Tim Allen and Jenna Elfman‘s romance on Shifting Gears has raised eyebrows — but what has been said about the surprising fictional age gap?
Shifting Gears, which premiered in 2025, introduced fans to Matt (Allen) and Eve’s (Elfman) romance in season 1. The pair dated throughout the second season before calling it quits due to long distance. Matt and Eve — who have an age gap — found their way back to each other before season 2 concluded.
“Our showrunner [Michelle Nader] put this thing together and they really like the romance. I wanted a car show about a widower to deal with grief. That’s what I wanted,” Allen exclusively told Us Weekly in June 2026. “I loved Kat Dennings [as my daughter] because she’s the perfect choice. That old dynamic is really where I was at.”
Allen chose to go with the flow when Elfman’s character was introduced, saying, “They threw this romance in there and I know Jenna so I said, ‘That’s not the problem. It’s just that I’m feeling way too old for her.’ Sometimes they say, ‘Visually it doesn’t look like you think it does.’”
After seeing the reception to the relationship, Allen became interested to see where the show takes the characters next.
“She’s so fun to be around and it’s brought out a whole different part of that show and brought a different audience to that show,” he continued. “I’m really out there for the car guys and I make sure the car stuff is fun and exciting. Then the office is cool and now you’ve got romance for the people that want that. Because it turns out the flirting and the actual activity between these two characters is working and I said, ‘All right, I’ll go there.’ [Jenna is] really good at this and the romance is kind of generated quite by accident.”
Elfman, meanwhile, praised Allen for his support as a scene partner.
“I love doing scenes with Tim. I got very excited and it took me a couple episodes to go, ‘OK, who are we in this? Who are you? How is he playing within this format? How is his timing?’ It takes a moment to see how we’re dancing together as partners,” Elfman told Us in February 2025.
The actress continued: “He’s so confident as a comedic actor. He’s just confident and I’m confident and we don’t care if something [doesn’t land]. When you’ve been doing it long enough, you’re not paranoid about a joke not working and you don’t care. There’s no preciousness and there’s enough confidence to support the exploration of the scene of humor.”
Keep scrolling for the most candid commentary about Matt and Eve’s age gap:
Expressing Concerns
After the ABC show featured jokes about the age gap, Allen spoke to Us about his reaction.
“The age difference is not much different than my wife and I,” Allen, who has been married to wife Jane Hajduk since 2006, told Us in June 2026.
Allen noted that his response to the age gap varies, adding, “It depends on the pictures. It gets creepy for me at a certain age [and] we’re right at that border. If Jenna didn’t look so damn nice than our age gap is not that much. I just let my hair go natural and she just looks — especially on camera — quite young.”
Trusting the Vision
“They say when you’re lit better and I go, ‘When I’m lit better, I look probably 68,’” he quipped to Us. “I just don’t want to be creepy about it — and that’s kind of the borderline image these days.”
Allen continued: “It hasn’t really come out — except when they joke about, ‘Well, a guy your age.’ When they have her making jokes about it, it’s not my preference. But I said, ‘It’s admitting what is there.’ There’s times — and I’ll give it to them — that they lit right and in the right clothing so it doesn’t look creepy.”
Following What Works
After Matt and Eve’s brief onscreen split, Allen shut down the assumption that their issues were too large to work through.
“Coming up, you’ll see it’s not over yet and it’s really a different thing for a comic to play this,” Allen told Us in January 2026. “In the show, by design there’s more drama to lay the comedy on top of. It’s something I’ve always liked to do.”
Allen stood by the vision, saying, “The reality of the story is that it was working and it was really romantic for the show. [While] they’re not really a couple yet, it just was really sad. Both of us really got affected by the writing of it and played it very well.”
Not Being Afraid of Obstacles
Before season 2, showrunner Michelle Nader teased the fictional couple’s journey.
“I will say that it is really interesting to watch them,” Nader shared with Us in September 2025 about the onscreen dynamic. “It’s interesting to watch their relationship develop, and so they’re going to go into high gear — but it’s going to be a little bit of a roller-coaster.”
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