# Stupid errors that crop up repeatedly in TV shows and movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 29, 2014, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866 "2014-03-29T23:33:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 16
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2014, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/301 "2014-04-13T21:02:48Z")
People discussing medically private information and lawyer-client privileged information in front of …well, everybody. Cases going to court the very next day after they are filed. The assumption that all college professors make a huge salary and have nothing to do at home but sit around and read. ---
**Author:** ![chargerrich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chargerrich/32/5399_2.png) [@chargerrich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chargerrich)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2014, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/302 "2014-04-14T15:42:24Z")
Cars exploding into a ball of flame from a single (or multiple) bullets… then again Michael Bay would be unemployed and working in a fast food joint if not for this trope. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2014, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/303 "2014-04-14T15:45:44Z")
> [@chargerrich](#): > > Cars exploding into a ball of flame from a single (or multiple) bullets… then again Michael Bay would be unemployed and working in a fast food joint if not for this trope. Or my favorite 70’s movie trope: cars driving off the road, rolling down a cliff, and then exploding. The hills of southern California must be littered with landmines for that to happen. ---
**Author:** ![DZedNConfused](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dzednconfused/32/15991_2.png) [@DZedNConfused](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DZedNConfused)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2014, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/304 "2014-04-14T16:36:37Z")
> [@SpazCat](#): > > Or my favorite 70’s movie trope: cars driving off the road, rolling down a cliff, and then exploding. Speaking of that was I the **ONLY** person ever to be taught to downshift and where the parking brake is? “Oh no, the brakes are dead and I’m going down a steep hill! What should I do? Oh I know! I’ll stomp on the brake until I fall off the edge of the cliff.” Okay you may lose your transmission throwing on the parking brake but that’s better than crashing. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2014, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/305 "2014-04-15T23:41:10Z")
> [@River\_Hippie](#): > > Someone who does not want to get caught smoking is sneaking a cigarette in the basement or bathroom. They hear someone coming, put out the cigarette, open a widow and wave their hands a little to disperse the smoke. The other person comes in and has no idea the smoker was smoking. Except real smokers do try this. But yes, it is usually not effective at being sneaky. > [@D\_Odds](#): > > What I don’t forgive though, are unrealistic time frames. _24_ was the worst at this, but most shows with local travel through metropolitan areas truncate the true time needed to reach point B from point A. The Mentalist has taken this to new heights. At least when they were centered in California, it made some minor sense to always check in with their headquarters in Sacramento. They’d occassionally go on road trips that took all night or whatever. But the latest season has Jane paired with the FBI, at Austin. Except they go all over the place. Okay, several have at least been in Texas (Houston, Dallas, El Paso). The first story - a disappearance in New York City. So Jane and the crew load up and fly to New York, go interview the wife and building, then fly back to Austin, then realize they found more information, so fly back to New York City. WTF? The FBI doesn’t have an office in NYC that they could borrow for a couple days? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/306 "2014-04-16T00:42:11Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Bitch slap. I believe it’s called a bitch slap. I thought that was a backhand, at least the gesture my American friends made when saying “bitchslap” was. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/307 "2014-04-16T04:53:48Z")
> [@SpazCat](#): > > Or my favorite 70’s movie trope: cars driving off the road, rolling down a cliff, and then exploding. Or flying off the road, **exploding in midair** , and _then_ rolling down the cliff! Sometimes the SFX man hit the button a little too early! :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![OurLordPeace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e8c25b/32.png) [@OurLordPeace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OurLordPeace)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2014, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/308 "2014-06-23T04:16:38Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > WW II fighter pilots always fly with the canopy open. Yeah let’s lower its aerodynamic efficiency and subject the pilot to the sound and feel of the air as he flies. I’ve read that some pilots were so terrified of being trapped in a burning plane, or indeed a crashing one, that they wanted to be able to bail out quickly. > [@](#): > > Noisy explosions in space. > [@Orr\_G](#): > > In space, no one can hear you scream… over the sound of all the explosions! The sound isn’t in space, it’s in the pilots’ headphones, or the ships’ speakers, and such. There are apparently radar systems today that give the user audio feedback. Brian Daley (among others) had this one figured out decades ago. In the excellent radio drama version of _Star Wars: A New Hope_, Han Solo mentions to Luke as they’re about to man the _Falcon’s_ guns, that the headset will give him an audio representation of what’s going on. > [@HumanMonkeyGod](#): > > Spaceship control rooms (flight deck? whatever it’s called) that, when taking enemy fire, start sparking and smoking like crazy, yet the electronics all continue functioning. > In a similar vein, the “rerouting” of electrics, hydraulics or anything else in conduit that typically would only be installed with one route. > And shields, I don’t claim to understand the technology but somehow even when shields are up enemy fire results in some physical bumping around inside the ship. > [@terentii](#): > > Especially when the inertia dampeners are off-line. 😃 It doesn’t always work properly, especially when under attack! ---
**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:** [June 23, 2014, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/309 "2014-06-23T06:06:59Z")
> [@psychobunny](#): > > So many medical things but the nitpicky one that drives me crazy is calling a code/pronouncing someone dead. They always make a big statement “Time Of Death: 6:51 PM”. You don’t actually have to make a pronouncement. It remind me of [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiCilTzhXrA). Nobody does that. Usually it’s more like “he’s not responding-let’s call it” Then you ask the nurse recording the code for the notes so you can put the time in your note although frankly nobody gives a crap about the exact time of death. If it’s not a code, it’s even more casual. As a resident, we covered for attendings who didn’t want to come in for routine things like death notices-so we got called for what we referred to as “Angel of Death” duty. The nurse calls you to tell you a patient has died, you go in and say “Yep, he’s dead” write a two line note and go back to bed while the nurse calls/tells the family. As an EMT, I’ve assisted with several codes with one of the local “band-aid stations.” They may have 3-4 nurses working a shift, and we were stationed at that hospital as our quarters. Most of the codes we worked with them (that ended with death) ended with the doctor saying some variation of “alright, let’s stop. [Looks around room to everyone working] Are you all satisfied that we did everything we could?” If the answer was yes, it was called. And the time we spent could be anywhere from a few minutes to (in the case of a special-needs child who died in his living room floor at 11 years old) well over an hour and a half. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2014, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/310 "2014-06-23T06:25:14Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > I’ve never been chased by a bad guy or a wild animal, but I’m pretty sure that I wouldn’t keep looking back as I was running away. If movies have taught me nothing else, it’s that I’ll trip and fall down a hill because I won’t be looking where I’m going. You won’t fall because you’re looking behind you. You’ll fall _because you’re a girl_. > [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Billy Bob Git-fiddle goes into “the studio” to record his boffo tunes and the recording engineer puts him and his guitar in front of ONE MIC. Usually he’s not wearing headphones to monitor the rest of the tracks he’s playing against, and 9 times outta 10 all the other tracks have been recorded ahead of time without him there. > > Catch Phoebe on “Friends” when they go to record “Smelly Cat.” Here’s a [youtube link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QokY7D9sWpw) of that scene, and now that I’ve seen it with this in mind I can’t unsee it. You’ve now ruined most studio recording scenes for me. Jerk! hehheh. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2014, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/311 "2014-06-23T10:24:06Z")
> [@OurLordPeace](#): > > The sound isn’t in space, it’s in the pilots’ headphones, or the ships’ speakers, and such. There are apparently radar systems today that give the user audio feedback. Brian Daley (among others) had this one figured out decades ago. In the excellent radio drama version of _Star Wars: A New Hope_, Han Solo mentions to Luke as they’re about to man the _Falcon’s_ guns, that the headset will give him an audio representation of what’s going on. I was watching an movie last night ([Doomsday Machine](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomsday_Machine_%281972_film%29)) in which the Earth blows up after launching a spaceship to Venus. The crew of the ship is watching the Earth blow up through the telescope, which also transmits the sound of the explosion as well as video of tidal waves along various coastlines. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2014, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/312 "2014-06-23T10:46:42Z")
Have you ever dropped a real pistol or revolver onto the floor? It doesn’t much matter if it’s a wood floor or a tile floor or a linoleum floor. Most all floors result in the same kind of noise. It’s a heavy thud. It sounds very similar to dropping a large rock onto the floor. Most handguns are surprisingly heavy to people who have never held one before. But on TV, it sounds like they dropped a tin badge. It’s a very tinny sound and it sounds nothing like the sound when you drop a real gun. It’s most disappointing for me in Steven Seagal movies. Not because I think he is a good actor or that he makes good movies. I don’t. I think his movies are all pretty weak and unfortunate (except for Under Siege which was a lot of fun). But all the action involving guns in Seagal’s move is very realistic. They way they look when they are fired. The way they seem to recoil. Most everything about firearms, Seagal seems to get it right. But not the way they sound when they are dropped onto a floor. I don’t understand. Why can’t filmmakers get this small thing right? It seems like it would be such a tiny detail to get right. Does anyone know why they always seem to get it so wrong? ---
**Author:** ![toast\_pakora](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ec8ea/32.png) [@toast\_pakora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toast_pakora)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2014, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/313 "2014-06-23T11:49:04Z")
A minor error that never fails to annoy me: when a character is carrying a suitcase which is obviously empty. The worst example was a low-budget tv series being filmed in the marina where I lived. I watched the actors walk down the dock toward their sailboat and each one was carrying a big honkin’–and obviously empty–suitcase. Maybe in the next scene the skipper told them to get those stupid space-hogging suitcases off his boat. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2014, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/314 "2014-06-23T12:48:16Z")
> [@toast\_pakora](#): > > A minor error that never fails to annoy me: when a character is carrying a suitcase which is obviously empty. > > The worst example was a low-budget tv series being filmed in the marina where I lived. I watched the actors walk down the dock toward their sailboat and each one was carrying a big honkin’–and obviously empty–suitcase. > > Maybe in the next scene the skipper told them to get those stupid space-hogging suitcases off his boat. A very similar error is when people pretend to drink a cup of hot coffee that is obviously an empty cup. To see that, just measure the time it takes for someone to take a real cup of coffee and lift it from the table to their mouth. Then see what it’s like with an empty cup. If actors are so smart about pretending to make things look real, why do they lift an empty cup to their lips very quickly when they would never do that with a real coffee? ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2014, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/315 "2014-06-23T13:27:59Z")
Two cops going up the walkway together and knocking on the door. I’m waiting for the show where the door opens and the suspect starts shooting. Cops always approach a door from different angles to avoid this. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2014, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/316 "2014-06-23T13:46:27Z")
Wasn’t shooting thru a door a plot element in Serpico? ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2014, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/317 "2014-06-23T13:59:29Z")
> [@DZedNConfused](#): > > Speaking of that was I the **ONLY** person ever to be taught to downshift and where the parking brake is? > > “Oh no, the brakes are dead and I’m going down a steep hill! What should I do? Oh I know! I’ll stomp on the brake until I fall off the edge of the cliff.” > > Okay you may lose your transmission throwing on the parking brake but that’s better than crashing. Same goes for “oh noes, the accelerator is stuck ! I’m forced to drive like a madman and swipe any number of fruit stands !”. How about you shift to neutral instead, genius ? But I came back for one that’s been mentionned on page one : shocking flat lines. No. Look, Hollywood, very no. Bad ! It’s called a defibrillator. There’s a mnemonic trick to that name : you use it when people are, in point of fact, fibrillating. That’s, like, the exact opposite of a flatline. In fact, the point of shocking a heart is to _stop it_. Temporarily. You’re not Frankensteining a stopped heart back to life, I’m sorry. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2014, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/318 "2014-06-23T14:02:04Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > Here’s a [youtube link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QokY7D9sWpw) of that scene, and now that I’ve seen it with this in mind I can’t unsee it. You’ve now ruined most studio recording scenes for me. Jerk! hehheh. Then my work here is done. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Myglaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Myglaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myglaren)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2014, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/319 "2014-06-23T18:48:39Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > In shows that feature “hacking” (such as _Leverage_) there is often a case where the hacker disables someone’s car remotely, and locks them in the car. Whether hacking like that is even remotely (heh heh) possible, you can’t lock someone in the car. The doors can always be opened from inside. It’s a safety feature. The mechanical linkage always overrides the electric locks. If any engineer designed it differently, he should be fired for being so stupid. My car is deadlocked by the remote. Without it inside the car it is not possible to open the doors from inside. Also the windows deadlock after half a minute so you wouldn’t be able to climb out of a window either. There is a button that locks the doors so they can’t be opened from the outside but can still be opened from inside. That button is inside the car, obviously. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2014, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/320 "2014-06-23T19:03:01Z")
I’ve ranted elsewhere on the use of fifty-star US flags in anything set before 1959. But why the hell does History Channel use Maple Leaf flags for Canadian forces on WWII battle maps? Do they not know or care that that flag wasn’t adopted until 1965? And while we’re at it, History Channel, get your translations straight, fer Chrissakes! _ **Panzerfaust** _ (Germany’s answer to the bazooka) means “armored fist,” not “tank fist.” :mad: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866.md?page=15) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866.md?page=17)