Grey's Anatomy has become an easy mark for people to take out their anger on due to the fact it has been on the air for over 20 seasons, killed off fan-favorite characters, and continues to have a revolving door for cast members who seem to come and go with great frequency. The series has also made some questionable story decisions over the years and it is generally agreed upon that newer seasons aren't as strong as the early ones.
That being said, I think Grey's has been relatively consistent since its soft "reboot" for season 19 and many of the naysayers don't even watch the show. In short, it's far from the worst thing airing on ABC at any point in time, but especially not when the network has just renewed the Tim Allen-led sitcom Shifting Gears for a second season.
It does pain me a little to discuss my disdain of this show because I'm a big fan of Allen's co-star, Kat Dennings, who plays the actor's on-screen daughter Riley. Even though her previous show 2 Broke Girls was sometimes controversial and divisive, even that sitcom was more enjoyable to watch than this one. Sean William Scott also stars and is an underrated comedic actor who I'd like to support, just wish they were in something better.
The main issue with Shifting Gears is that is a retread of basically every older sitcom we've seen, particularly from Allen's shows Home Improvement and Last Man Standing. It really doesn't feel much different at all from those and many of the jokes are painfully unfunny and seriously outdated. It's Allen whining about kids these days, younger generations, and how much he hates progress. Very "old man yells at clouds" energy.
And while the show does have some strong supporting cast members, most of them don't have much of a personality. They feel like cardboard cutouts of characters we've seen before in other sitcoms about unique family dynamics and the writing isn't clever enough to make up for that.
There have been other shows that poke fun at people and "woke" culture in funnier, more original ways, which Shifting Gears doesn't seem all that interested in doing beyond surface level digs, like characters being shocked with Allen's Matt character calls a woman smart or weak one-liners about pronouns.
Ultimately, Shifting Gears isn't going to rock the boat too much in either direction politically, it's quite middle-of-the-road and does what it sets out to do well enough, so it'll probably last for several seasons, but that doesn't mean it's good.
More on ABC shows from GeekSided: