# The Prettiest/Handsomest Teens in TV History **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 20, 2009, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prettiest-handsomest-teens-in-tv-history/497076 "2009-05-20T15:36:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2009, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prettiest-handsomest-teens-in-tv-history/497076/81 "2009-05-21T21:09:47Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I don’t know her name, but the young woman who played the protagonist’s girlfriend on Boy Meets World was quite comely in a not-exactly-conventional way. Danielle Fishel. She played Topanga. (Yeah, I know way too much about these people.) ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2009, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prettiest-handsomest-teens-in-tv-history/497076/82 "2009-05-21T21:12:45Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Topanga Now I have to wonder which came first, Topanga or Teen Topanga (the porn “star”). ---
**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:** [May 21, 2009, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prettiest-handsomest-teens-in-tv-history/497076/83 "2009-05-21T21:13:26Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Danielle Fishel. She played Topanga. (Yeah, I know way too much about these people.) Thanks! For some reason, the only website I am able to access right now is the Dope. (That INCLUDES the company intranet.) But I have been informed that the other young lady is named Jenna von Oy, and that the fact that I call them “young ladies” makes me sound really, really old. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2009, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prettiest-handsomest-teens-in-tv-history/497076/84 "2009-05-21T21:13:41Z")
Anne Hathaway Claire Danes Alyssa Milano Michelle Trachtenberg Justine Bateman And while Sarah Michelle Gellar was 20 when she was playing 16 on Buffy, she was 16 playing 20 on that soap she was on (All My Children?). So technically, she was a teen on TV. And she was hot, especially when Buffy began. Alyson Hannigan was 23 when Buffy started, but had been in movies before when actually a teen. ---
**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:** [May 21, 2009, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prettiest-handsomest-teens-in-tv-history/497076/85 "2009-05-21T21:17:34Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > Anne Hathaway > Claire Danes > Alyssa Milano > Michelle Trachtenberg > Justine Bateman > > And while Sarah Michelle Gellar was 20 when she was playing 16 on Buffy, she was 16 playing 20 on that soap she was on (All My Children?). So technically, she was a teen on TV. > > And she was hot, especially when Buffy began. > > Alyson Hannigan was 23 when Buffy started, but had been in movies before when actually a teen. I don’t think Ms. Hannigan was all that hot in her teens. She hit her hotness stride in her late mid-20s. As for Ms. Gellar, she is currently in the “formerly hot and could be hot again if she would for the love of Marduk eat a cheeseburger at least once a month and also, possibly, some sort of cheesecake.” ---
**Author:** ![Ronald\_C.Semone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2009, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prettiest-handsomest-teens-in-tv-history/497076/86 "2009-05-21T21:23:35Z")
Holly Marie Combs was 19 during the first year of _Picket Fences_. She was beautiful and had a sweetness about her that she lost as she got older. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2009, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prettiest-handsomest-teens-in-tv-history/497076/87 "2009-05-21T22:45:22Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Danielle Fishel. She played Topanga. (Yeah, I know way too much about these people.) I went to a taping of _Boy Meets World_ and there was a family (three generations) that the audience-host-guy called the Stalker Family. They’d been to every taping and knew things about the cast like birthdays, middle names, and other things that made one wonder about their collective sanity. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2009, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prettiest-handsomest-teens-in-tv-history/497076/88 "2009-05-21T22:46:22Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > I went to a taping of _Boy Meets World_ and there was a family (three generations) that the audience-host-guy called the Stalker Family. They’d been to every taping and knew things about the cast like birthdays, middle names, and other things that made one wonder about their collective sanity. Oh my god. That’s frightening. I don’t feel so bad about knowing that Danielle Fishel played Topanga because that’s about all I know about her. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2009, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prettiest-handsomest-teens-in-tv-history/497076/89 "2009-05-21T23:41:21Z")
Okay, I’m going to throw in one from my usual obsession - Emilie de Ravin was only 18 when she first started on Roswell. Very pretty. 😉 ---
**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:** [May 21, 2009, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prettiest-handsomest-teens-in-tv-history/497076/90 "2009-05-21T23:46:45Z")
> [@mariposalabrown](#): > > What is the appeal of Michelle Trachtenberg? I always hear people talk about how hot she is, but I don’t see it at ALL. She looks like if you touched her she would be cold and clammy, and that her breath stinks. The fact that I detested her so much on Buffy certainly doesn’t help my opinion of her. I’m not quite so vehement in my dislike of her, but I don’t see the big deal about Trachtenberg either. In my case I expect that it’s partly because she still looks like a little girl to me. A SKINNY little girl. It’d be like lusting after my youngest niece; not only could I not do it, but I tend to be suspicious of any adult who does. I’m not sure how you can forecast breast odor from her appearance, though. ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2009, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prettiest-handsomest-teens-in-tv-history/497076/91 "2009-05-21T23:49:16Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I’m not quite so vehement in my dislike of her, but I don’t see the big deal about Trachtenberg either. In my case I expect that it’s partly because she still looks like a little girl to me. A SKINNY little girl. It’d be like lusting after my youngest niece; not only could I not do it, but I tend to be suspicious of any adult who does. > > I’m not sure how you can forecast breast odor from her appearance, though. **Skald** , you have 2 minutes to edit your post, then it’s open season. Okay, that’s it. Breast odor? What’s breast odor? How _Freudian_ (or at least _Gaudereian_) is that? (I could see what someone meant by a person looking like they have bad breath. There’s something about Jennifer Aniston’s mouth that makes me think that about her.) ---
**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:** [May 22, 2009, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prettiest-handsomest-teens-in-tv-history/497076/92 "2009-05-22T00:03:05Z")
> [@5-4-Fighting](#): > > **Skald** , you have 2 minutes to edit your post, then it’s open season. > > Okay, that’s it. Breast odor? What’s breast odor? How _Freudian_ (or at least _Gaudereian_) is that? > > (I could see what someone meant by a person looking like they have bad breath. There’s something about Jennifer Aniston’s mouth that makes me think that about her.) That was supposed to be breath odor. I was distracted by the waiter I am thinking about murdering. But my mistake can’t be Gauderian, as I was not correcting anyone’s grammar. ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2009, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prettiest-handsomest-teens-in-tv-history/497076/93 "2009-05-22T00:08:48Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > That was supposed to be breath odor. I was distracted by the waiter I am thinking about murdering. > > But my mistake can’t be Gauderian, as I was not correcting anyone’s grammar. No, I knew it was a reference to a breath odor comment. Even though you weren’t correcting spelling, you were commenting on the inappropriateness of looking at her body in a certain and used breast. It’s at least Freudian and I was incorrect for extending “Gauderian” to such a situation. Carry on. I thought Ralph Carter (_Good Times_) was pretty hot (I was about his age). Unfortunately, I had to watch him act in order to gaze upon him. ---
**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:** [May 22, 2009, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prettiest-handsomest-teens-in-tv-history/497076/94 "2009-05-22T00:17:54Z")
> [@5-4-Fighting](#): > > No, I knew it was a reference to a breath odor comment. Even though you weren’t correcting spelling, you were commenting on the inappropriateness of looking at her body in a certain and used breast. It’s at least Freudian and I was incorrect for extending “Gauderian” to such a situation. Carry on. Actualy I wasn’t making such a comment. I simply didn’t see how one could make judgments about the odor of her breath based only on her appearance on TV and film. I don’t have an ethical problem with people, even people my age, looking at Michelle Trachtenberg lustfully. _I_ just don’t get it, the same way I don’t get why people lust after, oh, Halle Berry, who does not look like a little girl (she’s close to my age) but who holds no special appeal for me. ETA: Re-reading my earlier post, I certainly see how I could have been seen as criticizing persons who lust after Trachtenberg; that was not my intention. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2009, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prettiest-handsomest-teens-in-tv-history/497076/95 "2009-05-22T05:00:51Z")
Not the prettiest, but these are the ones that did it for me. They all had a type: brown hair, curly/wavy, rather geeky/gawky. Glasses were a plus. [Sarah Jessica Parker](http://www.imdb.com/media/rm2472056832/tt0083482), Square Pegs. [Andrea Elson](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0255699/), Alf. The most conventionally cute of the three. [Tracy Gold](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0325097/), Growing Pains. ---
**Author:** ![seosamh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@seosamh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seosamh)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2009, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prettiest-handsomest-teens-in-tv-history/497076/96 "2009-05-22T12:30:24Z")
I’m with **Tumbledown** on Kaley Cuoco. If only she hadn’t had those ubiquitous fake tits installed… ---
**Author:** ![mariposalabrown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ad7895/32.png) [@mariposalabrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mariposalabrown)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2009, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prettiest-handsomest-teens-in-tv-history/497076/97 "2009-05-22T14:40:54Z")
I have no idea how someone looks like they have bad breath, they just DO, it’s completely irrational. Off the top of my head, Sarah Jessica Parker, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, and Zach Braff look like they have bad breath as well. No clue why I think that. I think Soleil Moon Frye was mentioned, I always thought she was the prettiest, spunkiest thing as Punky Brewster. ---
**Author:** ![MyFootsZZZ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/myfootszzz/32/12580_2.png) [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2009, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prettiest-handsomest-teens-in-tv-history/497076/98 "2009-05-22T15:01:30Z")
Whoever it was before, Katrina Bowden has taken her place. I’m with the OP. I mean usually the stereotypicle “beautiful” girl just annoys me. Perhaps it’s the fact that she’s on 30 Rock playing a stereotypical “beautiful” girl which has allowed me to see past my prejudice. I just… no words… ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2009, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prettiest-handsomest-teens-in-tv-history/497076/99 "2009-05-22T15:02:09Z")
I think someone could look like they have bad breath if they look like their own breath tastes bad to them… In other words, I sorta get it. My grandfather used to say of an actress he didn’t care for “She seems like she’d wear dirty underwear”…now that, I never got. Remembering that the thread is about them being pretty/handsome and not master thespians…Ralph Maccio anyone? He was kinda pretty. When I was a teen Brian Bloom was also a teen on As the World Turns and I quite enjoyed looking at him. He’s more my idea of handsome than Maccio is, but Ralph Maccio does have lovely eyes. ---
**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:** [May 22, 2009, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prettiest-handsomest-teens-in-tv-history/497076/100 "2009-05-22T16:39:38Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > A. This thread is about “prettiest,” not “hottest.” “Hot,” for most people I know, is a different scale. > > B. Are you even talking about [the same girl](http://images.askmen.com/galleries/actress/michelle-trachtenberg/pictures/michelle-trachtenberg-picture-1.jpg) the rest of us are? ‘Cause she’s smokin’ hot. 🙂 ::: looks at pic :: Sorry. That photo inspires no desire in me to throw her down and shag her silly, or even to see her without the dress. She’s not ugly; she’s just…ordinary. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prettiest-handsomest-teens-in-tv-history/497076.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-prettiest-handsomest-teens-in-tv-history/497076.md?page=6)