Talented actor and comedian Tim Allen has been a huge part of the Disney and ABC family for decades.
For eight years, Allen starred in the iconic ABC comedy, Home Improvement. He also starred in a number of hit Disney films, including The Santa Clause (1994), Jungle 2 Jungle (1997), The Shaggy Dog (2006), and Wild Hogs (2007). And who could forget what might be Allen’s most legendary role — the voice of Buzz Lightyear in the Toy Story franchise?
In 2022, Allen reprised his role as Scott Calvin in The Santa Clauses on Disney+. And now, we have learned that Allen has teamed up with ABC for a brand-new comedy show — a series called Shifting Gears!
Shifting Gears revolves around Matt (Allen), a stubborn, widowed owner of a classic car restoration shop. When Matt’s estranged daughter and her teenage kids move into his house, the real restoration begins.
This is not the first time Allen has starred in a comedy for ABC. From 2011 until 2021, Allen starred alongside Nancy Travis, Amanda Fuller, and Kaitlyn Dever in Last Man Standing. The series was produced by 20th Century Fox, who then licensed the show to ABC. That was before the studio was purchased by Disney. Disney then licensed the show back to Fox.
Back in November, a rumor went viral, claiming that Allen was actually teaming up with controversial comedian Roseanne Barr for a new comedy. However, the rumor was pushed out by the satirical site SpaceXMania. Even if the rumor were true, it would be unlikely that the comedy would land at ABC.
ABC famously fired Barr in 2018 after she went on a racist tirade against Valerie Jarrett — a Senior Advisor to former President Barack Obama. Barr apologized for the tweet, blaming what she said on the medication she was taking. But ABC didn’t buy the excuse and parted ways with Barr, kicking her off her own show.
Shifting Gears will be co-written by Mike and Julie Scully, best known for writing on shows like The Simpsons, Everybody Loves Raymond, and Fuller House. The Scullys will also serve as executive producers alongside Marty Adelstein, Becky Clements, Richard Baker, and Rick Messina, who were all producers on Last Man Standing.
An upcoming film in the studios has Disney CEO Bob Iger reaching out to the talent for help.
Disney’s getting back to its roots–or so fans would be led to believe. During The Walt Disney Company’s 2023 fiscal first-quarter earnings call with Wall Street’s finest in February of this year, during which better-than-expected returns were shared with investors and analysts, CEO Bob Iger had a few more surprises up his sleeve.
He began by announcing a massive $5.5 billion cut in spending across the organization, part of which included a major restructuring of The Walt Disney Company’s various divisions. Though Disney’s quarterly results were impressive, Iger couldn’t keep his viewfinder set to only that three-month period at the end of the 2022 calendar year.
The boomerang CEO, who at the time had been back at his post for less than three months, stressed the importance of Disney’s ability to trim its spending drastically in numerous areas, and in addition to Disney’s restructuring, Iger also announced plans for 7,000 layoffs company-wide.
It was no secret that The Walt Disney Company had failed miserably at the box office throughout 2022. Disney’s three film offerings that year–two of which came from Pixar Animation Studios–simply didn’t resonate with many who saw them, and in addition to that, many usual moviegoers simply skipped Disney at the theater in 2022, citing Disney’s “woke ideology.”
Pixar’s Turning Red debuted in March on Disney+, followed by Pixar’s Lightyear in theaters in June, and in November, Disney’s Strange World made its theatrical debut. It was a record-breaking year for Disney at the box office, and not in a good way.
But after the proverbial dust had settled from Bob Iger’s seemingly continual onslaught of bad news during the earnings call, a silver lining seemed to emerge as Iger announced three new films in production that could serve to right the ship of box office flops for the company–but in order to do so, Disney would have to call in the heroes–namely, Woody and Buzz, Anna and Elsa, and Judy Hopps.
Iger announced the return of three fan-favorite film franchises–Pixar’s Toy Story, Disney’s Frozen, and Disney’s Zootopia, each of which had performed well and resonated with fans over the years. Though Iger didn’t use the exact terminology, the announcement came with the clear hope that getting back to Disney’s roots could be what turned the tide for the company at the box office.
Now, however, months after Iger’s initial announcement about the three savior productions at Disney, actor Tim Allen, who voices the action figure space ranger Buzz Lightyear in Pixar’s Toy Story franchise, has revealed that CEO Bob Iger recently called on him and Tom Hanks, who voices Sheriff Woody in the same franchise, to share their thoughts about a fifth Toy Story installment.
While details about the new film are scarce, the new film will reportedly be a back-to-basics take centered on Woody and Buzz rather than a spinoff like Pixar’s Lightyear (2022). Perhaps that’s why Disney CEO Bob Iger reached out to Allen and Hanks to get their take on a fifth film
Before Thanksgiving, Tim Allen appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, during which he talked about Toy Story 5, saying that Iger chose to “reach out” to him and Tom Hanks as well.
“Bob Iger, head of Disney, said [the film] was on and actually said it was going to happen,” Allen said. “They have reached out to Tom and I to reprise the roles. They’re not saying anything about it. You wonder if four was too many. Is five going to be too much?”
“According to the scuttlebutt,” he continued, “the writer that’s doing it wrote one of the better ones and said, ‘If I didn’t get this right, I wouldn’t do it.’ It could be a very, very interesting way to reunite it.”
Though the storyline for Toy Story 5 has yet to be revealed, one thing is certain: Pixar absolutely needs a hit, and if any of the studio’s franchises can pull it off, it’s Toy Story, Pixar’s first and oldest franchise, the initial installment for which debuted in 1995, with sequel installments debuting in 1999, 2010, and 2019.
Following Pixar’s major flop in June 2022 with Lightyear, the studio is in desperate need of a home run.
In June 2023, Elemental debuted at the box office, setting records as Pixar’s worst box office debut in history. But several weeks following its theatrical release, Elemental began to take off, surprising even the head of Pixar Animation Studios–Chief Creative Officer Pete Docter, who admitted they simply didn’t know why the film started low and then saw an exponential boom at the box office.
But that boom was enough to convince Pixar execs that it’s time to return to the studio’s roots.
Docter said that PIXAR’s classic stories, including Toy Story, are often anchored on “ideas that we all carried around as kids.” That focus shifted in films like Elemental, and now, the studio feels that it needs to take a closer look at the stories it’s creating and “double down on what allowed [them] to speak to audiences” in the first place, per Docter.
“I always felt that Elemental would speak to a lot of people, and I’m so happy it has,” Docter said. “But we have also taken another look at the projects we’re working on now. What are the kinds of films we want to be making? I really think I want to double down on what allowed us to speak to audiences, to begin with.”
No release date has been announced for the fifth Toy Story film, but diehard Woody and Buzz fans–this writer included–are thrilled that the newest story in the franchise will get back to where it all began–the unlikely friendship between a pull-string cowboy doll and a space ranger action figure. “Dieharder” Toy Story fans take it one step further, hoping that the fifth film will undo the awful tragedy that was the story of Toy Story 4 (2019).
Only time will tell if we “dieharders” will be so lucky.
Tim Allen is back in the sleigh again! The Santa Clauses premiers on Disney+ on November 19th and, according to star Tim Allen, it will have a much different tone. Allen recently sat down with “The Wrap” to explain that as Executive Producer, he had a vision for the series that was unlike the previous movies. He said he wanted religion to play a part in the story this series has to tell.
“It originally had a lot of otherworldly characters, and ghosts, and goblins. I said no, this is Christ-mas. It’s Christ-mas. It literally is a religious holiday,” Allen said. “We don’t have to blow trumpets, but I do want you to acknowledge it. That’s what this is about. If you want to get into Santa Claus, you’re gonna have to go back to history, and it’s all about religion.”
The writing team went back to the drawing board and reworked the story to better fit with Allen’s vision for it. The comedian didn’t give any spoilers saying only that the team “found a brilliant way” to work religion into the story. Allen went on to say that the religious aspects won’t come into play until episode 5 but added that he’s very proud of it and thinks, “It’s really wonderful. They took a chance, and we did it really well.”
As Executive Producer, Tim Allen had one other requirement: that the series treat the story respectfully and pay homage to the beloved films. “I needed that to launch this thing. Respect the last one and let’s not be too gamey with it,” he said. So while the series may be a departure from the films we know and love, at least we know that they will embody the same spirit.
The show’s official synopsis states, “Scott Calvin is about to turn 65 and, realizing he can’t be Santa forever, sets out to find a suitable replacement Santa while preparing his family for a new adventure in life south of the pole.” The first two episodes will be available to stream exclusively on Disney+ on November 19, with one new episode dropping weekly after that.
It’s been over 15 years since we last saw Santa Claus and his family at the North Pole in the popular Disney Christmas franchise, The Santa Clause. If you’ve forgotten what the story is about, no worries, we’ve got you. The Santa Clause — which premiered in 1994 — told the story of Scott Calvin, a self-centered toy executive who accidentally scares Santa off of his roof and has to take over as the legendary Father Christmas.
Eight years later, The Santa Clause 2 came out, and Scott — who has since embraced his Santa job — must get married in order to remain Santa. Enter Carol — a no-nonsense high school principal — who falls for Scott’s charm and becomes Mrs. Claus. Four years after that, The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause, showed Scott having to fight to become Santa Claus once again when the job is stolen by the willful and malicious (or is it skillful and delicious?) Jack Frost.
The Santa Clause Christmas movies are some of the most popular holiday movies Disney has ever done. That led to the early 2022 announcement that Disney would be releasing a new series on Disney+, following up with our favorite Christmas family in a new series called The Santa Clauses.
During the D23 Expo, the cast of The Santa Clauses sat down and spoke about the new series. During the panel, Tim Allen — who is the star of the series and plays Scott Calvin — asked a critical question that you may not have thought of before.
Why weren’t the elves concerned when Scott Calvin showed up as Santa Claus?
I’ll admit, I had never actually thought about it until Allen brought it up. It’s a great question. Tim Allen’s Santa Claus is very close to the elves, and in the trailer, you can see that they all get very upset when he announces that he is retiring. If the other Santa was as close to the elves, wouldn’t they be upset when he didn’t return? Even if he wasn’t super close to them, wouldn’t they have at least asked what happened?
The other Santa basically had to die for Scott to get the job, so you would think that maybe they would want to know how it happened.
According to Allen, the series will answer this question. Along with why Mrs. Claus doesn’t have a first name. Yes, her name in the world outside the North Pole is Carol, but Mrs. Claus doesn’t actually have a first name.
The Santa Clauses will premiere on Disney+ on November 16. The series will star Tim Allen as Scot Calvin/Santa Claus, Elizabeth Mitchell as Carol Calvin/Mrs. Claus, Kal Penn as Simon Choski, Austin Kane as Cal, Elizabeth Allen Dick as Sandra, Matilda Lawler as Betty, and Devin Bright as Noel. David Krumholtz will also return to the series in his role as Bernard.
It may just be September, but it is never too early to start getting excited about the holiday season. It’s always fun to think about the gifts you’ll buy, the delicious food you’ll indulge in, and the Christmas shows and movies that will make your days merrier.
This holiday season, Disney is bringing back the nostalgia and releasing a brand-new series based on the first family of Christmas — The Santa Clauses. The Santa Clauses follows Scott Calvin — AKA Santa Claus — as he goes on the search for the perfect person to replace him as Father Christmas.
Last weekend, at the D23 Expo in Anaheim, California, Disney shared more information on the new series, including a premiere date! The Santa Clauses will premiere on Disney+ on November 16.
If that wasn’t exciting enough, Disney also released the first official trailer for the series, which you can watch below.
Scott Calvin is back! After being Santa Claus for nearly thirty years, he’s as jolly as ever. But as Christmas declines in popularity, so does his Santa magic. Scott struggles to keep up with the demands of the job, as well as being there for his family. Upon discovering there is a way to retire from his post, Scott considers stepping down as Santa Claus and finding a worthy successor so that he can become a better father and husband.
The Santa Clauses will also star Elizabeth Mitchell — reprising her role as Mrs. Claus — Kal Penn will play game designer Simon Choski, Austin Kane will appear as Cal, Elizabeth Allen Dick will play Sandra, Devin Bright will play Santa’s elf helper Noel, and Matilda Lawler will play Santa’s right-hand elf, Betty.
The film will also introduce a Christmas witch, played by Laura San Giacomo, and, much to the delight of fans, David Krumholtz will return to reprise his role as Bernard — the head elf in the first two films.
Again, The Santa Clauses will premiere on Disney+ on November 16.