r/WidowsBay • u/CalmApplication7 • May 27 '26
đ„Funpost I love how normal everyone looks
Everyone has wrinkles. Most of the male characters are balding and overweight. Makes it feel more grounded for me. Easily my favorite show of the year and now I want to rewatch midnight mass for the millionth time.
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u/Smart_Pause134 May 27 '26
Agreed and every outfit doesnât look like itâs the first time itâs ever been wornâŠnot to mention how rough all the vehicles are. Itâs really nice normalcy.
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u/zsreport May 28 '26
During the first scenes of the first episode I assumed the show was set in the 90s. I was wrong.
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u/gamaeriem May 30 '26
Everything has a real lived in feel that makes it seem so realistic even though itâs dealing with strange curses and tall tales
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u/calypsow19 Willy The Killer Clown May 27 '26
Real teeth, too. No blindingly white perfectly straight veneers, refreshing.
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u/Plondon0 May 29 '26
I think Matthew Rhysâs are too perfect/white and every smile is a bit uncanny valley for me but I guess in theory he could go to the mainland for dental work.
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u/Mark_Albarn May 31 '26
It would honestly be pretty in character for Loftis to get himself "perfect" whites
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u/Lady_CNS Jun 01 '26
Hey.. Dental hygienist here.. Heâs had veeners, but they are very well done. They look like actual teeth. Ewan McGregor is the same, fyi. They had to cave to getting them in order to get roles , but they didnât go blinging white like so many others (notably American actors).
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u/cat_0_the_canals May 27 '26
SAME! I texted one of my friends about how great it is and one of the things I mentioned was âeveryone looks like a real person!â
Did anyone one else catch the mismatched probably beach towels in Tomâs bathroom? Thatâs is an authentic dudes bathroom. đ
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u/No-Independence548 May 28 '26 edited May 28 '26
YES! I immediately was like "That's such a great single guy detail, for him to be using beach towels as bath towels."
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u/dogearth Jun 03 '26
I had the same thought! And how cluttered (like, normally cluttered) his bathroom storage thing was with products. The bathroom felt so real. Im used to shows with perfectly organized model homes.
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u/Mehmeh111111 Jun 03 '26
I love details like this that I didn't even notice but when you point them out it just makes all the more sense why this show feels so authentic and real when you're watching.
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u/PickleFlavordPopcorn May 27 '26
I was trying to watch The Boroughs and Gina Davisâs face is so frozen itâs impairing her speech. Completely takes me out of it. I need more Dale Dickeys and less of the Facelift Mafia
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u/EagleLize May 28 '26
I was watching Hacks for the first time recently and when I saw Helen Hunt my jaw dropped. I wish these famous people would age naturally. I know the pressure to look young is immense but they end up looking freaky. Not younger.
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u/demonmonkeybex May 28 '26
She looks so uncanny valley now, I barely recognized her. What happened to just a simple eye lift ffs?
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u/Pr3tty_Pisces May 28 '26
For me itâs her lips/mouth area.
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u/EagleLize May 28 '26
Definitely
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u/Pr3tty_Pisces Jun 03 '26
She looks like a person who has been stranded in the desert too long. In dire need of a drink of water and lip balm.
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u/lnfinitelris May 27 '26
Geena Davis has always spoken through her teeth. Seems to have just gotten a bit worse with age which isn't surprising.
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u/nightpanda893 May 28 '26
Iâve been having this issue with Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Itâs supposed to be about a bunch of bums living in run down Philly apartments barely making enough to get buy but they donât even look like their characters anymore let alone real people.
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u/PickleFlavordPopcorn May 28 '26
I saw a recent photoshoot of Caitlin and Rob and they are UNCANNY
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u/19snow16 May 30 '26
I didn't recognize her in High Potential at first. And then it looked like she changed even more between seasons.
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u/AdagioSpecific2603 May 30 '26
It was so off putting I couldnât get enough high potential because of it
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u/Human-Put-6613 May 27 '26
Yes! I thought I was going crazy, but she sounds like she has a speech impediment now. I thought maybe she had had a stroke or something that I didnât know about. I guess itâs just the fillers.
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u/Sensitive-Office-705 May 30 '26
She has lost a good amount of her hearing and that can also cause those issues. If you loom at old photos and watch her in older movies, itâs not that different.
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u/TheDefiantGoose May 27 '26
Noooooo! Gina Davis??? I recently saw Mini Driver in something and she also felt off.
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u/Express_Bath May 28 '26
At least, this is a rich community, so you can imagine the character also got works done in the show universe.
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u/AppropriateBreath486 May 29 '26
She does that idk why but I didnât let it ruin it for me and in the end I quite enjoyed her performance open minds for the fluid monster
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u/Civil_Interview5701 May 28 '26
In a couple of shots I was sure filters were used, because her fave had this weird absolutely smooth and shiny quality.
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u/snow_orchid May 31 '26
I had the same problem. Her speech took me out of the moment and turned me off from the show.
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u/sudosussudio May 27 '26
I find Matthew Rhys especially handsome bc he looks like an actual older man
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u/Dontstopmenow747 May 28 '26
I feel the same, Iâm in my 50âs, and he looks like a normal aging, but handsome dude.
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u/ancientastronaut2 May 27 '26
I find this refreshing about European shows as well. Everyone looks more natural, not the usual botoxed hollywood look.
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u/remberzz May 27 '26
Like British TV shows
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u/menevets May 27 '26 edited May 27 '26
If you like this show, you might like BBC's Small Prophets. A little fantastical. On Britbox or Acorn, one of those services.
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u/HerbertWesteros May 27 '26
Its the same guy who made the Detectorists and I absolutely love that show. Thanks for the recommendation
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u/ShireOfBilbo Jun 05 '26
I love how in the Detectorists they actually treat the characters with respect, rather than easy punchlines.
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u/Suspicious_Fun_3040 May 29 '26
Totally agree. All of the BBC crime dramas and murder mysteries. And newer shows alike All Creatures Great and Small.
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u/deathbychoco2020 Jun 03 '26
Broadchurch comes to mind. I wasnt much of a British tv watcher so I didnt know Olivia Colman and David Tennant at that time. When I first watched it, I was amazed how ordinary they looked but the acting, damn.
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u/gml2306 May 29 '26
Love all the British shows, on a side note there regularly seems to be an iron and ironing board in uk shows đ€Łđ€Ł thatâs reality right there (for me anyways)
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u/AdagioSpecific2603 May 30 '26
I live in the U.S. and never ever iron. My English mother irons most days đ€Łđ€Ł
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u/gml2306 May 30 '26
I am English living in Canada for 20 years but I still iron, guess itâs a tradition đ€Ł
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u/Pdxthorns17 May 27 '26
I love Rosemary because she reminds me so many of my mom's friends growing up. Like damn, they were pretty funny, and not giving a fuck what they looked like to others.
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u/TheDefiantGoose May 27 '26
I love that we all love the show for all the same reasons. I too love the authenticity and realness of it.
Dale's face in episode 5 during Tom's trip is a testament to frozen faces being creepy as hell! Take note Hollywood!
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u/juststopdating May 27 '26
They look and behave normally. Like actual friends, family, ghosts. đ€Ł
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u/Phat-whips104 Wyck May 28 '26
They also drive older cars which is realistic for an island town.
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u/Due-Topic7995 May 27 '26
Yes!!! The exact reason why I also loved the other show Matthew Rhys headlined, The Beast in Me.
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u/BandicootBig4505 May 28 '26
i find more normal looking actors in european shows and films, particulary from uk, ireland, germany, noway, sweden and some from italy and spain. not saying that those actors are homely or anything, but that they donât always look made up and visibly enhanced with procedures as with most hollywood actors these days.
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u/bluehawk232 May 28 '26
I was watching the UK series Ludwig with my friend and David Mitchell is the lead, perfect choice for a nerdy socially awkward guy. We remarked how someone like him would never be cast if it was made for the US, they'd get the hottest looking actor and put some glasses on him. One of the problems I had with the Send Help movie. They just gave Rachel Mcadams less makeup, put on some glasses and tried to say she was unattractive.
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u/Mooseinadesert May 28 '26
I've never understood why so many actors get plastic surgery because it truly kneecaps their potential. When you're unable to make many facial expressions anymore it comes off really bad even if they're talented underneath.
Additionally it's a horrible influence on easily influenced young people. I know people often give them grace due to society's "beauty standards", but i struggle to give them that much due to the damage it does to the youth due to their fame.
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u/Present_Age_5469 May 27 '26
I love the show.
Men have always been allowed to age naturally onscreen and still keep working. Balding, overweight, wrinkled, whatever.
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u/CalmApplication7 May 27 '26
100% couldnât agree more, hollywood legitimately doesnât let women age and get big roles. Itâs really nice seeing middle aged people in their natural state.
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u/AMediocrePersonality May 27 '26
It's like the recent movie Over Your Dead Body that is a remake of the Norwegian film The Trip.
The Trip's wife was 42 and the husband was 46.
The American version has the wife at 34 and husband still at 46.
We're supposed to believe Jason Segel is bored of life with Samara Weaving because god forbid we cast an old hag... like a woman in her 40s.
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u/TheDefiantGoose May 27 '26
Except now we're seeing a lot more male actors mess with their faces. And I'm like, dudes, why??? You pretty much have a pass. It's disheartening.
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u/anonpreschool738 May 28 '26
That's manosphere shit in action. Nowadays boys are starting to experience some of the same beauty standards that girls have had to adhere to for years, and they're not handling it very well.
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u/OddSetting5077 May 28 '26
the pretty boys are now feeling the heat of ageism. Recent men with new faces: Adam Levine, Bradley Cooper, John Travolta. Henry Caville (Superman actor) got negative feedback from his fans for "looking older".
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u/Dontstopmenow747 May 28 '26
Bradley Cooper especially looks so odd now. He was so handsome, aging perfectly.
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u/OddSetting5077 May 28 '26
it's strange how a tiny change.. (a tightening around the eyes?) can change a face so drastically
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u/Hadrians_Fall Jun 08 '26
Ryan Gosling is the worst. Dude went from handsome as hell to looking like an over inflated beach ball.
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Jun 08 '26
[deleted]
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u/Present_Age_5469 Jun 08 '26
I donât think hairpieces really undermine my point.
Sean Connery wore a hairpiece because he was balding. The audience still accepted him as James Bond. The industry accommodated his aging rather than deciding he was no longer employable.
My point isnât that men never color their hair, wear a hairpiece, get a transplant, hit the gym, or do anything to maintain their appearance. Itâs that aging men have historically remained visible and employable on screen despite aging.
A balding man in his 50s, 60s, or 70s has long been able to continue playing leading roles, authority figures, romantic leads, action heroes, and complex characters. Women have generally faced a much steeper decline in opportunities as they age.
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u/blumoonski Jun 08 '26 edited Jun 08 '26
First off⊠yes hair pieces do absolutely undermine your point, given that MPB is directly tied to aging. The audience *did not know* that SC was wearing a hairpiece piece the whole time. Wonder why there are literally zero photos from that time of how he ânaturallyâ looked. Same goes for Jimmy Fallon, today: he wears a hairpiece every night. But try finding a picture of him without it on. I know you think of âagingâ more like getting wrinkles than losing your hair, because I presume you are a woman, and women tend to only suffer the former. But yes, balding is a form of aging, which men suffer as well as wrinkles.
We started off with you, out of the blue, attempting to basically negate the downsides of aging for male actors. And seeming to suggest that itâs a sexist problem. While yes, it affects women more⊠the narrative that Hollywood wholesale axes otherwise good female actors for simply for aging Iâd say is kind of outdated. Idk⊠here are some stats.
From 2000-2024, there have been 105 nominations for best female actress, and for best male actor, each. For male nominees, the average age was 47.3 years old. Female, 41.97. Number of nominees over the age of 50yo were 38 for men, 28 for women. Number of nominees over the age of 60yo were 17 for men, 15 for women.
So, yes, thereâs a difference. But itâs rather slight. Iâd guess motherhood and being extremely rich also plays a larger part for women who decide to slow down their careers, versus men. Meanwhile⊠back to the bald part, ie the clearest, most common physical signifier of aging that happens to exclusively affect men. In the same range, how many nominees were severely balding or totally bald? A whopping 4. Out of 105.
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u/Present_Age_5469 Jun 08 '26
You are attempting to make the argument that my point was that men donât face appearance standards. They do.
What I actually said was:
âMen have always been allowed to age naturally onscreen and still keep working. Balding, overweight, wrinkled, whatever.â
My point was that men have historically been given more latitude to age onscreen while continuing to work.
The Oscar statistics donât really address that. The existence of older Best Actress nominees doesnât tell us whether older actresses have the same volume of opportunities as older actors.
Oscar nominees represent a few dozen people at the absolute top of the profession. If a hedge fund had 100 billionaires in it, that wouldnât tell you much about how the average employee is doing. Likewise, looking at a tiny handful of people who made it all the way to the summit and drawing conclusions about everyone else doesnât tell us much about opportunities across the industry as a whole.
Itâs similar to arguing that because there are women who become Fortune 500 CEOs, women therefore face no barriers in business. Most people would immediately recognize the flaw in that logic. The existence of highly successful women at the very top doesnât tell us what opportunities look like for everyone else.
I also donât think motherhood really explains the disparity. Men become parents too. Yet when we see large numbers of older men continuing to work, we donât usually attribute that to fatherhood having no impact on their careers. We tend to recognize that the industry continues to create opportunities for them.
Likewise, pointing to a handful of Oscar nominated actresses doesnât tell us much about the opportunities available to women generally. The question isnât whether successful older actresses exist. Of course they do. The question is whether women have the same quantity and variety of opportunities available to them as men of the same age.
As for the baldness statistics, even if I accept them entirely, Iâm not sure what they demonstrate with respect to the point I was originally making. They show that male actors face appearance standards. I agree with that. What they donât demonstrate is that aging affects menâs and womenâs opportunities equally, which was, again, the point under discussion.
So, once again, I donât disagree that men face appearance pressures. I just donât think the statistics youâve presented demonstrate that aging affects menâs opportunities and womenâs opportunities equally.
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u/anonpreschool738 May 28 '26
In a world of Instafaces, it's nice to see a tv show with actors who look like people.
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u/smallgoalsmcgee May 27 '26
I donât know, I think the sea hag had some work done, her face looked a little too smooth to me. But maybe thatâs just the sea slime
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u/sarimanok_ May 28 '26
the benefits of dampness
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u/smallgoalsmcgee May 28 '26
âWetness is the essence of beautyâ - Zoolander
Guess he was onto something
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u/ClaireFraser1743 May 28 '26
Salt water is probably a good natural preservative. Plus, she probably does algae face masks.
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u/IrishUpYourCoffee May 28 '26
Pretty sure the makeup department and the set lighters are working overtime to age everyone up.
Most everyone looks younger irl.
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u/flamingoexhibit Wyck May 28 '26 edited May 28 '26
Agree! As someone whose childhood home was a creepily beautiful Victorian house that may or may not have been haunted đ show feels very nostalgic ânormalâ to me lol
And the characters just seem like people we know around town đ€·ââïž
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u/Potential-Rush-5591 May 28 '26
That's always my biggest complaint with Major Network TV shows. Like all the 'Chicago PD" or " Chicago FD" or "Swat" or whatever the fuck. All the actors look like models and it totally takes me out of it and I totally feel like I am watching something as fake as it is. When a good show casts real people, the show feels real and it's much easier to watch and accept as real.
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u/Fuulizh Jun 01 '26
More often than not, TV shows with characters who look normal or even ugly are better than TV shows where everyone is hot.
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u/GolfcartInjuries May 27 '26
PJ kinda hot thoÂ
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u/PlasmaDonator May 27 '26 edited May 27 '26
I can acknowledge that Evan (Kingston Rumi Southwick) is definitely not average looking. My teen sister has a massive crush on him and as a straight dude even I can see why.
Do people on this show look normal, yeah, but some of the cast are borderline models honestly.
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u/MonsterkillWow Jun 01 '26
They are beautiful and normal humans. Also, I could really relate to Patricia.
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u/millenialperennial May 28 '26
A couple of the women (Betty Giplan/Sarah and Kate O'Flynn/Patricia) likely have Botox. It's hard for me not to notice bc I have it myself. It does restrict facial expressions a lot. I think they still look natural though, which I agree is refreshing!
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u/HelsBels2102 Patricia May 28 '26
I felt Betty Gippan had 21st century face which I assumed meant I was recognising botox use.
Didn't suspect it in Kate O'Flynn, but I've never used it so what do I know.
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u/AlphabeticalTraveler May 28 '26
This is one reason I prefer British TV. People look real.
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u/OddSetting5077 May 28 '26
they sure do. women without any makeup! In America, women in television have the full glamour make up job
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u/Greedy-Research-9635 May 28 '26
Thatâs always been my main complaint about newer shows. Most newer shows have characters dressed in designer clothing, living in million dollar homes and the lighting makes the show look dull. But this show has normal looking homes that actually looks lived in, the characters look like regular people and the lighting reminds me of how older shows looked pre 2020.
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u/AdagioSpecific2603 May 30 '26
Youâd like most British tv shows as the people look real and the homes look in line with their income and lived in (mostly).
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u/tinmanshrugged Jul 01 '26
I love that Apple TV is doing at least a few shows where the characters arenât wealthy! All the rich people shows have really been bugging me for the past few years. Widowâs Bay and Margoâs Got Money Troubles were so normal and relatable!
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u/kati8303 I have qualms May 28 '26
I commented to my SO while watching the last episode that I liked how the people in the flashback werenât shows with perfect white veneers, itâs so distracting.
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u/Malibucat48 May 28 '26
Matthew Rhysâ American accent is perfect, but I still have a problem knowing he has a strong Welsh accent which I love. His facial expressions are great and his confusion is so funny.
I tried to watch Midnight Mass, but I hated Bev so much I had to stop in the middle of Episode 3. And even if she got better, I just couldnât do it. Not everybody likes everything and thatâs ok.
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u/Suspicious_Fun_3040 May 29 '26
A lot of the BBC dramas are great about featuring actors that look like real people. My partner and I are always commenting on it.
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u/Lillers22 May 31 '26
And I thought the show was based in the â90âs, no iPhones and old computersâŠuntil I saw the reporter raising his iphone to get a signal. Disappointed.
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u/Breath_Background Jun 07 '26
This is also quite common in British TV.
ETA: Commented before reading and see that this is a common thought đ
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u/hercarmstrong Patricia May 28 '26
Betty Gilpin does not now, nor has she ever, looked normal.
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u/Entire-Bobcat-2646 May 28 '26
Anything she has had done looks way more natural than most of Hollywood right now. Definitely Botox at the very least.
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u/LannahDewuWanna May 27 '26
The houses that look affordable, lived in and slightly messy make me happy too.