USA: The Well-Coiffed Network
Is every lead actor on a USA Network show required to go to the same barber? I realize that I’m not an expect on these matters, because I’ve never watched an entire episode of “Suits” or “Burn Notice” or “White Collar,” but I have been watching “Political Animals,” and it does seem as if all the guys on that show too have their hair clipped as if they are advertising “product.” This does give a numbing sameness to the network, especially because virtually every actor is not only similarly coiffed but lily-white. Meanwhile, on last night’s “Political Animals” [SPOILER ALERT], Sebastian Stan‘s gay character keeps proving almost every week that attractive gay characters on TV dramas must be vain, druggy, and self-destructive. I wish in our post-post-gay era that we were beyond worrying about such stereotypes, and God knows that Stan’s character is more compelling than his very together straight brother, but until we see a few more unfucked-up gay cuties starring on network dramas, the persistence of the depressed stereotype is suspect.
