# 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:** 17
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2014, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/321 "2014-06-23T19:05:44Z")
> [@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. I have had brakes go completely out on me. I downshifted until the car was slow enough that I could put on the parking brake, and OMG! it didn’t hold completely! The car was still creeping along. So I slammed it into first-- it’s supposed to be at a dead stop to go into first, but I forced it, and then turned off the ignition. It was one of those moments that felt like forever, but it really took about two minutes. And the parking brake was working well enough that if I hadn’t had enough road, I could have shut the engine off first, and probably jumped out and stopped it by pushing it back, or by curbing it. I wouldn’t have had to take out any fruit stands. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2014, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/322 "2014-06-23T19:12:16Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > 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? I cancelled the Hitler Channel long ago, but crap suspiciously like it increasingly shows up on PBS now, including that show on the Normandy Invasion, or its clone, that did precisely that. Pissed me off. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2014, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/323 "2014-06-23T19:14:52Z")
> [@DZedNConfused](#): > > Okay you may lose your transmission throwing on the parking brake but that’s better than crashing. I think you’re confusing the parking brake with the gear-shift park. ---
**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, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/324 "2014-06-23T19:15:01Z")
> [@Kenm](#): > > I cancelled the Hitler Channel long ago, but crap suspiciously like it increasingly shows up on PBS now, including that show on the Normandy Invasion, or its clone, that did precisely that. > > Pissed me off. I’ll take Hitler over swamp people, ancient aliens, pawn stars, or just about anyone else featured on HC nowadays. :mad: ---
**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:** [June 23, 2014, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/325 "2014-06-23T19:16:06Z")
I hate the ‘cigarette for dramatic effect’ (unfortunate rhyme). Character, who is about to say something dramatic, lights a cigarette, takes ONE GORAMM PUFF and crushes it or puts in a glass of water and says something dramatic. SMOKERS DO NOT DO THIS!!! I get that you might need a cig when the tension gets up, but that ONE GODDAMNED puff ain’t gonna help anything. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2014, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/326 "2014-06-23T19:57:13Z")
> [@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. > [@Myglaren](#): > > 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. There was a mention in a recent Pit thread of a 14 year old who [died in a locked BMW](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/no-escape-california-family-sues-bmw-after-teen-dies-locked-n100881) because the doors could not be opened from the inside. > [@](#): > > Warren Paboojian, who is representing Graciela Martinez’s parents, Pedro and Jacinta, said that as a result of the alleged design deficiencies, the family’s BMW was a death trap for Graciela as the temperatures climbed over 100 on that late summer day. > > “There’s nothing you can do electronically in any way to escape that car,” he said. “I found the 1997 handbook, it clearly states that if you lock the car from the outside, the occupants cannot get out. The problem is that this was a 16-year-old car and my clients didn’t have the luxury of having the handbook.” > > David Buchko, a spokesman for BMW North America, said he could not comment on the lawsuit. > > He confirmed that 1997 model BMW vehicles were equipped with a power lock system that enabled persons inside the car to unlock the doors if they had been locked from inside as well, but not if they were locked externally. He said the design was intended to address “a theft-prevention issue.” ---
**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:** [June 23, 2014, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/327 "2014-06-23T20:02:21Z")
> [@Myglaren](#): > > 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. Time for a new car OMG:eek: ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2014, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/328 "2014-06-23T20:09:11Z")
I’m not even in the medical profession but the defibrillators being used on a flat-lined patient is so universal and so wrong, it really bothers me and makes me hate anything I see it in. Seriously, this is just stupid and scary. Why do they continue doing it? I’ve never ONCE seen it used when it actually needed to be used. ---
**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, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/329 "2014-06-23T20:11:51Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > There was a mention in a recent Pit thread of a 14 year old who [died in a locked BMW](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/no-escape-california-family-sues-bmw-after-teen-dies-locked-n100881) because the doors could not be opened from the inside. There was an article in a newspaper that I saw a while back about a bunch of Korean politicians supposedly attending some ceremony and when they arrived in their BMW limo they couldn’t open the doors or windows. IIRC it took a couple of hours to get them out and they were pretty well cooked by then. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2014, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/330 "2014-06-23T20:12:51Z")
> [@DZedNConfused](#): > > Time for a new car OMG:eek: Maybe I’m out of touch? I need to try locking myself in a car with the remote and see if I can open the doors. It just seems absurd to design it that way, but, when you think about it, that hasn’t stopped people before! For people whose cars seal up, what model and year is it? ---
**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, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/331 "2014-06-23T20:18:28Z")
> [@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. I take it you’ve never seen [Bait Car](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bait_Car_(TV_series)). Police use specially-modified cars to catch car thieves. The cars can be locked via remote, not allowing the perps to exit the vehicle. The cops can also remotely disable the engine. Of course, that’s a specific car that’s modified. Doing that to someone else’s car would be substantially more difficult, I’d imagine. ---
**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, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/332 "2014-06-23T20:21:51Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Maybe I’m out of touch? I need to try locking myself in a car with the remote and see if I can open the doors. It just seems absurd to design it that way, but, when you think about it, that hasn’t stopped people before! > > For people whose cars seal up, what model and year is it? Mine is a 2003 Citroën C5. ---
**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, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/333 "2014-06-23T20:55:33Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > There was a mention in a recent Pit thread of a 14 year old who [died in a locked BMW](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/no-escape-california-family-sues-bmw-after-teen-dies-locked-n100881) because the doors could not be opened from the inside. Times, they have changed - I remember back when I was 12 or so the family was doing a US West Coast road trip, and my dad forgot the keys inside the rental car on a natural park parking lot after painstakingly teaching my sister and I to first lock the doors, THEN close. One complaint and 2 minutes later a park ranger was there with a jimmying tool, shoved it between window and door, pushed once and the door was open. My kid self instantly wanted to be that guy SO BAD :). ---
**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:** [June 23, 2014, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/334 "2014-06-23T20:58:30Z")
Not to go off-topic or anything, but a car manufacturer who designs a car that CANNOT be opened from the inside needs to be sued, sued often, and sued loudly. ---
**Author:** ![Doyle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doyle/32/439_2.png) [@Doyle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doyle)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2014, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/335 "2014-06-23T21:07:54Z")
Horrible southern accents. ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2014, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/336 "2014-06-23T22:45:59Z")
Boxing in movies. You watch a couple of actual fights and you won’t be able to stop noticing how actors fight without ever guarding, and their only punches are very obvious hooks. Which makes sense, since the guy they are fighting doesn’t keep anything resembling a guard either. Or even moves. The “evil” figures of authority who are painted as sneering villains for trying to do correctly their jobs: the principal who insists the kids on detention should stay in their assigned room., the nasty DA who wants to convict the nice protagonist, that awful hospital director who is for some reason unhappy about having one of his doctors going around in a clown costume… ---
**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, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/337 "2014-06-23T22:48:30Z")
> [@Doyle](#): > > Horrible southern accents. This. THIS. I am so tired of hearing Virginians with Texas accents or Tennesseans with Georgia accents. I have \*never \*heard a correct North Carolina accent in any movie or television show. Of course, being a native Kakalakan, I get irritated that they don’t have the right regional accent for the setting of the movie. Which is why I haven’t watched and will not watch any Hunger Games film. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2014, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/338 "2014-06-23T23:37:06Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > I hate the ‘cigarette for dramatic effect’ (unfortunate rhyme). > > Character, who is about to say something dramatic, lights a cigarette, takes ONE GORAMM PUFF and crushes it or puts in a glass of water and says something dramatic. > > SMOKERS DO NOT DO THIS!!! I get that you might need a cig when the tension gets up, but that ONE GODDAMNED puff ain’t gonna help anything. That reminds me of a problem I saw only once (I think it was on _Greatest American Hero_ but it still grates on me.) The protagonist was playing a video game (Zaxxon, I clearly remember) and was interrupted. And just walks away in the middle of the game. I have never seen anyone just walk away from an in-progress video game. I don’t know if I’ve even seen it on a home console. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/339 "2014-06-24T01:41:36Z")
Mine are all sexual: 1. Any kiss more erotic than a brief peck means we"ll be fucking. 2. First time sex in 90 percent of movies: gently sensual kissing suddeenly erupts into frenzied, over the top clothes coming off so the insertion can happen immediately, a few deep thrusts and everyone is having mindblowing simultaneous orgasms, totally spent and satisfied. 3. Partners wake up and are in a tongue tangle that suggests the both were visited by the Dental Hygenist fairy during the night. Right. ---
**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 24, 2014, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/340 "2014-06-24T01:58:05Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > 1. Partners wake up and are in a tongue tangle that suggests the both were visited by the **Dental Hygenist fairy** during the night. Right. Is that the one that visits when you haven’t been brushing the teeth you leave for the tooth fairy? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866.md?page=16) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866.md?page=18)