It was an improvement.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the Season 2 premiere of Tim Allen\u2019s<\/a> ABC sitcom \u201cShifting Gears,\u201d he has an onscreen reunion with his former \u201cHome Improvement\u201d co-stars Richard Karn, Patricia Richardson<\/a> and Debbe Dunning.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cComing back was exciting,\u201d Dunning, 59, exclusively told The Post.\u00a0<\/p>\n Taran Noah Smith, Patricia Richardson, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Tim Allen, Zachery Ty Bryan, Earl Hindman (behind fence), Richard Karn on \u201cHome Improvement.\u201d \u00a9ABC\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n Tim Allen, Debbe Dunning, Pamela Anderson and Richard Karn in \u201cHome Improvement.\u201d \u00a9Touchstone Television\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n Debbe Dunning, Patricia Richardson and Richard Karn in \u201cShifting Gears.\u201d Disney<\/p>\n Dunning got a call from Allen, 72, asking if she was available to film for a few days in August.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m like, even if I was [busy], I\u2019ll clear my schedule,\u201d she explained. \u201cJust going back and seeing everybody from the makeup and hair people to the group [of actors] was surreal.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Premiering Season 2 on Wed, Oct 1 (8.p.m) on ABC, \u201cShifting Gears\u201d stars Allen, Seann William Scott, 48, and Kat Dennings, 39. <\/p>\n Created by \u201cThe Simpsons\u201d writers Mike Scully and Julie Thacker Scully, the show follows Matt Parker (Allen), a widower who runs an auto restoration shop, as he reluctantly takes in his estranged daughter (Dennings) and her kids after she gets divorced.\u00a0<\/p>\n Tim Allen and Nancy Travis on \u201cShifting Gears.\u201d Disney<\/p>\n Tim Allen in \u201cShifting Gears.\u201d Disney<\/p>\n \u201cHome Improvement\u201d <\/a>aired on ABC from 1991 to 1999, launching Allen\u2019s career. The hit show followed Tim (Allen) and his family, including wife Jill (Richardson) and their sons Brad (Zachery Ty Bryan), Randy (Jonathan Taylor Thomas) and Mark (Taran Noah Smith).\u00a0<\/p>\n The show also included a \u201cshow within a show,\u201d which was Tim\u2019s home improvement show, \u201cTool Time,\u201d where Tim was joined by co-host Al Borland (Karn) and a \u201ctool time girl,\u201d first Lisa (Pamela Anderson) and then Heidi (Dunning), who joined in Season 3.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe do talk to each other quite a bit. When you\u2019re together for eight years, it\u2019s a family. And then all of a sudden it\u2019s over. But, fortunately, Rick and I do a lot of appearances together,\u201d Dunning told The Post, referring to Karn.\u00a0<\/p>\n Debbe Dunning, Patricia Richardson and Richard Karn on \u201cShifting Gears.\u201d Disney<\/p>\n Tim Allen, Nancy Travis, and Richard Karn on \u201cShifting Gears.\u201d Disney<\/p>\n \u201cI always talk to Tim. At least once a month I check in,\u201d she added. \u201cAnd it\u2019s just one of those things where you guys are friends and you just can\u2019t help but stay friends.\u201d<\/p>\n Dunning and her former co-stars went down memory lane during the season premiere of \u201cShifting Gears.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe would sit around the couch and talk about different things that we had done. We talked about how much fun we had. We would say different things like you do in a family. And the only people that realize what that little inside joke was, are the people that worked on \u2018Home Improvement.\u2019 It was very funny.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe used to say, \u2018if you\u2019re not single, you\u2019re Data,\u2019 which was one of the wardrobe guy\u2019s names,\u201d she recalled. \u201cAnd so I think I just said it out loud, and it was like we stopped and we all looked each other, started laughing. Like in a family, you have your little silly things you do where only your family [gets it].\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Tim Allen, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Zachery Ty Bryan, Taran Noah Smith on \u201cHome Improvement.\u201d Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n Tim Allen, Richard Karn, and Pamela Anderson on \u201cHome Improvement.\u201d \u00a9Touchstone Television\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n Over the years, Allen has given Dunning career advice \u2014 which even led to her turning down Playboy.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cProbably [to] just stay as natural, as you are,\u201d she told The Post of his advice. \u201cThere were times where I wanted possibly to be a little more glamorous. And he\u2019s like, \u2018No, the way you look and the way you are, you will go so much further.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The \u201ctool time girl\u201d often acted as a model posing with the tools on the show. Her predecessor, Anderson, had been a Playboy model<\/a>.<\/p>\n Dunning recalled an incident when Allen and a director, \u201chad said something so kind to me\u2026 \u2018You\u2019ve got that natural girl next door beauty. Don\u2019t ever lose that. Don\u2019t ever get sidetracked.\u2019 And so when Playboy came to ask me if I wanted to do that\u2026 I was like, \u2018I\u2019m going to have kids someday. I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201c[Allen\u2019s advice] helped me make a really good decision,\u201d she recalled, referring to turning down the raunchy magazine.\u00a0<\/p>\n Tim Allen and Richard Karn in 1992 on the set of \u201cHome Improvement.\u201d \u00a9ABC\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n