By Kayla DeKraker
After decades of anticipation, fans of HOME IMPROVEMENT finally got a small but meaningful reunion, thanks to the persistence of actress Debbe Dunning.
Best known for playing Heidi the “Tool Time Girl” on the ’90s show, Dunning revealed she actively asked former costar Tim Allen to bring her into his new ABC sitcom, SHIFTING GEARS — and he delivered.
“I had dinner with Tim, his wife Jane, and their daughter Elizabeth in June before Tim’s golf tournament,” she explained in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. “I sat down at the table, and I said to him, ‘There’s been a lot of us that have done little guest spots on his previous show LAST MAN STANDING — except for me!’ And he’s like, ‘Yeah, I know. I keep trying to have them write something in.’”
Dunning shared that although she was being part-funny, part-serious, she soon got a promising text from Allen.
“I get a text message and he says, ‘Are you available? Possible SHIFTING GEARS August 13-19,’ and I just said, ‘I will clear my schedule. I will do anything to clear my schedule and then be back.’”
Related: SHIFTING GEARS Season 2 Glimpses Grief and Finding Love Again
She added, “And then Tim said, ‘Richard is also going to be there, and possibly Patricia,’ and I was like, ‘Oh, this is going to be huge. This is what our viewers have wanted for almost 30 years.’”
The costars reunited for SHIFTING GEARS’ Season 2 premiere, which aired on Oct. 1.
Dunning described the reunion as both surreal and exciting: “It was exciting. The whole time I was like, ‘This doesn’t even seem real. It seems like we’re back. And I know when I leave after taping, that’s it. I’m not going to be able to come back here.’”
Before the episode aired last week, the SHIFTING GEARS Instagram page dropped a sneak peek. In it, Dunning holds up a SHIFTING GEARS sign and says, “Does everybody know what time it is?” — her iconic opening line from HOME IMPROVEMENT before playing a clip from the episode that also features Allen’s LAST MAN STANDING costar Nancy Travis.
Fans gushed over the meet-up in the comment section.
“Tim needs get the boys on here maybe if a season 3,” one person said. Another person added, “My Tool Time loving heart!”
Part of Movieguide®’s review of SHIFTING GEARS Season 1 reads, “SHIFTING GEARS is an entertaining family comedy on ABC starring Tim Allen as Matt and Kat Dennings as Riley. Though Matt and Riley have a strained father-daughter relationship, they must support each other and reconcile their differences when Riley moves back home with her father as her life falls apart.”
Movieguide® notes, “The pilot episode of SHIFTING GEARS teaches strong positive values. It stresses the importance of family, love, forgiveness, and reconciliation. Also, father uses an overt winsome reference to Jesus when discussing life with his teenage grandson.” However, it “has some relatively light foul language and other issues.”
SHIFTING GEARS airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on ABC and streams on Hulu the following day.
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