The "Abbott Elementary" and "It's Alway Sunny in Philadelphia" crossover also marked a series high with more than 8 million viewers

Tim Allen comedies are still a big draw, apparently, because the premiere of his latest series Shifting Gears has set an audience record for ABC. In the seven days since it debuted on January 8, the first episode has amassed nearly 17M multi-platform viewers across ABC,

In his latest network outing, Allen plays a widower named Matt who owns a garage that specializes in classic cars. But, as ABC teases in its promotional material, his most difficult restoration project arrives when his daughter, Riley, who’s getting divorced, moves back home with his two grandkids in tow.

Allen’s Matt is a beleaguered widower, lonely after his wife’s recent passing. He runs an auto shop that fixes up old cars (the man can never be too far from a tool chest), which he keeps pristinely clean and organized, just like his home.

Kat Dennings may have taken a hard right turn, but Tim Allen hasn’t budged. In “Shifting Gears,” he’s the same character we discovered in “Home Improvement” and “Last Man Standing.”

Tim Allen’s new ABC sitcom “Shifting Gears” is revving its ratings engine. According to ABC, the series now stands as the most-watched ABC series premiere on streaming to date, via first seven days of views on both Hulu and the Hulu portion of Disney+.

Tim Allen's new sitcom Shifting Gears marks a record-setting viewership for ABC, surpassing a previous record for The Conners viewership in 2018.