Tim Allen revealed why he found it difficult to be a mentor to his TV sons on Home Improvement.
“It was recent to me and it took some time for me to be that [father figure]. I felt like more of a funny, mischievous older brother for quite some time — especially to the boys on Home Improvement,” Allen, 72, exclusively told Us Weekly about working with Zachery Ty Bryan, Jonathan Taylor Thomas and Taran Noah Smith.
Allen addressed the teachings he learned on the time.
“It’s difficult because I said when it was easy to be a TV parent, it’s easy. When it’s difficult to be a TV parent, you actually are of no value,” he noted about how a few of his former costars went through “personal, horrible trauma” of their lives. “[For example with the] Home Improvement kids, it was so way back and I used to be brand recent at that and it was very difficult for me to be anywhere near a mentor or guide.”
Allen continued: “It was very difficult to step in and it wasn’t until later that I became more of a mentor. But all of them had great parents.”
Allen got his sitcom start on Home Improvement, which ran from 1991 to 1999 and in addition starred Thomas, Patricia Richardson, Smith, Bryan, Richard Karn and Debbe Dunning. The comedian continued to search out success playing Mike Baxter in Last Man Standing from 2011 to 2021 before returning to TV alongside onscreen daughter Kat Dennings in Shining Gears.
“On Last Man Standing with Kaitlyn Dever, I used to be a mentor because I aligned myself together with her comedy style,” Allen continued. “I actually was all about encouraging her the perfect I could. She listened and I didn’t know that she was picking it up until once in a while in her scenes.”
After playing a sitcom dad on multiple shows, Allen continued to stay in contact along with his TV kids, telling Us, “What we do is holidays, birthdays, weddings and unfortunately funerals. Their lives have moved on [but] I’ve done the Buzz Lightyear voice for [my costars’ kids].”
Allen previously teased whether his former onscreen kids could appear on Shifting Gears.
“All the pieces is a possibility,” he shared in January 2025 with Us before addressing a possible appearance from Thomas after he took a step back from the highlight. “He just got here back [to the last episode we filmed]. He showed up on the set.”
Allen said he would love nothing greater than to share the screen with Thomas again. “He’s literally my kid. I raised that child for eight years on Home Improvement,” he added. “All of those are my kids, and I’m form of sick about this.”
On the time, Allen recalled the close bonds he formed along with his onscreen kids throughout the years.
“[My former onscreen wife] Nancy Travis once told me [something] after I called her during Last Man Standing. I said, ‘Have you ever talked to the ladies [who play our daughters] over the summer?’ Then there’s this long pause and he or she goes, ‘Tim, these aren’t our daughters and I’m not actually your wife,’” he quipped. “She was so wonderful about it because sometimes after they were having trouble on the show, I’d go, ‘How do you think that they feel?’ And he or she would respond, ‘Tim, they’re actors. We just read [what is on the page but] she’s probably not that sad.’”
Shifting Gears airs on ABC Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET before streaming the following day on Hulu.