They’re not “nitpicking” for the sake of it. It’s something that ** actively** breaks many people’s suspension of disbelief. Do you really not understand that? If people could simply ignore it, we would not be having this discussion.
Wait… what movie was this?
Then why bother with period costumes, period sets, shooting on location, actors made up to resemble their characters, and the thousand other things directors do to try to achieve verisimilitude?
Perhaps the best damn movie ever made.
People also visit famous address. Both the owners of the actual Brady Bunch house and the first building Mary Richard (Mary Tyler Moore Show) lived at got actual visitors. The owners said they were bothered with people ringing their door bells and asking to see Mary and Phyllis. The actual Brady Bunch house is a bit harder to spot as the window yo you see is fake.
The address of Lucy Ricardo from I Love Lucy would actually place her in the East River.
People get bored, drunk and of course little kids love to make phone calls.
People like to think they’re the only one or at least the first, to ever do that.
I worked in a store, where we marked (with pen) the $50s and $100s and half the time, I got, “They should be good, I just printed them up today”
No it isn’t clever. It’s an observation made all the time. And, yet, it doesn’t accord with reality. Suspension of Disbelief doesn’t work on some hierarchy with the things closes to reality being less likely to break the suspension. The biggest discrepancies can be overlooked, while the smaller ones are not.
Furthermore, when I hear of people being thrown out of a work, I assume they are so thoroughly engrossed in the work that they are temporarily escaping current reality. It doesn’t surprise me at all that the big things you’ve been ignoring the whole time don’t bother you, but little tiny things still remind you that you are viewing a movie.
In fact, I would consider it rather sad if you were constantly aware the entire time that you were watching a movie (or whatever). There’s a lot of enjoyment lost. It’s actually worse than being thrown out–you were never really in.
That said, people who are thrown by small things can help themselves. It’s just a matter of getting used to what throws you, If you get to the point where you expect it, your disbelief can remain suspended. But it’s hard work, and I doubt anyone who has done it would be condescending about it.
Sure I understand it. Do you not understand what I’m saying?
There are thousands of things in any movie that are unrealistic. Why single out this small one as being unacceptable?
Because it’s a very specific detail that screams “FAKE!!!” If you check out the goofs section of any film on IMDB, it’s probably going to be dozens of things (continuity errors, looping problems and the like) that you didn’t notice on first viewing but if you watch carefully will appear at least arguable. But this is one detail that everyone KNOWS to be wrong the second they hear it. It was designed to sound naturalistic, and I’m sure it worked fine at first, until we all caught on (“Hmmm, wasn’t that the same phone exchange in every other movie? Wonder why that is? Coincidence? Oh, I get it…”) and after that point, about two decades ago, it no longer serves its original purpose.
Does no one in the movies have caller id? 
I’m surprised movie producers actually care about people being bothered with strangers calling them. Seems to me that the easy way to get past it would be to just make up a phone number. And if some poor sap actually has that number, oh well
Because it’s the one that’s most readily noticed? Hence the amount of posts pertaining to it. I really can’t believe I have to explain this…
Money. Lawyers. Nuff said.
There was a time when dialing the last five digits of a number within your area would connect you. It was that way in Cheyenne, Wyoming, in 1959, I recall.
Think about the poor people who have to do the research on names for movies and TV shows. In Enterprise, for example,
The thing is, 555 is so ingrained in film TV that whenever I see a work around (say, a real number, or a real number with one or two digits concealed) it also takes me out of the movie. Because I start thinking “Ohh I wonder if that is a real number?” or “oh I see what you did there!”
Anyone else?
Why don’t you use a real-ish looking number, with a fake area code? Area code 109, or something?
I think that’s Little Nemo’s point. A lot of pedants are just itching to pounce on movie phone numbers simply because it’s such an easy gotcha that 555 is fake. “Aha, you can’t fool me, Mr. Director! Observant, aren’t I!” Meanwhile, the vast majority of these same people probably aren’t looking for less picked upon but equally as obvious fakes.