Shifting Gears has been a surprise hit for ABC, but we shouldn’t be too surprised since it stars two sitcom veterans in Home Improvement and Last Man Standing icon Tim Allen and 2 Broke Girls favorite Kat Dennings. The pair make for a hilarious odd couple in the family sitcom, but there’s some bad news about how much longer we’ll be spending with the Parker family this year.

After airing for six consecutive weeks without interruption since its season 2 premiere on Oct. 1, Shifting Gears will soon be taking an extended break ahead of another extended break. For those keeping track at home, that will be quite a few weeks without new episodes of Shifting Gears season 2, but we already know when the sitcom will return in the new year.

On Nov. 5, ABC will air season 2 episode 6, which is titled “Loyalty,” and after that, Shifting Gears is expected to follow suit with timeslot mate Abbott Elementary and take the remaining three weeks of November off from airing new episodes. The network revealed that the fall finale episode will air on Wednesday, Dec. 10, which will be the show’s first Christmas episode called “Nutcracker.”

Shifting Gears season 2 returns for its final episodes in January 2026

While there’s a possibility that Abbott Elementary season 5 will air a new episode on Dec. 3 before the midseason finale on Dec. 10, it’s unlikely that Shifting Gears will do the same. The sitcom has a much smaller episode count than the Emmy-winning comedy — 13 compared to 22 — and ABC will likely try to extend the life of season 2 as long as it reasonably can.

ABC announced its midseason premiere dates for early 2026, and that includes Shifting Gears season 2 returning with new episodes on Wednesday, Jan. 7 at 8/7c ahead of Abbott Elementary’s return at 8:30/7:30c. Unfortunately, as teased before, there’s some additional bad news for us Shifting Gears fans, as the season won’t be back for much longer in 2026.

Once the sitcom returns from its midseason break in January 2026, there will likely only be six more episode aired before season 2 ends. The network hasn’t shared the Shifting Gears season 2 finale date, but they have announced the two-episode premiere of the new Scrubs reboot season on Wednesday, Feb. 25 at 8/7c. Scrubs is expected to air alongside Abbott Elementary.

Depending on ABC’s scheduling plans, Shifting Gears could air its season finale on either Feb. 11 or Feb. 18. It’s definitely a huge bummer that the sitcom didn’t receive an order for a full 22-episode season, especially after the first season was only 10 episodes. But the series has been performing well on both ABC and Hulu, so fingers crossed the network renews the show for season 3.

Even though Shifting Gears might not have has much conversation surrounding it compared to other comedy series, it’s been quite the cozy to return to classic family sitcoms. Season 2 has welcomed Jenna Elfman as a recurring guest star as Matt ‘s (Tim Allen) girlfriend Eve, and the season still has a Home Improvement reunion to look forward to. It’s a shame the season has to end so soon!

Shifting Gears airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on ABC, streaming next day on Hulu.