It’s not unusual for people to watch a TV show or movie, because they’re a big fan of a particular actor . . . sometimes because they think he’s hot, or sometimes for other reasons. I watch *House *to see Hugh Laurie and Peter Jacobson. I see some old movies for Gary Cooper or Bette Davis or Joan Crawford. I watched Star Trek: TNG for Brent Spiner. I watched *Everybody Loves Raymond *for Doris Roberts, and I watch *Modern Family *for Ty Burell.
So who do you watch things for?
I used to watch that show Trading Spaces solely because I thought the host, Paige Davis, and some of the “designing women” were pretty hot. I have no interest in interior decorating.
I watched a season or so of True Blood just to see Anna Paquin’s nude scenes. 
I’m a straight male, but I (occasionally) watch Castle for Nathan Fillion and NCIS for Mark Harmon.
But then I only watch Law & Order: SVU for Diane Neal, so we’re even.
I watch HIMYM strictly for NPH. Well, ok, its a pretty good show too. But NPH!!
When I was around 13, the only reason I ever paid any attention to the original “Battlestar Galactaca” was Maren Jensen (Athena). As luck would have it, of course, her appearances on the show became shorter and more infrequent as the show went on.
Once Upon A Time for Robert Carlyle (Rumplestiltskin).
On the other end of the spectrum, saw a trailer for a movie today that honest-to-God looked like the most boring movie in the history of time. It happened to feature Ewan McGregor and it occurred to me I really like him and his acting, but he always seems to be doing movies I have absolutely no desire to see. I think I watched him last in “Down with Love”! (Checks IMDB) Yup, 2003.
Is that the one about seeding fish into a lake? Or something.
I watch most movies with Simon Pegg in. Luckily he’s in a lot of good movies.
Generally if I find out a former Firefly actor is on a show I will have to at least try to watch it. Few exceptions, but tends to be the case.
Yes! A lake/river in some arid foreign land where they couldn’t possibly survive in the summer. Hmm, I wonder what happens? THEY SURVIVE and everyone has a spiritual epiphany? Oh and there’s love and crap. Why do I need to watch the movie when you’ve summed it up in two minutes?
It’s about salmon, but a bit I DID like in the trailer was when he’s walking down the street along other commuters, then it dawns on him that he doesn’t want to do that anymore so turns around and forces his way against all the other people marching along. I nudged my husband and said “GET IT?” Thought that was pretty clever.
I only watch four shows and they’re basically all variations of the same thing: NCIS, Criminal Minds, Hawaii Five-0, and CSI: Miami.
NCIS and Criminal Minds I watch because I like them, though if Matthew Gray Gubler ever leaves CM I will be enraged.
CSI: Miami I watch for Adam Rodriguez and Hawaii Five-0 I watch for Alex O’Loughlin. Neither show is nearly good enough on its own to be worth watching without the pretty boy factor.
The only reason I’ll be watching Rob Schneider’s drecky new sitcom, ¡Rob! is for Mexican actor/writer/director/producer Eugenio Derbez. He’s trying to break into the English-speaking market.
I don’t watch everything they’re in, but I’m more likely to give a film/show a chance if any of the following actors are in it: Jim Carter (“Carson”, the butler, in Downton Abbey), Kenneth Branagh, Hugh Laurie, Anton Yelchin (I’ve watched him grow up. Awww…), Christine Lahti, Ellen Barkin, Theresa Russell, Edward Everett Horton, Forrest Tucker, Seth Green. There are probably more, but those are all I can think of right now.
I watch KPRC news because, while Bill Balleza is okay, there’s Dominique Sachse. Lord’a mercy.
I’ll watch (or read) just about anything set during the Depression or about the Depression. I like grit, and Depression era stuff is usually gritty.
Likewise, I’ll watch any western if I see that the men aren’t well groomed and the women aren’t wearing pointy bras or hairstyles that were in vogue when the film was made. I likes me some realism.
I mostly watch “White Collar” so I can drool at Matt Bomer.
Same show, for Raphael Sbarge (Jiminy Cricket). He voices some awesome video game characters, including Kaidan Alenko from the Mass Effect series, and so I started as a fan of his voice acting. 
I tend to watch pretty much anything fantasy and science fiction related (with exceptions, especially if i feel it’s aiming for a particular teeny-bopper audience). I even end up liking a lot of them. Films like Willow, which most people would find average at best, turn out to be pretty enjoyable to me.
British panel shows can be hit or miss, but sometimes if one of my favorite comedians is a regular, I’ll generally watch it. 8 out of 10 Cats is fairly average, and the subjects it tackles rarely interest me, but Sean Lock helps me enjoy it a lot.