Shifting Gears Season 2 Premieres Oct 1 on ABC with Grief Focus

Tim Allen’s sitcom Shifting Gears returns for a second season on Wednesday, October 1, with a premiere that reunites Allen with several co-stars from his earlier television series and advances multiple family and grief-related storylines set at his character’s auto repair shop and the nearby dance studio. The episode airs at 8 p.m. Eastern on ABC and will be available to stream the following day on Hulu.

The Season 2 opener brings back Patricia Richardson and Nancy Travis as guest stars, joining Jenna Elfman, Kat Dennings and Seann William Scott among the core cast. Richardson is appearing as Jill Taylor, the character she played opposite Allen on Home Improvement, while Travis reprises Charlotte, the widow who formed a bond with Allen’s Matt Parker in Season 1. Elfman returns as Eve, Matt’s recent romantic interest. Debbe Dunning and Richard Karn, also associated with Allen’s earlier sitcoms, appear in the episode’s grief-group scenes.

Plot lines in the premiere center on Matt’s conflicted feelings about Eve and Charlotte’s encouragement that he attend a grief support group after the death of his wife. Riley, Matt’s daughter played by Dennings, confronts her own romantic...