# Stupid/small factual inaccuracies in tv shows that annoy you. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 20, 2009, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-small-factual-inaccuracies-in-tv-shows-that-annoy-you/493743 "2009-04-20T16:55:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-small-factual-inaccuracies-in-tv-shows-that-annoy-you/493743/101 "2009-04-22T01:03:46Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > Hypnotism. The Mentalist, one of my current favorites abused Hypnotism lately. It was a bad show. I found it especially irksome because it is also a big part of the plot in a book I’m reading and they get it badly wrong too. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-small-factual-inaccuracies-in-tv-shows-that-annoy-you/493743/102 "2009-04-22T10:01:49Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > In context, could it mean that Dr Corday visited there while he was staying in Belfast, but not implying that Bogside is in Belfast? After all it’s not far away enough that you couldn’t do a day trip. Sort of like if I were to say “While I was at Orlando I went to Busch Gardens.” This had occurred to me but IIRC it implies she’s talking about Belfast. As I said it’s a minor fault and perhaps the line could be interpreted the way you say. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-small-factual-inaccuracies-in-tv-shows-that-annoy-you/493743/103 "2009-04-22T10:19:25Z")
> [@cerberus](#): > > Per ER, Elizabeth Corday-Greene, MB(Medicinae Baccalaureus), BCh(Baccalaureus Chirurgiae), FRCS(Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons) - Female. _She_ visited Belfast, unless there was some sort of SRS subplot that I missed. She doesn’t visit it in the show, she just comments on it. It’s in reference to the fact that Benton has reservations about them going to a jazz club in a dodgy part of town or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![Who\_me\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/958977/32.png) [@Who\_me\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Who_me_1)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-small-factual-inaccuracies-in-tv-shows-that-annoy-you/493743/104 "2009-04-22T11:50:48Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Not wearing uniforms is deliberate; Gibbs and his team work for a nebulously-defined agency that is part of the Department of the Navy (as in the executive department that is part ofthe Department of Defense), but they are not naval officers; they are civilians. (Gibbs comes closest, as he is a marine veteran.) I expect the original intent was to differentiate NCIS from JAG, of which the former show is a spin-off and whose characters always wore uniforms. Excuse me for asking, but I don’t watch the show. Why is it called NCIS if the characters are in some other agency? NCIS is a real [agency](http://www.ncis.navy.mil/about.asp). ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-small-factual-inaccuracies-in-tv-shows-that-annoy-you/493743/105 "2009-04-22T12:11:00Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Thankfully, not many people on the net know about the backdoor. [They do now.](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2858/what-are-the-risks-of-heterosexual-anal-sex) ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-small-factual-inaccuracies-in-tv-shows-that-annoy-you/493743/106 "2009-04-22T12:12:13Z")
Security and encryption apparently don’t exist in TV or movies. Instead, they have stupid little word games or they just play _Mastermind_ against an AI too stupid to spam. Here’s a brief list: [ul] [li] **What’s the secret word?** : Every secure system in movie-land is protected by a passphrase. In the real world, it’s a lot more secure to generate a giant key and keep it on a thumb drive you always have on a lanyard attached to your clothes. That way, you not only have a system protected by a giant random key, you know if your key’s been compromised based on where the thumb drive is.[/li][li] **Scriptease** : In movie-land, the computer wants you to break the passphrase and so will tell you what parts you got right. In the real world, you might get three chances to enter it exactly right before the computer stops taking your attempts seriously and notifies a human.[/li][li] **Unsafe at any length** : In movie-land, encryption is like a safe made of hard metal, so all you need to do to decrypt something is to drill into it and open a hole. In the real world, encryption is really hard math and there’s no way to brute-force it before the Sun dies and everyone has ceased to care. There are attacks on cryptosystems that rely on partial decryptions being leveraged into a complete break (known-plaintext attacks) but the movie version is far more wrong than right.[/li][li] **FASTER, PUSSYCAT! TYPE! TYPE!** : In movie-land, typing hard and fast breaks the code. In the real world, typing hard and fast breaks your wrists. Bursts of speed are common, but a lot of the time, programmers just kind of stare into space, thinking.[/li][/ul]Now, after all that negativity, I’m going to mention a film I like that got something pretty much right: _Sneakers_ nailed the concept of social engineering, the fine art of sweet-talking, bluffing, and/or bullshitting your way through security. Attacking a system by subverting the people paid to run it is often far more plausible and effective than attacking the machines they run. (Of course, the central MacGuffin of the movie is deeply implausible.) ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-small-factual-inaccuracies-in-tv-shows-that-annoy-you/493743/107 "2009-04-22T12:17:06Z")
Sneakers just aired last night on Encore Mystery. Not a bad movie at all, but I was unreasonably entertained by seeing two Sweeney Todds (Ben Kingsley and George Hearn) in the same movie. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-small-factual-inaccuracies-in-tv-shows-that-annoy-you/493743/108 "2009-04-22T13:50:35Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > Why is that, by the way? What is it about being located in the middle of the country that makes people go to bed so early? Cows, one assumes. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-small-factual-inaccuracies-in-tv-shows-that-annoy-you/493743/109 "2009-04-22T14:22:25Z")
> [@brewha](#): > > If you are going to have military in your show, learn how to do a proper fucking salute. It’s not hard to do properly, and the mechanics of it are not secret. But a poorly performed salute, something that is just not done if you are in the military, bugs the shit out of me and takes me immediately out of the show. > > Anything involving aviation. They never get it right. And get a fucking haircut. Commit to the role. In Las Vegas wussname gets called up for the Marine Reserves and goes to Iraq. The show him in Marine khakis with a hippy haircut. Maybe in the Air Force but not the Marines. > [@tdn](#): > > I’m about as far from being a gun enthusiast as one can get. But there’s one thing that bugs me every time. > > Point a gun at someone and imply “I’m going to shoot you.” > > After the target says something smartass, cock the gun and imply “And I mean it.” > > It makes no difference what kind of gun is being used. They always do this. ALWAYS. Cocking the hammer is bad enough. What is really stupid is chambering a round to show you are serious. What were you expecting to do with an unloaded gun? > [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > I don’t watch the show, nor have I ever seen an episode but… > > In NCIS, how come if the show is taking place in the Navy they rarely (if ever) wear uniforms? If I remember one thing about previews and such for JAG they were always in uni, these guys never seem to be. > > Also, regardless if she’s a tech or not, the Navy would never let weird punk girl dress and look like that. > > Am I wrong in any of this? Yeah I deal with them sometimes. They are mostly civilians. They are always in civilian clothes, even in Iraq. I don’t see why a doctor couldn’t be British. In the show it seems like he has been in America for decades so there is no reason to believe he isn’t a citizen. > [@KneadToKnow](#): > > A _ti_ger? > > In _Af_rica? Exactly what popped into my head too. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-small-factual-inaccuracies-in-tv-shows-that-annoy-you/493743/110 "2009-04-22T14:35:13Z")
Shows set in the wrong season of the year. For instance a few years ago an episode of ]Homicide Life on the Street\* was supposed to take place at Christmas time. The trouble with this was that all the trees were still in full leaf and with even a few flowers in view. Also the sudden change in the weather in some shows. In one scene it’s bright sunlight, cut to another shot and the streets a wet , then in a third hot you are back to bright sunlight and dry streets. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-small-factual-inaccuracies-in-tv-shows-that-annoy-you/493743/111 "2009-04-22T14:55:35Z")
I have never seen a show set in San Francisco (my hometown) that looks even the slightest bit like San Francisco. I can’t bear to watch _Monk_ because of this. If it’s bright and sunny and you’re walking down a wide suburban sidewalk on a wide suburban street lined with McMansions…you’re not in San Francisco! In real life, San Francisco is the second most densely populated place in the US (after Manhattan) and most people live in small apartments or small houses that bump right up against each other. Also, it’s gray and foggy a great deal of the time. And you can’t see the Golden Gate Bridge from most vantage points. TV shows get the ethnic composition wildly wrong, too. An all-white cast with a token Asian and African-American and they’re all straight? Yeah, I don’t think so. ---
**Author:** ![D18](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@D18](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D18)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-small-factual-inaccuracies-in-tv-shows-that-annoy-you/493743/112 "2009-04-22T15:24:38Z")
Nobody mentioned musical idiocies - characters who can’t hold a guitar right. Common example - placing all the fingers on the bottom of the guitar’s body, and then doing half-assed strumming with the thumb - any “live” performance of a band that includes symphony orchestras, choirs, etc. that obviously can’t be there Going by memory (someone correct me if I’m wrong), but that was one of the things that impressed me about Josie and the Pussycats - they were a trio that sounded like a trio. And at the end of the movie when Josie interrupts her performance to talk to the estranged boyfriend, they actually dropped the guitar from the mix (like it should have been, of course). They also got the plight of the lonely singer-songwriter correct, too, when the boyfriend plays in that club. Stage is too small, he gets jostled by someone walking by, and nobody is listening. Anyone who has paid their dues has had gigs like that. ---
**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:** [April 22, 2009, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-small-factual-inaccuracies-in-tv-shows-that-annoy-you/493743/113 "2009-04-22T15:30:04Z")
Clones. Every clone ever made not only is an exact physical replica of the original, down to distribution of body fat, length and cut of hair, and amount of tanning, but has all the memories and the precise personality and voice intonations of the original. It’s as if they had one actor play both parts. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-small-factual-inaccuracies-in-tv-shows-that-annoy-you/493743/114 "2009-04-22T15:56:44Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Clones. Every clone ever made not only is an exact physical replica of the original, down to distribution of body fat, length and cut of hair, and amount of tanning, but has all the memories and the precise personality and voice intonations of the original. It’s as if they had one actor play both parts. 😛 Has any movie ever gotten cloning right? I can’t think of a single film that doesn’t fall for that stupid, grade school fallacy. (Not even grade school: Even a bright pre-teen should be able to understand that cloning creates a baby.) ---
**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 22, 2009, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-small-factual-inaccuracies-in-tv-shows-that-annoy-you/493743/115 "2009-04-22T16:00:34Z")
I think I just figured out why people think there are tigers in Africa. It’s [Weebl’s fault](http://www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/kenya/). Got lions and tigers only in Kenya? No, I don’t think so. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-small-factual-inaccuracies-in-tv-shows-that-annoy-you/493743/116 "2009-04-22T16:43:52Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > Shows set in a specific city but obviously filmed in L.A. Monk and Charmed being the worst offenders for San Francisco. Location stuff always bugs me. I was watching an episode of _Supernatural_ where they were in Illinois, with a majestic view of the Sears Tower in the background. Of course they were 60 miles away from Chicago, but hey, the Sears Tower is _really, really big_. (I want to say they were somewhere near DeKalb.) ---
**Author:** ![FalconFinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@FalconFinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FalconFinder)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-small-factual-inaccuracies-in-tv-shows-that-annoy-you/493743/117 "2009-04-22T18:09:48Z")
Most of the time, the inaccuracies just make me giggle or amuse me. Like in Christmas Vacation, for example. There are no mountains in Illinois. I often wonder where the Griswolds went to get that Christmas tree. I don’t know of any scenery like what you see when they’re driving to the woods to the “tree lot” outside of Chicago. Looks like Colorado to me – and I’ve never been there! However, what really annoys me to no end is tied to a movie and TV show. That Barnyard cartoon. The boy cows have udders!!! NO NO NO NO! Only GIRL cows have udders dang it! And, I’ll add that I, too, thought of “The Meaning Of Life” when I saw the “tigers in Africa” comment and chuckled… ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-small-factual-inaccuracies-in-tv-shows-that-annoy-you/493743/118 "2009-04-22T18:24:05Z")
> [@](#): > > Has any movie ever gotten cloning right? I can’t think of a single film that doesn’t fall for that stupid, grade school fallacy. (Not even grade school: Even a bright pre-teen should be able to understand that cloning creates a baby.) **Creator** , an exceptionally witty, low-key science fiction movie starring Peter O’Toole as a Nobel Laureate who’s trying to clone his dead wife. No special effects, and it’s the only movie I’ve seen where the university labs look and feel like real university labs. But O’Toole’s character has been trying for years to clone his wife, and fully understands that he’ll get a baby that will take forever to grow up, and they talk aout how a clone certainly won’t have the original’s memories or even necessarily the same personality. Worth renting. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-small-factual-inaccuracies-in-tv-shows-that-annoy-you/493743/119 "2009-04-22T23:19:23Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > **Creator** , an exceptionally witty, low-key science fiction movie starring Peter O’Toole as a Nobel Laureate who’s trying to clone his dead wife. No special effects, and it’s the only movie I’ve seen where the university labs look and feel like real university labs. But O’Toole’s character has been trying for years to clone his wife, and fully understands that he’ll get a baby that will take forever to grow up, and they talk aout how a clone certainly won’t have the original’s memories or even necessarily the same personality. Worth renting. Great movie that suffered from being filmed about 10-20 years ahead of its time. O’Toole’s paring with Mariel Hemingway was surprisingly effective (and unlike many movies with 50-something lead and 20-something she-lead their huge age difference figured into the plot). ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-small-factual-inaccuracies-in-tv-shows-that-annoy-you/493743/120 "2009-04-22T23:55:27Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > **Creator** , an exceptionally witty, low-key science fiction movie starring Peter O’Toole as a Nobel Laureate who’s trying to clone his dead wife. No special effects, and it’s the only movie I’ve seen where the university labs look and feel like real university labs. But O’Toole’s character has been trying for years to clone his wife, and fully understands that he’ll get a baby that will take forever to grow up, and they talk aout how a clone certainly won’t have the original’s memories or even necessarily the same personality. Worth renting. One of my favorite movies. One of the few that I own on DVD. I thought that it could have done better in the box office if it had been marketed correctly. The book, BTW, sucks in a huge way. Do not read it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-small-factual-inaccuracies-in-tv-shows-that-annoy-you/493743.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-small-factual-inaccuracies-in-tv-shows-that-annoy-you/493743.md?page=7)