Tim Allen and Kat Denning’s Butt Heads

Tim Allen and Kat Dennings are both network sitcom royalty — he from “Home Improvement,” she from the surprisingly long-running “2 Broke Girls.” (It’s hardly a classic, but that show ran to 138 episodes. That’s well within the syndication zone!) With the sitcom “Shifting Gears,” a midseason debut that brings Allen back into the ABC primetime fold, the two actors team up to form a dynasty, playing a father and daughter reunited after more than a decade of estrangement. Both receive enthusiastic applause from the multi-camera half-hour studio audience at the entrance. Most new shows need to sell themselves to a potential audience; “Shifting Gears” enjoys a hefty lead to offset its early stumbles.

Allen – also an executive producer – stars as Matt, owner of a classic car restoration shop. (Dennings also produces.) This setting has proven potential as a workplace comedy, as demonstrated by the success of Shane Gillis’ “Tires” on Netflix. But the two episodes of “Shifting Gears” shown to critics instead focus heavily on family dynamics. When Dennings’ Riley pulls up in Matt’s stolen GTO with her two kids in tow, it’s to ask for a place to live in the wake of her divorce. A classic odd couple scenario ensues, except these roommates already share decades of emotional baggage.

Created by husband-and-wife team Mike Scully and Julie Thacker Scully (“The Simpsons”) and helmed by Michelle Nader (reunited with Dennings after a stint on “2 Broke Girls”), “Shifting Gears” can be clumsy with its exhibition. (Scully and Thacker Scully left the show before it was ordered to series.) “When I build things, they’re built to last,” says Matt. “Except our relationship!” Riley answers. This lack of subtlety extends to overt attempts at intergenerational humor. Riley’s young son Carter (Maxwell Simkins) decides to do over Matt’s Instagram presence, while when Matt’s granddaughter Georgia (Barrett Margolis) announces her intention to become a billionaire, he warns that her husbands will not be comfortable with a wife who serves them better. .

As that anecdote suggests, Matt shares Allen’s real-life conservatism, albeit a cuter version with the edges sanded off. He idolizes Reagan but doesn’t mention the current president-elect even when tariffs come up in the news; Riley defends Nancy Pelosi, even though a woman who dropped out of college to run off with a bass player seems more like the Bernie type. Matt is meant to be more of a lovable antics prone to kids in these days of school housing squabbles that soon resolve into mutual understanding.

Matt’s prickliness is more compelling in the context of his relationship with Riley, a case of two hard-nosed people who have recently lost their longtime buffer in Matt’s late wife. There’s some bittersweet slapstick in the premiere, where Matt, surprised by Riley’s display of vulnerability, awkwardly pats her foot. The good news is that there’s a lot more to “Shifting Gears” in this arena: we still haven’t met Riley’s brother, who could offer more context about her childhood, or ex-husband, who she presumably wants to bring along. to co-parent.

Meanwhile, “Shifting Gears” could more smoothly integrate Matt’s personal and professional spheres. (Riley has vague aspirations of becoming a lawyer, but it’s Matt’s interests that define the show from the title down.) There’s a forced B-plot in the second episode, where Riley tries to frame Matt’s co-worker Gabriel (Seann William Scott) ) up with her high school classmate Caitlyn (Brenda Song), an arc that shows the seams of the ensemble, even if it’s obviously buying time for a prolonged will-they-won’t-they between Gabriel and Riley. “Shifting Gears” is about a family that sews itself back together. Perhaps it is appropriate that it does not yet feel like a coherent whole.

“Shifting Gears” premieres on ABC on January 8 at 8 PM ET, and the remaining episodes air weekly on Wednesdays.