Hollywood Q&A

Q: Why would the casting director for “Last Man Standing” make such a drastic change in the character of Mandy? It seems a better solution would have been to send Mandy to Paris to design clothes.

A: I’ll do you one better than the casting director: showrunner Kevin Abbott — basically the lead creative force on the team — took a direct hand in recasting the role, and he went on the record to say, basically, they all fell in love with the new actress, Molly McCook.

ABC canceled “Last Man Standing” in 2017, only to have Fox pick it up later. But in the meantime, Molly Ephraim, who originally played Mandy in the show, had made other acting commitments. The producers were stuck either writing the character off or recasting her. They decided to at least consider recasting her, and they found McCook.

Abbot said in the interview with Entertainment Weekly that the producers expected a backlash from fans but felt confident they’d get over it because they all went through the same thing.

“When Molly McCook walked in, we thought, ‘that’s not going to work.’ Physically that’s not going to work. And then she’s just so good.”

He summed up the journey the producers went through: “It’s a little jarring, then you grow to love her.”

There was indeed a backlash — people took to Twitter in droves to complain about the new actress the night of the season premiere — but it was somewhat drowned out by the good news: the Fox revival was a huge hit.

Q: Are the tribe members on “Survivor” limited in what they can bring on the show? For example, if they know they will be on a tropical island where torrential rain is a given at any time, why don’t they bring rain gear?

A: It can often get overshadowed by the interpersonal drama, but “Survivor” is, at its heart, a contest. And contests are defined by their rules.

Fortunately, a few years ago someone leaked those rules, in the form of the nine-page contract given to contestants, so we know quite a lot about them.

A half-page of the rules is devoted just to what contestants are allowed to bring with them to whatever exotic locale is being featured that season. The most pertinent rule in terms of your question states: “Contestants may only arrive to the Series Location with clothing that is pre-approved by [the] Producer.”

Presumably, the producer won’t approve anything that gives a contestant a competitive advantage. (Generally speaking, it seems the producer approves as little clothing as possible.)

Furthermore, according to the rules, “Contestants may not bring any personal belongings or luggage (except as authorized by or provided by [the] Producer).” That means no getting around the clothing rule by bringing one of those rain jackets that folds into a fanny pack.

And lest one of the contestants thinks of trying to just sneak something along anyway, a good deal of the contract is devoted to explaining the punishments for breaking all these rules.

Q: Did Tina Turner act in anything else after that Mad Max movie?

A: Despite the fact that she earned surprisingly good reviews for her turn as the outlandishly named Aunty Entity in the generally outlandish “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome” (1985), the film didn’t launch her into a new career on screen.

She only acted once more after that, with a much smaller part in the 1993 action comedy “The Last Action Hero.” She played the mayor of Los Angeles in the film, which was almost as overthe-top as “Thunderdome,” but less well-received.

She actually acted twice before landing the “Thunderdome” gig, though both roles were much less of a departure from her normal persona.

She was one of several pop stars with acting roles in the 1975 film rendition of The Who’s rock opera “Tommy.” She played The Acid Queen, a manic, drug-dealing prostitute.