Warning: SPOILERS for Shifting Gears episode 7.Shifting Gearshas struggled to be a multi-generational sitcom since its pilot, but episode 7 is a step in the right direction for the Tim Allen comedy. To an extent, Allen’s strong presence limits the sitcom’s potential to truly attract younger viewers, with him leading theShifting Gearscast of charactersas the overtly old-fashioned Matt Parker. Though Matt and his daughter, Riley (Kat Dennings), clash heads often, the majority of the show’s jokes stay rooted in Allen’s brand of comedy. Even Matt’s grandchildren, Georgia (Barrett Margolis) and Carter (Maxwell Simkins), have thus far felt like watered-down clichés.
Thankfully,Shifting Gearsepisode 7 finally let its youngest characters be youthful. While there’s nothing wrong with the sitcom primarily centering on storylines that feel familiar to older generations— especially with Tim Allen as the headliner—Shifting Gearscan expand its audience by tapping into the younger generationsalready present in the narrative. WhileShifting Gearshas garnered impressive viewershipalready, broadening the target demographics would offer the sitcom longevity. Now that the family comedy has added realistically young details to Carter’s character, there’s no telling how much better the generational storylines can be inShifting Gearsseason 2.
Carter Learning About Sex From Fan-Fiction Mirrors Modern Internet Culture
He’s A True Gen Z Character
The Parker family subplot inShifting Gearsepisode 7 focused on Riley and Matt trying to give Carter“the talk.”While parents teaching their children about the birds and the bees has been a common plot since the heyday of classic sitcoms,Shifting Gearssubverts the“sex”talk with a modern twist:Carter doesn’t need Riley or Matt to explain intercourse to him because he’s already learned about it on the internet. Specifically, Carter read smutty“romantasy”(romance-fantasy) fanfiction to learn about sex.
Shifting Gears' Last Man Standing Reunion Reveals The Harsh Truth About Tim Allen’s New Sitcom
Shifting Gears includes another callback to Tim Allen’s former roles, but his The Last Man Standing co-star highlights the sitcom’s biggest danger.
AlthoughShifting Gearspivoted to dramapreviously and benefited from the change of pace, Carter’s affinity for fanfiction veers back to comedy, but it only works because of the authenticity behind the joke. His character is usually played for jokes at his own expense, butthe humor in Carter’sShifting Gearsepisode 7 storyline stems from its relatabilityto younger viewers. Countless real people in his age group learned about sex online rather than during sit-down discussions with parental figures, and Riley finding Matt’s search history is a mortifying reflection of a younger audience’s worst fears.
Carter’s Shifting Gears Episode 7 Storyline Shows The Sitcom Actually Can Achieve Generational Comedy
It Doesn’t Have To Rely On “Kids These Days” Moments
Carter’s fanfiction preferences are still exaggerated for the sake of comedic effect, butShifting Gearsepisode 7 at least anchors the joke in reality. Consequently, it encourages viewers to identify with Carter and laugh at his circumstances rather than laugh at him as a representative of his“snowflake”generation. Thepoor initial reviews ofShifting Gearswere partially due to how the dialogue centered Tim Allen’s conservative rhetoric. The pilot, as pointed out by many critics, felt less like a sitcom and more like scrapped stand-up bits. Seemingly,theShifting Gearschildren only existed to criticize younger generations.
Any series that includes multiple generations will, if it has any merit, focus on bridging the divide rather than complain about the gap.
As the season has gone on, however, the younger characters are less and less being used as props to gripe about“kids these days.”It would be easy forShifting Gearsto only show Matt’s perspective or to overly generalize plots involving Carter and Georgia, but that ruins the whole point of the sitcom. Any series that includes multiple generations will, if it has any merit, focus on bridging the divide rather than complain about the gap.Shifting Gearsisn’t out of the woods yet, but a detail as small as Carter’s internet habits indicates the sitcom is improving.
