# Does a TV show have to be Plausible to be good? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 4, 2012, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-tv-show-have-to-be-plausible-to-be-good/617832 "2012-04-04T17:22:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jasper\_Kent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a9a28c/32.png) [@Jasper\_Kent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasper_Kent)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2012, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-tv-show-have-to-be-plausible-to-be-good/617832/21 "2012-04-05T23:14:00Z")
All kinds of implausible things happen on _ **Futurama** _, but I think it’s one of the best shows ever made. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-tv-show-have-to-be-plausible-to-be-good/617832/22 "2012-04-06T00:32:32Z")
I don’t think it is required, so long as the writing is good. LIE TO ME is just about the only recent show I can recall trying and rejecting because it was too divorced from reality - but only because the way the resolutions depended on insignificant signifiers made it uninteresting to watch, so the usual mystery-watching mode of paying attention and trying to puzzle it out was always unsatisfying. “Oh, it was the IT consultant that did it, you could tell because he chewed his pencil. Book him!” Bleh. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-tv-show-have-to-be-plausible-to-be-good/617832/23 "2012-04-06T14:24:18Z")
It’s not really plausible that Parker Lewis can’t lose, but his show was still so awesome. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-tv-show-have-to-be-plausible-to-be-good/617832/24 "2012-04-06T15:10:32Z")
Twin Peaks was quite implausible but who the hell cares when the writing, directing, and acting are all first rate? Give me the dancing midget talking backwards in reverse, the superhumanly strong crazy lady, and a woman carrying a log like a baby over another sitcom any day. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-tv-show-have-to-be-plausible-to-be-good/617832/25 "2012-04-06T15:15:35Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Twin Peaks was quite implausible but who the hell cares when the writing, directing, and acting are all first rate? Give me the dancing midget talking backwards in reverse, the superhumanly strong crazy lady, and a woman carrying a log like a baby over another sitcom any day. sure BOB ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-tv-show-have-to-be-plausible-to-be-good/617832/26 "2012-04-06T15:38:21Z")
I believe I can sum most of the arguments herein up in two words: _Doctor Who_ ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-tv-show-have-to-be-plausible-to-be-good/617832/27 "2012-04-06T16:43:20Z")
Justified is not plausible. Raylon has shot 10 people that I count off the top of my head and ran over a guy with his car, all in three seasons. His career in law enforcement would be\* long\* over. But GOD, it’s a great show. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-tv-show-have-to-be-plausible-to-be-good/617832/28 "2012-04-06T16:44:53Z")
> [@spooje](#): > > Cops with super-observation - not plausible. > > Monk, Columbo, Psych, The Mentalist, that dweeb on Law and Order the umpteenth… they see things that no one else sees and ignore the _15 other possible explanations for these things_ to find the killer right away. It is kind of odd since these shows and House actually trace their origins back to a real person, Dr. Joseph Bell who in turn was the inspiration for Sherlock Holmes. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph\_Bell](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Bell) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-tv-show-have-to-be-plausible-to-be-good/617832/29 "2012-04-06T16:52:24Z")
> [@Larry\_Mudd](#): > > LIE TO ME is just about the only recent show I can recall trying and rejecting because it was too divorced from reality - but only because the way the resolutions depended on insignificant signifiers made it uninteresting to watch, so the usual mystery-watching mode of paying attention and trying to puzzle it out was always unsatisfying. > > “Oh, it was the IT consultant that did it, you could tell because he chewed his pencil. Book him!” Bleh. IMHO, it also had another problem: a body-language expert would explain that, say, the grieving dad is sincere, because _ **“nobody could fake that.”** _ The way he looked up and to the left, with his lip trembling? That’s genuine; we know, because _ **“nobody’s that good an actor.”** _ Why, the only possible exception is – the actor who just faked it. ---
**Author:** ![Corcaigh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Corcaigh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corcaigh)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2012, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-tv-show-have-to-be-plausible-to-be-good/617832/30 "2012-04-07T11:23:30Z")
> [@well\_he\_s\_back](#): > > What do you guys think? Do TV shows (dramas) lose you when they stretch the truth too much? One of my brothers cannot fathom how or why anyone (ie me) can sit and watch shows like Star Trek, Stargate, Buffy etc etc etc… surely a programme has to have some credibility/realism in order for it to be enjoyable??? He refuses to watch anything that isn’t fully grounded in reality. Which means News and Sports, then…? I used to avidly watch CSI and other shows of that ilk, but I gave up because they stretch credibility too far. It takes a helluva lot longer than 10 seconds to match fingerprints, or get back the lab results or whatever… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-tv-show-have-to-be-plausible-to-be-good/617832.md?page=1)