The Scott Caan Effect

[graculus]

Today's post is on the subject of actors I cannot stand. Yes, those folks whose involvement in a project makes me actively run in the opposite direction no matter how much the whole project might otherwise push my buttons like a rat in a Skinner box.

Having talked a little with someone (I think it may have been xandutch but I would not swear to it...) about this at connotations, I am now officially calling it The Scott Caan Effect. For me where UK-only shows are concerned it can also be the Keeley Hawes Effect as she also has the same impact on me and prevented me from watching more than about five minutes of Ashes To Ashes (though some might say that was a blessed relief!).

Yes, this particular psychological effect is powerful and strikes without warning. Just when you're thinking you might get into a ridiculous remake of a 1960's show, despite how much folks have told you that you ought and the autonomic response that provokes, the Effect strikes and you're gagging and reaching for the remote. It may be even stronger, to the point where mere photos of the cast make you vomit a little in your mouth because of the insane shortness and the bizarre hair.

Of course, for others the Scott Caan Effect is merely the stuff of legend and there will be pointing and mocking, however I suspect that each one of us has a 'Scott Caan' to whom we instinctively react this way, otherwise we're just in denial. So, good flist, if it's not the eponymous short-arse himself (and I'm not at all bitter that the man in question apparently beat out Michael Shanks for the role mostly on the basis of his surname rather than his acting ability...), who is your Scott Caan?

Comments

[nialla]

I'm always a bit baffled by pretty much all the "A List" actors. Most of them will make me go out of my way to not watch something, despite the project otherwise being interesting.

I don't really have a problem with Scott Caan, though I think H50 is the only show I've seen him in. The character does have some good moments, though I think all of them have to go through one of the biggest suspense of disbelief filters ever created. I mean, I watch sci fi and I think a lot of what they do is ridonkulous.

Oddly, I often find myself liking a character a lot more due to how the writers of fanfic, not the show itself, treat them. I kept reading Atlantis fic long after I gave up on the show, and I'm still reading it. Fic writers would fix things with "missing scenes" or go out of their way to come up with plausible reasons for why characters did things that didn't seem right, which was more than the writers being paid ever did.

I have not watched the most recent season of Doctor Who because I absolutely cannot stand Alex Kingston, who plays River Song. Didn't like her in the first episode, never liked her when she reappeared, so becoming a recurring character was just not going to work for me.

I made it through both Rose and Martha's pining with gritted teeth a lot, and I really liked Donna, though I understand a lot didn't because [insert irony here] they didn't like the actress. For me I just liked it because it was pining free and back to more of an old school Doctor and Companion go on adventures feel.

On the one hand, I feel like a Bad Fan for skipping it, on the other, I just couldn't make myself watch it. Too many other things that I am interested in watching, though I miss my little blue box.