One of the biggest TV and movie stars of the past several decades, Tim Allen has plenty of beloved characters notched in his belt, and his latest addition to that list is car-restoration enthusiast Matt Parker, who will return to the 2025 TV schedule for Shifting Gear’s Season 2 premiere. Fans can already expect a trio of Home Improvement guest stars in the premiere, and the showrunner revealed that definitely won’t be the only pop culture callback on display.
The sitcom’s creative boss Michelle Nader talked with US Weekly about where Season 2 is going for Matt and Kat Dennings’ Riley, as well as their respective relationships with other characters. Unsurprisingly, Jenna Elfman’s Eve was part of that conversation, given how close the two lovebirds became by the finale’s end. In addressing how their love story will play out, Nader talked about peppering their romance with story-driven nods to the actors’ careers. In her words:
We were very intentional about those things because what we want to do in a modern sitcom is bring the elements of modern television — like serialization and streaming. So we felt like we really wanted to slow play these relationships in a romantic comedy way. So yes, you’re going to see some real results from those Easter eggs.
One such meaningful callback in Season 1 was the character detail that Eve is a choregoraphy instructor, which paid back to Jenna Elfman being a professional dancer early on in her career. Obviously, one could also argue that Matt's car shop is a reference to Tim Allen's real life love of cars, but that's a far more obvious nod than what usually applies for "easter eggs."
Season 1 of Shifting Gears delivered several spot-on reunions for Tim Allen from his Last Man Standing days. First there was the guest spot from Nancy Travis, which was followed by a cameo from Jay Leno. And let's not forget Dennings getting a reunion with her former Dollface co-star Brenda Song. Not that all the callbacks are specifically guest stars from past shows, even if I'm looking forward to Patricia Richardson, Richard Karn and Debbe Dunning popping up.
To circle back to the relationship element, here's how Nader teased Matt and Eve's next steps:
I will say that it is really interesting to watch them. It’s interesting to watch their relationship develop, and so they’re going to go into high gear — but it’s going to be a little bit of a roller-coaster.
I mean, could Michelle Nader truly call herself this series showrunner if she didn't refer to the act of shifting gears when giving that description? There's an argument to be had.
As far as what's coming for Riley and Seann William Scott's Gabriel, we'll just have to wait and see when Season 2 kicks off on ABC on Wednesday, October 1, at 8:00 p.m. ET, with episodes streaming the next day via Hulu subscription.
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