Tim Allen Resorts to ‘Home Improvement’ Stunt-Casting for Season 2 of ‘Shifting Gears’

When Tim Allen’s Shifting Gears premiered last year on ABC, getting renewed for a second season seemed like a lock-it-down guarantee. After all, the sitcom’s premiere drew record numbers for the network, according to The Wrap, with about 17 million viewers in its first seven days across ABC, Hulu, Hulu on Disney+ and other streaming platforms.

But once viewers (and disgruntled critics) got a load of Shifting Gears, they decided the show wasn’t appointment viewing. After the premiere, ratings declined nearly every week during the sitcom’s 10-episode season, bottoming out after the eighth installment, then leveling off for the remaining two. While more than 6 million viewers tuned in for the broadcast version of the premiere, that number had dropped to 3.4 million six weeks later. It led ScreenRant to predict “Shifting Gears is on the verge of being canceled despite its record-breaking debut” back in April. 

The struggling show got a reprieve and was asked back for a second season, but Allen is taking no chances this time around. The Shifting Gears Season Two premiere is breaking out the stunt casting, bringing back Allen’s old Home Improvement pals Patricia Richardson, Richard Karn and Debbe Dunning “to support Allen’s character, Matt Parker, in an unexpected way.”

It’s a strategy right out of the Toolman playbook. On his last sitcom, Last Man Standing, Allen brought in Richardson, Karn and Jonathan Taylor Thomas for ratings goosers, er, heartwarming reunions. And in between TV comedies, Allen and Karn have teamed up for a number of reality shows based on the “messin’ around with tools” premise of Home Improvement, including More Power and Assembly Required. 

Playing the nostalgia card so early in the Shifting Gears run — we’re only 10 episodes in! — probably doesn’t bode well for the show’s future success. Reuniting beloved cast members from an earlier hit might earn a few curiosity views, but what happens when Allen and Kat Dennings move on without them for the rest of the season? Expect a small ratings spike followed by an inevitable decline, leaving Shifting Gears right back where it started. What else could Allen do except maybe bring back Last Man Standing stars? (Oh yeah, he’s reuniting with that show’s Nancy Travis later this season as well.)

If anything, stunt-casting reeks of “Jump the Shark” moments, the episodes adding a cute kid or celebrity cameo that signal a sitcom isn’t making it on the strength of its characters and comedy. But that's okay. If things don’t work out on Shifting Gears, Allen and Karn can reboot Jay Leno’s Garage.