# There are too many attractive people in TV/Movies now **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 5, 2016, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-too-many-attractive-people-in-tv-movies-now/742272 "2016-01-05T22:18:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![brickbacon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@brickbacon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brickbacon)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2016, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-too-many-attractive-people-in-tv-movies-now/742272/61 "2016-01-09T20:00:08Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > We’re living in a Golden Age of ugly leading men, like Oliver Platt and Elias Koteras from the **Chicago Fire/PD/Medical** trilogy. **Law & Order** and its spinoffs had a good mix of beautiful and plain-faced people. I consider **Homicide** a modern show, even though it’s been gone for 20 years, and their front-load of piss ugly character actors was a badge of pride for them. And about a third of all click-bait sites are about how horrible Lisa Rinna and Meg Ryan look after plastic surgery. Exactly. Most of the shows I see on TV aren’t full of people far more attractive than your average urban professional. Just going by shows I’ve seen and those on a random list of the top 100 shows, I’d add the following people in addition to the above. You have people like Bryan Cranston & Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad), Bob Odenkirk & Jonathon Banks (Better Call Saul), Jesse Plemons & Billy Bob Thornton (Fargo), Andy Samberg & Andre Braugher (Brooklyn 99), Most of the women on OITNB, Nick Kroll (Kroll Show), Aziz Ansari (Master of None), Will Forte (Last Man on Earth), the cast of Getting On, most of the cast of Homeland, Anthony Anderson (Blackish), the casts of Halt and Catch Fire, Silicon Valley, Veep, and Mr. Robot, etc. etc. Most of those people aren’t terrible looking, but few of them liekly grew up ensign thought of as super attractive by others. In fact, I would go as far as to say that really attractive people are the exception, and typically that type of casting is done on purpose for plot reasons as it is with Rob Lowe on The Grinder, or Cici from The New Girl, for example. Shows like the Minority a Report where most of the cast is very attractive are pretty rare these days. ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2016, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-too-many-attractive-people-in-tv-movies-now/742272/62 "2016-01-10T18:26:25Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > 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 totally agree. In most British drama I’ve watched, the people look like real people. Then I watch an American show and the police detective is a supermodel, and it’s just jarring. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2016, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-too-many-attractive-people-in-tv-movies-now/742272/63 "2016-01-10T18:43:38Z")
> [@Chihuahua](#): > > It is absurd to watch a show like “Friends” or “Two and Half Men,” where even the sad sack dateless loser character ends up dating dozens of gorgeous supermodels over the course of the show. > > They also tend to cast beautiful women even in roles that call for them to be ugly or unexceptional. The one that sticks out best in my mind is “The Tudors,” in which Henry VIII rants about how ugly his new bride is… when she looks good enough to be a supermodel. They couldn’t even cast an “average” looking person for the “ugly” role. > > I would submit that the impact of this is not just damaging the suspension of disbelief. It supports a much broader set of biases and stereotypes. People have always been willing to attribute all kinds of imaginary virtues to “beautiful” people, while the ugly are routinely vilified. (Hollywood in particular makes a trope out of deformed or disfigured villains.) This has very damaging consequences in many aspects of our lives. I agree with the substance of what you’re saying, but to be fair, in this particular case there isn’t much historical evidence that Anne of Cleves WAS unattractive, just that she didn’t do it for Henry, who could be picky in the extreme. In fact, “Hollywood ugly” and “ugly for a bride of Henry VIII” are probably about the same level, once you control for advances in dentistry… ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2016, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-too-many-attractive-people-in-tv-movies-now/742272/64 "2016-01-10T19:43:22Z")
> [@Fretful\_Porpentine](#): > > I agree with the substance of what you’re saying, but to be fair, in this particular case there isn’t much historical evidence that Anne of Cleves WAS unattractive, just that she didn’t do it for Henry, who could be picky in the extreme. This reminds me of an odd counterexample… sort of. On HBO’s _Rome_, Pompey declines marrying Octavia, and instead opts for Cornelia Metella (as a way of snubbing Caesar’s offer of a renewed alliance). On the show, Cornelia is portrayed as not young, and not at all pretty (contrasting her with Octavia). This provides an insight into Pompey’s motivation and character. If she had been played by a hot young actress, the audience might have concluded that Pompey simply opted for the cutest bride, while instead he does the opposite for political reasons. However, the historical Cornelia Metella was actually in her early twenties at the time, at the most, and there’s no reason to assume that she wasn’t hot. She is described as beautiful in the sources. The show of course plays it straight with Cleopatra, who is portrayed by an actress with supermodel looks. The real Cleopatra probably wasn’t especially good looking, and her attractiveness was apparently all about her personality and her charm. Oh, yeah, and being queen. But then again, I suppose that Cleopatra has earned being played by supermodels forever, so maybe she doesn’t count. ---
**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:** [January 10, 2016, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-too-many-attractive-people-in-tv-movies-now/742272/65 "2016-01-10T20:12:54Z")
It’s funny how there’s always a token “ugly” person too, (usually a guy, but not always). ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-too-many-attractive-people-in-tv-movies-now/742272/66 "2016-01-11T00:22:46Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Dude, still? Have you seen the show? Frank Frink literally acts like some sort of a MRA caricature of a beta male/white knight. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-too-many-attractive-people-in-tv-movies-now/742272/67 "2016-01-11T07:11:38Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > Have you seen the show? Frank Frink literally acts like some sort of a MRA caricature of a beta male/white knight. …and that justifies _your_ use of such a stupid, ideologically-tainted term as “cuck”, how, exactly? Dude, you’ve come a long way in a short time, as a participant here and I gather as a person IRL too - don’t backslide. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-too-many-attractive-people-in-tv-movies-now/742272/68 "2016-01-11T18:29:43Z")
> [@Sam\_Lowry](#): > > There have always been beautiful people on TV that viewers fell in love with, but it seems that the ratio is different than before. There used to be just a few stunningly gorgeous, and some higher than average attractive, and then more average people. But now it’s a lot of stunningly gorgeous people, a whole lot of higher than average than attractive people, and just a few average looking people. This. There used to be actors on TV and movies that were unattractive: Ellen Corby, Margaret Hamilton, Mary Wick, Joe E. Brown, etc. Now it seems like there are no career paths for actors that aren’t way above-average in looks. Even characters that are supposed to be schlubs are very attractive. It’s disconcerting. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-too-many-attractive-people-in-tv-movies-now/742272/69 "2016-01-11T18:50:30Z")
> [@brickbacon](#): > > In fact, I would go as far as to say that really attractive people are the exception, and typically that type of casting is done on purpose for plot reasons as it is with Rob Lowe on The Grinder, or Cici from The New Girl, for example. Shows like the Minority a Report where most of the cast is very attractive are pretty rare these days. For me, anyway, the thing isn’t that the casts are ALL super-attractive, it’s that the “ugly” characters are usually (but not always) people who are at least at the mid-point on the scale. I mean, Bryan Cranston’s no Jon Hamm, but he’s hardly ugly either. It’s really rare to find someone truly ugly on TV, unless they’re playing a role intended to be grotesque in some way. Otherwise, the scale starts at about the midpoint for real life, and goes up from there, and I think that’s what people get frustrated with. Few shows are as absurd as “Quantico”, with its super-hot model cast, but even the grittier ones usually have people who aren’t UN attractive in most of their roles. ---
**Author:** ![brickbacon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@brickbacon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brickbacon)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-too-many-attractive-people-in-tv-movies-now/742272/70 "2016-01-13T00:48:26Z")
> [@bump](#): > > For me, anyway, the thing isn’t that the casts are ALL super-attractive, it’s that the “ugly” characters are usually (but not always) people who are at least at the mid-point on the scale. I mean, Bryan Cranston’s no Jon Hamm, but he’s hardly ugly either. > > It’s really rare to find someone truly ugly on TV, unless they’re playing a role intended to be grotesque in some way. Otherwise, the scale starts at about the midpoint for real life, and goes up from there, and I think that’s what people get frustrated with. > > Few shows are as absurd as “Quantico”, with its super-hot model cast, but even the grittier ones usually have people who aren’t UN attractive in most of their roles. I guess, but I think the comparison between “TV ugly” and “regular ugly” has to consider the fact that almost everyone on TV is wearing makeup, is in halfway decent shape, and is younger than average. It’s also worth noting that their faces become familiar to us, and thus more attractive. I think the corrective is usually looking at the popular actors who married or dated someone you can see a picture of before they got famous. Since people tend to date people of roughly equivalent equal attractiveness, you can get an idea of who their match would be absent fame. When do you do that, you see people like Scarlet Johansson dating Jack Antonoff. I honestly don’t think the average person on a dating site struggling to get dates is much worse looking than an “ugly” tv character if you gave them a makeover. I think you are grossly overestimating the number of really ugly people in the world. And yes, Quantico is pretty absurd. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-too-many-attractive-people-in-tv-movies-now/742272/71 "2016-01-13T23:57:10Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > Have you seen the show? Frank Frink literally acts like some sort of a MRA caricature of a beta male/white knight. And I’m sure you can find someone who acts like the caricature of a “faggot”, but it doesn’t make it okay to use that word. It’s a sexist word. It devalues men because they don’t act “masculine” enough. It values men by their sexual prowess, and thus is a form of virgin shaming. Outside of a certain type of fetish porn, it’s really not a good term to use. People seeing you use it will assume you are a misogynist MRA. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-too-many-attractive-people-in-tv-movies-now/742272/72 "2016-01-14T06:44:56Z")
There are too many attractive people in TV/Movies now. When I watch movies I don’t see one wrinkled face or single toothless grin. For shame! ---
**Author:** ![Arizona\_Mike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7cd45c/32.png) [@Arizona\_Mike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arizona_Mike)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-too-many-attractive-people-in-tv-movies-now/742272/73 "2016-01-14T15:37:02Z")
In terms of career longevity as an actor, it’s probably better to be a character “type” rather an an attractive pretty-boy or glamorous girl. If you are old enough to remember actors from the 1970s and 1980s, look at their photos then and now. Of the actors who were often seen as attractive leading men or women, their looks have often faded as their waistlines have spread. Look them up on IMDB, and you can see the roles they have gotten grow fewer and farther between. Sadly, this is especially true for women, as is often noted. Contrast that to the actors who will never be mistaken for fashion models, but continue working and getting juicy roles as they get older. Bruce Dern. Michael Ironside. Lance Henriksen. Jonathan Banks. Bobby Morse.Wayne Knight. Look how many roles Richard Libertini, who recently passed away, had in films and TV despite lack of “conventional” good lucks, or Walter Matthau. Those are the ones who get to keep working at their professions. They may not show up on “Inside the Actor’s Studio” like a hot young actor or actress will, but they will keep banking paychecks and making the mortgage payment. The ideal, of course, is to be a good-looking person with the real acting chops to continue working into middle age and beyond, like Maggie Smith. Robert Downey Jr. is a good looking guy whose acting skills and likable screen persona will keep him working as long as he wants to. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-are-too-many-attractive-people-in-tv-movies-now/742272.md?page=3)