We have a weather girl up here who is darn hot on the tube. Blonde, tight clothes, good bod and great face.
In fact, Sundays before church I have been switching over from American Shooter on the breaks to catch her act instead of watching that guy break the 9 clay targets (which should tell you just how hot she is)
Met her in real life last weekend at a function. She was okay looking, and a nice person, but no more than that.
This morning I switched over as always on the AS break, and she is very good looking on TV, much more so than in real life.

WTF? How is TV messing with my mind?

Make-up can do wonders. Have you seen the picture of Madonna picking up the morning paper in a night gown and plush sweaters? Before coffee and make-up...."Who you gonna call? [i]Ghostbusters![/i]"

I gave a pretty scary Hessian mercenary once, complete with white wig, and triangle hat and 20 inch rubber bayonet at the end of a 8 foot or so barrel. Looked quite impressive on the screen, to say the least. However, at that time I was like 17 and weighed about 140 pounds dripping wet.

If I had all the makeup and wardrobe people working for hours before I went out I could be pretty too!! But I think Ill just stick to tshirts and bluejeans!!

[beer]

Oh and all that makeup would be hard on my complexion![;)]

Everybody looks different on TV than in real life.  Stage makeup is part of it.  But television images are very two dimensional.  Women say TV adds pounds but I think its just the flattened image of what they see more 3-dimensionally in the mirror.  I often wonder if people like Cokie Roberts would appear really strange if I walked up to them.

I saw Janet Lee (pool player) in person at a trade show. She actually looked better in person as was easily one of the most beautiful women I'd ever seen. And she don't look to shabby on TV either! [:P]

You should see the news girls here in the Valley![shock]

My opinion is that most of it has to do with professionally applied make-up, professional lighting setup and flattering wardrobe and camera angles.

Also television has such low resolution that it tends to hide imperfections that are more noticeable in person.

The most obvious example of this that I've ever personally seen was the former Playboy covergirl who was also the famous Hooters billboard model. I think her name is Lynn Austin and she lives here in the Tampa area. In Playboy and in most print photos (like the billboard) she is quite stunning and a real looker.

I happened to see her at a local radio station when she had a goofy talk show and barely gave her a second glance. It wasn't until someone pointed out who she was that I looked again and was surprised how remarkably average she looked.

My wife has also done some modeling, and on two occasions she's had true professional makeup artists (ie, not Glamour shots type people) do her hair and makeup. It's incredible what they can do.

In fact, after the shoot was over it was like nailing a total stranger. Now if I can just talk her into doing that again.... [}:D]