Why Tim Allen Chose Shifting Gears for His Return to Network Television

Tim Allen has been the Toolman, Buzz Lightyear and even Santa Claus, but now he’s tackling his toughest role yet as a widower who reconnects with his estranged daughter and her children in the new ABC sitcom “Shifting Gears.”

Kat Dennings plays the wayward daughter, and Tim’s own car collection is used as props for his onscreen auto restoration shop. But the 71-year-old actor admits that returning to TV was “a complicated decision. Do I want to do linear TV? I was so depressed at how streaming has hurt television.”

On set, Tim has a few rules about his four-wheeled babies!

“I don’t want people leaning on them and smoking cigarettes or putting drinks on them,” he reveals. “I’m glad that they respect it. I like the fact that everybody’s scared to get anywhere near these things.”

The star says he may be “a guy who collects stuff,” but the cars don’t sit idle in his garages. “If it isn’t fun to drive,” says Tim, “it isn’t fun to own.”

In addition to “Home Improvement,” Tim starred with Nancy Travis for nine seasons on “Last Man Standing,” which ended in 2021. Like his previous shows, Tim considers his costars to be a second family.

He recalls, “Nancy Travis once told me, ‘Tim, these aren’t our daughters. I’m not actually your wife.’ She was so wonderful about it because sometimes when they were having trouble on the show, I’d go, ‘How do you think they feel?’ She goes, ‘Tim, they’re actors. We just read that from the script.’ ”