“Shifting Gears” Episode 7: How This Comedy Defies Generations—Even with Tim Allen at the Helm!

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Shifting Gears has struggled to be a multi-generational sitcom since its pilot, but episode 7 is a step in the right direction for the Tim Allen comedy. To an extent, Allen’s strong presence limits the sitcom’s potential to truly attract younger viewers, with him leading the Shifting Gears cast of characters as the overtly old-fashioned Matt Parker. Though Matt and his daughter, Riley (Kat Dennings), clash heads often, the majority of the show’s jokes stay rooted in Allen’s brand of comedy. Even Matt’s grandchildren, Georgia (Barrett Margolis) and Carter (Maxwell Simkins), have thus far felt like watered-down clichés.

Thankfully, Shifting Gears episode 7 finally let its youngest characters be youthful. While there’s nothing wrong with the sitcom primarily centering on storylines that feel familiar to older generations— especially with Tim Allen as the headliner— Shifting Gears can expand its audience by tapping into the younger generations already present in the narrative. While Shifting Gears has garnered impressive viewership already, broadening the target demographics would offer the sitcom longevity. Now that the family comedy has added realistically young details to Carter’s character, there’s no telling how much better the generational storylines can be in Shifting Gears season 2.

Carter Learning About Sex From Fan-Fiction Mirrors Modern Internet Culture

He’s A True Gen Z Character

The Parker family subplot in Shifting Gears episode 7 focused on Riley and Matt trying to give Carter “the talk.” While parents teaching their children about the birds and the bees has been a common plot since the heyday of classic sitcoms, Shifting Gears subverts the “sex” talk with a modern twist: Carter doesn’t need Riley or Matt to explain intercourse to him because he’s already learned about it on the internet. Specifically, Carter read smutty “romantasy” (romance-fantasy) fanfiction to learn about sex.

Although Shifting Gears pivoted to drama previously and benefited from the change of pace, Carter’s affinity for fanfiction veers back to comedy, but it only works because of the authenticity behind the joke. His character is usually played for jokes at his own expense, but the humor in Carter’s Shifting Gears episode 7 storyline stems from its relatability to younger viewers. Countless real people in his age group learned about sex online rather than during sit-down discussions with parental figures, and Riley finding Matt’s search history is a mortifying reflection of a younger audience’s worst fears.

Carter’s Shifting Gears Episode 7 Storyline Shows The Sitcom Actually Can Achieve Generational Comedy

It Doesn’t Have To Rely On “Kids These Days” Moments

Carter’s fanfiction preferences are still exaggerated for the sake of comedic effect, but Shifting Gears episode 7 at least anchors the joke in reality. Consequently, it encourages viewers to identify with Carter and laugh at his circumstances rather than laugh at him as a representative of his “snowflake” generation. The poor initial reviews of Shifting Gears were partially due to how the dialogue centered Tim Allen’s conservative rhetoric. The pilot, as pointed out by many critics, felt less like a sitcom and more like scrapped stand-up bits. Seemingly, the Shifting Gears children only existed to criticize younger generations.

Any series that includes multiple generations will, if it has any merit, focus on bridging the divide rather than complain about the gap.

As the season has gone on, however, the younger characters are less and less being used as props to gripe about “kids these days.” It would be easy for Shifting Gears to only show Matt’s perspective or to overly generalize plots involving Carter and Georgia, but that ruins the whole point of the sitcom. Any series that includes multiple generations will, if it has any merit, focus on bridging the divide rather than complain about the gap. Shifting Gears isn’t out of the woods yet, but a detail as small as Carter’s internet habits indicates the sitcom is improving.

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