Why recast the daughter on ‘Last Man Standing’?
Post-Gazette TV writer Rob Owen answers reader questions online every Friday in Tuned In Journal blog at post-gazette.com/tv. Here’s a selection of recent queries.
Q: OMG, what were the producers of the new “Last Man Standing” thinking when they replaced sweet, lovable, caring and sometimes oblivious Mandy with a 6-foot-tall skinny blond ditz? The original Mandy would never send Kyle to work in a shirt, tie, jacket and bicycle shorts. I have watched three programs so far and that may be the last one.
— HELEN, WHITEHALL Rob: That recasting was not something producers wanted to do; they had no choice when the show was revived. “The one person that is not going to be able to come back with us is [actress] Molly Ephraim, who played the middle daughter, Mandy,” executive producer Matt Berry said in August during a Fox press conference at the Television Critics Association summer 2018 press tour. “And that was because, as happened to a lot of us, when the show was canceled, everybody figured, OK, gotta move on and make other plans. She got involved in some different things. So, when this came back, she was not able to do it with us, which is unfortunate. We love her deeply. She’s a big part of who we were. But it also was exciting for us to look around and see, well, who can we get to play that character? We wanted somebody to come in and not be Molly Ephraim. We wanted somebody to come in and play Mandy.”
Q: I noticed that the animated films have top stars as the voices even though you don’t see their faces. I was wondering if that is a major draw or would not as many people go see it if it was an unknown, yet still very talented, actor being used as a voiceover.
— PHIL, PLUM Rob: Films and, to a lesser extent, TV shows do seek out names to voice animated characters because the thinking is those properties can be promoted by boldface, big name actors on late-night shows. Known actors will always get more press attention than unknowns. So, yes, it is part of the marketing strategy.
Q: We know Hofstadter, Cooper, Wolowitz and Koothrappali, but what is Penny’s last name on “The Big Bang Theory”? In all these years, I’ve never heard it mentioned. — SANDRA, ROSTRAVER Rob: That’s because the show’s writers have purposefully never revealed Penny’s last name.
Q: Finished “Nashville,” which had one of the best endings to a series. It tied the package with a bow .... BUT, Who the heck did Scarlett end up with? I couldn’t identify him.
— JANET VIA
FACEBOOK Rob: Turns out it was the real-life husband of actress Clare Bowen, who played Scarlett.