‘Shifting Gears’ Boss Wants Tim Allen and Kat Dennings Comedy to Help Heal the Generational Divide

“Shifting Gears” is bringing Tim Allen and Kat Dennings back to television, and the ABC comedy’s showrunner has big hopes for its impact on viewers.

The show, premiering Wednesday, follows Matt (Allen), the stubborn and widowed owner of a car restoration shop who is surprised by the arrival of his estranged daughter Riley (Dennings) arrives to stay with him alongside her teenage children. Once the family reunites, they can begin to heal their complicated relationship mired by years of distance and disagreements.

The emotional premise is told through the format of a traditional broadcast sitcom, long a genre that has tackled important topics with laughter and a light heart. And that’s exactly what Michelle Nader, who joined “Shifting Gears” as showrunner and executive producer following creators Mike Scully and Julie Thacker Scully’s exit before the show was greenlit, hopes to do with this new series.

“Tim is definitely the voice of a certain generation and Kat speaks to a different generation, so we get to examine that generational difference and their different perspectives on big life subjects we’re tackling,” Nader told TheWrap. “I think people are ready to just laugh again and delve into characters that resonate with us.”

Indeed Allen returns in full force in “Shifting Gears,” with Dennings meeting his match at every turn when conversations turn to politics, social issues or how she’s raising her kids. And topics are addressed with humor and heart.

The show is also a reunion for Nader and Dennings, who previously worked together on the hit sitcom “2 Broke Girls” and Hulu comedy “Dollface.” Below, the writer talks about working with Allen behind the scenes, what to expect from the show and more:

TheWrap: What drew you to coming in and leading the charge as showrunner for this new comedy series?

Nader: That’s a very simple but complicated question, because I love Kat Dennings and I have been basically professionally stalking her her entire career. So when I found out that she was doing this, I was doing ‘Deli Boys’ (for Hulu).

I had no connection to this at all. Then the showrunners moved out of the series pick up, and 20th Television came to me and I watched the pilot, and I guess that’s the real answer. I saw the chemistry between Kat and Tim and I was like, “Oh, this is special.” There’s a magic and a synergy that is really going to capture people’s attention as it did with me.

So it was that moment, and then also just wanting to work with Kat again. It was like divine intervention and I’m going to surrender to it.

You and Kat worked together on “2 Broke Girls” and “Dollface.” How does that longtime partnership help in crafting this project? And how did Kat react to you coming on board.

We were both so happy. It really felt like it was destiny. Because again, I had nothing to do with this and we were going on our separate paths. Then Tim Allen was the thing that brought us together.

She was ecstatic, as am I. And, you know, she’s an incredible talent and also a beautiful person inside and out. But what we have is a shorthand. I really understand her voice and that really helped me kind of plug into this show in a way that, if I didn’t, then there’s a learning curve. But it really helped me to sort of be dialed into coming on to this show and hit the ground running.

There’s nothing like a Tim Allen-led sitcom, and that DNA is all over the first two episodes. How much input does he have in the comedy we see on the screen, and how does that fit into what you and Cat already have?

Tim is very involved in the process as an executive producer, and he knows, he knows his voice. I think I’ve really come to speak his language.

I was a fan and know his work and stuff, but it’s different with writing and he has a very specific voice. And it’s deceptively hard to capture.He’s obviously very funny, but he’s such an interesting actor. He’s doing stuff that I really don’t even see until it’s on film, which is crazy. He is involved in all of it — getting stories and looking at outlines — every stage of the process. And then he acts it. And it all comes together. The show is about the restoration of cars, as you know, but also about this relationship. That’s the theme we’re really chasing, our North Star. Healing the relationship between Matt and Riley.

You got your start in broadcast television, then you did “Dollface” and have “Deli Boys” coming up later this year. How was it stepping back into the sitcom world here?

It’s a different language and a different skillset, and it is deceptively hard. I think sitcoms are, in some ways, the highest degree of difficulty and gets the least amount of praise… I can barely do it. It’s very hard to get it to seem real and get the rhythms of it.

So I approached it in the same way that in the show Matt Parker modernizes classic cars. I was coming to it modernizing a classic form. I wanted it to be a sort of reinvention of the form, but not losing the parts that we love. That’s what I’m really exploring in terms of sets and the way jokes are done, the laugh track, the music.

What can you tease about the journey that this family will be going on this season?

Matt and Riley are coming together, so they have to repair their relationship, of course. But each of them individually has their own journey. Riley has left her husband, who we will see coming back. And she will start toward officially breaking up with him and getting a divorce. That’s what we’re going to do in this first season, and then eventually dating. There is a little bit of a hint of a romantic relationship between her and Gabriel(Seann William Scott ) that we’re very much, in the rom-com vein, very slowly playing with that. I think the audience will be rooting for that because we are.

And then as far as Tim’s character, Matt, he lost his wife. He’s dealing with his grief, and they all are as a family. But eventually he will come around to dating as well and moving on. Both of them getting ready to start dating and getting out there could also make for a fun second season, if we get there.

“Shifting Gears” airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT and streams the next day on Hulu.

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