‘Shifting Gears’ Renewed For Season 2 By ABC, ‘Doctor Odyssey’ Remains On The Bubble

ABC has renewed freshman comedy series Shifting Gears, starring Tim Allen and Kat Dennings, for a second season. According to sources, the pickup is for 10 episodes, which is not atypical for a series that has launched in midseason and matches the sitcom’s Season 1 order.

Shifting Gears was one of two ABC series on the bubble this spring, along with fellow freshman Doctor Odyssey. The drama starring Joshua Jackson and Don Johnson now remains the only ABC scripted series in limbo as the network today also renewed — as expected — veterans Grey’s Anatomy, 9-1-1, The Rookie as well as third-year drama Will Trent, which join previously picked up High Potential and Abbott Elementary.

Marking the return to ABC of Last Man Standing and Home Improvement star Allen, Shifting Gears got off to a red-hot start, with the pilot episode logging almost 17M cross-platform viewers over its first week for ABC’s biggest new series launch in more than six years. it was the steady ratings decline, 40% in linear viewership and 50% in adults 18-49 over its 10-episode run, that sent the series to the bubble.

In the end, the potent series average numbers, including a multi-platform 18-49 rating that ranks Shifting Gears #5 among ABC’s scripted series this season, coupled with the network’s faith in the sitcom prowess of stars Allen and Dennings and Allen’s longstanding relationship with Disney across movies, linear TV and streaming, tipped the scale in the show’s favor.

As Deadline noted earlier this week, Shifting Gears‘ odds also likely were boosted by the fact that ABC has no comedy pilots this spring. With The Conners ending, the network would’ve gone down to a lone comedy series, Abbott Elementary, next fall, if the Tim Allen sitcom was not renewed. Additionally, midseason entries typically get more leeway and are given time to find an audience with a partial Season 2 pickup.

The renewal is a particularly good news for Shifting Gears fans as the comedy ended its first season on a cliffhanger. In an interview with Deadline, Dennings teased what viewers could expect in Season 2 and weighed on the notion that it is a red state show.

In addition to Allen and Dennings, the main cast of Shifting Gears includes Seann William Scott, Daryl “Chill” Mitchell, Maxwell Simkins and Barrett Margolis. Allen executive produces alongside showrunner Michelle Nader, Marty Adelstein, Becky Clements, Richard Baker, Rick Messina, John Pasquin, Jim Patterson, Bob Daily and John Amodeo. Dennings is a producer. The series was created by Mike Scully and Julie Thacker Scully who exited after the pilot.

Meanwhile, it may go down to the wire on Doctor Odyssey. With its slick production values and big stars, Ryan Murphy’s cruise ship medical drama is expensive to make, and it could go either way on the renewal front after an OK but not spectacular ratings run, I hear. Possibly with that in mind, the upcoming Season 1 finale has an ending that could serve as a series finale, sources said.

Number-crunching and conversations over what a Season 2 would look like creatively continue. Regardless of the outcome, Murphy, one of Disney’s top TV creators, is expected to have at least two series on ABC’s schedule next season with 9-1-1 and recently greenlighted spinoff 9-1-1: Nashville.