# Name your TV/movie pet peeves **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 2, 2012, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-tv-movie-pet-peeves/620674 "2012-05-02T19:04:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Cumberdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@Cumberdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cumberdale)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-tv-movie-pet-peeves/620674/82 "2012-05-04T03:14:02Z")
The curmudgeon at Xmas time who learns or relearns the true meaning of the holiday and turns out or become a decent person. I’d like one movie where they stay a rotten bastard. ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-tv-movie-pet-peeves/620674/83 "2012-05-04T13:43:27Z")
> [@Corcaigh](#): > > They don’t eat, or only pick at the food because after doing 18 takes, you just cannot sit there and eat another burger and fries! 🙂 … i know, but if you look at shows like _Community_, their food is always half eaten, even if you don’t see them actually eating it. _TBBTheory_ makes it a point to have untouched, freshly ordered food just sitting there while the actors poke them with a fork. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-tv-movie-pet-peeves/620674/84 "2012-05-04T15:46:23Z")
> [@chizzuk](#): > > I always just accepted this because I thought it was impossible to give real CPR on screen without seriously injuring the actor it’s being done on (broken ribs and such). On the TV show _Psych_, Gus is laying flat on a table while Shawn is talking to a firefighter who is practicing CPR on him (Gus). When Gus says something, Shawn says (and I’m paraphrasing, but not by much): “Gus, you’re destroying the illusion…he has to practice on a living person to get recertified.” The phrase “has to practice on a living person” was definitely said. While I TRY to make allowances for the reason you mentioned, something that egregious just pulled me right out of the scene. ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-tv-movie-pet-peeves/620674/85 "2012-05-04T16:06:07Z")
Cumberdale - That Jimmy Stewart’s nemesis in “It’s a Wonderful Life” didn’t learn his lesson & stayed a bastard always surprised me. In a good way. ---
**Author:** ![Sally\_Mander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e56c9b/32.png) [@Sally\_Mander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sally_Mander)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-tv-movie-pet-peeves/620674/86 "2012-05-04T16:08:40Z")
Having the characters eating pizza is the worst. They pick up a slice of just-delivered pizza, and it’s stiff, like it’s been sitting around for awhile. Real pizza flops over, and you need to hold it with two hands. I saw another example on last night’s _Community_. Brita picked up a slice, and it was hard. Hot, fresh pizza isn’t stiff. ---
**Author:** ![Gedd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gedd/32/4938_2.png) [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-tv-movie-pet-peeves/620674/87 "2012-05-04T16:42:28Z")
Another for camera jumps. I was watching some musical recently and got lost during a dance. Maybe I’m just spoiled from watching Fred Astair and Ginger Rose do a 5 minutes dance on roller skates with only one camera change. ---
**Author:** ![vislor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vislor/32/5933_2.png) [@vislor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vislor)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-tv-movie-pet-peeves/620674/88 "2012-05-04T16:50:31Z")
> [@Feyrat](#): > > Oh lord, I forgot about that. > > The stock sound effects. > > The superfake squeals that are played CONSTANTLY every time there’s rats on the screen. Really, rats are not guinea pigs. They hardly ever make noise, and it’s usually because they’re SUPERPISSED or hurt. Not when they’re just walking around in an air duct. > > And WHY is there a rat in the air duct? Mission Impossible, totally clean empty duct with a rat toddling through (yelling its head off for some reason) because they needed Tom Cruise to flip out and kill it. > > Rats in ridiculously open places for no reason, acting like they’re fine being there… because they are… because they’re domestic and wild rats wouldn’t be there in the first place, even if it WASN’T a set. I love this! Not the fact that it happens but the comment on it. We used to own rats and the only time they squeaked was in protest when the had food they shouldn’t have and we were taking it away from them! It was adorable! But since having rats, it’s interesting to see all the things they get wrong and of course now, showing me a live rat and trying to make it look evil just makes me love it and miss my ratties. I agree with the sentiment of special effect noises that aren’t needed, such as the sword. Although, I do like hearing the Wilhelm scream. When a car explodes after a crash or fall down a hill. Or starts on fire. Yes to the gun ones and the cracked link. Or the medical ones. Is reality that boring that they have to dramatize it all? Or the presentation. [cracked link](http://www.cracked.com/article_19611_6-things-movies-love-to-get-wrong-about-workplace_p2.html). I can now say I have watched some reality shows. I like the idea of Face Off but don’t need the faux drama. I would much prefer they talk to them more about what they were trying to do as well as how it was received. I suppose Trading Spaces was one and it was early enough that they did get to talk about why they picked what they did and that was interesting to watch. THAT was drama, not the fake stuff they try and add into it. Yes to shaky cam. I want to see the action not be a part of it. Seeing the action gives me something else to watch on a repeat viewing. Shaky cam gives me something to skip on a repeat viewing. (I was surprised that many fights in Immortals were actually zoomed out and you could see lots happening.) Yes to clothes on during sex but not after or the next morning. I don’t need to see anything but to me it can change the tone of the scene if they have clothes on. (I’m thinking of the scene from Basic Instinct where MD and JT keep their clothes on and her reaction to it all.) Obligatory computer nonsense mention, such as too big of a font so the audience can read it, the only thing in the screen is the one app, hacking times, etc. Okay, this is too long. I still enjoy movies and TV but sometimes these can take me out of the scene. vislor ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-tv-movie-pet-peeves/620674/89 "2012-05-04T17:00:29Z")
> [@Gedd](#): > > Another for camera jumps. I was watching some musical recently and got lost during a dance. Maybe I’m just spoiled from watching Fred Astair and Ginger Rose do a 5 minutes dance on roller skates with only one camera change. Ah yes. That Ginger Rose could dance. ---
**Author:** ![Corcaigh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Corcaigh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corcaigh)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-tv-movie-pet-peeves/620674/90 "2012-05-04T17:14:25Z")
> [@shijinn](#): > > i know, but if you look at shows like _Community_, their food is always half eaten, even if you don’t see them actually eating it. _TBBTheory_ makes it a point to have untouched, freshly ordered food just sitting there while the actors poke them with a fork. I hope they give it to the actors cold for breakfast the next morning! That’ll teach them 😉 Oh and all babies make the same crying or laughing sounds ---
**Author:** ![Spiff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiff/32/9852_2.png) [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-tv-movie-pet-peeves/620674/91 "2012-05-04T17:29:30Z")
Car peels out on a dirt or gravel surface … yet we hear the tire squealing sound as if the car had been on a paved surface. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-tv-movie-pet-peeves/620674/92 "2012-05-04T17:50:04Z")
In regards to clothing in and around beds, **Six Feet Under** pulled something so egregiously eye-rolling that I assume they did it on purpose. A character, Nate, hooks up with a lady, spends the night at her house. Wakes up in her bed and, being the casual dude that he is, goes and takes a shower. When done with shower, he comes out with a sheet tightly wrapped about his waist. Nate looks back at the bed, decides he wants to sleep some more, so he… … climbs into bed, gets under the comforter and sheets, and once he’s completely under the linens, _removes the towel_ and throws it on the floor. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-tv-movie-pet-peeves/620674/93 "2012-05-04T18:07:23Z")
> [@vislor](#): > > But since having rats, it’s interesting to see all the things they get wrong and of course now, showing me a live rat and trying to make it look evil just makes me love it and miss my ratties. Not that Indiana Jones movies will ever pass for documentaries, but when I see a scene like the underground rat scene in the third movie, my first thought is: What do all those rats eat? How could that underground water tunnel ecosystem possibly support that many rats? Ditto big spiders, snakes, and various other creepy-crawlies in various other movies. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-tv-movie-pet-peeves/620674/94 "2012-05-04T18:10:35Z")
> [@Cumberdale](#): > > The curmudgeon at Xmas time who learns or relearns the true meaning of the holiday and turns out or become a decent person. I’d like one movie where they stay a rotten bastard. Are you familiar with Bad Santa? The lessons that the characters learn are …unconventional. ---
**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:** [May 4, 2012, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-tv-movie-pet-peeves/620674/95 "2012-05-04T18:13:48Z")
> [@Cumberdale](#): > > The curmudgeon at Xmas time who learns or relearns the true meaning of the holiday and turns out or become a decent person. I’d like one movie where they stay a rotten bastard. Blackadder, of course, had a perfectly amiable doormat give away Christmas gifts until a ghostly visit prompted him to realize the error of his ways and become a rotten bastard. ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-tv-movie-pet-peeves/620674/96 "2012-05-04T18:25:16Z")
Reliably knocking someone unconscious (safely, and for however long the plot demands) by hitting them on the head. Head wounds just don’t work that way! For a while I’ve had a fantasy of making a movie that starts out as a sort of typical college/frat house comedy. Once the characters and setting are established, our heroes sneak out in the middle of the night to steal the MacGuffin from a rival frat. They get to their destination, sneak up behind the security guard, and whack him in the back of the head with a fallen branch. **thwock! sound effect, slide whistle, comedy-caper music** The guard falls over unconscious, and the frat boys go on to complete the theft. The next morning, they walk by the scene of the crime and slyly smile as they approach the crowd milling around outside. Putting on his best Who-Me? innocent face, one of the guy goes up to a girl in the back of the crowd and asks: Protagonist: “Gee, what’s all this about?” Girl [distraught]: “Somebody \*murdered \*the security guard!” Protagonist: “_What?!!_” Girl: “They caved his skull in with a fucking log! Jesus! Who would do something like this?!” After that it becomes a rather different kind of movie. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-tv-movie-pet-peeves/620674/97 "2012-05-04T18:29:16Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Women having hot sex while keeping their bras on. Or covering their breasts while sitting up in bed. Just doesn’t happen in real life. We watched _Bridesmaids_ last night, and after a night of hot sex with the guy from _Mad Men_, Kristen Wiig was still wearing her bra and panties when she slipped out of bed for a clandestine freshening up before he woke up in the morning. Actually, that was a deliberate choice by the director to show it was sex with no intimacy. You’ll notice that she was braless after the night with Rhodes. I can suspend disbelief on a lot that has been mentioned here but for me, I am taken out when time is of the essence like 10 seconds until the bomb goes off and they spend 5 minutes on expository or professing their love or saying goddbye. ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-tv-movie-pet-peeves/620674/98 "2012-05-04T18:33:02Z")
VarlosZ - I once worked at a museum where one of the curators was a forensic anthropologist. Once he made a display of objects related to crimes. One was a coke bottle. He explained that the human head is pretty fragile actually and you could kill someone with a coke bottle. The seriousness of injuries are sooo underestimated in tv & film. ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-tv-movie-pet-peeves/620674/99 "2012-05-04T19:03:14Z")
Disappearing and re-appearing wounds. Case in point: The Walking Dead, scene just before Shane gets killed then turns into a zombie He has a big wound on his nose. Next camera cut: no wound. Next camera cut: wound again. This back-and-forth went on for the entire scene, the wound on his nose vanishing and re-appearing while I rewound the scene over and over laughing my ass off. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-tv-movie-pet-peeves/620674/100 "2012-05-04T19:16:12Z")
> [@Soylent\_Juicy](#): > > \ > Ramdom flashing light reflections - very noticable in the recent Star Trek movie. It was like they were filming scenes through a window\ Apparently the director (whose name I forget) was the King of Lens Flare for that movie - he couldn’t get enough of it. I, on the other hand, watching the movie, could. > [@zamboniracer](#): > > - The Walk and Talk:- in real life the person at the back of the pack says,“I didn’t hear that, what did he say?” In the TV/movies the person at the back of pack hears everything perfectly.\ That reminds me of the way people in tv and movies have such selective hearing - they can’t hear someone talking three feet away from them, but they can hear something across a room, depending on how the script is written. > [@Sally\_Mander](#): > > Having the characters eating pizza is the worst. They pick up a slice of just-delivered pizza, and it’s stiff, like it’s been sitting around for awhile. Real pizza flops over, and you need to hold it with two hands. > I saw another example on last night’s _Community_. Brita picked up a slice, and it was hard. Hot, fresh pizza isn’t stiff. Is this kind of turning anyone else on? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![jools](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b3f665/32.png) [@jools](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jools)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-tv-movie-pet-peeves/620674/101 "2012-05-04T20:32:54Z")
The two things I always comment about when I see it in TV and movies: - Nobody ever locks their door when they leave their house or appartment, it really annoys me. - Birth, those babies that come out man they are huge and clean… really??? the world would be extremely underpopulated if that’s what women gave birth to… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-tv-movie-pet-peeves/620674.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-your-tv-movie-pet-peeves/620674.md?page=6)