In addition, think of all the high-profile cases of missing or murdered girls and women in the last several years. Even if you accept that white victims get the majority of media coverage, a huge proportion of the victims are still blond – off the top of my head, I can think of high-profile cases concerning one redhead woman, one brunette woman, one girl of color, and at least half a dozen blond girls and women. So, your average television viewer is used to seeing blond girls and women as the victims of such crimes, but I don’t know whether it reflects real statistics (at least among white women, as I know it isn’t accurate across all racial or ethnic groups) or it just reflect’s the media’ obsession with pretty blond girls.

I think that is definitely part of it. Crime victims on procedurals are generally played by young, unknown actors, since they’re willing to be hired for parts that are mostly just playing dead. The perception Hollywood was perpetuated is that aspiring actresses are cute blondes, so many young actresses go blond in the hope that it’ll make them more likely to be cast. And then the casting directors have mostly blonde actresses to choose from. Kind of a self-perpetuating cycle.

Although Anemone’s theory about color contrast probably holds some merit, too. Any large quantity of fake blood will show up as almost black on camera, so having as a light a background as possible will make it more apparent. Not the best excuse, though.

It reminds me of how Cordelia on Buffy used to be such a great girl. Shallow, but not stupid, a mere mortal yet perfectly able to take care of herself (most of the time). When Cordelia appeared on Angel the show she was still a great character with lots of development. Yet when she dyed her hair blond she apparently also took stupid pills because she fell for Angel (even though she was right there when his romances with Buffy and Darla turned into desasters), she let a demonic god take over her body, slept with Angels son and eventually died.
None of this would have happened to the brunette Cordy from Buffy and Angel season 1-2.

RE: blonde-as-innocent… Then there’s the twist, where Blonde Victim is secretly engaged in some sordid business, typically sexual. And also blonde-as-typical, wherein blondness indicates that the victim could be any young woman. Being white female and blonde may also indicate privilege, as blondness taps into the dynamic of the “Golden Girl” (or Boy). And then the perception that white women are particularly vulnerable may encourage scriptwriters to put the bodies of white women at the center of their mini morality plays. Or, conversely, the feeling that crime typically occurs to people who are not white may lead to the assumption that dead whites = more unusual = more dramatic/important.

Vancouver’s overwhelmingly white? That’s a LOL if it weren’t so infuriating. Wow, the Stargate franchise must’ve spent so much money importing all those people of color who worked as extras in the background.

Asians can’t act? I’ve never heard that stereotype, and I would’ve been perfectly happy never to hear it.

It’s true. We’re only 50% non-white. The other one I hear is that Asians can’t act, for some reason. Probably because they don’t act like North Americans of European descent? That’s it. They’re not loud enough. Can’t act worth a darn.

It makes about as much sense as the argument I heard about a show filmed in Vancouver which was so, so white (except for villains): But the demographics of Vancouver don’t lend for a lot of color!

B to the S.

Criminal Minds seems to be fairly well researched, so I’m more inclined to think the casting is deliberate because of the data set they use. But I should acknowledge that viewpoint is probably skewed because I’m a fan of the show.