ABC’s Shifting Gears: Are Tim Allen and Kat Dennings a Winning Father-Daughter Duo? Grade the Premiere – TVLine
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We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.Nearly four years after Last Man Standing wrapped its nine-season run, Tim Allen is back on ABC — previously home to Last Man and Home Improvement — in the new sitcom Shifting Gears. But does the comedian’s third multi-cam offer anything audiences haven’t seen before? And if not, is that necessarily a bad thing?In a moment, we’ll want to know what you thought of the show — TVLine’s Dave Nemetz has already given his review, which you can read here — but first, a brief recap of Episode 1:Wednesday’s series premiere introduces us to Matt Parker (played by Allen), the crotchety owner of a classic car restoration shop. He’s in the middle of one of his trademark rants, telling employees Gabriel (American Pie’s Seann William Scott) and Stitch (Galaxy Quest’s Daryl “Chill” Mitchell) how the world is going to hell in a handbasket, when suddenly a familiar-looking GTO is driven into his shop, and out comes his estranged daughter Riley (2 Broke Girls‘ Kat Dennings). She’s getting a divorce, and she and her two kids — Carter (Maxwell Simkins) and Georgia (Barrett Margolis) — need a place to stay.
The following scene lays out some much-needed backstory: It has been 15 years since an 18-and-pregnant Riley walked out of her parents’ house, bailed on college, and ran off with deadbeat musician James. Before now, she’d only ever been back for a few very awkward Christmases — and, more recently, her mother Diane’s funeral, where she barely said a word to her newly widowed father. “Mom made a relationship between you and me possible,” Riley explains. “She was our bridge.” Without Diane around, Matt and Riley struggle to live under one roof — and when Matt takes it upon himself to try and teach his grandson how to drive, resulting in a very predictable fender bender, Riley is ready to hightail it out of there.Later that night, while Matt is playing an extremely violent video game with his grandkids, Riley comes across her late mother’s flour sifter. When she brings to Dad’s attention that it’s dirty, he tells her that he hasn’t brought himself to wash it ever since the love of his life died of a sudden heart attack. Then and there, father and daughter find common ground in shared grief, which gives Riley hope: “Maybe we could build our own bridge,” she proposes. That’ll mean learning to talk like a family, and occasionally letting Matt make some of the parenting decision. And if they can make it work for the next four or five seasons, just long enough for Shifting Gears to eek its way into syndication, then everyone involved can live happily ever after.
Now it’s your turn. What did you think of the Shifting Gears premiere? Grade Episode 1 of the Allen-Dennings comedy below, then leave your full review in Comments.Comments are monitored, so don‚Äôt forkin’ curse and don‚Äôt bore us with how much your coworker‚Äôs sister-in-law makes per hour. Talk smart about TV! Comment * Name * Email * Your email address will not be published. We will notify you when someone replies.
ΔReally enjoyed it. Kat Dennings is fantastic as usual and her back and forth with Allen proved she is a good match in that role. Looking forward to more episodes.Agreed, Kat Dennings is a delight as usual, looks to be a promising comedy pairing going forward.Good start to the series! Tim Allen & Kat Dennings work very well together!Their back-and-forth about Nancy Pelosi made me LOL out loudThe laugh track is unbelievably annoying‚Ķ.if you have to use the laugh track after every line‚Ķ.it ain‚Äôt funny!!
Lose the laugh track please!!!!!It‚Äôs not a laugh track it‚Äôs like Tim‚Äôs two other shows he‚Äôs done it‚Äôs a live audience why do you think with emotional moments it was quiet as home improvement and last man standing were shot before a live audience and oh there was also cheering for Tim and kat‚Äôs characters at the beginning meaning it is a live studio audienceThey may have to enhance the laughter if the audience doesn’t like the jokes, and an audience fluffer may signal to laugh even if the joke is not funny.They are definitely sweetening the live laughs.Nowhere near Home Improvement’s quality, but I wasn’t expecting it to be. Good enough to keep watching, I gave it a grade of B. Granddaughter is adorable. Daughter is a lot less likable than all three of Last Man Standing’s original daughters from season 1 (never liked Amanda Fuller’s Kristin much and fake Mandy was awful). But that is to be expected with the estranged daughter premise. Having a character in a wheelchair is good, maybe he will get more of a development chance later.Agree with your comment about the granddaughter. Grandson wasn’t half bad.It was just okay for me. I‚Äôll give it a few more episodes before I decide if I want to stick with it.I really enjoyed it! I love Tim Allen! From Home Improvement to Last Man Standing and now Shifting Gears! Tim and Kay pair up well together! Will be watching again!It would be fun to have Patricia Richardson and Nancy Travis guest star as a pair of sisters who hate Tim’s character Matt.How many of you think that should have been either Grey Delisle-Griffin or Rachael MacFarlane in Kat Dennings’s role on Shifting Gears (as long as it isn’t voice-only)?Why would a lead part on a live-action sitcom be voice only?Also, Griffin and MacFarlane, though immensely talented, are both near 50 years old and the character is 33 or 34. They’re terrific, but they don’t read mid-30s.Outstanding!Allen and Dennings crush comedy!Must see tv.I really enjoyed it!! Kat Dennings is fantastic as usual. Her and Tim Allen are a perfect match . Can’t wait for next week episode.I liked it and will tune in again. I’ve been a Tim Allen fan since the Home Improvement days. It was good to see Daryl “Chill” Mitchell on the screen again….loved his character on NCIS: New Orleans.I really enjoyed the first episode. Kat Dennings and Tim Allen play so well off each other.I enjoyed it, I gave it a B. Their banter was great but I can already see Tim (or the writers) sneaking in political commentary. I’ll give it a couple more episodes before I make a final decision. Kids are great. How long until Jay Leno shows up as a janitor or Jeff Dunham is a customer? (They’re all good friends)Please stop with the faked in laughing track after every sentence that is said. It is extremely irritating since it is not necessary. It sounds like something from the 70’s and 80’s.Your laughing track is not needed as often as you use itit’s a live studio audience. Matbe they made it louder than it actually was.Amazing hour!Looking forward to another Tim Allen family show. America needs more shows like this!Southern CA TV was all fire coverage, so I’ll have to find it later.i love kat denningsGreat to see Tim back on the air like his right wing subtle comments…will for sure watch next week..I liked it of course I love Tim Allen I loved home-improvement. I love last man standing. I still watched last Man standing reruns every day.üòäKat was great! Tim seems a little ‚Äúrusty‚Äù but I‚Äôm sure as the show goes on it will get better. I hope the writers ease up on the political slant and just let it be an estranged family learning to live together.Don’t hold your breath on that. Allen is an EP, and as he’s gotten older, he’s leaned even harder into the political stuff. He knows that his loyal fans will expect it as part of the show.Not sure if Kat is the right fit, and Tim seems toooo angry!!With Tim Allen, you know what you’re going to get.He’s only capable of playing one character, and this is it. If you like it, then this show is for you. The only difference is the surrounding characters/actors.Eh – I love Tim Allen and all his shows. He is basically the same character, which I’m ok with but I don’t like Kat Denning, I think she is a horrible actress and can’t really watch her long, this would be the reason I don’t continue.AgreeI missed them, what were they?Well, this is awkward, the comment I responded to disappeared. Now it looks like I missed all the jokes.By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.
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