Tim Allen’s Sitcom Looking to Reunite Popular Sitcom Cast 8 Years After Sudden Cancellation

Shifting Gears Eyeing 2 Broke Girls Reunion Episode

Shifting Gears kicked off its second season last night with a Home Improvement reunion featuring Tim Allen and his former co-stars Patricia Richardson, Richard Karn, and Debbe Dunning. It’s one of two reunion episodes that showrunner Michelle Nader wants to pull off this season, with the other hopefully bringing together Kat Dennings and Beth Behrs for the first time since their hit CBS sitcom 2 Broke Girls was canceled.

Speaking with TVLine, Nader, who was also the showrunner of 2 Broke Girls, revealed that they are eager to stage a reunion between Dennings and Behrs in a future episode of Shifting Gears. “We want Beth to come over. They happen to shoot [The Neighborhood] on Tuesday nights as well,” explained the showrunner. Behrs currently stars in The Neighbordhood, which is filming its eighth and final season at Radford Studio Center in Studio City, roughly five miles from where Shifting Gears films at Walt Disney Studios in Burbank.

With Shifting Gears on ABC and The Neighborhood on CBS, producers would need to get network approval for Behrs to appear on the former, as well as find an opening in her schedule when The Neighborhood is on break and Shifting Gears is shooting. Despite the complications, Nader is adamant that she will get the titular 2 Broke Girls reunited. “We want Beth over here. She’s on the priority list of people we want on the show,” she added.

2 Broke Girls Was Canceled After Six Seasons

Created by Michael Patrick King and Whitney Cummings, 2 Broke Girls starred Dennings and Behrs as best friends Max Black and Caroline Channing, respectively, who work in a local diner while attempting to raise funds to start a cupcake business. Despite a mixed critical reception, Dennings and Behrs’ on-screen chemistry was praised, and the show was a hit in the ratings for its first few years.

Unfortunately, the sitcom began to see declining ratings in its later seasons, which contributed to CBS’ decision to cancel 2 Broke Girls after six seasons. After 2 Broke Girls‘ cancellation, Behrs went on to star in The Neighborhood while Dennings headlined the Hulu original Dollface, which was canceled after four seasons in 2022, before returning to network television for Shifting Gears.

Shifting Gears isn’t the first show to attempt a 2 Broke Girls reunion episode. The Neighborhood co-showrunner Mike Schiff revealed to TVLine that they had “talked about [stunt-casting] Kat Dennings a couple of seasons ago. We actually had a possible role for her, but she wasn’t available. We looked into it, but I don’t think she was even in town.”

The episode that Dennings would have appeared in was Season 5’s “Welcome to the Hot Prospect,” which saw Behrs’ Gemma forced to confront a secret from her beauty pageant past when Linzie, an old friend, comes to visit. Dennings would have played Linzie, who Schiff believed would have been the “perfect role” for the actor. The part was ultimately played by Katlyn Carlson.

Shifting Gears airs a new episode every Wednesday on ABC.