Why Tim Allen worried his Shifting Gears romance with Jenna Elfman would look ‘creepy’

“It gets creepy for me at a certain age [and] we’re right at that border. If Jenna didn’t look so damn nice, then our age gap is not that much,” he said.

Tim Allen and Jenna Elfman in ‘Shifting Gears’. Credit:Disney/Raymond Liu

Tim Allen said that his 15-year age gap romance with Jenna Elfman on Shifting Gears is “right at that border” of “creepy.”
Allen added, “If Jenna didn’t look so damn nice, then our age gap is not that much.”
The actor also said, “When they have her making jokes about it, it’s not my preference.”

Tim Allen was concerned about how his on-screen romance with Jenna Elfman would look in Shifting Gears.

The Toy Story star, 72, told Us that he feared he would look too old to share a love story with the Dharma & Greg star, 57, on the ABC sitcom.

“It depends on the pictures,” he said. “It gets creepy for me at a certain age [and] we’re right at that border. If Jenna didn’t look so damn nice, then our age gap is not that much. I just let my hair go natural, and she just looks — especially on camera — quite young.”

He continued, “I just don’t want to be creepy about it — and that’s kind of the borderline image these days.”

Tim Allen and Jenna Elfman in ‘Shifting Gears’.Disney/Raymond Liu

Fortunately for Allen, the relationship between his character, Matt Parker, and Elfman’s character, Eve Drake, has not caused any notable issues from a storytelling perspective, but the Home Improvement actor doesn’t appreciate it when his costar explicitly references his age.

“It hasn’t really come out — except when they joke about, ‘Well, a guy your age.’ When they have her making jokes about it, it’s not my preference,” he explained. “But I said, ‘It’s admitting what is there.’ There’s times — and I’ll give it to them — that they lit right and in the right clothing, so it doesn’t look creepy.”

Allen also said he didn’t set out to add a romantic subplot when the show began. “Our showrunner [Michelle Nader] put this thing together, and they really like the romance. I wanted a car show about a widower to deal with grief. That’s what I wanted,” he explained. “I loved Kat Dennings [as my daughter] because she’s the perfect choice. That old dynamic is really where I was at.”

The actor had no issue with Elfman’s performance but said he felt self-conscious about his age when their characters got together. “They threw this romance in there, and I know Jenna, so I said, ‘That’s not the problem. It’s just that I’m feeling way too old for her,'” he said. “Sometimes they say, ‘Visually it doesn’t look like you think it does.'”

Allen has nothing but praise for his costar and admits that the romantic side of the show has helped the series.

Jenna Elfman and Tim Allen filming ‘Shifting Gears’.Disney/Raymond Liu

“She’s so fun to be around, and it’s brought out a whole different part of that show and brought a different audience to that show,” the Galaxy Quest star said. “I’m really out there for the car guys, and I make sure the car stuff is fun and exciting. Then the office is cool, and now you’ve got romance for the people that want that. Because it turns out the flirting and the actual activity between these two characters is working, and I said, ‘All right, I’ll go there.’ [Jenna is] really good at this, and the romance is kind of generated quite by accident.”

Shifting Gears will return for a third season on ABC in 2027.