Tim Allen Reveals Holdup Behind ‘Home Improvement’ Revival & Teases Sitcom Return

The 71-year-old revealed to TooFab exclusively whether there have ever been any serious talks about reviving the classic sitcom while attending a Cirque du Soleil event at the Santa Monica Pier in Los Angeles with his family.

“There’s always been serious talks about it,” Allen told TooFab exclusively.

“Because we never finished where the boys went. We’ve always discussed where those boys are now, we’ve thought about it,” he said, referring to on-screen sons played by Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Zachery Ty Bryan and Taran Noah Smith.

“It gets a little complex in this world of contracts and previous ownership, so it’s stuff I cant talk about,” he added of the holdup.

This comes after Patricia Richardson, who played Allen’s onscreen wife Jill, claimed earlier this year that she has “never” been asked about doing another show.

“It was so weird, I would hear he [Allen] was coming out publicly and saying this stuff about everyone was on board to do a Home Improvement reunion, but he never asked me and he never asked Jonathan [Taylor Thomas],” Richardson said on a March episode of the Back to the Best podcast.

Fans of Allen, however, won’t have to wait long to see him return to the world of sitcoms; the actor is headlining the new ABC new series Shifting Gears alongside Kat Dennings of 2 Broke Girls.

“The Kat Dennings hire, playing my daughter in it, has been a marvelous experience and it’s a different show for me,” he told TooFab exclusively.

“This will be my third go round for sitcoms, I love entertaining in that venue,” he said, explaining what sets this show apart from his previous sitcom outings. “It’s emotional. I’m just recently widowed, my daughter comes home, she’s getting a divorce. It seems a little serious, the two of us, dramatic and funny at the same time.”

Seann William Scott has also been tapped to play a role in the series, with Allen teasing that “he’s hilarious and he’s going to play a wonderful piece.”

The sitcom star was walking the red carpet ahead of the Cirque show with his wife Jane Hajduk and daughter Elizabeth Allen-Dick.

“You can’t describe what this [Cirque show] is because most of the time if you haven’t seen it, it’s like this [jaw drops], how are humans doing this, unbelievable,” Allen shared with TooFab, before adding that it will be his daughter’s first time seeing a Cirque show.

“And Marty Short will be the lead acrobat,” Allen quipped about his friend Martin Short, who also attended the show. Hajduk then added that Short will actually be a “contortionist.”

As for what the Allen family does for Christmas with the Santa Clause star, the actor’s wife shared some insight.

“We actually go down to the Laugh Factory and do some feeding and serving of some amazing people who can’t exactly have Christmases like we have them,” Hajduk explained, before adding that it’s been a “tradition” since Elizabeth was three.

However, those being served by the Allen family will not be seeing The Santa Clause actor dress up in the red suit.

“I don’t have to dress up, at that time of the year I go to the North Pole, you know what happens,” Allen joked exclusively with TooFab. “I wear an apron and do some jokes at the Laugh Factory we’re grateful enough to be asked to help feed.”