[rionia]

A critic claims that casting recognisable actors as the bad guy in TV dramas is

" posing a serious threat to my TV viewing (and by extension to anyone watching TV with me)".

Because you know the moment you see that actor that "there's no way this actor or his agent accepted a [small] part . He's been cast to fill a bigger role to be revealed later "

and he usually turns out to be the villain

Do you agree?

Here's the ink to the article, It contains spoilers for some US shows.

Spoiler

http://www.jsonline.com/entertainmen...189403131.html

[Sniffle774]

Lol, it's a fair point that.

[Thunder Lips]

It's definitely something I've noticed.

[MoreTears]

That's of course assuming you are familiar with the actor who turns out to be the killer/villain. I don't watch many procedurals, but I watch Elementary, and out of the 13 episodes so far I would say there were three episodes in which a guest star I recognized turned out to be the culprit. That leaves 10 episodes in which the culprits were actors I hadn't seen before or hadn't remembered seeing before. And let's make something else clear: Any time I watch a procedural, I am watching because I want to see the regular characters (in other words, I watch Elementary because I want to see Sherlock Holmes being Sherlock Holmes). I really don't care that much, if at all, about the cookie-cutter "mystery" of the week.

[rionia]

Originally Posted by MoreTears

Any time I watch a procedural, I am watching because I want to see the regular characters (in other words, I watch Elementary because I want to see Sherlock Holmes being Sherlock Holmes). I really don't care that much, if at all, about the cookie-cutter "mystery" of the week.

I watch for regular characters as well, but also like a good story, where the outcome isn't too predictable, so I have some sympathy for that critic's viewpoint

[Schmiznurf]

Hah, I figured out the bad guy at the same time too.

It's not always like it though. In a recent episode of a show I watch they had Jere Burns and he always plays bad guys. Turns out he wasn't important at all, and the casting was probably just a swerve,

[platelet]

Yep Law and Order definately, and Criminal Minds frequently suffer from this.

There was a recent season 8 episode of criminal minds that would have had quite a well hidden plot twist, that was telegraphed by the presence of a guest star

Spoiler

Michelle trachenberg's appearance as the girlfriend of a suspected staker. Appeared in the background, had a couple of lines then disapeared again till the big reveal that she was to blame. An unknown face this would have worked quite well, but the second you recongnise her ...