When Matt (Allen) exhibits odd behavior, his daughter Riley (Dennings) immediately connects the dots and must remind him of “the evils of peer pressure” in PEOPLE’s exclusive look at the March 12 episode of ‘Shifting Gears’
Tim Allen is just looking to have a good time!
PEOPLE has an exclusive sneak peek at the March 12 episode of Shifting Gears, in which “Riley is horrified when she finds weed gummies in Carter’s pocket, prompting surprising advice from Matt,” according to an official synopsis.
In the clip, Matt (Allen) exhibits some odd behavior, raising suspicion among his daughter Riley (Kat Dennings) and her son Carter (Maxwell Simkins). When he starts sniffing their house plant, Riley catches on and realizes she knows what’s going on.
“Oh my god, did you take a gummy?” she asks, questioning if her father is high on marijuana.
“What?” Matt exclaims dramatically. “No.”
Obviously lying, he wanders over to the couch and sits down next to an irritated Riley with a proposal.
“I thought it would be great… What?” he says, prompting Carter to look around in confusion.
“I thought it would be great if we could do this as a family!” Matt declares, but Riley is not having it.
“How do I put this in a way you’ll understand? Weed is like China — it’s a lot stronger than it was when you were in high school!” she replies.
“Yes, it is,” he agrees, seemingly enjoying the heightened effects.
Riley rolls her eyes while Matt begs her and Carter to partake. “Come on, do it. Let’s go. Don’t be a baby. Let’s go. Do it,” he pleads.
Still, she isn’t interested, saying it is an example of “the evils of peer pressure.”
“You know what I’m thinking? I can’t feel my arm. Maybe it’s a stroke!” Matt says, hysterically laughing as Riley and Carter stare at each other in horror, and the clip comes to an end.
The new ABC sitcom follows Matt, a “stubborn, widowed owner of a classic car restoration shop” as he struggles to adjust to his estranged daughter Riley and her two kids moving back into his home.
In January, Dennings opened up to PEOPLE about working alongside Allen, who she deemed one of the best people she’s ever worked with.
“Tim Allen, I will say, is my favorite TV dad of all time. It’s been a real joy doing this show,” she gushed, noting that the actor’s crew has been with him since his days on Home Improvement, which ran from 1991 to 1999, and Last Man Standing, which lasted from 2011 to 2021. “They followed him through all of his projects, which I think is a real testament to him as a person.”
“We have a very funny banter. We really enjoy these scenes where we’re arguing. It’s really fun,” she added of their on-camera rapport.
Allen echoed Dennings’ sentiments in a recent interview with Parade, saying they have a special onscreen dynamic.
“She’s just cut for me. I swear, the conversations we’ve had on set anyway, different human beings. But we got into it right away, interrupting each other,” he shared.
“The character, Riley, made some decisions early in her life because she was pissed at me,” Allen continued. “You do a lot of stuff because your parents keep saying, ‘Don’t do this, don’t do that,’ and you just do it because you’re sick of hearing, ‘Don’t do it.’ She goes, ‘Is getting into a relationship just because my dad’s pissed at the guy a good reason to get into a relationship?’ That’s so much what this is about. I said, ‘Bingo, we’ve got it.’”
