Nancy Travis Tells All on the Cancellation, Fan Response, and Return of 'Last Man Standing'
Nancy Travis is rarely shocked when a TV show gets cancelled. The actress admits that every year she played Tim Allen’s wife, Vanessa, on Last Man Standing was a “nail-biter” in terms of whether or not the comedy would be renewed. But after its sixth season and its best ratings ever, Nancy was confident that they’d be returning for a seventh run in 2017. And that’s when she got the call.
“Tim Allen called me, and he said ‘Sorry to say, but we’re not going to be coming back,’” she tells CountryLiving.com. “And I thought he was joking! It was just so surprising because there was no lead up to it.”
The announcement stunned more than the cast: Fans were outraged when ABC cut the series from its lineup, claiming they were moving away from slating comedies on Friday nights (when Last Man Standing ran).
The viewer backlash was impossible to ignore, and even prompted multiple Change.org petitions that garnered over 200,000 signatures. Competing networks heard the outcry, and Fox finally answered it when they picked up the series for its seventh season, now premiering September 28.
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“I was in a state of disbelief,” Nancy says of her reaction to the second, and much more positive, call from producers. “I really thought we were cancelled and that was it. We grieved, we were very upset about it. But then to be picked up again a year later out of the blue? It felt like quite a gift.”
Though Nancy insists it feels like “no time has passed at all,” there are some obvious differences to expect from the reboot. Actress Molly Ephraim, who played middle daughter Mandy, was not able to return due to other projects, and Tim and Nancy’s on-screen grandson, Boyd, was also recast. Molly McCook and Jet Jurgensmeyer will now play Mandy and Boyd, respectively, and the producers will also introduce a foreign exchange student named Jen, played by Krista Marie Yu, into the Baxter household.
“They’re actors playing characters, but the characters remain the same and the family remains the same,” assures Nancy. “So hopefully audiences will be welcoming, and not see the change as too jarring and a turn off.”
Considering how devoted viewers were in ensuring that the show returned, chances are very likely that they’ll be able to accept the fresh faces. And if that wasn’t enough to convince Nancy, then the greeting she received from fans who flew out just to be there for the first taping should serve as the proof of their passion.
“We came out for our introductions in front of the audience, and all of a sudden they start chanting something. I’m like, ‘Oh God, something’s happening. Why are they chanting?’” she recalls with a laugh. “It turns out they’re chanting, ‘Welcome back! Welcome back! Welcome back!’ It was so moving.”
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