What does age have to do with anything I wrote? I wasn't expecting him to be paired with some 20-year old. I'm just shocked he was cast at all. Cattrall may be way up there now but the show seems to be some flimsy sex-centric prime time soap, and from all indications she still has the goods even if its now in the form of a GILF. Harris on the other hand never had the goods as a leading man type. Not twenty years ago, not now. My point is that if they pick a white actor as Cattrall's love interest (a person she may be having an affair with) who was age appropriate Hollywood would pick a "grey fox" type; an older male who still has some type of smooth sex appeal, who still has his hair (even if grey), who still has an enviable body for a man with a lot of mileage on him. That's how Hollywood wants to portray white males even when they reach grandpa stage, especially in shows like this in which the draw is apparently sex and money. But this same industry has never been comfortable with black male sexuality or promoting the desirability of hetero black men. Don't care about how good an actor Harris is, but better casting, for a SOAP DRAMA CALLED FILTHY RICH, would have fallen more along the lines of a Blair Underwood, Giancarlo Espisito or Rick Fox. Some dude along those lines. Hell, Harris' own brother would have been better casting in my opinion. If you're not feeling me on that and can't understand where I'm coming from then I may have failed in making my point as well as I could have. Hell I wasn't gonna watch this show regardless so I probably shouldn't complain.
But you see in TV Land the man the lead female character has an affair with tends to be attractive enough that audience members can at least understand why she is having that affair. So the hubbie doesn't have to be hot, but the man that draws our leading lady into an adulterous relationship typically is. Hollywood 101.
Any version that includes Steve Harris is automatically the best example.
We are talking about an industry that is trying to promote Jonathan Majors as the next Denzel Washington. Majors is talented as shit. But have you seen his face?
Thing is its not as if Hollywood doesn't employ any attractive black actors, but I would argue their sexual appeal isn't as much of a prerequisite for hiring as it is for any other demographic. And even when the black actor is handsome, there are too often restrictions placed on how his sexuality, his sex appeal, is presented.
