Tim Allen is undeniably one of many small display’s most illustrious and profitable stars, with the humorous man having memorably headlined two of tv’s biggest sitcoms: the ’90s juggernaut Residence Enchancment and the 2010s hit Final Man Standing. Allen has made the sitcom style his bread and butter, successful quite a few accolades, like a Golden Globe and Individuals’s Selection Award for his unforgettable work. He additionally famously starred as Buzz Lightyear within the beloved Toy Story animated collection and as Scott Calvin in The Santa Clause franchise.
In 2025, Allen made his dazzling return to tv with Shifting Gears, showing alongside well-known faces like Kat Dennings, Sean William Scott, and Daryl “Chill” Mitchell and portraying a widower and auto store proprietor who’s reunited together with his estranged daughter and her two youngsters after she decides to maneuver house and regroup after separating from her husband. The third episode of the collection simply helped the newly-released sitcom change into canon within the Tim Allen-verse; let’s take a better have a look at how that happened.
Shifting Gears
- Launch Date
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January 8, 2025
- Community
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ABC
- Administrators
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John Pasquin
‘Shifting Gears’ Marks Tim Allen’s Return to Sitcoms
TV veteran and comic extraordinaire Tim Allen is not any stranger to starring in enduring small display staples, having first skyrocketed to prominence in 1991 when he started showing as Tim “The Toolman” Taylor within the smash hit collection Residence Enchancment, a Golden Globe-winning position he portrayed for eight seasons till it bid audiences farewell in 1999. In between all of his sitcom success, Allen notably voiced Buzz Lightyear within the beloved Toy Story animated franchise whereas additionally taking part in Scott Calvin A.Ok.A. jolly Saint Nick in The Santa Clause Christmas fantasy movies.
In 2011, Allen continued his enviable string of tv gold when he headlined Final Man Standing, starring as Denver sporting items retailer govt Mike Baxter as he and his spouse Vanessa raised their three dynamic daughters and younger grandson, successfully taking the Residence Enchancment premise and giving it a gender-swap. The collection ran for 9 seasons and even survived a cancelation earlier than in the end concluding in 2021, although Allen wasn’t fairly achieved but when it got here to showing in TV hits. The humorous man determined to go for the sitcom trifecta and, in 2025, started sharing the display with Kat Dennings in Shifting Gears.
The multi-camera comedy focuses on basic automotive restoration store proprietor Matt Parker, a widower who’s given a second likelihood to fix his fractured relationship together with his estranged daughter Riley Parker (Dennings) after she and her two children, Carter and Georgia, transfer in with him after she leaves her absent, philandering husband. The collection premiered on January 8, 2025, and its third episode “Grief” had an enormous Easter egg that successfully established the sitcom within the Tim Allen-verse canon.
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The Significant Look of a Inexperienced Ford F100
Within the eye-catching episode, followers of Allen and his adorned tv tenure had been fast to note the importance of a basic automotive Matt got here into possession of. Observant followers realized that the inexperienced Ford F100 he was restoring was the very same beloved automobile that Final Man Standing‘s Mike Baxter had all through the length of the present till it was shockingly stolen within the collection finale. As if simply the looks of the Ford wasn’t sufficient, Matt additional identified that the automotive was stolen from a person he personally knew in Denver (the place Allen’s former sitcom befell), subsequently making a connection between Matt and Mike.
The truth that Mike Baxter is probably going Matt and the restoration store’s shopper implies that the 2 characters reside in the identical universe and intriguingly units the stage for extra potential Shifting Gears/Final Man Standing crossovers. In reality, Allen’s former on-screen spouse Nancy Travis is slated to make a visitor look within the comedy, although she is not going to be taking part in Vanessa however relatively a spirited widow named Charlotte. Nonetheless, the hyperlink between the reveals has already been cast and devoted viewers of Allen’s many initiatives will likely be wanting to search for extra Easter eggs and connections between the favored sitcoms.
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Allen Loves Reuniting with His Former Co-Stars
Allen has by no means hidden the truth that he likes to collaborate together with his former sitcom co-stars, holding all of it within the fictional household by bringing again his outdated Residence Enchancment castmates Jonathan Taylor Thomas (Randy Taylor), Patricia Richardson (Jill Taylor), and Richard Karn (Al Borland) to make dazzling appearances in Final Man Standing. ’90s teen heartthrob Thomas first guest-starred in each the second and third season as high-end restaurant supervisor John Baker and later once more in a small cameo because the son of Richardson’s character Helen Potts through the fourth season, wholesomely reuniting Thomas together with his former TV dad and mom.
Likewise, Karn popped up in two episodes of Final Man Standing as architect Invoice McKendree, and Allen even amusingly reprised his position as Tim “The Toolman” Taylor within the ninth season of the sitcom, which noticed the Binford Instruments mascot coming face-to-face together with his doppelgänger Mike Baxter whereas he is on the town visiting a Denver retailer location. Unsurprisingly, audiences cherished the delightfully meta second and, because the two quirky household males each exist inside the identical universe, that implies that Shifting Gears‘ Matt Parker additionally exists there as properly and a possible crossover may probably happen in future episodes.