# So is television still considered a step down from film for actors? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 9, 2011, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-television-still-considered-a-step-down-from-film-for-actors/595726 "2011-09-09T15:41:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2011, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-television-still-considered-a-step-down-from-film-for-actors/595726/41 "2011-09-09T23:27:33Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > She’s got an “in” to be corpse-of-the-week on Bones. > [@Wheelz](#): > > “Hey, Bones, this here dead body kind of looks like you… only prettier!” She played Bones’s cousin (complete with in-joke line about “we look like we could be sisters”), not the corpse of the week. Anyway, this topic makes me think of Christian Slater. Used to be a big deal in movies back, what 20+ years ago, now he can’t even get on a TV show that lasts more than a year, but he keeps trying. ---
**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 10, 2011, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-television-still-considered-a-step-down-from-film-for-actors/595726/42 "2011-09-10T00:07:30Z")
> [@vislor](#): > > I also don’t get it when Bones as a character says she’s hot. I don’t know why, but recently Emily has not looked good to me. Pretty but not hot. And recently, her voice has been turning me off both the character and actor. Emily Deschanel is extremely beautiful. Even her current hideous hairstyle, sufficient to reduce a normal woman woman to utter haghood, cannot blight the glory of that face. The only sense in which she is not hot is that that, standing next to the goddess-like Tamara Taylor, she is reduced to more mortal prettiness. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2011, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-television-still-considered-a-step-down-from-film-for-actors/595726/43 "2011-09-10T00:56:24Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > Yeah, but starring in flop movie is still considered to have more cachet than starring in a flop TV series. To whom? To those sitting on the sidelines trying to figure out who’s got it and who doesn’t? Like any occupation, there will be a subset of actors and actresses who will look down on a certain type of work being beneath them. There will be others just looking to do work that they think is rewarding and to hell with what the snobs, both in industry and out, think. Television might be a step down for Tom Cruise, who is still commanding top dollar in everything he does. However, if one is not consistently headlining, television is a steady paycheck, a chance to keep relevant, and exposure. I think it says more about the people who think it is a step down than it does about the performer, and what is says about those people, IMNSHO, is not very flattering. ETA: **Skald** , we have very different tastes in women. While few would say Emily is unattractive, she is easily and **by far** the least attractive of the three main women on _Bones_. ---
**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 10, 2011, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-television-still-considered-a-step-down-from-film-for-actors/595726/44 "2011-09-10T01:34:05Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > ETA: **Skald** , we have very different tastes in women. While few would say Emily is unattractive, she is easily and **by far** the least attractive of the three main women on _Bones_. Note that I said that Tamara Taylor blows her out of the water. I don’t find the woman who plays Angela Montegro attractive at all, though. The young woman who plays Brennan’s sometime-assistant (and Sweets’s sometime girlfriend) is … odd. That is, while she is only slightly pretty, she is incredibly hot (here used in the sense of “likely to incite sexual desire,” and not synonymous with beautiful). ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2011, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-television-still-considered-a-step-down-from-film-for-actors/595726/45 "2011-09-10T03:43:22Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Note that I said that Tamara Taylor blows her out of the water. I don’t find the woman who plays Angela Montegro attractive at all, though. The young woman who plays Brennan’s sometime-assistant (and Sweets’s sometime girlfriend) is … odd. That is, while she is only slightly pretty, she is incredibly hot (here used in the sense of “likely to incite sexual desire,” and not synonymous with beautiful). See, there is the issue. I find Angela to easily be the best, followed by Camille, and in the rear by a couple of lengths, Bones. Not that any of them would get kicked out of bed for eating crackers, but I would say something to Bones. I don’t pay close enough attention to the series to remember any of the others. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2011, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-television-still-considered-a-step-down-from-film-for-actors/595726/46 "2011-09-10T13:49:40Z")
Just looking at this list of highest paid actors from Forbes, how many TV appearances do guys like Will Smith, Tom Hanks, Johnny Depp, Leonard DiCapricio and Adam Sandler make? A number of them started on television but they sure don’t stay there. You can add George Clooney and once upon a time Bruce Willis and Robin Williams to that. They may make a few TV appearances for different reasons but they sure don’t go back to it full time. > **[Hollywood's Highest-Earning Actors](https://www.forbes.com/sites/dorothypomerantz/2011/08/01/hollywoods-highest-earning-actors/)** > > The men on our list earned a total $473 million in the last year. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2011, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-television-still-considered-a-step-down-from-film-for-actors/595726/47 "2011-09-10T15:13:28Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > Just looking at this list of highest paid actors from Forbes, how many TV appearances do guys like Will Smith, Tom Hanks, Johnny Depp, Leonard DiCapricio and Adam Sandler make? A number of them started on television Actually, all of 'em, right? You’ve got the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, the drag queen from Bosom Buddies, the troubled youth on Growing Pains, the undercover cop from 21 Jump Street, and the sing-song goofball of SNL fame… (Incidentally, how do we feel about Ashton Kutcher raking in well over half-a-million per episode to take over on Two And A Half Men? Is that good enough pay to justify thinking of him for yet more leading roles on the big screen?) ---
**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 10, 2011, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-television-still-considered-a-step-down-from-film-for-actors/595726/48 "2011-09-10T15:45:55Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > See, there is the issue. I find Angela to easily be the best, followed by Camille, and in the rear by a couple of lengths, Bones. Not that any of them would get kicked out of bed for eating crackers, but I would say something to Bones. > > I don’t pay close enough attention to the series to remember any of the others. _Angela_ is extremely hot; that is, her character is funny and charming and inciteful of lust. But those attributes derive from the character’s personality, not from Michaela Conlin’s appearance. Her face is kinda meh. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2011, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-television-still-considered-a-step-down-from-film-for-actors/595726/49 "2011-09-10T16:58:29Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > Just looking at this list of highest paid actors from Forbes, how many TV appearances do guys like Will Smith, Tom Hanks, Johnny Depp, Leonard DiCapricio and Adam Sandler make? A number of them started on television but they sure don’t stay there. You can add George Clooney and once upon a time Bruce Willis and Robin Williams to that. They may make a few TV appearances for different reasons but they sure don’t go back to it full time. > [Hollywood's Highest-Earning Actors](http://www.forbes.com/sites/dorothypomerantz/2011/08/01/hollywoods-highest-earning-actors/) The rest of the top-15 list, for those curious but not curious enough to click through a slideshow, is Ben Stiller, Robert Downey, Mark Wahlberg, Tim Allen (!), Tom Cruise (!!), Jim Carrey, Daniel Craig, Robert Pattinson (Twilight star), Brad Pitt, and Matt Damon. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2011, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-television-still-considered-a-step-down-from-film-for-actors/595726/50 "2011-09-10T18:15:05Z")
Actors have to pay mortgages, and most of them also like to work. Thus, if the right show comes along on TV, I think most of them would at least take a good look at it to see if it fits. If they get a “meaty” role in a series their acting colleagues would like to watch, then it is a no-brainer. Steady paycheck, chance for an Emmy and Golden Globe, and keep your name in the public mind? Not a bad option for someone who might not be getting movie scripts pouring in their direction. For some, this can later lead to roles in theater or film (again). I do have to mention David Hyde Pierce (Niles on the show FRAZIER). Needless to say, that was a huge hit TV show and when it ended, he went on to carve out a damned good career in Broadway. That said, I think he was quite ungracious at the end of the FRAZIER run when he rather pompously stated that he would never return to television unless he found something of the same quality, and to paraphrase, said something to the effect that all television shows suck and it is a low-brow medium. Maybe he has no intention of returning to TV, and probably doesn’t need to, but burning bridges is never a fine way to exit. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2011, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-television-still-considered-a-step-down-from-film-for-actors/595726/51 "2011-09-10T18:32:44Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > Thus, if the right show comes along on TV, I think most of them would at least take a good look at it to see if it fits. Also, consider Chris Rock. The guy did plenty of leading-role work in the movies, came back to write and produce and narrate his semi-autobiographical television show for years and years, and then of course got back to showing up on the big screen when he felt like making movies that make plenty of money. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2011, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-television-still-considered-a-step-down-from-film-for-actors/595726/52 "2011-09-10T20:18:00Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > The crime procedural showsare a bit like that. It’s astounding how many people have NCIS, CSI or Criminal Minds on their CV. At one point I though practically every actor in New York had a **Law and Order** on their CV. When it announced that the L&O wouldn’t be renewed, I read articles that it would cause a recession in acting jobs in NYC. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-television-still-considered-a-step-down-from-film-for-actors/595726/53 "2011-09-13T00:10:12Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > The rest of the top-15 list, for those curious but not curious enough to click through a slideshow, is Ben Stiller, Robert Downey, Mark Wahlberg, Tim Allen (!), Tom Cruise (!!), Jim Carrey, Daniel Craig, Robert Pattinson (Twilight star), Brad Pitt, and Matt Damon. Stiller and Carrey both have a TV history as well; both were sketch comedies on Fox. (The Ben Stiller Show and In Living Color) And Tim Allen of course, of Home Improvement fame. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-television-still-considered-a-step-down-from-film-for-actors/595726/54 "2011-09-13T01:26:18Z")
Well, there’s TV…and there’s TeeVee… Even Scorsese is working TV now - Boardwalk Empire. For many, the long form cable show is where the good writing and acting is happening now. Some network dramas can achieve that level, occasionally. If the good offers aren’t coming in film, why not do TV? (There’s plenty of dreck being done in film, no?) And, if you are not in the top 15 highest paid ranks, you can pull in some $ on a TV series. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-television-still-considered-a-step-down-from-film-for-actors/595726.md?page=2)