# Weird new(ish) movie/TV show thing I have **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 14, 2013, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-new-ish-movie-tv-show-thing-i-have/671240 "2013-10-14T18:51:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-new-ish-movie-tv-show-thing-i-have/671240/21 "2013-10-15T00:09:24Z")
> [@CanvasShoes](#): > > Much actually! I thought I was showing signs of early onset Alzheimer’s or something! And I’m not being snarky. I’ve had this happen several times, and my reaction is “what is WRONG with me, this can’t be that hard”! > … Nah, honey. Your default stance should always be, “It’s _them_, not _me_,” until proven otherwise. 😃 Especially as you move into Old Fart-dom. ---
**Author:** ![Telperion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telperion/32/509_2.png) [@Telperion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperion)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-new-ish-movie-tv-show-thing-i-have/671240/22 "2013-10-15T00:28:02Z")
I’ve stopped even trying to tell all those Ryans apart. In my mind it’s just that one skinny guy who’s in _every_ movie, Ryan-Philippe Reyling. ---
**Author:** ![randwill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-new-ish-movie-tv-show-thing-i-have/671240/23 "2013-10-15T00:40:22Z")
When the show “Nashville” started, several people complained here that they couldn’t tell the male characters apart. I couldn’t either, but I never got beyond the first episode, so it didn’t matter to me. Presumably those who stuck with it can distinguish who is who by now. I watch lots of anime. Usually in a large cast the girls all have different colored hair, so that helps a lot. My problem is the names. Since they are Japanese they are harder for me to nail down. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-new-ish-movie-tv-show-thing-i-have/671240/24 "2013-10-15T03:51:53Z")
Yes, it’s been happening to me for the last few years. Mostly with young females, what they used to call “starlets.” These days they’re all interchangeable. But I figure, if they wanted me to tell them apart, they’d make them look different. And it’s even worse when I’m watching CNN. Most of the newswomen started out as brunettes, and gradually became blondes. Remember when “blonde” was something special? Now I can no longer tell them apart. And my attention span is definitely getting shorter. I start watching a movie, and have to “rewind” so much, it takes me twice as long to watch it . . . or I just give up. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-new-ish-movie-tv-show-thing-i-have/671240/25 "2013-10-15T08:53:47Z")
It’s not you. Actors and actresses in a given year are chosen based on a set standard of beauty. This is especially bad in tv shows, but movies as well. In Time, a sci if movie where everybody stopped aging at 30, is a perfect example. “Good looking”, for any given decade, is remarkably consistent. Watch some 80’s films and compare breast sizes. There is a lot more variety than today’s universal plastic DD cup starlets. I just watched pacific rim, where every male actor had the exact same shade of dirty blonde hair. ---
**Author:** ![LaurieAwe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/df788c/32.png) [@LaurieAwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LaurieAwe)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-new-ish-movie-tv-show-thing-i-have/671240/26 "2013-10-15T10:52:25Z")
I used to have a similar feeling when watched Suits. They are all the same and besides they all wear suits that make them pretty much alike ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-new-ish-movie-tv-show-thing-i-have/671240/27 "2013-10-15T11:04:27Z")
> [@LaurieAwe](#): > > I used to have a similar feeling when watched Suits. They are all the same and besides they all wear suits that make them pretty much alike Thank you! I thought I was the only one. In the pilot I assumed the two leads were supposed to be long-lost brothers or something. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-new-ish-movie-tv-show-thing-i-have/671240/28 "2013-10-15T12:27:07Z")
Once you become comfortable with the idea of all actors being Raul Julia, this problem is a lot easier to deal with. Once you realize Raul Julia died years ago and there are still new movies being made, it becomes hard to deal with again. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-new-ish-movie-tv-show-thing-i-have/671240/29 "2013-10-15T12:32:52Z")
> [@ZenBeam](#): > > I find I have this problem in books, too, if they have characters whose names start with the same letter. A lot of “how to” books and articles suggest authors not do that just for that reason. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-new-ish-movie-tv-show-thing-i-have/671240/30 "2013-10-15T12:44:41Z")
I advise you not to watch any show on the CW. Everybody looks exactly the same as each other, except some of them wear dresses. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-new-ish-movie-tv-show-thing-i-have/671240/31 "2013-10-15T14:46:13Z")
Re similar-sounding names: It always bugged me that the women in _Sex in the City_ had such similar names-- Carrie, Samantha, Miranda, Charlotte. I mean \*Samantha \*and \*Miranda \*are practically interchangeable wrt sound, and they all have “a” as their main vowel sound. If I had been naming them, each name would have had a different prominent vowel sound and the names all would have had a different number of syllables. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-new-ish-movie-tv-show-thing-i-have/671240/32 "2013-10-15T20:44:52Z")
> [@mcgato](#): > > That was my feeling watching “L.A. Confidential.” I couldn’t tell the guys apart, so I couldn’t figure out the plot. Same problem, plus I was 3/4 asleep, and drowsing on the couch. Try bikini beach babes type movies - get a bunch of bleached blonds with fake tits bouncing around greased up with suntan lotion in microscopic bits of fabric and I have to tell them apart by the color of their damned bikinis. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-new-ish-movie-tv-show-thing-i-have/671240/33 "2013-10-15T21:01:38Z")
I’m in my mid-30s and I can’t keep anyone on _Mad Men_ or _Boardwalk Empire_ straight. It’s the suits and hats! ---
**Author:** ![Cayuga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Cayuga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cayuga)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-new-ish-movie-tv-show-thing-i-have/671240/34 "2013-10-15T21:13:19Z")
Male, mid-fifties — I find I’m starting to have trouble, but it seems to be the inverse of what the rest of y’all are saying. I sometimes confuse young, male actors if they have the same hair color and roughly the same length (i.e., hair length). Actresses generally aren’t a problem, though. I guess, as **Icarus** says, it’s a matter of what I’m paying attention to. ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-new-ish-movie-tv-show-thing-i-have/671240/35 "2013-10-15T21:34:08Z")
This caused me some trouble when I saw Joss Whedon’s _Much Ado About Nothing_ last year. His version adds a wordless prologue where a woman wakes up next to a man, presumably after a one-night stand. Then the play begins, and it’s revealed that these are the leads, Beatrice and Benedick. Somehow, I managed to recognize Amy Acker (Beatrice) but not Alexis Denisov (Benedick) from the prologue, leaving me under the impression that Beatrice had slept with some random guy. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-new-ish-movie-tv-show-thing-i-have/671240/36 "2013-10-15T23:53:02Z")
> [@Flywheel](#): > > This caused me some trouble when I saw Joss Whedon’s _Much Ado About Nothing_ last year. His version adds a wordless prologue where a woman wakes up next to a man, presumably after a one-night stand. Then the play begins, and it’s revealed that these are the leads, Beatrice and Benedick. Somehow, I managed to recognize Amy Acker (Beatrice) but not Alexis Denisov (Benedick) from the prologue, leaving me under the impression that Beatrice had slept with some random guy. I had the same problem. It took me a while to figure out who the people were in that scene. Ahem, that scene isn’t in the Kenneth Branagh version. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2013, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-new-ish-movie-tv-show-thing-i-have/671240/37 "2013-10-16T02:33:03Z")
> [@mcgato](#): > > That was my feeling watching “L.A. Confidential.” I couldn’t tell the guys apart, so I couldn’t figure out the plot. > [@CanvasShoes](#): > > Same with L.A. Confidential, I had a hard time telling some of the male characters apart. I had to run that one back a few times to sort it out as well. I just thought of something, I think in some cases, such as both the Total Recall remake and L.A. Confidential, the lighting is really low, so that adds to the problem. That is, you can’t see them that clearly in the first place. You both couldn’t tell [these four guys](http://b.vimeocdn.com/ts/326/209/326209166_1280.jpg) apart? Besides them all being white, they look almost nothing alike! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-new-ish-movie-tv-show-thing-i-have/671240.md?page=1)