# Embarrassing/uncomfortable moments watching TV or a movie **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 5, 2007, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassing-uncomfortable-moments-watching-tv-or-a-movie/394693 "2007-03-05T16:20:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tiger\_lily](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/96bed5/32.png) [@tiger\_lily](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiger_lily)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2007, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassing-uncomfortable-moments-watching-tv-or-a-movie/394693/1 "2007-03-05T16:20:47Z")
Inspired in a way by [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=410827), in which someone mentioned going on a date to a movie that wasn’t really date fodder: What memorably embarrassing or uncomfortable moments have you had in watching a TV show or a movie with someone? Two stand out for me. The first time, I was 17 years old and watching the end of the movie _Cat People_ on TV - the scene in which a naked Natassia Kinski gets tied to the bed so that the guy she loves can make love to her safely one last time, before she gets turned into a black leopard permanantly. Of course, this was the moment that my dad decided to walk in and wait for the 11:00 news to come on. :smack: I tried my best to explain what we were seeing as if it were totally normal, but my dad wisely (unlike me) stayed quiet. The second time, I was on a long flight with my boss and we both decided to watch _Rob Roy_. The movie was of course edited, but it wasn’t possible to entirely skip over the scene in which Tim Roth’s character rapes Jessica Lange’s. I should point out that my boss at the time was a fairly reserved Englishman whose MO in dealing with embarrassing moments was to rapidly shift focus to something else… so, a fairly dry, sotto voce academic discussion of the royal succession in the time of the real Rob Roy quickly ensued. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassing-uncomfortable-moments-watching-tv-or-a-movie/394693/2 "2007-03-06T01:08:57Z")
When I was a kid, my older brother (who was in college) loved _Monty Python and the Holy Grail_. When the local art-house theater showed it, my younger brother and I persuaded my dad to take us to see it. Let’s just say that Dad was not Monty Python’s target audience. When I was a kid, my mother took me to see _Porky’s_. Much to my astonishment, she thought it was hilarious. When I was in college, I took a date to see a re-release of _The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance_. Midway through the film, my date grabbed my hand and put it down her blouse. Believe it or not, I had actually intended to watch the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassing-uncomfortable-moments-watching-tv-or-a-movie/394693/3 "2007-03-06T01:50:29Z")
Watching **Requiem For A Dream** with my In-Laws certainly qualifies. ---
**Author:** ![2pelo\_honey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/ecb155/32.png) [@2pelo\_honey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2pelo_honey)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassing-uncomfortable-moments-watching-tv-or-a-movie/394693/4 "2007-03-06T02:12:32Z")
[QUOTE=mbh] When I was a kid, my older brother (who was in college) loved _Monty Python and the Holy Grail_. When the local art-house theater showed it, my younger brother and I persuaded my dad to take us to see it. Let’s just say that Dad was not Monty Python’s target audience. QUOTE] Oh, god…it was MP for me as well, but the TV show on PBS, and my father wandered into the living room…I was squirmingly (is that a word? if not, it should be) uncomfortable!!! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassing-uncomfortable-moments-watching-tv-or-a-movie/394693/5 "2007-03-06T02:15:48Z")
I remember flipping channels one night at home and coming across a sex scene in _Queer as Folk_. My dad was working on his laptop in the same room. Let’s just say I didn’t linger on that particular channel (much as I would have liked to 🙂 ). ---
**Author:** ![Labtrash](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/labtrash/32/528_2.png) [@Labtrash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labtrash)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassing-uncomfortable-moments-watching-tv-or-a-movie/394693/6 "2007-03-06T03:37:35Z")
My Dad used to have a “black box” for the cable we used to get in our old house. All of the channels, including the Spice Channel, were open. He taped a children’s movie one night, and decided to let a bunch of his friend’s kids (and a bunch of our relatives) watch it during a party (he had NOT watched the tape yet). Did I mention that the channel he thought he taped was right next to the Spice Channel, and that his memory wasn’t very good? Tape was put in, play was pressed, boobies were seen, and I had to dive for the remote. ---
**Author:** ![Manatee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/50afbb/32.png) [@Manatee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manatee)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassing-uncomfortable-moments-watching-tv-or-a-movie/394693/7 "2007-03-06T04:20:56Z")
Watching the Albert Brooks movie _Mother_ with my mom–especially the crotchless panties scene. ---
**Author:** ![DataZak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ea666f/32.png) [@DataZak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DataZak)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassing-uncomfortable-moments-watching-tv-or-a-movie/394693/8 "2007-03-06T04:34:55Z")
[QUOTE=mbh] When I was a kid, my older brother (who was in college) loved _Monty Python and the Holy Grail_. When the local art-house theater showed it, my younger brother and I persuaded my dad to take us to see it. Let’s just say that Dad was not Monty Python’s target audience. [/QUOTE] > [@2pelo honey](#): > > Oh, god…it was MP for me as well, but the TV show on PBS, and my father wandered into the living room…I was squirmingly (is that a word? if not, it should be) uncomfortable!!! :eek: Why? What was so awkward about having your father watch _Holy Grail_? With the Python’s you either get it or you don’t. Or was it the Castle Antrax scene? ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassing-uncomfortable-moments-watching-tv-or-a-movie/394693/9 "2007-03-06T04:37:19Z")
I trundled my elderly, white-haired father over to the video rental store so that he could pick out some movies that he wanted to see. I don’t remember all of the evening’s entertainment, but I will never forget my dad’s reaction to _The Rocky Horror Picture Show_. He looked grim and stone-faced through the entire movie, and his only remark at the end was “Humph. I only wanted to watch this because I thought Susan Sarandon would be naked. Instead I got some English guy in a garter belt.” ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassing-uncomfortable-moments-watching-tv-or-a-movie/394693/10 "2007-03-06T04:44:12Z")
About ten years ago, I was living with my then-GF, who was Malaysian. We were at the home of her fairly conservative Chinese-Malaysian parents one night, and we’d just eaten a big dinner. As was usual, we all sat around drinking coffee and watching TV afterward. This night, it happened to be “In Living Color,” a show I never liked much anyway. They ran an animated sketch that was a parody of _Toy Story_; it was called (you can see this coming) “Sex Toy Story,” and it was about the vibrators and handcuffs and buttplugs and such in a woman’s “toy box” coming to life and talking. None of us dared acknowledge what was on TV. We sat in stony silence throughout the entire sketch: no one making eye contact, no one changing the channel, and sure as hell no one laughing. That may have been the most awkward five minutes I’ve ever spent. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassing-uncomfortable-moments-watching-tv-or-a-movie/394693/11 "2007-03-06T05:32:14Z")
Being a young adult and watching _My Own Private Idaho_ (which my little sister had rented) with my family. However, nothing will ever be worse than reading _Portnoy’s Complaint_ as a teenager and having my mother, who reads almost nothing, walk by and say “Did you get to the liver yet?” ---
**Author:** ![Bobotheoptimist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/919ad9/32.png) [@Bobotheoptimist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobotheoptimist)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassing-uncomfortable-moments-watching-tv-or-a-movie/394693/12 "2007-03-06T05:43:57Z")
Watching Pink Floyd’s The Wall in the only state that it should be watched (this was back in my reckless days of youth - aka the mid 80’s) when Dad walks in and decides to bridge that ol’ generation gap. There I was, deeply digging the, like, symbolism dude, and Dad is going on about WWII and how the movie was an insult to the brave English soldier and airman. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassing-uncomfortable-moments-watching-tv-or-a-movie/394693/13 "2007-03-06T06:24:48Z")
I was visiting my grandmother. We were watching PBS. A documentary about something scientific came on. It seemed fine and we were watching it happily, until they started explaining sex. Yes, they had shots of a couple having sex, right there on the TV in front of my grandmother, and then cut to a shot of the inside of a vagina at climax. She didn’t seem fazed at all, but I know I was dying. ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassing-uncomfortable-moments-watching-tv-or-a-movie/394693/14 "2007-03-06T06:35:28Z")
[QUOTE=Shoshana] However, nothing will ever be worse than reading _Portnoy’s Complaint_ as a teenager and having my mother, who reads almost nothing, walk by and say “Did you get to the liver yet?” [/QUOTE] May I hijack for just a moment and ask you to spoil this for me? I got through two pages of Portnoy’s Complaint about 20 years ago before growing horribly bored, and I’ve heard references to “the liver part” before. Clue me in? Back OT, my daughter was about 14 and told me about a movie she’d seen at a friend’s house that she thought was hilarious. Later, my husband mistakenly rented the movie, and we sat down to watch it. It was a campy horror flick called The Faculty, and my daughter walked into the room as one character was letting loose a stream of “eff-word” peppered speech. I said “Is THIS the movie you were talking about?” She said, “Oh. Um. Yeah, I forgot to tell you, it has some swearing in it.” ---
**Author:** ![TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/51bf81/32.png) [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassing-uncomfortable-moments-watching-tv-or-a-movie/394693/15 "2007-03-06T06:45:55Z")
[QUOTE=LifeOnWry] May I hijack for just a moment and ask you to spoil this for me? I got through two pages of Portnoy’s Complaint about 20 years ago before growing horribly bored, and I’ve heard references to “the liver part” before. Clue me in? [/QUOTE] Guy jerks off with/fucks liver Great book, though. ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassing-uncomfortable-moments-watching-tv-or-a-movie/394693/16 "2007-03-06T06:47:15Z")
Ew. And thanks. And ew. ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassing-uncomfortable-moments-watching-tv-or-a-movie/394693/17 "2007-03-06T07:41:54Z")
Re: the liver, even worse: That same liver is later served for dinner. ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassing-uncomfortable-moments-watching-tv-or-a-movie/394693/18 "2007-03-06T07:50:07Z")
[QUOTE=Manatee] Watching the Albert Brooks movie _Mother_ with my mom–especially the crotchless panties scene. [/QUOTE] Watched that with my mother, we had a great time. Watched “The Pillow Book” with my mother. Not so much. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassing-uncomfortable-moments-watching-tv-or-a-movie/394693/19 "2007-03-06T09:54:23Z")
[QUOTE=Sleel] Re: the liver, even worse: That same liver is later served for dinner. [/QUOTE] oh, you mean panfried semen😃 ---
**Author:** ![stucco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e56c9b/32.png) [@stucco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stucco)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassing-uncomfortable-moments-watching-tv-or-a-movie/394693/20 "2007-03-06T10:21:00Z")
My mom and I went to see love, actually together, I think while I was home from college for some break. When the porn stand in bit came on she actually reached up her hand to cover my eyes. It was more funny than awkward though. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassing-uncomfortable-moments-watching-tv-or-a-movie/394693.md?page=2)