# 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:** 8
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/141 "2014-03-31T22:36:53Z")
When I have stayed at my sister-in-laws place near an undeveloped area, I have heard the wolves, or coyotes or whatever. It’s pretty cool. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/142 "2014-03-31T22:53:35Z")
> [@Stealth\_Bragg](#): > > How about rats or other rodents that squeak continually? I’ve had many pet rats and they hardly ever squeak, sometimes a quick bark when they are fighting or a quiet noise when they are frightened, but that’s it. Drives me mad when they squeak all the time on films or TV :dubious: Oh yeah. Ferrets are weasels instead of rodents, but I’ve seen multiple movies where they make noise, like a lot. Unless you really piss a ferret off, you could go a week without hearing it make a sound. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/143 "2014-03-31T22:57:38Z")
> [@Gangster\_Octopus](#): > > The incredible amount of physical abuse some folks can withstand during a fight or after an explosion or when they are in a car crash. James Bond [surviving in his Aston Martin](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-EMHBN-4nA) in _Casino Royale_, or when Tom Cruise [gets slammed into a car and gets right back up](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8l4qdf_1nGM) in _Mission Impossible: III_. I love [this scene](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNZZhTXw72M) from _The Other Guys_. No car in a drama has an airbag; all cars in comedies have them and they go off randomly. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/144 "2014-03-31T23:23:53Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > A friend of mine, a doctor, notes that stethoscopes are often worn backward around the actor’s neck. The little earpieces should point forward, not backward. That’s counter-intuitive to people who don’t use them and aren’t familiar with the actual anatomy of the human ear canal. > > (Another example of profession-specific knowledge; most of the rest of us simply wouldn’t notice.) > [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Damn. Now I will. 97% of nursing students (and I’m sure medical students) put their stethoscope on backwards the first day. I admit, I did it to. Television has so (negatively) influenced medical students that [University of Chicago is now holding classes to un-teach them the nonsense they’ve absorbed from unrealistic portrayals of doctors](http://abcnews.go.com/Health/WellnessNews/story?id=7178967). ---
**Author:** ![D18](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@D18](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D18)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/145 "2014-03-31T23:25:49Z")
Pretty much anyone playing any musical instrument. The worst is holding the bottom of the guitar with the right hand, while strumming with the thumb. The first time I noticed this was [Potsie on Happy Days](http://deenasdays.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/2663747_l1.jpg), but I’ve seen it elsewhere, too. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/146 "2014-03-31T23:37:17Z")
> [@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. > > Wrong. it takes quite a while for the smoke smell to disappear from the air and from the smokers hands, hair and breath. Or they smoke ‘deep’ in the house. On an episode of the Golden Girls, Dorothy was smoking in the hallway by all the bedrooms. No one noticed until the smoke detector went off. And why is it that when people smoke on TV, they light a cigarette, take one or two puffs and put it out. Not ‘sneaking a cigarette’ people. Regular smokers. Light a cigarette, walk across the room and put it out in the ashtray. It makes it such an obvious prop. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/147 "2014-03-31T23:38:03Z")
> [@River\_Hippie](#): > > Wrong. it takes quite a while for the smoke smell to disappear from the air and from the smokers hands, hair and breath. But a lot of smokers seem completely unaware of this. They think it dissipates immediately, and barely spreads a few feet from themselves. Which is why they can often be so obnoxious about it to non-smokers who complain. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/148 "2014-04-01T00:07:42Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Or they smoke ‘deep’ in the house. On an episode of the Golden Girls, Dorothy was smoking in the hallway by all the bedrooms. No one noticed until the smoke detector went off. > > And why is it that when people smoke on TV, they light a cigarette, take one or two puffs and put it out. Not ‘sneaking a cigarette’ people. Regular smokers. Light a cigarette, walk across the room and put it out in the ashtray. It makes it such an obvious prop. Another smoking one that I always notice is when they show a main character smoking early in the show to establish that they are the kind of person that smokes, then that character never smokes again despite stress, trauma and drama that would have any real smoker chaining like a mofo. I used to have a good example but I’m blanking on it at the moment. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/149 "2014-04-01T00:09:14Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > But a lot of smokers seem completely unaware of this. They think it dissipates immediately, and barely spreads a few feet from themselves. Which is why they can often be so obnoxious about it to non-smokers who complain. Movie and TV writers that write these scenes must all be smokers! 🙂 ---
**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:** [April 1, 2014, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/150 "2014-04-01T00:17:23Z")
> [@River\_Hippie](#): > > Another smoking one that I always notice is when they show a main character smoking early in the show to establish that they are the kind of person that smokes, then that character never smokes again despite stress, trauma and drama that would have any real smoker chaining like a mofo. I used to have a good example but I’m blanking on it at the moment. My favorite was in the first episode of **Lost** , where they are just now realizing they’re stranded, and Sawyer gets mad at something and crumbles up his last pack of smokes and throws them away in anger. Uh huh. In that situation I would probably be going through the baggage strewn everywhere looking for cigarettes to hoard. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/151 "2014-04-01T00:27:13Z")
> [@D18](#): > > Pretty much anyone playing any musical instrument. > > The worst is holding the bottom of the guitar with the right hand, while strumming with the thumb. The first time I noticed this was [Potsie on Happy Days](http://deenasdays.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/2663747_l1.jpg), but I’ve seen it elsewhere, too. Is this absolutely never done? I thought it was a (rare) alternative style. That might still make it wrong, given the context of the portrayal, for instance if the actor is portraying Andres Segovia. But don’t they sell special thumb-ring guitar picks, for people who do play that way? (I just Googled, and they’re certainly for sale out there.) ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/152 "2014-04-01T00:28:39Z")
Another obvious car example is the lack of headrests on the front seats. They are removed so we can see the backseat passengers. ---
**Author:** ![D18](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@D18](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D18)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/153 "2014-04-01T00:37:14Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Is this absolutely never done? I thought it was a (rare) alternative style. That might still make it wrong, given the context of the portrayal, for instance if the actor is portraying Andres Segovia. But don’t they sell special thumb-ring guitar picks, for people who do play that way? (I just Googled, and they’re certainly for sale out there.) Yes, they do sell thumb-picks, and I’m an avid user myself. But holding the bottom of the guitar with the four fingers, and strumming with the thumb? No way. And Segovia is (was?) a classical guitarist, so he’ll have long, strong finger nails and using them all (well, not the baby) to pluck the strings. But again, he won’t be holding the bottom of the guitar. And its very unlikely that someone playing rock electric guitar (as Potsie is in my link), would be using a thumb-pick. ---
**Author:** ![alfonzos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4bbf92/32.png) [@alfonzos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alfonzos)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/154 "2014-04-01T00:39:10Z")
Blacklights in dark rooms while someone is trying to develop film. They are called dark rooms because they are **dark**! ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/155 "2014-04-01T00:43:19Z")
To be fair, there is a type of light called, appropriately, a safe light, which is on when you develop film. It is not ultraviolet, though. More likely red or yellow. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/156 "2014-04-01T01:17:34Z")
> [@Grestarian](#): > > In 1995 (pre-Patriot Act) the movie Seven came out. One of the key plot points was that Morgan Freeman’s character pays his librarian friend to do a search of secret librarian records to find out who’s been borrowing books with biblical themes (or something like that) and gets a list of people to start questioning. > > So that kind of _list borrowers by key words_ ability actually existed? Absolute bullpucky. Pre-PATRIOT Act, libraries weren’t in the habit of storing patron records because it would put an incredible strain on the likely underfunded computer system. In 1995, in a big area like New York City? Definite bullpucky. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/157 "2014-04-01T01:38:33Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > Fire sprinkler systems that turn on all at once either by someone manually overriding them or setting one off with a lighter. Sprinkler heads go off independently when a glass bulb breaks after reaching a certain temperature. You can’t set them off remotely either with some master switch. I’ve heard that the water can be stinky because it’s been sitting in the same pipes for years. > [@panache45](#): > > There’s a countdown to something horrible, and the characters are frantically working to stop it from happening. And they succeed IN THE LAST SECOND. . . . . ## _Galaxy Quest_ did that right, though. In the Law and Order shows, I started noticing a hallway exit convention. An LO team would be questioning someone related to the crime at the questionee’s place of work: hospital, office, warehouse, whatever. Rather than keep working, the person being questioned would focus on answering the questions, but they’d complain about how busy they were or how they needed to begin something soon, first. The questioning would be done in a hallway, sometimes while walking, sometimes with the person holding a manila file or other employment prop. Just before the end of questioning, their phone would ring or someone would come up and hand them something. They’d pause to check it out, while keeping their attention on the team and raising their eyebrows as if to ask “are we done, here?” (Or asking that directly.) Team member: “One last question . . .” After the last question, the questionee answers, half turning at the end and starting to walk away backwards, eyes still on the team. A team member signals that it’s ok to go, sometime with half of a hand wave, often just by the team turning their back on the questionee and putting their heads together. The questionee is gone in three seconds. By then the team’s heads are together and they’re discussing their reaction to the answers. They don’t look back to see if the questionee really leaves before they say, “Did you buy that?” “Oh, there’s something he’s not telling us.” If the person being questioned is more sympathetic and is obviously making whatever time is necessary to help out, they’ll be interrupted at the end and and look apologetic while they’re waved away to take care of it. In that case, there may be a sentence on each side to close the conversation. But the questionee will be walking away so that the team can stroll as slowly as they like as they debrief each other. In know it’s being done to speed things along, but once I noticed it, I started thinking of Erica Jong and her[zipless phrase](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear_of_Flying_(novel)#The_zipless_fuck). The Law & Order teams have perfected the zipless field inquiry. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/158 "2014-04-01T01:47:07Z")
> [@Grestarian](#): > > Okay, so I gotta ask this one 'cause it’s been bugging me for almost 20 years: > In 1995 (pre-Patriot Act) the movie Seven came out. One of the key plot points was that Morgan Freeman’s character pays his librarian friend to do a search of secret librarian records to find out who’s been borrowing books with biblical themes (or something like that) and gets a list of people to start questioning. > > So that kind of _list borrowers by key words_ ability actually existed? I’ve never heard of such a thing, but it would be possible – albeit a big pain – to do a keyword search on the _books_ and then look to see who’d checked them out. But, like **Justin\_Bailey** said, it seems unlikely that the library would be saving a long list of names for each book, so this wouldn’t be a great way to identify a suspect unless the topic of interest were obscure enough that not many people were checking out those books. I don’t deal with fines or overdue notices at the library where I work, but AFAIK the system we use only keeps track of the last two people to check out a book. Actually, I’m not sure if it’s the last two check outs or the last _return_ plus whoever has the book currently. I’m fairly certain the system has a “memory” of no more than two people per book, though. There’s not much benefit on the library end to being able to go back farther than that. On the user end our patrons can opt in to a reading history feature that will show all the books they’ve previously checked out. ---
**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:** [April 1, 2014, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/159 "2014-04-01T02:24:39Z")
> [@nevadaexile](#): > > 1. \*\*Everything that need to be done when working on cars either requires the hood to be up or that the person lay underneath the car \*\*- Apparently vehicle maintenance can only be performed in those two positions. Unless you are doing the brakes, or replacing something in the sound system, pretty much, yeah. I have replaces the bafflers and heater core in a '61 Falcon, but that’s a rare thing to replace, and I once replaced a steering wheel in a car when the tilt mechanism broke, but it was an old car; most people wouldn’t have a car that old in the first place, and most people wouldn’t replace their own steering wheel (actually, whole column) themselves. I was an Army mechanic, and a car hobbyist for years, and in fact, pretty much you are under the hood, or under the car itself. > [@](#): > > 1. **Previously running vehicles not starting/People on foot catching up to motorized vehicles** - A two-fer in horror films and television. A vehicle which was running perfectly fine suddenly stops. Or it cannot be started when the character needs to start it. Huh? This used to happen back when cars had carburetors. It’s called vapor lock, and it’s an old film cliche that people still use today, because they don’t understand what was happening to the car. It does not happen to cars with fuel injection. > [@terentii](#): > > Or no lenses at all. :mad: Lenses reflect the lights. > [@Big\_Norse](#): > > Bombs with countdown clocks. And people who can diffuse bombs without seeing them (eg. they give directions over the phone: “Cut the blue wire.”) I’m not a bomb maker myself, but I find it very hard to believe that all people who want to blow up the good guys use the same wire color scheme. Some bombers probably do make every single little component, but most people who build things buy components, and they do come with color coded wires. If you have a blue and a red wire, the red one will be the hot wire, and the blue one will be the ground wire. If the bomb has some kind of “dead man’s switch” (ie, you cut the hot wire, and it sets the thing off) it may make sense to cut the ground wire, although it could have a second ground as well. Or someone could have switched the wires. > [@Loach](#): > > Exactly. Especially older movies that show “great” players playing 5 card draw. There is almost no skill in that game other than bluffing. Winning one hand of 5 card draw is more about luck than anything. Except in [A Big Hand for the Little Lady](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060165/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_39). That was all skill, but of a different sort of course. Great movie. > [@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. And if the person entering the room is a non-smoker, they don’t need but lingering smoke to be able to detect it. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/160 "2014-04-01T02:47:08Z")
> [@Big\_Norse](#): > > Bombs with countdown clocks. And people who can diffuse bombs without seeing them (eg. they give directions over the phone: “Cut the blue wire.”) I don’t know everything there is to know about electronics, but few of those detonation systems look like they would work very well after you pissed on them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866.md?page=9)