When it comes to wigs on TV, things have gotten abysmal in the last decade or so. While these shows are trying to sell us on their story and the characters within it, they don’t take into consideration that the look might be the most essential part of a story. Sure, you have the setting and you have the dialogue. But if someone sees your hero/lead and clocks their wig looking like a Party City purchase, it takes the viewer out of the experience. And that’s an impression you don’t want someone to walk away with.
So why are wigs on TV so busted? A lot of it has to do with budget according to Camille Friend, a veteran hairstyling professional who’s worked on films like Black Panther, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and Captain America: Civil War. In an interview with Vox, Friend spoke about how studios don’t want someone walking around with a wig that costs thousands of dollars. She also went on to share how skill is also an issue. Laying down a lace front takes time, skill, and education. And it also takes strong relationship between different crews on set like lighting technicians to make sure the hair looks good in certain lights.
It’s important to note that sometimes, wigs look otherworldly. TV does explore fantasy worlds and that of superheroes. But wigs on TV don’t make it look natural. They don’t lay down the hair line with precision, give the wig some dimension, or style it in a way that doesn’t look like it’s a hat the character pops on and off. And if cosplayers at conventions can take a Party City wig and make it into something that looks good with a couple tweaks here and there, TV can as well. But they don’t because it’s not a priority.
To highlight bad wigs of the industry we’ve put together a list of the worst offenders, in our opinion. The CW will be featured heavily because they are always at the scene of the crime. And others like The Witcher and House of the Dragon make the list too. The one note this author has is that I don’t feel like I can speak on whether textured hair looks good or bad when it comes to Black characters. But I did find some posts from Black authors who speak on this topic. Bim Adewunmi from Buzzfeed talks about her thoughts on Black hair on TV in “I’m Tired Of Looking At All These Bad Wigs On Black Actors.” And By Erin E. Evans, Zeba Blay, Taryn Finley, Philip Lewis, and Ja’han Jones share their thoughts with Huffpost in “The 7 Best Worst Black Hairstyles On TV And Film.”
1. Oliver Queen in flashbacks & more on Arrow
No matter what role Stephen Amell takes on, he will always be remembered for Arrow. And not just the superhero show about the Green Arrow himself. He’ll be remembered for the awful wigs that made an appearance in every single flashback and flash forward with his character. No matter the stage in Oliver Queen’s life, unless it was his natural hair, he was doomed to take on the next bad guy with a terrible wig. The pilot wig and beard combo in particular we will never forget.
2. The Targaryen family in House of the Dragon
No notes for individual wigs on House of the Dragon. If you’ve got a white wig, it looks bad. It’s stiff, has absolutely no dimension, and it has the most wicked hairline. We know this is fantasy. But the least they could do is make the hair look believable, especially with being one of the most successful and popular shows on TV right now.
3. Emo Barry Allen in The Flash
The CW strikes again with emo Barry Allen. It’s been years since we’ve watched this show and we will readily admit that we don’t remember what happened to bring on this emo version of The Flash. But we will never forget this emo version that looked like he was about to start singing something by Fallout Boy or Secondhand Serenade’s “Fall for You.”
4. Geralt in The Witcher
For some it might seem sacrilege to have Henry Cavill’s Geralt in a list about the worst wigs on TV. But we stand by my decision that his wig is terrible. We do appreciate that the costume department was intentional in making it something that had dimensions besides just being a white wig. Kudos for that. But that hairline constantly bothered us and it feel unnatural in the way that it laid. And this is coming from someone who loves fantasy. White hair isn’t the problem. It’s that it doesn’t lay naturally and is giving the same unsettled feeling you get when you see AI.
5. Superhero Laurel Lance in Arrow
No matter how you feel about Laurel Lance from Arrow, we can all agree that her superhero wig was tragic. Like her sister Sara, it was giving the worst of Party City. And Laurel’s character is supposed to be an iconic woman and superhero in the DC space. The least they could do is give her a good wig. But we will admit, the shorter haircut we see later on in the series, that complements her and fits really well with Katie Cassidy’s aesthetic. But we think that might be her hair so it doesn’t count.
6. Liv from iZombie
Another CW mention because we can’t contain ourselves and they’re terrible. The main character Liv wasn’t a Witcher like Geralt. She was a zombie just trying to make it through the day while eating brains and solving crimes. And every single episode she wore the most hideous wig. It had absolutely no movement or difference from episode to episode. We will admit though, there were some episodes where her personalities brought out a more refined look and her hair changed. All that did was make us question why they had her wearing something so ugly for so long.
7. Dexter flashback wig on Dexter
Dexter really thought it went and did something when they slapped a wig on Michael C. Hall for flashbacks like viewers wouldn’t notice. They did. We all did. And it brought us completely out of the experience of the show because that was just a 30+ year old man playing a kid. And it’s not like he was Tom Welling from Smallville. He started the show when he was 24 and finished when he was 34. Nevertheless, he had a youthful boyish face that made it easier to pass being a teen. Hall unfortunately didn’t. And now it’s made even funnier because there’s a show following a younger version of Dexter played by Patrick Gibson.
8. Flashback Jack in Lost
This is one of those picks where we know that working in a hospital is time-consuming, draining, and hard work. Nevertheless, ABC gave Jack such an unbelievably ugly wig that we focused more on it than Jack during his scenes on Lost. It was giving “toupee” instead of a harried doctor who is out there trying to change lives day in and day out and might not have a chance to brush his hair.
9. Medusa in Inhumans
Inhumans is one of those shows that we sometimes forget existed until we see Medusa’s wig. It’s not even the color that makes it look bad. Same thing goes for the CGI of it all when her powers go off. It’s a terrible wig because of the way that it lays on her head. It looks way too big for her head and doesn’t blend in naturally with her scalp to create the illusion of hair. This looks like a hat.
10. Sam as a old man in Supernatural
For the final entry in our list, we of course had to include another pic from The CW. Sam Winchester got done so dirty when they aged him up and gave him this ratty wig. After years of having glorious hair and becoming one of the networks most popular and beloved shows, we really wish they would have given him a wig that looked less Party City.
