Shifting Gears is finding its footing in its sophomore season. Audiences flocked to Tim Allen’s latest sitcom, but critics didn’t find much to love about Shifting Gears season 1. However, it’s common for sitcoms to need some time to find their rhythm – like how Parks & Recreation didn’t add some of its best characters until season 3.
Allen’s character Matt Parker finds a better balance in Shifting Gears season 2, still bringing Allen’s signature old-school, gruff but lovable everyman persona in a way that doesn’t punch down. His relationship with his daughter Riley (Kat Dennings) has changed shifted from adversarial to more like teammates – although this will surely change now that Matt is dating her boss Eve.
ABC’s multicam sitcom feels like it has more staying power in each episode, finding fresh ways to make use of a limited number of sets. The title of the show is a play on the auto repair shop Matt owns, and ABC has unlocked a brilliant use of the unique setting of an auto shop in Los Angeles: guest stars.
Shifting Gears’ Unique Setting Allows For The Best Guest Stars
Jay Leno & Mookie Betts Have Cameoed Playing Themselves
Tim Allen as Matt standing next to Jay Leno as himself in Shifting Gears season 1, episode 9.
An upscale auto shop based in L.A. is a great vehicle to introduce guest stars, as new customers are constantly coming through Parker Customs. Jay Leno’s appearance in Shifting Gears season 1 is the perfect example of a cameo by a well-known car enthusiast playing himself.
In season 2, episode 2, former Dodgers All-Star Mookie Betts plays himself as a customer in Matt’s auto shop. For Shifting Gears fans who don’t follow baseball, everyone in Parker Customs fawned all over Betts to underscore the show’s get. These are just two examples so far, but it feels like the show has cracked something special about its setting.
There was a big and unexpectedly sad Home Improvement reunion in the Shifting Gears season 2 premiere, where Matt receives lessons on moving forward instead of living in the past from his former co-stars now playing a bereavement support group. The Shifting Gears cast has deep sitcom roots, but future cameos will hopefully be lighter.
Who Else Can Appear In Shifting Gears
Allen & Denning’s Former Co-Stars May Cameo, Alongside Car Enthusiasts Playing Themselves
Image: ABC via MovieStillsDB
Many of Allen’s former co-stars from Home Improvement and Last Man Standing have already made cameos. Jonathan Taylor Thomas (Randy Taylor in Home Improvement) hasn’t appeared yet, but could be a nostalgic cameo, potentially playing a version of himself – a former child star.
Given Disney’s brilliant synergy, if Shifting Gears season 3 overlaps with the release of Toy Story 5, they might get a dream cameo from Allen’s voice acting costar, Tom Hanks. Hanks got his start in cancelable-by-today’s-standards sitcomBosom Buddies, and it’s easy to picture America’s dad playing a customer with a sentimental attachment to an old car.
Kat Dennings also has sitcom roots in 2 Broke Girls, and her former co-star Beth Behr could easily slip back into her socialite persona as a trust fund girl who wrecked a boyfriend’s car. However, ABC isn’t incentivized to do the same type of reunion since it’s a different network, and Behr is still kept busy by CBS starring in The Neighborhood.
Dennings is also well known for her role as the MCU’s Darcy Lewis from Thor and WandaVision. Marvel’s calendar is much more likely to be in flux than Pixar’s, so it would be hard to time a cameo to promote a specific project, but Disney’s masterful cross-promotion could still try to get Randall Park or even Chris Hemsworth himself.
Between Jay Leno and now Mookie Betts, Shifting Gears also has the option of inviting known celebrity car aficionados to play themselves for an episode, an easy ask since the sitcom films in LA. Dax Shepard comes to mind immediately as a lover of cars – he even had the reality TV series Top Gear America.
Jerry Seinfeld has a vast car collection, but it’s hard to imagine him popping into a sitcom. Patrick Dempsey owns his career to ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy, and he actually has an impressive race car driving resume. The options are endless in an exciting way for Shifting Gears, which felt so static at times in its freshman season.
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