2 Broke Girls Reunion Buzz: Shifting Gears EP Wants It — Plus, The Neighborhood Role Once Envisioned For Kat Dennings
It's been eight years since 2 Broke Girls was cancelled, but fans haven't stopped wondering if Max and Caroline might one day reunite. Kat Dennings and Beth Behrs have both kept busy — and now, for the first time, the stars may actually align.
Dennings stars opposite Tim Allen on ABC's Shifting Gears, now in its second season. Behrs, meanwhile, is gearing up for the eighth and final season of CBS' The Neighborhood (premiering Monday, Oct. 13).
Turns out, producers once floated the idea of a mini–2 Broke Girls reunion — and even had a role in mind for Dennings on Behrs' current show.
"We talked about [stunt-casting] Kat Dennings a couple of seasons ago," Neighborhood co-showrunner Mike Schiff reveals to TVLine. "We actually had a possible role for her, but she wasn't available. We looked into it, but I don't think she was even in town."
The episode in question was Season 5, Episode 6 ("Welcome to the Hot Prospect"), in which Behrs' Gemma confronts a secret from her beauty pageant past when Linzie, an old friend, comes to visit. The part ultimately went to actress Katlyn Carlson.
"Gemma had cheated her in some way, and she felt guilty," Schiff recalls. "It seemed like a perfect role."
Linzie also makes a move on Dave, which would have given Dennings the chance to work opposite Behrs' longtime TV husband, Max Greenfield. Adds fellow EP Bill Martin: "She would have [played] a bit of a psychopath."
Three years later, Dennings is headlining Shifting Gears — and showrunner Michelle Nader, who once ran 2 Broke Girls, is eager to stage a reunion by bringing Behrs into the fold.
"We want Beth to come over," she says. "They happen to shoot [The Neighborhood] on Tuesday nights as well," at Radford Studio Center in Studio City — five miles from where Shifting Gears films at Walt Disney Studios in Burbank. To make it work, producers would not only need network approval, but also for Behrs to be available during a week when The Neighborhood is on break and Shifting Gears is shooting.
But Nader is adamant: "We want Beth over here. She's on the priority list of people we want on the show."
Schiff and Martin are also open to the idea of hosting Dennings — or however many of Behrs, Greenfield, Tichina Arnold and Cedric the Entertainer's former co-stars are game — during The Neighborhood's farewell run.
"We have spoken with them over the years about getting people on, and I would love to do that," Schiff says. "I think the audience really enjoys it." Alas, "we're always beholden to schedule, and a lot of their co-stars are also very busy."
On whichever set it happens, the chance to see Dennings and Behrs together again remains a real possibility.
Would you tune in for a Dennings/Behrs reunion — on Shifting Gears or The Neighborhood?