# Does a preponderance of hot chicks & studly men ever take you out of the story? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 4, 2012, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-preponderance-of-hot-chicks-studly-men-ever-take-you-out-of-the-story/633671 "2012-09-04T19:33:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-preponderance-of-hot-chicks-studly-men-ever-take-you-out-of-the-story/633671/21 "2012-09-04T21:16:21Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Your link reminds me of a ridiculous bit on _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_ when 16-year-old, high-school student Dawn Summers somehow became fluent in ancient Sumerian. To be fair, Dawn was a supernatural creature. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-preponderance-of-hot-chicks-studly-men-ever-take-you-out-of-the-story/633671/22 "2012-09-04T21:20:02Z")
The painfully ugly people on _The Shield_ often seem downright restful. ---
**Author:** ![Ruby\_Slippers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/94ad74/32.png) [@Ruby\_Slippers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby_Slippers)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-preponderance-of-hot-chicks-studly-men-ever-take-you-out-of-the-story/633671/23 "2012-09-04T21:23:01Z")
I can’t say I notice it all that much, although I’ve got to admit I found it easier to relate to the Golden Girls or Kathy Bates in Harry’s Law. But as for Royal Pains, which I also enjoy, you need to remember that it’s set in the Hamptons. I think we’re seeing a lot of trophy wives. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-preponderance-of-hot-chicks-studly-men-ever-take-you-out-of-the-story/633671/24 "2012-09-04T22:55:25Z")
I’ve gotten so used to book and tv/movie female characters being thin and gorgeous that it’s more likely to take me out of the story when they’re \*not \*(in a good way). My mom used to watch some tv show on Lifetime about a skinny female lawyer who dies and possesses another female lawyer who is fat… it’s a pretty dumb premise for a show (and I’m probably messing it up because I never paid much attention, it being Lifetime and all), but that they had a fat actress playing a lawyer was pretty cool. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-preponderance-of-hot-chicks-studly-men-ever-take-you-out-of-the-story/633671/25 "2012-09-04T23:11:39Z")
> [@Rachellelogram](#): > > I’ve gotten so used to book and tv/movie female characters being thin and gorgeous that it’s more likely to take me out of the story when they’re \*not \*(in a good way). My mom used to watch some tv show on Lifetime about a skinny female lawyer who dies and possesses another female lawyer who is fat… it’s a pretty dumb premise for a show (and I’m probably messing it up because I never paid much attention, it being Lifetime and all), but that they had a fat actress playing a lawyer was pretty cool. You’re talking about _Drop Dead Diva_, by the way. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-preponderance-of-hot-chicks-studly-men-ever-take-you-out-of-the-story/633671/26 "2012-09-05T03:37:15Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > To be fair, Dawn was a supernatural creature. And she wasn’t 16, she was 2. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-preponderance-of-hot-chicks-studly-men-ever-take-you-out-of-the-story/633671/27 "2012-09-05T04:57:00Z")
Oh, hell yeah. In fact, I’ve complained about rampant looksism in the entertainment industry in other threads. I can remember back in the seventies when Hollywood people looked like people, and I like TV shows and movies from that era much better than what’s available nowadays. In the other threads, I always got ragged on for being a loon. But I stand by my preferences. ---
**Author:** ![Ken001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/43a26b/32.png) [@Ken001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ken001)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-preponderance-of-hot-chicks-studly-men-ever-take-you-out-of-the-story/633671/28 "2012-09-05T08:24:01Z")
Great question. I’ve just discovered Breaking Bad and am happily working through the series. However right from the first episode my one negative reaction is that Walter’s wife, Skyler (Anna Gunn) is just too damned attractive. MILF. I honestly don’t think her attractiveness is needed to work the story and is actually a distraction. Breaking Bad is supposed to be about a mild underachieving high-school chemistry teacher whose life turns bad. Mr middle-class average (played superbly by Bryan Cranston). He wouldn’t have a hot wife. An attractive wife sure. Strong willed sure. Anyway thats my grumble for the day. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-preponderance-of-hot-chicks-studly-men-ever-take-you-out-of-the-story/633671/29 "2012-09-05T11:56:16Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > Oh, hell yeah. In fact, I’ve complained about rampant looksism in the entertainment industry in other threads. I can remember back in the seventies when Hollywood people looked like people, and I like TV shows and movies from that era much better than what’s available nowadays. > > In the other threads, I always got ragged on for being a loon. But I stand by my preferences. I also prefer films from the 70s to 80s and I’m not even thirty, the people have become impossibly gorgeous and the films themselves have become uglier than reality. Where do all the blonde women in movies come from? I always wondered where they find all the blondes, they are rare in reality. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-preponderance-of-hot-chicks-studly-men-ever-take-you-out-of-the-story/633671/30 "2012-09-05T12:18:39Z")
For the most part I can suspend disbelief. Frequency of hot people can vary a lot by location so the show might just be set in one of those places that happens to have lots of hot people. And some professions that people imagine being quite old and stuffy actually have lots of young, good-looking people (I’ve been to a banking/finance corporate event and a party thrown by a corporate law firm; both were well-served by beautiful women – many of which were stockbrokers, solicitors etc not just admin). What annoys me more is they’re usually dressed / made up like models. It’s ridiculous seeing a woman in heels catch a male perp trying to sprint away in trainers but I’ve seen it several times. Or interrogate some guy while giving him a face full of cleavage (OK, maybe that happens but it makes the way the perp is reacting unrealistic). Let alone doing kung fu in such outfits. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-preponderance-of-hot-chicks-studly-men-ever-take-you-out-of-the-story/633671/31 "2012-09-05T12:23:58Z")
> [@Ken001](#): > > Great question. I’ve just discovered Breaking Bad and am happily working through the series. However right from the first episode my one negative reaction is that Walter’s wife, Skyler (Anna Gunn) is just too damned attractive. MILF. I honestly don’t think her attractiveness is needed to work the story and is actually a distraction. > > Breaking Bad is supposed to be about a mild underachieving high-school chemistry teacher whose life turns bad. Mr middle-class average (played superbly by Bryan Cranston). He wouldn’t have a hot wife. An attractive wife sure. Strong willed sure. > > Anyway thats my grumble for the day. 😃 On the other hand, I love how she later on (and I suppose I should spoiler changes in characters’ appearance since you aren’t far into the show and that’s what we’re talking about here, but this is not a SPOILER spoiler) very realistically gains a bunch of pregnancy weight and still has it. Although I suppose that might have been the actress? ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-preponderance-of-hot-chicks-studly-men-ever-take-you-out-of-the-story/633671/32 "2012-09-05T12:29:57Z")
> [@Ken001](#): > > Great question. I’ve just discovered Breaking Bad and am happily working through the series. However right from the first episode my one negative reaction is that Walter’s wife, Skyler (Anna Gunn) is just too damned attractive. MILF. I honestly don’t think her attractiveness is needed to work the story and is actually a distraction. > > Breaking Bad is supposed to be about a mild underachieving high-school chemistry teacher whose life turns bad. Mr middle-class average (played superbly by Bryan Cranston). He wouldn’t have a hot wife. An attractive wife sure. Strong willed sure. > > Anyway thats my grumble for the day. 😃 Don’t worry, she takes care of that pretty quick. Blegh. Now, I think it stretches believability that her character could afford all that plastic surgery. She’s barely recognizable compared to Deadwood and season one of Breaking Bad. The actress did have a kid, but that was like 2006. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-preponderance-of-hot-chicks-studly-men-ever-take-you-out-of-the-story/633671/33 "2012-09-05T12:33:52Z")
Well, it’s actually a special problem for me, because of the _kind_ of movies I often watch…that is, the kind where the cast is steadily killed off, one by one, by monsters, explosions, or exploding monsters. And I can usually tell _who’s_ going to die because I know the prettiest people are the ones who’ll survive. Especially irritating as the non-pretties, as “supporting” characters, are often more interesting than the pretty leads. Look at it this way: the leads are usually the “normal” ones, who the audience can project on and relate to. Normal is boring. The supporting cast is where any weirdos can go. Weird is interesting. Dave and Sandy may drive the plot, but Bernard and Razor\* do things\* with it. ---
**Author:** ![Tapiotar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3be4f8/32.png) [@Tapiotar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapiotar)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-preponderance-of-hot-chicks-studly-men-ever-take-you-out-of-the-story/633671/34 "2012-09-05T12:46:42Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > And here we go: [Five Things TV Writers Apparently Belive About Smart People](http://www.cracked.com/article_18960_5-things-tv-writers-apparently-believe-about-smart-people.html): Yup. Excessive beauty,the one who is supposed to be homely is actually beautiful, too many people who are experts in multiple fields at too young an age, and women supposed to be professional admins, physicians, detectives, cops, etc who are young, show a lot of cleavage, and chase perps in excessively high-heeld shoes. One reason I like The Mentalist – Lisbon dresses sensibly and never wears high heels and never wears red lipstick. Not that I don’t like looking at good-looking people, but it makes me look more judgementally at the real-life people around me. As someone else mentioned about, the women who are supposed to considered more beautiful than a main character for purposes of plot are often not so much – NCIS episode with top models, the models all had hard, mean faces. Why is that considered hot? ---
**Author:** ![MegaBee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f0a364/32.png) [@MegaBee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MegaBee)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-preponderance-of-hot-chicks-studly-men-ever-take-you-out-of-the-story/633671/35 "2012-09-05T13:05:57Z")
Yes, it does. It especially does when they all look alike. The WB, for example, seemed to have a set of clone vats beneath the studios. When they needed a new monster of the week for Smallville, they’d just decant one of their near-identical hotties and set them loose in the Talon. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-preponderance-of-hot-chicks-studly-men-ever-take-you-out-of-the-story/633671/36 "2012-09-05T13:30:42Z")
Models have hard, mean, VACANT faces - their mouths are always hanging open. Look at any Victorias Secret model. Maybe their fat lips can’t close properly. True Blood revealed the awesome, mysterious organization called The Authority this season and completely botched it up. One of the ‘chancellors’ - a pre-pubescent vampire child who bragged he had Sweden ‘all sewn up’. Best moment of TV this year was when he hastily met the true death. One reason I always like watching East Enders is the cast has real-people looks. (Even the young and beautiful are flawed.) The camera doesn’t shy away from the elderly, lined, weary faces, struggling along in their lives. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-preponderance-of-hot-chicks-studly-men-ever-take-you-out-of-the-story/633671/37 "2012-09-05T13:41:58Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Though Alicia Witt is indeed lovely, you are thinking of Calista Flockhart. No, I’m thinking of Alicia Witt. OK, now you’ve got me thinking about both of them. I’ll be in my bunk. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-preponderance-of-hot-chicks-studly-men-ever-take-you-out-of-the-story/633671/38 "2012-09-05T13:47:29Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > One reason I always like watching East Enders is the cast has real-people looks. (Even the young and beautiful are flawed.) The camera doesn’t shy away from the elderly, lined, weary faces, struggling along in their lives. Okay, so that’s one thing _East Enders_ gets right. Now they have to work on the boring, never-ending plotting and the trite dialogue. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-preponderance-of-hot-chicks-studly-men-ever-take-you-out-of-the-story/633671/39 "2012-09-05T13:52:18Z")
Atlas Shrugged would have been a tad less loathsome a story if the male protagonists hadn’t been so ruggedly manly and the female protagonist a long-legged beauty. I like my symbolism better when it’s not actually poking me in the shoulder saying “Hey, get it? They’re as perfect on the outside as they are on the inside!” For a movie that’s almost shocking (to modern eyes) in its disdain for the looks of its protagonists, try watching the original \* Andromeda Strain\*. The scientists locked up in the lab are exactly what you’d expect brilliant scientists to look like – tired, middle-aged, balding and dumpy. The normally hot female scientist looks like someone’s aunt. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-preponderance-of-hot-chicks-studly-men-ever-take-you-out-of-the-story/633671/40 "2012-09-05T14:03:55Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > And wouldn’t the hiring in a large, governmental office like that go through HR? I doubt McCoy would have had the authority to pick and choose. I wouldn’t know, I’m not a DA. But I’ve been involved in the hiring process before, and indeed recommendations are asked for, and people tend to hire those that they like and get along with, not necessarily who has the best CV. I’m sure that Jack McCoy would have a considerable amount of say in who his junior partner is going to be. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-preponderance-of-hot-chicks-studly-men-ever-take-you-out-of-the-story/633671.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-preponderance-of-hot-chicks-studly-men-ever-take-you-out-of-the-story/633671.md?page=3)