Tim Allen’s network TV comeback in the 2025 TV schedule proved to be a success. The actor’s new ABC comedy, Shifting Gears, was renewed for a second season, but it’s not so surprising given his track record with his previous successful comedies, Home Improvement and Last Man Standing. For Home Improvement, Allen pulled from personal experiences and for Shifting Gears, he made one big request that’s a personal one. And there’s an additional way Matt Parker is different.
When Home Improvement premiered in 1991, and Tim Allen had no sitcom knowledge. Although not a favorite with critics, fans surely took a liking to it. The ABC comedy wound up airing for eight seasons and over 200 episodes. It really jump-started his TV career, and Allen told WIVB in Buffalo how Home Improvement came about, and how it essentially changed his life and television career moving forward:
And ‘Home Improvement’ started from my act, and my act started — I was the only guy talking about lawn mowing, tools, grunting, all of that. And so ‘Home Improvement’ started there.
Since Home Improvement is taken from his act, it would make sense that a lot of it is taken from his real life, no matter how big or small. The same thing goes for Shifting Gears. Even after all these years, Allen is still pulling from his real life, and Matt is “much closer” to who he is. That being said, Matt Parker is still pretty different from Tim Taylor and Mike Baxter, and Allen explained that Matt is an artist who had to leave his dreams behind:
He’s an artist, a designer, so he’s different than the other characters that I’ve played where they were more pragmatic or business-type guys. This guy is a frustrated designer. The way it’s set up was he was gonna go to Rhode Island School of Design, become an industrial designer and his father got real sick so he had to leave school and come back and take care of his dad’s business. So he never really got to do that.
Not only did Matt have to leave school, but his wife passed away, and his daughter left home and got pregnant at a young age. Plus, it’s not as squeaky clean as his characters on his previous shows. However, there is still that fixing aspect that is certainly similar to Home Improvement and even Last Man Standing that really ties Shifting Gears together:
This gets real sometimes. It’s about differences of opinion, and it’s not political like today. It’s more about being funny and past stuff and what aligns us and how do we fix things. This is what this is about. It’s fixing things. Rebuilding.
Of course, Tim Allen can’t always play the same character on the same show over and over again. Having him be happily married with three kids and doing what he wants to do can get old, no matter how great the show is. Shifting Gears really sets Matt Parker apart from Tim Taylor and Mike Baxter, and it’s honestly refreshing. It’s been interesting seeing Allen play this role as a widow, single father, grandfather, and auto shop owner because there are so many layers.
With Season 2 of Shifting Gears on the way, there will be much more to come from Matt, and there is no telling what’s in store. In the meantime, all episodes so can be streamed with a Hulu subscription. More information on Season 2’s release should be announced in the coming months.