It’s been 26 years since Home Improvement aired its final episode, and fans are getting a mini reunion on Tim Allen‘s new sitcom.
Home Improvement stars Patricia Richardson, Richard Karn, and Debbe Dunning will make a special guest appearance on the season 2 premiere of ABC’s Shifting Gears, airing on Oct. 1, Entertainment Weekly can confirm.
Although details on their appearance are under wraps, it has been revealed that their characters will reportedly support Allen’s character, Matt Parker, in an unexpected way.
Shifting Gears follows Matt as his estranged daughter Riley (Kat Dennings) and her kids move into his home. Matt is a stubborn, widowed owner of a classic car restoration shop, who works alongside Seann William Scott as Gabriel, Daryl Chill Mitchell as Stitch, Maxwell Simkins as Carter, and Barrett Margolis as Georgia. Nancy Travis and Jenna Elfman guest-starred in the show’s freshman season and will return as guest stars for the second installment.
The series is Allen’s third sitcom after he starred on Last Man Standing from 2011 to 2021 as Mike Baxter, an executive at a Denver sporting goods store. But no role has become as much of a household name as Allen’s tenure as Home Improvement‘s Tim Taylor.
The stand-up comedian made his mark on TV as TV host and tool- and car-obsessed husband to Jill (Richardson) and father to Brad (Zachery Ty Bryan), Randy (Jonathan Taylor Thomas), and Mark (Taran Noah Smith). The series, which ran for eight seasons and racked up dozens of Golden Globe and Emmy nominations, balanced Tim’s life at home with Tool Time, a show within the show about, you guessed it, home improvement.
Karn played Al Borland, Tim’s friend and the co-host of Tool Time, along with Dunning, who portrayed Heidi, the show within a show’s model, from seasons 3 to 8.
Allen has been vocal about wanting to reunite with his former costars for a reboot of their sitcom. In 2023, he told the Messenger, “One of the conversations we’ve had recently is how weird it would be if Home Improvement would be about the kids’ kids. Like if all of them had children, and I’m a grandparent. Home Re-Improvement or something like that. It’s come up.”
Others aren’t on the same wavelength; a year after Allen’s comments, Richardson said she was never approached about a possible reunion and she wouldn’t be interested even if she had.
“I wrote a big thing on Twitter and said I’m not involved in any series with Jill and I’ve also never even been asked to do another Home Improvement reunion thing, but I would not want to,” she said during an episode of the Back to the Best podcast
Richard cited the legal troubles of onscreen son Bryan — who has been arrested on charges related to domestic violence and a DUI — and the passing of Earl Hindman, who played beloved neighbor Wilson, among other roadblocks.
“I mean, Zach is now a felon,” she said. “Taran [Noah Smith] hasn’t acted since he left the show; he’s not an actor anymore. And Jonathan’s not really interested in acting. He wants to direct and write. And we don’t have Wilson.”
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While guest starring on Shifting Gears isn’t quite the Home Improvement reboot fans might be hoping for, it’s a sweet treat in the meantime.
Allen also serves as an executive produce for Shifting Gears alongside Michelle Nader, Marty Adelstein, Becky Clements, Richard Baker, Rick Messina, John Pasquin, Jim Patterson, Bob Daily, and John Amodeo. Dennings is a producer on the ABC series, which is produced by 20th Television.
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