Shifting Gears wasted no time in bridging Tim Allen’s latest sitcom with his previous work, and one of his former co-stars is already interested in returning. The star’s latest ABC comedy follows Allen as Matt Parker, the widowed owner of an auto shop whose life is upended when his estranged daughter Riley (Kat Dennings) and her two children, Carter (Maxwell Simkins) and Georgia (Barrett Margolis), unexpectedly move into his home. The Shifting Gears cast has already welcomed several sitcom alumni, such as Dharma & Greg’s Jenna Elfman, Last Man Standing’s Jay Leno, and Allen’s Last Man Standing wife Nancy Travis.
In an interview with TheWrap, Travis revealed she’d be open to reuniting with Allen on Shifting Gears again. Known for portraying Vanessa Baxter on Last Man Standing from 2011 to 2021, the actor made a guest appearance on last Wednesday’s episode of Shifting Gears as Charlotte, a widow who unexpectedly encounters Matt at his wife’s gravesite on Valentine’s Day. Travis said joining the sitcom felt like a homecoming, as many of the crew on set worked with Allen on the 2010s sitcom and Home Improvement. She also expressed interest in potentially returning. Read her reflections on her new character below:
In a lot of ways, Charlotte is a more mature Vanessa and she has a very sharp wit. She knows her subject matter, Matt, very well, and is able to call him on his transgressions and just joke with him in sometimes a very ruthless way.
What Nancy Travis’ Potential Return To Shifting Gears Means
The ABC Sitcom Continues To Bring Back Familiar Faces
Since Shifting Gears season 2 has yet to be announced, Allen’s latest family sitcom appears to be pulling out all the stops for those who have missed the actor in his previous work. Known for his roles as stubborn, blue-collar fathers in the sitcoms Home Improvement and Last Man Standing, Allen’s character Matthas followed a similar formula as the misanthropic father of Riley and grouchy grandfather to Carter and Georgia. While reviews for Shifting Gears have criticized its reliance on Last Man Standing nostalgia, the sitcom has been a ratings powerhouse for ABC.
Home Improvement, which also starred Patricia Richardson, Earl Hindman, Taran Noah Smith, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, and Zachery Ty Bryan, ran for eight seasons between 1991 and 1999.
In some ways, Shifting Gears’ guest appearances have been both its strongest and weakest point. Travis mentioned that one of the “biggest laughs” she got during the live-taping was when Charlotte told Matt she’d never be able to date him because he reminded her too much of the last man she dated. “They’re looking for the wink moment, the inside joke,” she told TheWrap. The frequent nods to Allen’s previous work haven’t landed well with critics, but audiences appear to be embracing them and the familiar tropes from Last Man Standing and Home Improvement that pop up in Shifting Gears.
How Well Shifting Gears Is Performing On ABC
It Does Not Compare With Home Improvement
One reason that Shifting Gears is so easily able to have so many connections to Tim Allen’s previous long-running sitcoms is that all three shows originally ran on ABC. Home Improvement aired on ABC for its entire run, while Last Man Standing ran on ABC for its first six seasons before being picked up by Fox for its final three. The fact that audiences are receiving the show better than critics shows the way that the new sitcom is utilizing that legacy well.
Below, see how the shows’ receptions compare both with critics and with audiences in terms of both their average Rotten Tomatoes scores and their per-season ratings (as measured in millions of viewers per episode), for their ABC seasons only. For Shifting Gears, the ratings range applies to the first six episodes of season 1, which is the entirety of what has aired so far.
While Shifting Gears’ negative reviews from critics look to be par for the course for ABC’s Tim Allen sitcoms, audiences are already slightly cooler on the new show than his previous outings, both on Rotten Tomatoes and in the ratings. Additionally, while ratings for network shows have dwindled considerably since the 1990s when Home Improvement reigned, the highest ratings achieved so far by the new sitcom are still at the lower end of how Last Man Standing was performing on ABC before it departed the network, so its longevity may be questionable if it is unable to grow its audience.
Our Take On Nancy Travis In Shifting Gears
Yet Another Fun Nod To The Past
Travis’ Shifting Gears appearance was a fun nod to Last Man Standing, and her chemistry with Allen remains effortless. On top of that, her character Charlotte was able to move beyond a nostalgic cameo as she became the perfect catalyst for Matt to process his grief over the death of his wife. Nevertheless, Shifting Gears may have already faced too much criticism for leaning on Allen’s legacy. If Travis comes back, hopefully Shifting Gearshas established its own identity by then, and Charlotte’s return can be more of a cherry on top rather than a narrative crutch.
