House Enchancment after which Final Man Standing, and now he’s again for a 3rd time with Shifting Gears, which premiered final week on the 2025 TV schedule. As Allen’s character Matt Parker navigates his relationship with estranged daughter Riley (Kat Dennings), it seems like Allen is considering re-teaming with one other of his TV youngsters. The actor talked about Jonathan Taylor Thomas presumably showing on Shifting Gears, and that’s one reunion I’d undoubtedly be tuning in for.
Shifting Gears (accessible to stream with a Hulu subscription) premiered January 8 on ABC, however apparently Tim Allen wasn’t the one one who returned to the House Enchancment lot. Jonathan Taylor Thomas, who performed center baby Randy on the ‘90s sitcom, apparently paid a go to to set, so does that imply we’ll see JTT reunite along with his TV dad? Allen advised US Weekly:
Every part is a chance. He simply got here again [to the last episode we filmed]. He confirmed up on the set. He’s actually my child. I raised that child for eight years on House Enchancment.
It could be a fairly large deal if Jonathan Taylor Thomas have been to seem on Shifting Gears. The previous baby actor finally left Hollywood behind after exiting early from House Enchancment’s closing season and hasn’t finished a lot appearing since, outdoors of some visitor appearances on sequence together with 8 Easy Guidelines, Smallville and Veronica Mars within the early aughts.
JTT did, nonetheless, notably reunite with Tim Allen for 4 episodes of Final Man Standing, and he even directed three, so it definitely looks as if the 2 have remained in touch through the years. When saying that he “raised” Jonathan Taylor Thomas on set, Allen additionally referenced his different TV sons, Zachery Ty Bryan and Taran Noah Smith (who performed Brad and Mark, respectively) and appeared to touch upon Bryan’s authorized points when he mentioned:
All of those are my children and I’m form of sick about this.
Zachary Ty Bryan has a historical past of assault allegations, with the newest home violence arrest occurring January 2 of this 12 months. He additionally has been arrested for driving underneath the affect 5 instances through the years, with two DUI arrests in 2024 alone. As for Taran Noah Smith, he — like JTT — stop appearing following House Enchancment.
Given the truth that Jonathan Taylor Thomas labored with Tim Allen on Final Man Standing and was apparently hanging across the Shifting Gears set, it doesn’t appear out of the query that he would possibly be part of his former TV dad on one other mission — both in entrance of or behind the digicam. As for an precise House Enchancment spinoff, nonetheless, I’m not holding my breath.
Whereas Tim Allen has mentioned he’s talked to Jonathan Taylor Thomas and his on-screen brothers about an thought he has, his TV spouse Patricia Richardson shot down speak of a reboot in 2024 and mentioned Thomas had additionally denied speaking to Allen about it.
It seems like Tim Allen’s new ABC sitcom is perhaps our greatest likelihood at a reunion. Shifting Gears premiered to middling evaluations, with critics noting a number of technology hole jokes and commentary on what’s fallacious with children lately — no shock to these acquainted with Allen’s model of comedy. If you wish to try the present and maintain a watch out for a JTT reunion, Shifting Gears airs at 8 p.m. ET Wednesdays on ABC and streaming on Hulu the subsequent day.