# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2003, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-enjoy-or-avoid-tv-shows-movies-about-your-profession/143424/61 "2003-01-16T17:36:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bricker \* > \*\*My wife suffers in silence whenever _The Practice_ is on, and I’m muttering, “Objection…” and “That’s not right…” \*\* You, sir, are a better man than I. After watching 3 episodes over 3 years of **The Practice** , my wife and I decided we could never, ever watch this show. I literally sat there for 45 minutes screaming “That should get him disbarred!” or “Oh COME ON!” It got so bad my wife turned off the t.v. and gave me a timeout. “Law and Order” is better, but only slightly. Since it is on, ALL THE EFFIN TIME, we’ll catch an episode occassionally, but it usually ends up with me lying in a fetal position crying at the television. Needless to say, I’ll stick with **Buffy**. At least until I become a vampire slayer. ---
**Author:** ![fatmac98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3ec8ea/32.png) [@fatmac98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fatmac98)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2003, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-enjoy-or-avoid-tv-shows-movies-about-your-profession/143424/62 "2003-01-16T22:23:48Z")
Several other teachers have already beaten me to it but I will chime in on Boston Public anyway. I wish I had hotties like that in my building. I do not want to get fired so I refrain from: –bringing guns to school –screwing the mothers of my students –screwing the students –checking to make sure that they are not prostituting themselves after the bell rings –inciting students to riot the list goes on and on. There are never any police to be seen. I haven’t seen a high school campus without cops in 10 years. I do not believe that they exist. I watch it anyway. Just to count how many mistakes they make per episode. The wife hates it and slinks off to bathe so she does not have to listen to it. ---
**Author:** ![queen\_bee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e9c0ed/32.png) [@queen\_bee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/queen_bee)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2003, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-enjoy-or-avoid-tv-shows-movies-about-your-profession/143424/63 "2003-01-16T22:56:45Z")
For some reason I am drawn to movies about writers. However, I have yet to see one that doesn’t make me feel like I am not yet a voting member of the “right” club. If Hollywood has it right, I need to wake up in a puddle of my own vomit every morning, screw everything with a pulse and engage in activities that would have me barred from even the grimiest of east-end diners. And I have to be poor, abused and drug-addicted. (queen\_bee searches the cracks in the sidewalk for her next hit) I suppose the life stories of those of us with our fingers welded to the keyboard and holed up in damp basement suites don’t make for interesting movies. _sigh_ ---
**Author:** ![Merejane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@Merejane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merejane)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2003, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-enjoy-or-avoid-tv-shows-movies-about-your-profession/143424/64 "2003-01-17T00:11:43Z")
IIRC, L.A. Law was originally on Friday nights. I thought it was a great show. Then they switched to some weeknight, when I had to go to work the next day. After that it reminded too much that the next day was not a day off, and I just couldn’t watch it any more. One of the reasons I liked it at first was that for the most part they got the legal details right. Things were speeded up quite a bit – they would go from filing the complaint to summary judgment in a few weeks in the kind of case that would drag out for a few years in real life – but I never caught any real legal errors. It’s so annoying when a show or movie gets the law wrong. How hard would it be to have an attorney check for that before they put the show on the air? One movie that was spoiled for me for that reason was The Verdict, with Paul Newman. That movie was full of legal errors from beginning to end. ---
**Author:** ![thirdshiftgrottoslack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9a28c/32.png) [@thirdshiftgrottoslack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdshiftgrottoslack)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2003, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-enjoy-or-avoid-tv-shows-movies-about-your-profession/143424/65 "2003-01-17T03:16:03Z")
seems like every other movie, especially romantic comedies, have an architect as the male lead. mind you, he does nothing but carry tubes of drawings. and he seems to have a lot of free time. oh, and if he actually mentions his work, he designs skyscrapers. hey, we all do, you know. ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2003, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-enjoy-or-avoid-tv-shows-movies-about-your-profession/143424/66 "2003-01-17T04:01:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Edward The Head \* > \*\*I’m not even sure if there is a character about cartographers. Maybe in some semi-historic movie but I don’t remember it. Oh well one can hope. \*\* IIRC the TV miniseries version of _Jason and the Argonauts_ that aired a few years back had a mapmaker as one of the good guys. As for molecular biologists, I have yet to see a TV show that features them, although you do have crime dramas that use DNA fingerprinting. For movies, as I mentioned in another recent thread, the molecular genetics in _Jurrasic Park_was utter science fiction, decades ahead of where we are right now, at the very least. ---
**Author:** ![shy\_guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a6a055/32.png) [@shy\_guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shy_guy)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2003, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-enjoy-or-avoid-tv-shows-movies-about-your-profession/143424/67 "2003-01-17T06:51:46Z")
I’m not sure if this counts, but during my years at high school (done as of last year, praise Allah), I started to hate portrayals of public school in general on TV more and more. The fact that kids never, ever have class is just one of the many, many problems plaging most TV school settings. Although some shows/movies pull it off well, like _Freaks and Geeks_ or _Welcome to the Dollhouse_. Oh, and as a huge comic fan, I hate it when they bring up comics in any way shape or form on any show. ---
**Author:** ![Rossarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3e96dc/32.png) [@Rossarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rossarian)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2003, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-enjoy-or-avoid-tv-shows-movies-about-your-profession/143424/68 "2003-01-17T07:23:52Z")
I try to just enjoy TV shows and movies for the entertainment factor, but badly done military characters/scenes/movies grow increasingly more annoying to me. Especially little things that could be solved with two minutes research. Why not go down to the VFW and ask a vet how to salute properly, instead of having all your characters look like dolts? Colonels in the Navy? Bad hair cuts? Still, there are some good examples. IIRC, _West Wing_ typically has good portrayals in terms of details and personalities. But then there is just the stuff that exposes me as a geek, like when I laugh at the fact that the Russians are flying F-4s in _Iron Eagle II_ or F-5s in _Top Gun_. Or the surface-to-air missiles in _Behind Enemy Lines_. ---
**Author:** ![crinklebat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dec6dc/32.png) [@crinklebat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crinklebat)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2003, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-enjoy-or-avoid-tv-shows-movies-about-your-profession/143424/69 "2003-01-19T08:04:23Z")
As a high school student, I loathe all high school shows. They’re all utterly wrong. For a while I thought \Gilmore Girls\ had something going on, because Rory did seem actually anxious about getting into Harvard, but I soon awoke from that fantasy and realized that if she spends so much time with her various boys, and exchanging cute lines with her darling mother, she probably isn’t getting the grades in the classes that she’ll need to get in. Also, she applied, and now she isn’t constantly wondering? Hello?! So, all high school shows are wrong and bad. And the people like me always secretly want to go to prom. If I wanted to go to prom, I would go. Duh. My mom doesn’t watch teacher shows. In fact, she avoids them like the plague, and casts baleful glances at advertisements for them. My dad, as an independent publisher, has never seen a show that even remotely connects to his profession. However, he does publish a magazine dealing with furniture and wood refinishing, and he does watch things like \Antiques Roadshow\ and \This Old House\. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2003, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-enjoy-or-avoid-tv-shows-movies-about-your-profession/143424/70 "2003-01-19T08:15:57Z")
Yeah, right. I can see it now: "Tonight - on **LAB TECH** : Smeghead extracts DNA! He performs PCR with daring and panache! And, in the stunning climax, he wipes everything down with bleach and ethanol!! Tune in next week, when you will hear him utter the following exciting words: ‘Hey, are we out of gels again?’ That’s next week, on **LAB TECH**!!" Seriously, though, science in movies and TV shows is almost without exception anyeurism-inducingly bad. I remember laughing my ass off when they showed the lab in the Spiderman movie - you know, the one that resembled the inside of the dome of the US Capitol building. Then I realized I was the only one in the theatre laughing, and people were shooting me strange looks. ---
**Author:** ![williambaskerville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f14d63/32.png) [@williambaskerville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/williambaskerville)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2003, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-enjoy-or-avoid-tv-shows-movies-about-your-profession/143424/71 "2003-01-19T12:17:23Z")
Ditty everything said on computers/software in general. Plus I work in the field specifically of computer security and encryption, and just about everything featured in movies and tv shows about that makes me want to scream. Master hackers who find out passwords by typing “help password”, and the system gives them one. Military security systems that are based on secret algorithms, not keys, thereby violating Kerckhoff’s Dictum, which was first stated in 1883. Brute-force attacks that would take longer than the life-time of the universe being successful in seconds. Computers viruses so cross-platform they even run on ALIEN computer systems…what, all advanced cultures will independently develop a completely compatible version of PERL ? I could go on, but I’ll stop now. But to answer the original question, now I don’t avoid films/tv shows that feature my profession. If I suspect that computers will feature in something I’m about to see, I’ll bring along a nice, thick newpaper and read that during any scene featuring a computer. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2003, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-enjoy-or-avoid-tv-shows-movies-about-your-profession/143424/72 "2003-01-19T14:43:07Z")
Before hubby and I married, he worked as a PI. Often, our ‘dates’ consisted of me going to sit a surveillance with him, then, later, proofing his written report for spelling errors (he is so lame when it comes to spelling). He watched a couple of field-related shows, like Magnum, PI. But, boy, didn’t we used to laugh while sitting those surveillances. If they ever tried to make a TV show even remotely like the reality, it would be a cure for insomnia!! Usually, he was instructed to watch the entrance door to a particular building and make a note about anyone who entered or exited. There’s some excitement for ya! Now that he does computer security, we still see movies that feature such things, but he often groans out loud at the big red intended-for-the-computer-illiterate statements that flash up on the screen, like “ACCESS DENIED” or “PASSWORD VALIDATED” (this one usually actually flashes, fergoodnesssake, just for effect! ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2003, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-enjoy-or-avoid-tv-shows-movies-about-your-profession/143424/73 "2003-01-19T16:35:33Z")
No TV shows about mathematicians, of course, but there have been two movies about our kind in recent years: _Good Will Hunting_ and _A Beautiful Mind_, both of which I enjoyed thoroughly. The math in _GWH_ was even from my field - graph theory! But as is not surprising, both movies were a considerable distance removed from the experiences of typical mathematicians at typical universities, so I’m not qualified to say how accurate the depictions were of, say, grad school life at Princeton or MIT. Having been a college faculty member for two stints totalling eight years, I should probably keep my eyes open for any movies or TV shows set in that environment that spend any time seeing things from the faculty side of things. But I haven’t been, so I don’t know whether on not there have been any decent ones in recent years. (Recommendations are welcome.) I’m currently a government statistician, and I don’t think anyone’s about to use that sort of environment for a movie or TV show. ---
**Author:** ![mishaa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@mishaa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mishaa)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2003, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-enjoy-or-avoid-tv-shows-movies-about-your-profession/143424/74 "2003-01-19T18:27:20Z")
Next week: The exciting premiere of Mortgage Broker: USA WATCH our heroine get financing for the Smith family - SEE them buy the home of their dreams! Woo Hoo! No, I don’t see it happening either… ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2003, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-enjoy-or-avoid-tv-shows-movies-about-your-profession/143424/75 "2003-01-20T01:13:36Z")
Haven’t been in the profession for 10 years but… _WKRP_ (the original), while it had a lot of things about Radio broadcasting wrong (such as the studio speakers staying on while the microphone is on) was a devastating right on portrayal of the daily goings on at a station. I enjoyed that show immensely, and still enjoy the reruns when I can find them. And it’s view of the future of Radio was not that far off either. In one of the Christmas episodes, Mr. Carlson was visited by the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future, a la Scrooge. In the Future part, it showed the only employee of WKRP as Herb Tarlek, the salesman, sitting in front of a box which contained all of the programming for the station. He grumbles about having to sell all day then program the box at night. Now contrast that with what’s been happening to smaller market stations lately. The air staff has been laid off and the shows are “voicetracked” by major market personalities. This is accomplished by the advent of a “box” called the **Prophet** system. It basically runs the whole show on the local station as programmed by some programmer in LA or New York, with a voice delivered by satellite by some major market personality. Now, looking at the WKRP episode of 25 years ago, wouldn’t you say that the writers were rather **prophet** ic? ---
**Author:** ![thi6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e99b99/32.png) [@thi6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thi6)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2003, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-enjoy-or-avoid-tv-shows-movies-about-your-profession/143424/76 "2003-01-20T01:22:35Z")
Has anyone seen a movie where the live-in nanny _didn’t_ turn into a psychobitch? Or where she _wasn’t_ a sex-kitten with her eye on the rich hubby? Even worse (for me) are the caught-on-tape segments they air sometimes where the family hides a camera to catch the nanny abusing the kid or something similar. Just the thing to make the family I work for trust me with their kids. GRRRR! thi6 ---
**Author:** ![Alphagene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Alphagene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alphagene)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2003, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-enjoy-or-avoid-tv-shows-movies-about-your-profession/143424/77 "2003-01-20T01:38:45Z")
Ugh, don’t get me started on _CSI_… ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2003, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-enjoy-or-avoid-tv-shows-movies-about-your-profession/143424/78 "2003-01-20T01:38:54Z")
My dad used to love WKRP – he was the chief engineer of a radio station, the equivalent of Bucky Dornster. I don’t see any shows about freelance copyeditors any time soon – fending off dangling modifiers just isn’t that exciting to the general public (although you should see my collection of “howlers”). I do imagine my NYC clients’ offices looking a lot like Elaine Benes’s, though. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2003, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-enjoy-or-avoid-tv-shows-movies-about-your-profession/143424/79 "2003-01-20T08:30:15Z")
Well, as a grad student with intentions of becoming a history professor, i thought i would check out the first couple of episodes of “The Education of Max Bickford,” starring Richard Dreyfuss, when it came out last year. It was about an old-style history professor teaching at a liberal arts college and having trouble keeping up with the intellectual changes in his discipline as well as other changes on campus. And it fucking sucked ass big time. I ditched it after an episode and a half, and was not suprised to see that it had been cancelled. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2003, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-enjoy-or-avoid-tv-shows-movies-about-your-profession/143424/80 "2003-01-20T14:25:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by thi6 \* > **Has anyone seen a movie where the live-in nanny _didn’t_ turn into a psychobitch? Or where she _wasn’t_ a sex-kitten with her eye on the rich hubby?** You’re right! I really hated where **Mary Poppins** did those things (seriously, it would make a good SNL skit). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-enjoy-or-avoid-tv-shows-movies-about-your-profession/143424.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-enjoy-or-avoid-tv-shows-movies-about-your-profession/143424.md?page=5)