# Do you enjoy--or avoid--TV shows/movies about your profession? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 17, 2002, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-enjoy-or-avoid-tv-shows-movies-about-your-profession/143424 "2002-12-17T22:02:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-enjoy-or-avoid-tv-shows-movies-about-your-profession/143424/1 "2002-12-17T22:02:19Z")
I’m thinking mainly of shows and movies (current and older) about cops, doctors, lawyers, and teachers, since there are so darn many depictions of them in the media, but any profession will apply. My cousin, a registered nurse, avoids any medical drama on TV because, as she puts it, “My whole life is a medical drama!” I, on the other hand, watch **Boston Public** just to remind myself how fortunate I am to have college students, and how I don’t have to deal with their parents. So how about it? Does **The Practice** appeal to you legal eagles? **ER** for the medical professionals? **NYPD Blue** for law enforcement? ---
**Author:** ![NE\_Texan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e99b99/32.png) [@NE\_Texan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NE_Texan)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-enjoy-or-avoid-tv-shows-movies-about-your-profession/143424/2 "2002-12-17T22:04:44Z")
Can anyone actually name a show about engineers? If not, I don’t think I can comment on this topic… ---
**Author:** ![JavaMaven1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/cab0a1/32.png) [@JavaMaven1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JavaMaven1)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-enjoy-or-avoid-tv-shows-movies-about-your-profession/143424/3 "2002-12-17T22:19:02Z")
Since I cook for a living, people often think I watch Food TV whenever I have a chance. Eh. I love to cook, I love food, and I love to eat, but watching it 24 hours a day is not my idea of fun. Granted, I do like to watch _Good Eats_ and _Iron Chef_, but that’s about it. Personally, I could leave the TV on the History Channel almost all the time. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-enjoy-or-avoid-tv-shows-movies-about-your-profession/143424/4 "2002-12-17T22:20:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by NE Texan \* > \*\*Can anyone actually name a show about engineers? If not, I don’t think I can comment on this topic… \*\* The Simpsons? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![SC\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@SC\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SC_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-enjoy-or-avoid-tv-shows-movies-about-your-profession/143424/5 "2002-12-17T22:51:32Z")
Homer’s more of a control room operator than an engineer. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-enjoy-or-avoid-tv-shows-movies-about-your-profession/143424/6 "2002-12-17T23:02:00Z")
Professor Frink’s smart enough to be an engineer. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-enjoy-or-avoid-tv-shows-movies-about-your-profession/143424/7 "2002-12-17T23:05:51Z")
As a librarian, (and a straight, male one to boot), the odds of me finding someone in film or TV portraying a character like me is pretty much zero. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-enjoy-or-avoid-tv-shows-movies-about-your-profession/143424/8 "2002-12-17T23:19:00Z")
I can’t imagine being interested in watching a movie about someone who sits staring at a computer screen, occasionally looks off into infinity as he thinks, and then starts typing at the keyboard. Repat in endless loop. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-enjoy-or-avoid-tv-shows-movies-about-your-profession/143424/9 "2002-12-17T23:22:34Z")
I am an attorney who typically avoids legally-oriented entertainment. However, I tend to gravitate toward legal questions on SDMB. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-enjoy-or-avoid-tv-shows-movies-about-your-profession/143424/10 "2002-12-17T23:39:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by NE Texan \* > \*\*Can anyone actually name a show about engineers? If not, I don’t think I can comment on this topic… \*\* Herbert Anderson on [_Dennis the Menace_](http://us.imdb.com/Details?0052461). Brian Keith on [_Family Affair_](http://us.imdb.com/Details?0059982). Bobby Sherman on [_Getting Together_](http://us.imdb.com/Details?0066661). Dorian Harewood on [_Viper_](http://us.imdb.com/Details?0108983). ---
**Author:** ![buckgully](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb9ed0/32.png) [@buckgully](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buckgully)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-enjoy-or-avoid-tv-shows-movies-about-your-profession/143424/11 "2002-12-17T23:45:11Z")
One dark day, I went to see “The Net”, in which Sandra Bullock is a computer programmer. Ever since then I’ve tried to avoid movies that involved computers as a central plot point. Since then I’ve only seen two: Swordfish, which I think may be one of the worst movies ever made, and Pi, which I think is brilliant. I just can’t suspend my disbelief when they’re getting all the crap horribly wrong. Swordfish was especially bad in this, the things they’d say about the computers were actual computer vocabulary, but they made no sense when put together like that. I get angry. I make comments out loud in the theater. I bitch about it for hours afterward. It’s best all around if I just avoid them. ---
**Author:** ![YellowTail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/b5ac83/32.png) [@YellowTail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YellowTail)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-enjoy-or-avoid-tv-shows-movies-about-your-profession/143424/12 "2002-12-17T23:55:44Z")
I’m a tech writer and I like the Andy Richter Show but not 'cause of his profession. It’s just funny. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-enjoy-or-avoid-tv-shows-movies-about-your-profession/143424/13 "2002-12-18T00:05:37Z")
I don’t regularly watch “The Practice”, but I don’t avoid it. I enjoy it when I occassionally come across it. Likewise with “Law and Order”, etc. I just prefer the funny stuff, I sur’pose. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-enjoy-or-avoid-tv-shows-movies-about-your-profession/143424/14 "2002-12-18T00:28:24Z")
_Star Trek_ probably has more astronomy than any other show, and if so, I guess the answer in my case is I enjoy it. ---
**Author:** ![ultress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/7c8e57/32.png) [@ultress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultress)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-enjoy-or-avoid-tv-shows-movies-about-your-profession/143424/15 "2002-12-18T00:34:12Z")
Well I work at a nuclear power plant and movies about that tend to just piss me off because they are so far-fetched that I just sit and stare in amazement that they would make films with such false and stupid information, and people believe it. ---
**Author:** ![Terrorcotta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dbc845/32.png) [@Terrorcotta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrorcotta)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-enjoy-or-avoid-tv-shows-movies-about-your-profession/143424/16 "2002-12-18T00:37:09Z")
Hmmm… as a designer, I enjoy ‘Trading Spaces’ until some homeowner decides to argue with the designer. Then it’s just too much like real life. Stupid, stupid clients! ---
**Author:** ![Batsinma\_Belfry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@Batsinma\_Belfry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batsinma_Belfry)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-enjoy-or-avoid-tv-shows-movies-about-your-profession/143424/17 "2002-12-18T00:42:05Z")
Not my profession, but my son is autistic and I always avoid movies with an autistic character. They never get it right. ---
**Author:** ![Booker57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Booker57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Booker57)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-enjoy-or-avoid-tv-shows-movies-about-your-profession/143424/18 "2002-12-18T00:44:54Z")
A show about auto-parts counter people? Hours of boredom punctuated by moments of slightly less boredom. No thanks. Any show with auto mechanics tend to make me flinch. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-enjoy-or-avoid-tv-shows-movies-about-your-profession/143424/19 "2002-12-18T00:55:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*BobT says: \*As a librarian, (and a straight, male one to boot), the odds of me finding someone in film or TV portraying a character like me is pretty much zero. Hmmm, I can think of plenty of bit parts as librarians but few lead roles (though they are out there–_The Music Man_ for one). Now film archivists, that’s another story altogether… ---
**Author:** ![sycorob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@sycorob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sycorob)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-enjoy-or-avoid-tv-shows-movies-about-your-profession/143424/20 "2002-12-18T01:02:02Z")
I hate hate hate TV and movie portrayals of computers, computer interfaces and especially hacking. You know, when they sit there and just type alsdjf;alhdfkajhqerfklwjqaasdkjhfalkudhflakd real fast, and stuff flies up the screen, and voila! Plus the fact that everything is sooo graphical. No, we don’t use text in the 21st century, no siree. Grrr. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-enjoy-or-avoid-tv-shows-movies-about-your-profession/143424.md?page=2)