Matthew Rhys is currently starring in AppleTV’s Widow’s Bay. It’s a comedy horror series about a cursed town, and he stars as the town’s mayor. I’ve watched the first two episodes, but it’s so good I want to binge it so I’m waiting a few weeks to watch the full first season. Matthew is one of those actors that stays busy. He was last seen co-starring with Claire Danes in The Beast In Me, which aired late last year. Matthew recently did an interview with Wall Street Journal. One of the questions that they asked him was about his biggest pet peeve. Matthew responded by naming something that is very near and dear to my heart. He really hates when people watch things in public spaces without headphones.
Matthew Rhys is sounding off on the public behavior driving him “bananas.”
“The Americans” star isn’t hiding his irritation with one modern habit that’s seemingly pushed him over the edge — people blasting videos, music and FaceTime calls in public like everyone else signed up for the experience.
“Do you have any pet peeves?” Rhys was asked in a Wall Street Journal interview.
“What is driving me bananas these days are people who watch things on their phones without headphones,” Rhys said. “I’m turning into my dad, but I feel like I have to start saying to people, ‘Excuse me, do you have headphones?’ Because if we’re not schooling people, it’s going to become more rampant than it already is, and it is out of control.”
The actor’s solution to modern overstimulation is about as unplugged as it gets.
“What do you do to relax?” he was asked.
“If it’s not on the water—if it’s not a kayak or sail or something like that—then horses are big for me,” Rhys explained. “You just get to be quiet and in nature. You can’t be on your phone. You have to be present.”
The Welsh actor’s latest project is “Widow’s Bay,” starring alongside Stephen Root. The series centers on an ambitious mayor, Tom Loftis (Rhys), who tries to capitalize on a surge of tourists visiting the fictional island. His goal is to turn it into the next Martha’s Vineyard.
I am with Matthew one hundred percent here. It’s so rude to force other people to listen to your conversations or hear whatever you’re watching. I genuinely do not understand why someone would watch/listen/FaceTime while on speaker in a public setting. Do these offenders have no concept of decency or personal privacy? Last year, my husband had to ask a man at an airport to turn his volume down because he was watching something that had a lot of cursing in it and my kids were sitting right there. It was so bad that multiple people who were sitting at the gate were exchanging glances for several minutes before he finally said something.
Matthew is so right that we need to properly judge this type of behavior before it becomes accepted as a societal norm. My biggest pet peeve is people looking over my shoulder. I have hated it for as long as I can remember. To me, playing a loud video in public is an extension of that, so I don’t understand why anyone would do so. It’s actually the reason why I never got into TikTok and don’t really watch videos on Instagram. I think we need to set new social contract expectations. It’s not as hard as we think to shame people into being decent enough to put headphones on.
Photos credit: Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon, MediaPunch/Backgrid
Sometimes when I’m commuting there will be a person on the train who’s watching something at such a high volume that I can hear it through my noise cancelling airpods. It’s so bizarre like why do you want people to know what you’re watching?
It really is annoying. I took public transportation to get to work for years and I can’t tell you how many times people were actually having loud arguments with someone on their phone. It was insane. I was in jury duty earlier this week and the person sitting in front of me (think of a large room with about 500 people in it) and he’s watching something on his phone with the volume way up.
Unreal. I’m pretty sure last time I had jury duty there were signs everywhere telling people to silence their phones.
Many people just want attention, manners be dawned
Many people just want attention, manners be damned
Look to our administration as a bellwether for society. What once passed as “rugged individualism” is now unrestrained selfishness — a “f** everyone else” ethos. Basic consideration for neighbors, community, or even fellow subway passengers doesn’t factor into the calculus of many Americans’ lives. And it’s not just MAGA types; this kind of self-absorption has seeped more broadly into the culture. So many people are wildly defensive of their right to do whatever the heck they want just because they CAN.
Watching videos loudly in the doctor’s waiting room is a real treat. Imagine if you’re there because you’re feeling really sick or you’re really nervous and you have that grating on your nerves.
If someone is on a call in a grocery store because they need to ask about something they are supposed to buy, fine. Annoying on a speaker phone, but at least that call has a purpose. When you’re just shooting the breeze or gossiping on speaker phone while in a store…why? People have lost any sense of consideration for others. Any time I’ve personally witnessed this, it’s not even young folks who have only ever known immediate gratification through technology, it’s middle aged folks like me or older.
SAME. This is terribly inconsiderate behavior.
It’s too late, it’s already an actively “normal” behavior…and it is risky to tell people that their behavior is offensive. Many people who are rude enough to behave this way are unhinged enough to attack you, verbally or physically for calling them out…
It annoys me as well – I don’t mind it as much if its an older person who is doing it as many of them wouldn’t use headphones but as for everyone else, yeah you are an attention seeking a-hole.
I also see a lot of parents do it with children – which yeah its fine but keep the volume down. None of the rest of us wants to listen to the Bluey theme tune on repeat – I get that you want to share that torture but please, don’t.
LOVE his new show Widow’s Bay. He is so good in it. It’s laugh out loud funny and creepy at the same time.
I keep watching the ads and le sigh. I think Apple TV+ subscription price is way too much. But I may get it for a month to binge it. Once the season is over. It looks so good.
People who do this belong in jail.
Same, Matthew. SAME!
I had to go to an oncology center last week. I had to see two doctors and have labs drawn. That meant I had to go to at least 4-5 different places in the building to wait for various things. Sometimes I had to wait in one waiting room just to get to another one before I could see a doctor. I swear, every step of the way I had to sit through grown adults playing videos and games out loud! The worst was an older couple watching something while laughing and talking about what they were watching. I wanted to spend the time reading a breast cancer book my surgeon gave me, but in the 4.5 hours I was there it was too loud. I was so pissed. It’s definitely a pet peeves for me.
I agree with Matthew. I love Keri and Matthew as a couple and they are both excellent actors. (I have see every episode of The Americans – preposterous show in many respects but they / the producers, etc., made it work.)
I was obsessed with the first season. The music licensing fees must have been huge. But it was so, so good. Then it started to fall off for me. They stopped using 80’s music I felt. And the storylines got so far fetched.
But it’s a show that deserves a big binge for anyone that hasn’t seen it. You could literally see Matthew and Keri falling in love on screen. So glad they have a family and life together IRL.
After watching episodes 3 & 4 of Widow’s Bay, I think a binge watch is better than episodes week by week.
As a native from Queens, NY and I mostly take public transportation, I could not agree more. When I am the subway and people do it. I like to give them a long and hard judgmental hard stare. And then I start muttering loudly. Gee, I wonder why people don’t wear headphones.
Maybe its mental illness or general lack of manners or understanding. We don’t do that in public! Put your dang ear buds in!!
I so am with you. It is a ‘culture war’, as to say. And what drives me more nuts is that people usually are ready to spend so much money on the last model of smartphone and not some damn 10/20 dollars/euros for headphones! A lot of people nowadays tend to behave like others do not exist, like the outside world is their living room. Even at the movies, they act like they are at home watching telly, and like you poor moron have paid the ticket to hear their nonsense, spoken loudly. My god. I hope there is a special place in hell for them. But I think it tells A LOT about our societies.