Careless Driving Is Not Cute

Dear Hollywood Actors and Actresses:

After we work all day and fend off LA's many arrogant and entitled drivers on our commute home, we sometimes find watching your television performances a pleasant way to unwind -- unless you make our blood boil by revealing in what you seem to think is a "charming" way that in fact you are one of those awful drivers.

Last night on The Late Show with David Letterman, Alexis "Rory Gilmore" Bledel chose to tell what she seemed to think was a sweetly self-deprecating story about what a bad driver she is. "People give me looks of shame," she said. Letterman asked if it was a case of poor coordination or depth perception. No, she said, "I'm just very impatient" and then told a story about how one of the apparently many times she'd cut someone off without looking it turned out to be a cop who pulled her over and yelled at her. Now, David Letterman seems to enjoy interviewing some young women who drive very fast under controlled conditions, but he just gazed at Bledel and said, "Well, I hope you don't hurt yourself or anyone else."

Similarly, Kristen "Veronica Mars" Bell appeared on the Tonight Show a few months ago and revealed that she had accumulated about eight hundred dollars in parking tickets in one month. Again, she seemed to think this was a cute story that made her seem more flighty and down-to-earth. Then she giggled, "I guess I was in people's way." Yeah, people like the ones who watch your show and keep it on the air, some of whose opinions of you just dropped.

Given the number of bad drivers and the number of actors in this town, some overlap in the two demographics is probably inevitable. But don't go on TV and talk about your arrogant and entitled driving like it's cute and funny. In fact, take the audience's complete lack of laughter as a sign that you shold change your behavior. We are not amused.

Photo by malingering from her "If I had the power to revoke licenses..." subset on flickr