I’ve noticed alot of the new TV shows like the man in the High Castle, Blindspot, Brooklyn 99, New Girl, etc etc have central characters who are attractive by such a degree that it bothers my suspension of disbelief, it makes them less relate-able.
I mean for example people in Cheers, Taxi, Seinfeld, looked like regular people, so what happened?
Hollywood (e.g. mainstream American TV and movie industry) has made a deliberate choice to demand conventional attractiveness for more and more roles. British TV doesn’t do this – from what I can tell, British TV (at least for the shows I’ve seen) place far more emphasis on acting ability and characterization.
In this sense, British TV is better, in my opinion.
I prefer the American approach: good-looking people are pleasanter to watch.
I watched The Man in the High Castle recently and it didn’t strike me as having an unusually attractive cast. Many of the characters are IMHO fairly ordinary looking, and while Alexa Davalos (Juliana) and Luke Kleintank (Joe) are both better looking than most of the people I know IRL they wouldn’t be out of place on shows of the past. For instance, I wouldn’t say that Alexa Davalos as Juliana is any prettier than Julia Louis-Dreyfus was as Elaine on Seinfeld.
You’re examples are comedies, where funny trumps looks.
As far as dramas are concerned, this “new” process began a century ago.
Can’t wait to see who they cast for the Roseanne remake on the CW.
But is it just me or do the best friends often look better than the female leads?
Wait, Andy Samberg is stunningly attractive and NOT the ugliest man on TV?
The casting director for High Castle just made a shallow decision to cast people with insanely wide jaws/faces.
They’re moderately attractive, but very “unique.” Shallow.
I wouldn’t say “stunningly” but yes Andy Samberg is attractive! I’m not alone among my girlfriends in thinking so. It’s a different kind of attractive than, say, the Redford prototype. But oh yes definitely attractive.
As long as they don’t run out of seedy, pencil-necked, sunken cheek, bug-eyed villains. It’s OK if they keep featuring blond, blue-eyed sluts and blond blue-eyed mega-villains, perverts, and general anti-heroes.
Alexa Davalos is smoking hot. I’ve been a fan ever since Angel and Chronicles of Riddick. (And then damn near fainted when I saw Feast of Love.)
The least plausible thing to me about the first Transformers movie was how all the women (except for the mom) looked like supermodels.
A while ago I watched the first 10 minutes or so of Netflix’s The Flash; among many other reasons I disliked it, the cast was unrealistically attractive, even by US standards. I find the more normal looking people in British television make it easier to get “sucked into” another world, rather than thinking every five minutes “You know, this desperately poor young woman could just start modeling . . .”
Its Hollywood! Here’s the Truth:
No one will Ever cast an ugly guy like me to play Anything. I can accept that.
Staffs of people will bitch, moan, whine and fight to keep even “average” looking people out of films.
(He’s too this, she’s too that, look at his hair, look at how tall she is, ad nauseam. )
In the end, the person cast is the one that the highest number of people in the Board Room can reasonably use as an excuse to head to the executive Lounge and diddle themselves to thoughts of while some staff assistant is fixing them more chai…
Comic relief, or the hero’s buddy, or henchman to an evil mastermind, or an extra in a western. We’ve never met, and I’ve never seen a photograph of you, but I’d bet money you’re better looking than Vincent Schiavelli was.
Not long ago, I stumbled upon a made-for-TV adaptation of John Knowles’ A Separate Peace, which had cast two muscular, square-jawed, amazingly handsome actors in both of the lead roles. It sort of made sense for Finny, since in the book he was described as athletic, charismatic and handsome, though not necessarily just-stepped-out-of-a-Calvin-Klein-photo-shoot handsome. But it made NO sense at all for Gene, since the entire point of the story is that Gene’s an ugly duckling. Both of them were terrible actors, too!
On the other hand, some people have complained that the Immortan’s wives in Mad Max: Fury Road were way too sexy and gorgeous to exist in a hellish post-apocalyptic wasteland, but it makes sense to me that the Immortan would have selected the most perfect and beautiful “specimens” as his sex slaves. I made sure to watch those scenes several times just to be sure. 
The women are all quite attractive too, far more than female detectives in real life usually but not always tend to be.
I don’t get this as being new. It’s been this way all my life, and I’m pushing 60. I remember the 3 great loves of my childhood – Barbara Eden, Mary Tyler Moore and Elizabeth Montgomery. Even by today’s standards they were all gorgeous.
I’ve noticed a particular drop in the number of mediocre-looking males on TV. I don’t think Ed Asner or Jack Klugman or Vincent Schiavelli would have had successful careers if they started today.
I attribute this to the increase in women’s earnings. As women earn more, they become more selective of their mate’s appearance, and by extension, the men they see on television.
Another factor is the prevalence of plastic surgery. Anyone with enough money can be beautiful.
The real mystery was how Jerry kept getting dates with beautiful women.
But I feel your pain – it’s getting so I resent plain people being cast at all and then I feel shallow and guilty about it.
That would be Fred Armisen.
Not only does Fisher Stevens get cast, but he was married to Michelle Pfeiffer!!
