I've been noticing the casting on TV shows. 

The casting of male leads seems to be patterned after the self-image of the producer or show leader, and casting of the "sexy" female leads is patterned after the female "type" the producer or show leader finds most attractive.

For example, look at the stars of "NCIS."  The male "serious" leads (Gibbs, DeNozzo, Mallard) have not-too-high, sharp cheekbones, hollow cheeks, and two are in their 50s or 60s.  Gibbs is on the thin side; Mallard was thinner when he was Ilya Kuryakin.  The female "sexy" leads in the show (David, Sciuto, Shepard; of course, you probably identify them more easily by their first names, Ziva, Abby, and Jenny) have high round cheekbones, not-large eyes, and defined dark eyebrows, like a dark-haired Bo Derek or Linda Evans.

Other series from NCIS producer Bellisario?  Quantum Leap (thin big-nosed Sam Beckett/Scott Bakula).  JAG (thin not so big-nosed David James Elliott, round-high-cheeked Catherine Bell).

Why does this matter?  Well, while the male lead is going to be an idealized version of the producer or show leader, it's going to be limited theoretically by having to look at least something like him, no matter how ugly he is.  The women selected aren't restricted in any way, so they can be way outside the norm.  If the show leader likes busty blondes, surprise, all the women cast as attractive are busty blondes.  So while an average-looking man has a wide variety of men on TV with which to identify, women who are average-looking see themselves reflected in secondary characters, often "quirky" like Kirsten Vangsness' character Penelope Garcia (Criminal Minds) who lives outside the size zero female star world.

Even when there's a variety of female types in one show, the women are rarely if ever as average-looking.  Take the cast of "Lost," for example.  The top listed male actors on the show according to IMDB are: 

Naveen Andrews ... Sayid Jarrah
Matthew Fox ... Jack Shephard
Jorge Garcia ... Hugo 'Hurley' Reyes
Josh Holloway ... James 'Sawyer' Ford
Terry O'Quinn ... John Locke
Daniel Dae Kim ... Jin Kwon
Dominic Monaghan ... Charlie Pace
Harold Perrineau ... Michael Dawson
Michael Emerson ... Ben Linus
Henry Ian Cusick ... Desmond Hume

Of these, Garcia, O'Quinn, Emerson and Perrineau, and arguably Monaghan, don't have "movie star good looks."  I'm not saying they're unattractive, don't get me wrong, but they're not notable for their classic movie star good looks.  Garcia is heavy, O'Quinn is bald, Monaghan is short, Emerson's face is asymmetric and his head is shaped like a light bulb.  Perrineau is kind of a good-looking average guy.

Now, the top-listed women:

Evangeline Lilly ... Kate Austen
Emilie de Ravin ... Claire Littleton
Elizabeth Mitchell ... Juliet Burke
Yunjin Kim ... Sun Kwon
Maggie Grace ... Shannon Rutherford
Michelle Rodriguez ... Ana-Lucia Cortez
L. Scott Caldwell ... Rose Henderson
Cynthia Watros ... Libby
Rebecca Mader ... Charlotte Lewis
Mira Furlan ... Danielle Rousseau
Tania Raymonde ... Alex
Kiele Sanchez ... Nikki Fernandez
Sonya Walger ... Penny Widmore
Fionnula Flanagan ... Eloise Hawking

Different, sure, and not all will be the viewer's "type."  But all dieted down, all "pretty."  Rose Henderson, or Eloise Hawking, are the only women who are not the movie star beauty ideal.  Even Rousseau, while not young, has female movie star physical proportions.