It’s been a whirlwind year for veteran showrunner Michelle Nader, who found herself juggling not one but two wildly different series premieres, just weeks apart. ABC’s “Shifting Gears”, a heartfelt multi-cam family comedy starring Tim Allen, and Hulu’s “Deli Boys”, a gritty, offbeat crime dramedy from creator Abdullah Saeed, each showcase Nader’s remarkable range and appetite for storytelling that blends sharp humor with emotional depth.
“Having two shows on at the same time was a lot. It’s like having two very boisterous children that you have to manage,” Nader laughs. “I’m like, if I post about this show and not the other, I don’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings. It was a very adorable problem to have.”
In “Shifting Gears”, Tim Allen plays Matt, a gruff car restoration shop owner forced to reconnect with his estranged daughter Riley (Kat Dennings) and her two kids. The show’s mix of heart and humor resonated with viewers and has already been renewed for a second season. “I really like dealing with the hard stuff, but also laughing at it,” Nader says. “That was my coping mechanism as a kid.”
That emotional complexity runs through “Deli Boys” as well, which follows two Pakistani-American brothers Mir (Asif Ali) and Raj (Saagar Shaikh), as they uncover the chaotic double life of their father after his sudden death. The 10-episode series is packed with dark humor and moral ambiguity, set in a colorful underworld of crime. “Criminals don’t think they’re criminals,” Nader explains. “They think they’re just doing their job… they don’t see the difference between what they’re doing and what a guy that runs a corporation is doing.”
Awards Focus sat down with Michelle Nader to talk about writing for Poorna Jagannathan’s character Lucky in “Deli Boys”, collaborating with Tim Allen, and how trusting the audience is key to avoiding tokenism.
Awards Focus: You’ve had such an exciting year already with the release of “Deli Boy’s” and “Shifting Gears”. What’s it been like for you seeing audiences responding so positively to both series?
Michelle Nader: I feel very lucky that in this environment, where everybody’s been talking about, since the pandemic, the strikes and the contraction of the business, that to have two shows that are seen, and actually got made, makes me very grateful. That’s the feeling I feel all the time… gratitude.
AF: Both series are awaiting a second season pickup. Are you already working on the stories for the potential next season?
Nader: As far as “Deli Boys”, Abdullah and I have already been talking about it. There’s just so much richness there where we left season one. For “Shifting Gears”, we really hope that we’ll get to have a 10-episode order to start. We would really like to do more to have the traditional schedule of 12 to 22 episodes so that we can really expand on all of these characters that we just really met in season one.
AF: The shows came out with a slight overlap. Were you working on both closely together?
Nader: I finished “Deli Boys” in April 2024. With streaming, the runways are really long in terms of airing, and I was brought on as a showrunner on “Shifting Gears” in August of 2024, and the series premiered before “Deli Boys”. It actually premiered on the day of all the fires in Los Angeles, which was a very crazy, tumultuous world.
AF: I found it interesting that both shows share themes of grief and moving forward. Is that something you’re naturally drawn to in your career, and when signing onto these projects?
Nader: I think that it follows me, honestly. Something in the universe is attracted to me and telling stories. I come from a pretty traumatic background, so everything that I do has a lot of pathos and trauma underneath it. “Shifting Gears” explores the loss of a wife, and Riley, played by Kat Dennings, is losing her marriage and the life she knew. With “Deli Boys”, the brothers lose their father. They lost their illusion of their lives and somehow are managing to become closer as a family. I really like dealing with the hard stuff, but also laughing at it. That was my coping mechanism as a kid.
AF: Both the series balance comedic elements with more human and dramatic moments. But “Deli Boys” also features graphic violence. What considerations went into treading the fine line of comedy and violent scenes, and ensuring that Abdullah’s voice didn’t get lost in the mix?
Nader: Well, that was my main concern. As somebody coming in as a showrunner, first and foremost, is to support the creator’s voice. I’ve been a creator, and sometimes I’ve felt I was alone in it, and no one’s trying to find some sort of buoy in the chaos. So, that was my first thought, and when I read Abdullah’s pilot, I immediately knew that this guy was immensely talented and the script was novelistic. It had everything in there. I was able to help him curate how to tell the rest of the stories that were already embedded and what he had already created.
AF: In doing so, were you also pulling out Lucky’s story, her connection with Baba Dar, and finding her arc across the season? Poorna is so amazing in the role.
Nader: When I read that character, I was like, “Lucky is mine. I claim her.” I grew up in South Philadelphia, where the show is set, and I’ve dated mobsters. My stepdad was a conman criminal, so I know these people really well. I could really speak to that and what I used to say in the [writer’s] room was that criminals don’t think they’re criminals. They just think they’re doing their job. They think that if their supporting their family, they don’t see the difference between what they’re doing and what a guy that runs a corporation is doing, which was exactly their father. The characters had to wrap their minds around what they had to do now to survive and I think that was why it felt so real.
AF: The banter between the characters also feels so real and lived in. Was everything written in the script or was there room for Saagar, Asif, and Poorna to have some fun with the pages?
Nader: Oh, absolutely. That was the thing with all of us. Most of it was written but we allow for the actors to find stuff in the moment. The stuff that Poorna does and brings to the scenes in early episodes, like when she’s talking on the phone and crouching to the ground like a tiger, that’s her. She’s just that leopard in the coat and it was all Poorna exploring this character with us, and for us.
AF: So then, coming into “Shifting Gears”, you’re going back into a multi-cam setting. What drew you back into the world?
Nader: When I saw Kat was doing this multicam, you know, she’s my person. We’re professionally married [laughs]. I thought it was going to feel weird that Kat is doing a show and I’m not doing. It. We’re destined, which is something we joke about. Really, it was impossible for me to not be a part of this if Kat’s doing it.
AF: What was the process like to find Tim Allen as a counterpart to Kat Dennings?
Nader: I had never worked with Tim before but because I knew Kat and her voice, and I had a shorthand with her, I knew how to write for her immediately. That informed how I could work on their dynamic. You think you know who Tim Allen is and you kind of do, but he’s very, very tricky. He’s deceptively tricky in terms of what he does with his lines. It was a benefit to know what Kat would do and that they’re both so strong comically that she could stand up to him and go toe-to-toe with him. I had the idea of bringing in the Gabe character, Seann William Scott, as a love interest that’s a very slow burn for Kat. I think that helped the dynamics of the show in that this guy Gabe idolizes Matt but he also is in love with Riley, but he doesn’t say so. There was a lot of depth in those relationships for me.
AF: When you’re writing the show and with what you’re saying about the unpredictability of Tim’s performance, does that change how you approach the writing?
Nader: I pitch everything to him first because I want to get him on board with stuff because he has a real need to be authentic. The car stuff kind of moves that. I would go through that with him. My dad sold cars so I know a little bit about them but certainly not as much as Tim. I developed a relationship with him and a trust. We built trust because I was very interested, genuinely, in what he thought. It helps, having run a lot of shows now, to have that trust with the stars, so that they believe and know you’re hearing them so they will do their best. If somethings not working, we can workshop that together but I go in completely transparently saying this is what I want to do, what do you think of this, and we have a back and forth, and I think that works.
AF: Going back to “Deli Boys” and working with Onyx Collective, who have BIPOC programming, what was it like working with them in terms of having that freedom to write and stay culturally open to the Muslim lens that the show is based in?
Nader: That’s a kind of night and day situation where, from every aspect, people understood what we were doing. There wasn’t this patronizing thing. Anil was our executive, and he’s South Asian, and he just understood what we were saying. That’s why it doesn’t feel like we’re trying to educate people. We’re just throwing them into a world. This is the world. Whatever you don’t understand in terms of cultural reference, you’ll catch up. These guys, their dad just died. Now they’re thrust into a criminal world. What would you do? That’s what resonates. Everybody surrounded us with understanding and there wasn’t a tokenism about any of the stuff we were doing. It was just, we’re telling these stories by people that know the world, and that’s it. Come on, let’s go!