It took a few years but I see some other people reached the same conclusion as I did regarding Graham's out of control hairstyle. I truly believe to this day that even though his performances were lacking in themselves, that his unkempt looking hair really did play a part in further hurting his ratings. Damian Christopher was a professional photographer. And when he was given the assignment of doing a still photoshoot of Graham I'm guessing his instinct and desire for what looked the most flattering and photogenic on his camera, resulted in him compelling Graham to comb it out and straighten the hair to a more aesthetically pleasing look.
The director Clay on the other hand had many blind spots when it came to filming. I was never a huge fan of his during his tenure here. Though I admit at times he did give us some really good 5 star scenes (and models) also. As a director he was rather inconsistent however. (IMO) Overall I'd give him a C+ or a B-.
He should have given Graham the same ultimatum about straightening his hair that Damian did. But again I think Clay was either truly clueless on that point, (blind spot, whatever) or he just didn't want to be bothered with even a very mild form of confrontation with the models on issues of their appearance. Like it was too much to ask to make sure his models (who were paid employees) would do everything reasonably possible to maximize their good looks for his own camera, and for the sake of the viewers.
He also let
Zeno Kostas shoot a whole set of scenes with very wet hair (coming almost directly from the shower) that looked very unflattering on camera. Yet Clay apparently either didn't care or didn't feel it was worth sparing the extra time in the schedule to give
Zeno Kostas's hair extra time to dry, or ask him to speed things up with a blowdryer before filming. I was very disappointed with most of
Zeno Kostas's scenes from that batch because of that issue with his hair. Even though I always loved
Zeno Kostas and felt his performances in the scenes were sill very good.
I've always felt that since the models are being hired (and paid) on the basis of their natural beauty and their pleasing physical attributes...and hopefully talent too...that they should show up on set looking their best and putting their best foot forward. Like they were going on a date. (Other than the casual clothes that they're gonna take off quickly anyway. haha) They shouldn't show up to film looking like they just rolled out of bed on a late Sunday morning/early afternoon after a blackout weekend bender. haha If something important and unflattering about their appearance innocently slips the model's notice, it really is up to the director and staff to be the ones to point it out and politely but firmly ask the model to remedy it. Clay was in mind easily the worst on this. Guys could show up on his set looking any which way, and he'd film them without a peep.
All this to finally say I guess that the post-Clay directors like Johnny and the current ones of Bryce, along with Sha and any others on set nowadays, seem to do a much better job on this point. They didn't/don't let models get away with filming on their sets with really bad personal grooming or other issues such as dirty greasy looking hair, really yellow teeth in need of a professional dental cleaning, uncombed and unkempt looking hair, haircuts/hair styles that are very unflattering, soaking wet hair that looks like a drenched poodle (haha), badly unshaven faces, badly razor-burned pubes, nasty rashes, unsightly toenails, etc. haha Catching things like those and trying to remedy them ahead of time is also an important role of filming.
