Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson for June 10, 2023

The wife was a huge Dallas fan. I couldn’t get into it but did make the pilgrimage to the ranch at Southfork.

Those were simpler days. 8^ )

I was a Dynasty fan myself, hated Dallas.

Does anyone know what show or movie they are watching?

Was there a transporter malfunction?

You need reeducating Janis.

I see headlines for all these “celebrities”. I have no idea why they are celebrities either. There seem to be about 1 million of them though. And they all look the same to me. There are a few exceptions like Taylor Swift. Then there are the hundreds of Kardashians who are more infamous.

No problem telling Major Nelson and Jeannie apart either.

Raiders of the lost Ark?

So many actors these days do seem to be made from the same cookie cutter. They look the same and talk the same to the point that many of us can’t tell them apart. A greater variety of interesting looks, interesting personalities and interesting mannerisms can only enrich a story and the lack of perfection in everybody is also much more comfortable to people. It’s been observed that people in general are not very comfortable with others who seem too perfect or too symmetrical especially in facial features.

Quick, to Reddit and IMDB! The only way to figure out the plotlines and who did what and when and who was who.

This reminds me of an actor I saw in “Stargate SG-1”, who played a Bounty Hunter. Then later, I was sure I saw the same actor in “Stargate Atlantis” as a “Runner”. I thought “They wouldn’t do that, would they?” When I looked them up, they were different actors who looked very similar…

So, what are Gene, Mary Lou & Meg up to these days?

All the current cars seem to look alike too. Might as well get accustomed to it.

Oh, sure, you could tell who everybody was, but for a whole season(?) you couldn’t tell that everything you were watching WAS JUST A DREAM.

They are complaining about a problem that I find is increasing lately: not making characters differentiable. It almost seems like all actors of a certain class (leading man, snarky sidekick, pole-dancing girlfriend, wife, and all the other stereotypes) all look alike. They come from central casting as though they were stomped out on a plastic molding machine.

Casting characters such that the viewer can easily distinguish them from each other appears to be a vanishing talent. It is particularly important in movies, where we have only just met them and only know them for a couple of hours. If you can’t find two actors who aren’t physically similar, then at least make them sound and act differently.

But what the heck, we seem to be losing so much competence in our society today, why should the people who cast TV shows and movies be exempt?

That was my complaint with “Eight Men Out.” Everybody looked exactly the same. I never figured out who was who!

Janis is forgetting that it wasn’t always easy to tell Sue Ellen and Kristin apart.

The tv show? Dallas no argument. The movie? Maybe Raiders of the Lost Ark? Indy dressed up like a Nasty….Come on you know Nazis were nasty

I am extremely good at figuring out “who dun it” in movies and TV shows. Dallas is one of my two records though.

We did not watch Dallas. However, when the discussion came up about “who shot JR?” I figured it out without ever having seen the show.

Yeah, that and the movie “Knives out”. I figured who dunnit it in this one – BEFORE it was dun!

And, no I don’t tell my husband when we are watching the show/movie who did it, I wait until it is over so I don’t spoil it for him.