Key points
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Debbe Dunning says that she asked her Home Improvement costar Tim Allen to find a part for her on his new show Shifting Gears.
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The actress reunited with Allen and their former costars Richard Karn and Patricia Richardson on the show’s season 2 premiere.
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Dunning also recalls working with Home Improvement’s child stars, Jonathan Taylor Thomas and Zachery Ty Bryan.
Debbe Dunning is reuniting with her Home Improvement costars.
On Wednesday, the actress — who played Heidi the Tool Time girl on the hit sitcom — guest-starred on the season 2 premiere of Shifting Gears, the ABC comedy starring her former costar Tim Allen.
Twenty-six years after Home Improvement wrapped, the actress joined her former cast mates Richard Karn and Patricia Richardson in a scene in which Allen’s grumpy protagonist Matt Parker begrudgingly attends a grief support group frequented by Charlotte (Nancy Travis).
Dunning revealed how the reunion materialized and reflected on her Home Improvement family during a conversation with Entertainment Weekly.
ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty
Debbe Dunning in ‘Home Improvement’
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How did your appearance on Shifting Gears come about?
DEBBE DUNNING: I had dinner with Tim, his wife Jane, and their daughter Elizabeth in June before Tim’s golf tournament. I sat down at the table and I said to him, “There’s been a lot of us that have done little guest spots on his previous show Last Man Standing — except for me!” And he’s like, “Yeah, I know. I keep trying to have them write something in.”
You can’t put somebody in a position like that, but I was kind of being funny, and I said, “Well, I think it’s my turn.” I had just said, “I would love to do something. I’m a pretty avid golfer. I could be your golf instructor. That would be funny.”
So then I get a text message and he says, “Are you available? Possible Shifting Gears August 13-19,” and I just said, “I will clear my schedule. I will do anything to clear my schedule and then be back.”
Then I got a call and he wrote the word “fore” — like [golfing], and the ball’s coming at you. I thought we were doing a golf thing on the show. And then I got the script, and it became real, and it was all about a completely different situation, and it was great.
And then Tim said, “Richard is also going to be there, and possibly Patricia,” and I was like, “Oh, this is going to be huge. This is what our viewers have wanted for almost 30 years.”
What was the dynamic like being back with all of those people?
It was exciting. The whole time I was like, “This doesn’t even seem real. It seems like we’re back. And I know when I leave after taping, that’s it. I’m not going to be able to come back here.”
You come back to Burbank — I mean, I was born across the street from ABC. I came into the same studio that I was in with my family for years and years. The studios have changed a little bit. Their dynamics are really beautiful, but it was good and it was bad. You come in, and you get the feel. All of a sudden your adrenaline is going like, ‘This is amazing. I’m so excited to be back.’
Momodu Mansaray/Getty
Debbe Dunning and Tim Allen at the 16th Annual George Lopez Foundation Celebrity Golf Classic in Toluca Lake, Calif., on May 1, 2023
And then you go through it, and then it’s done. Just go home and you start to drive home and go, ‘Wow, I want to do that again. I really want to do that again.’
I thought it was really well written. I was a little nervous because I hadn’t been there for so many years. I looked around the room in the first table reading and there were so many familiar faces from Home Improvement. There was Don Morgan from the lighting, and Valerie Laven-Cooper from wardrobe, and Wendy Weiss in makeup. I was like, “Oh my gosh. Tim’s taken his family and continued, continued through Last Man Standing and now Shifting Gears.” I mean, it says a lot about him. He loves family, and he hates it when someone tries to leave, which I love.
Is there any chance that you or any of the others would be back for more?
There’s always a chance. I don’t think any of us would say no. I can tell you right now, I would be there in a heartbeat. Who knows? Given the nature of the theme, they always say, ‘Well, there’s a possibility.” But I think they’ve written most of the shows and they tweak ’em, obviously, every single night. So our script changes every single night.
ABC
Kat Dennings and Tim Allen in ‘Shifting Gears’
What is your relationship like with Tim and your other co-stars from Home Improvement? Is there a group chat?
Richard and Tim and I have a group chat. I’ll always send them something and they’ll send me something back. And Richard and I do a lot of Comic-Cons together.
What do you remember about working with the child stars on Home Improvement, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Zachery Ty Bryan, and Taran Noah Smith?
I used to tease ’em. I think it was like three years after the show, I go, “Oh, come on. I used to change your diaper.” They’re like, “No, you didn’t!” I know I didn’t, but we had a good time.
Jonathan was so funny and quick-witted for such a young kid. He had such good calm with timing. He really handled the death of a teenage heartthrob very well. He was never a cocky kid. His mom was solely responsible for keeping him grounded, and I was a new mom at that time when I would watch her since my baby was born during the show.
Have you ever crossed paths with those former child actors again since the show ended?
I did run into Zach somewhere. I can’t remember where we were. Maybe it was when Tim got his star on the Walk of Fame. It wasn’t recently, but he was trying to do new businesses and he had a whole bunch of different ideas and he was really all over the board. I was like, “Oh, okay. Well gosh, good luck to you. What are you doing? Any acting or anything?” I think he was just trying to be an entrepreneur. He has seven children now.
ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty
Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Zachery Ty Bryan, Patricia Richardson, and Tim Allen in ‘Home Improvement’
How did you feel that Home Improvement affected your career? What were the kinds of roles that you were receiving before versus during and afterward?
Home Improvement gave me a name. I did a lot of things. I was the Taco Bell commercial girl. I did 20 commercials for them, and I was that girl. But that wasn’t anything. That was like, “Oh, she was in Taco Bell commercials. Who was that girl that nobody really knew?” They just knew she was Louise from Taco Bell.
It gave me a name. I have gone to the most beautiful places in the world just because of my one part on a show that I did almost 30 years ago. It has changed and helped my life. I have three kids, and being a mom who’s very involved, it has helped me physically, financially support them. It has changed my life and enhanced my life so much.
ABC/Disney via Getty
Debbe Dunning, Tim Allen, and Pamela Anderson in ‘Home Improvement’
I do go to bed at night and think about, “Wow, how lucky did I get?” I really and truly am so blessed to have done this particular part. Yes, I still want to do more. I want to possibly do Dancing With the Stars or maybe one of these other things, and maybe this tiny little thing on Shifting Gears will put me back out there. Who knows? You never know. It’s a different world now. It’s really hard. You talk to an agent and they’re like, “How many followers do you have? Let us know when you’re in the millions.” I’m not going to be posing naked. Not at this stage.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Shifting Gears airs on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC. Episodes also are available to stream the following day on Hulu.
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