ABC Picks Up Tim Allen Comedy To Series; Showrunners Mike Scully & Julie Thacker Scully To Depart

ABC has picked up the Tim Allen starrer Shifting Gears to series but will move ahead without the writers who created it.

Mike Scully and Julie Thacker Scully are leaving the comedy that centers on Matt (Allen), the stubborn, widowed owner of a classic car restoration shop. When Matt’s estranged daughter Riley (Kat Dennings) and her kids move into his house, the real restoration begins.

No word on who will replace the Scullys but Deadline understands that Allen has been looking for a showrunner replacement for weeks.

Shifting Gears also Daryl “Chill” Mitchell as Stitch, Maxwell Simkins as Carter and Barrett Margolis as Georgia. The previously announced role of Nick is being recast and will be announced at a later time. 

In March, Deadline exclusively announced that Allen, the star of Home Improvement and Last Man Standing, was returning to ABC with the new multi-camera sitcom. Allen executive produces alongside Marty Adelstein, Becky Clements, Richard Baker, Rick Messina and John Pasquin, who also directed the pilot episode. It’s from 20th Television.

The Scullys are executive producers on the pilot episode. Dennings is a producer.

Shifting Gears marked the first pilot order for ABC this season.  Allen’s last network comedy, Last Man Standing, started on ABC where it aired for six seasons before being canceled. It was subsequently picked up by Fox (then a sister network to 20th Television before the studio was acquired by ABC parent Disney) and ran for three more seasons.