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:
