Disney and Pixar fans will also know Allen as the voice of everyone’s favorite Space Ranger, Buzz Lightyear. Allen not only voiced Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story (1995), Toy Story 2 (1999), Toy Story 3 (2010), and Toy Story 4 (2019), but also voiced him in video games and made-for-TV movies.

In 2011, Mr. Allen returned to the small screen and starred in the ABC sitcom Last Man Standing. The series ran on ABC from 2011 until 2017, when it was canceled. The series was then picked up by Fox, where it ran for two more seasons before officially ending in 2021.

And now, the comedian has proved once again that he has the star power to propel a comedy to success.

Tim Allen on Last Man Standing
Credit: Screenshot, ‘Last Man Standing’, ABC

Allen’s new show, Shifting Gears, premiered on ABC, Hulu, and Disney+ on January 8 and is already taking the sitcom world by storm. According to reports, the show’s premiere episode pulled in more than 17 million viewers between live viewers and streaming. That makes it ABC’s most-watched series premiere in more than six years!

Per an exclusive report from The Wrap:

The Tim Allen and Kat Dennings-led comedy series brought in a total of 16.95 million viewers, a 173% increase over the show’s initial live-plus-same day viewing of 6.2 million, according to Nielsen. Among adults aged 18 to 49, the show earned an 0.87 rating.

It marks ABC’s strongest series debut since “The Conners” in 2018 and the most-watched ABC series premiere on streaming to date, based on views in its first seven days on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+.

Tim Allen and Kat Dennings in Shifting Gears on ABC
Credit: Screenshot, ‘Shifting Gears’, ABC

In Shifting Gears, Tim Allen stars as Matt, a stubborn widower who owns a garage. He is shocked when his estranged adult daughter Riley (Marvel star Kat Dennings) shows up with her two young children, Carter and Georgia. Georgia has separated from her husband and needs a place to stay while she figures out her next steps.

Of course, there is a reason why Riley left, and she and her dad aren’t really two peas in a pod, so things get tense and hilarious pretty quickly.

Shifting Gears drops a new episode each Wednesday on ABC, and is available to stream the next day on Hulu.