# 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:** 7
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-small-factual-inaccuracies-in-tv-shows-that-annoy-you/493743/121 "2009-04-23T00:11:18Z")
I’ve mentioned this before, but I’ll do it again. 1. Latin America is not simply a really BIG Mexico. No Tacos or Sombreros. 2. Accents: Third generation latino who speaks Spanish with a heavy English accent is not a common Latin American accent. We have lots of accents. 3. We also have big cities, internet, hot water, car, Airbus planes, etc. Of course there are poor places and REALLY FRIGGING poor places, but it’s not all the country, 4. We now have civilian presidents, no “Generalissimos”. 5. Get the geography right, it ain’t that hard. Indiana Jones sees the Nazca lines in the andes, when they are in a coastal desseert. He mentions speaking Quechua with Pancho Villa, WTF??? May I suggest that at the very least one of theproducers hits Wikipedia before the film is done? ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-small-factual-inaccuracies-in-tv-shows-that-annoy-you/493743/122 "2009-04-23T00:39:10Z")
In How It’s Made, they always say force when they mean pressure and vice versa. This machine exerts ten tons of pressure… one hundred psi of force. Drives me nuts. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-small-factual-inaccuracies-in-tv-shows-that-annoy-you/493743/123 "2009-04-23T00:45:08Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > You can’t blame him, if the plot calls for even mentioning a lab tech that’s where the diagnostic error is eventually going to turn up. > > I doubt Kirk let his Red Shirts take out life insurance policies either. Um…how would he stop them? ---
**Author:** ![Jelymag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d2c977/32.png) [@Jelymag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jelymag)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-small-factual-inaccuracies-in-tv-shows-that-annoy-you/493743/124 "2009-04-23T00:45:22Z")
> [@kelly5078](#): > > I’ve become an NCIS addict, although now that I’ve apparently seen them all it’s hard to get a fix…I also really like how the team gets into the van for a quick drive to Norfolk (200 miles away). Same here. I notice it all the time. That and every single location in Virginia or Maryland is made to look like a farm in the middle of Iowa. ---
**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:** [April 23, 2009, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-small-factual-inaccuracies-in-tv-shows-that-annoy-you/493743/125 "2009-04-23T02:08:28Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Um…how would he stop them? He sends Spock to guilt trip them by talking about the screentime needs of the many (i.e. Spock and Him) vs. the needs of the few (their selfish, expendable ass) ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-small-factual-inaccuracies-in-tv-shows-that-annoy-you/493743/126 "2009-04-23T02:17:52Z")
Speaking of guns, I’m always irked when somebody is shot in an arm or a leg and it’s no big deal. They keep on running, they never piss themselves and go into shock, etc… Particularly bad are cowboy movies. I’ve actually seen old westerns where the good guy will be shot in the arm or leg by a rifle- not a graze but an actual hit. He’ll bandage it if he’s a sissy and then keep moving. The missiles in those days were huge and usually fired with enough velocity to shatter bone (unless by a miracle in only hits the fleshy part) but rarely enough to exit; more likely than not if you were hit in the arm or leg by a rifle in such a shoot out you were going to become an amputee. Best case scenario is a lot of pain and blood; you’re not likely to tie a bandana around it and lead a charge. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-small-factual-inaccuracies-in-tv-shows-that-annoy-you/493743/127 "2009-04-23T02:19:43Z")
The “view” through binoculars. It DOES NOT look like two partially overlapped circles when you look through them. It looks like ONE circle. If it doesnt, either you or the binocs are seriously screwed up. ARGGGHHHH ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-small-factual-inaccuracies-in-tv-shows-that-annoy-you/493743/128 "2009-04-23T02:58:37Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > 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.) **Boys From Brazil** has an attempt by escaped Nazis in S. America to clone Hitler. Realizing that just making a random Hitler clone and raising it to adulthood won’t necessarily get them an exact copy of their deceased leader, they make a bunch of baby Hitlers and place each with a family that has a similar make-up to the original Hitlers: siblings of similar ages, middle class, abusive father, etc. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-small-factual-inaccuracies-in-tv-shows-that-annoy-you/493743/129 "2009-04-23T02:59:48Z")
I recently saw an episode of the Disney sitcom “Even Stevens”, which was set in Sacramento. The episode had a radio announcer who described it as “The Jewel of the San Joaquin Valley”. I don’t mind that it’s obviously not filmed there, but they ought to at least be able to guess that Sacramento might be in the Sacramento River watershed, not the San Joaquin. > [@Kyla](#): > > 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. San Francisco used to be a popular shooting location (_The Streets of San Francisco_ being the prime example). There was a cop show that failed a few years ago that did most shooting on location (after _Nash Bridges_ left town). It almost seemed to rub your face in it that they were actually there - someone would stand just a little too long in front of Red’s Java House, for example. I’d also like to give an honorable mention to **The Mentalist** for at least making an attempt at getting the location and people right (early on they seemed to try harder at that; recent episodes not so much). ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-small-factual-inaccuracies-in-tv-shows-that-annoy-you/493743/130 "2009-04-23T05:24:57Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Speaking of guns, I’m always irked when somebody is shot in an arm or a leg and it’s no big deal. They keep on running, they never piss themselves and go into shock, etc.. > > Particularly bad are cowboy movies. I’ve actually seen old westerns where the good guy will be shot in the arm or leg by a rifle- not a graze but an actual hit. He’ll bandage it if he’s a sissy and then keep moving. The missiles in those days were huge and usually fired with enough velocity to shatter bone (unless by a miracle in only hits the fleshy part) but rarely enough to exit; more likely than not if you were hit in the arm or leg by a rifle in such a shoot out you were going to become an amputee. Best case scenario is a lot of pain and blood; you’re not likely to tie a bandana around it and lead a charge. It has become a cliche by now but in those older westerns the guns held an endless supply of ammo. Know how many bullets fit in a Winchester lever action rifle? 4, maybe 5. But nobody ever reloads. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-small-factual-inaccuracies-in-tv-shows-that-annoy-you/493743/131 "2009-04-23T06:56:50Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > 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. I read it; it has little or nothing to do with the book IIRC but has a lot more to do with (the scientist played by Peter O’Toole)'s children trying to commit him and cloning is more tangential to the plot. One thing I liked about the movie now (though I didn’t know it at the time) was it actually had a fairly accurate portrayal of a graduate intern, and the friction over the “prime” ones. I also completely _know_ David Ogden Stiers’ character, a very intelligent in his own right but far more obsessed with the Golden Boy [O’Toole] who in addition to being much smarter is a much nicer and more popular person- I’ve seen that dynamic at universities. A bit cheesy, but I love the music that plays whenever O’Toole’s wife is seen. And his comments when he… how not to spoil… says goodbye to Lucy. ---
**Author:** ![flex727](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/258eb7/32.png) [@flex727](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flex727)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-small-factual-inaccuracies-in-tv-shows-that-annoy-you/493743/132 "2009-04-24T18:01:36Z")
> [@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? We have to get up an hour earlier. ---
**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 24, 2009, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-small-factual-inaccuracies-in-tv-shows-that-annoy-you/493743/133 "2009-04-24T20:14:46Z")
Thanks to HD, I’m starting to notice more and more that guns where you can see the bullets (revolvers? Not sure of the technical term) are always empty. A bad guy is menacingly pointing a gun, and you can see that there’s no bullets in it. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-small-factual-inaccuracies-in-tv-shows-that-annoy-you/493743/134 "2009-04-24T20:24:10Z")
A grammatical one that irks me that Anderson Cooper used just last night: A picture is _hung_. “Jesse James was killed while straightening a picture that was \* hung\* crooked.” A person is _hanged_. “If Jesse James had not been killed while straightening a picture that was _hung_ crooked he would likely have eventually been captured and _hanged_.” I felt guilty for noticing this during Anderson Cooper’s story about a child who committed suicide during bullying as I had evil E.R. exchange. > [@](#): > > Mother: Did my child die when he was hung? > > Doctor: No ma’am he did not.. > > Mother: Oh thank God… > > Doctor: He died when he was hanged. But I did notice. (The rumor is that Anderson Cooper is not particularly hung, which may be part of his hang up.) ---
**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 24, 2009, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-small-factual-inaccuracies-in-tv-shows-that-annoy-you/493743/135 "2009-04-24T22:05:29Z")
The restriction of hanged to mean being suspended by a noose is an old usage preference. But that’s all it is. And as with many old usage preferences, the standard is changing. Many good writers and speakers use hung instead of hanged. You can decide not to. You can even decry their usage. But it isn’t strictly speaking wrong, and it’s less incorrect with every passing year. ---
**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:** [April 24, 2009, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-small-factual-inaccuracies-in-tv-shows-that-annoy-you/493743/136 "2009-04-24T22:48:58Z")
> [@D18](#): > > 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. For me it’s the cliche of people talking normally when in a club with a live rock band playing. If you are there, and you want to talk to someone, you have to YELL, INTO THEIR EARS AND EVEN THEN, THEY WILL YELL BACK “_WHAT_??” ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-small-factual-inaccuracies-in-tv-shows-that-annoy-you/493743/137 "2009-04-24T23:59:59Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > The restriction of hanged to mean being suspended by a noose is an old usage preference. > > But that’s all it is. And as with many old usage preferences, the standard is changing. Many good writers and speakers use hung instead of hanged. You can decide not to. You can even decry their usage. But it isn’t strictly speaking wrong, and it’s less incorrect with every passing year. That’s the kind of addlepated weak-kneed soft-headed pinko thinking that has brought the word _flammable_ into acceptable use. I’m with **Sampiro**. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-small-factual-inaccuracies-in-tv-shows-that-annoy-you/493743/138 "2009-04-25T00:10:51Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Heh, my Dad does this for planes and helicopters - not only in movies but IRL too … For obvious reasons, you do _not_ want to watch _Blue Thunder_, or an episode of _Airwolf_, or any kind of show that is remotely linked to something that flies with him in the room. I can’t imagine watching either show any other way. I can’t watch any movie filmed in Boston. They always do things like drive into the [old] tunnel on the Expressway going into the city, drive along through the Harbor tunnel going from Eastie into the city, and then pop out in Dorchester. Drives me bat shit. I lived in Pasadena for less than a year more than five years ago; I _ **still** _ can’t watch scenes with people driving. I’m not some kind of geographical savant, but I can’t help noticing people making a right turn in Alhambra and ending up in Altadena. I can blow off most mistakes (read: illogical inventions) in science, my profession; I’ve heard some pretty grotesque over-simplifications even on Nova. Bitten by a radio-active spider? No problem. But DNA sequencing to go annoys me no end. But hands down the most annoying thing ever is storms at sea (_The Perfect Storm_). You have a massive storm with massive waves in the middle of an ocean with lots of seaweed and fish and assorted marine mammals, and every one of those waves that have been churning across the ocean and several relatively shallow shelfs is … clear blue water. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-small-factual-inaccuracies-in-tv-shows-that-annoy-you/493743/139 "2009-04-25T00:34:54Z")
> [@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. 😛 You’ve obviously never seen **Judge Dredd** , in which Dredd and his clone look about as similar as, well, Sylvester Stallone and Armande Assante, which is to say only vaguely. The worst offender, though, is **Alien: Resurrection** : if you clone someone, you also replicate whatever parasite happened to be inside them at the time. [Morbo]WINDMILLS DO NOT WORK THAT WAY![/Morbo] ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-small-factual-inaccuracies-in-tv-shows-that-annoy-you/493743/140 "2009-04-28T21:00:51Z")
I saw an episode of _Mama’s Family_ this morning that reminded me of one: Loopy inheritance laws/stipulations. In this episode, Mama (Vicky Lawrence) inherits the estate of her recently deceased sister (Rue McLanahan [who had been a regular but was killed off with a catfish when she moved on to _Golden Girls_) but only if she can go 24 hours without losing her temper. Since she doesn’t of course it goes to charity. This is also the basis of several movies: the person gets a fortune if s/he is married by their 30th birthday or (in _Brewster’s Millions_) if they spend $1 million per day for 30 days with nothing left to show for it (remade several times with the amount adjusted for inflation each time) or (in _Mr. Deeds_) a man inherits a multibillion dollar fortune from a cousin he didn’t know he had and then it passes to an illegitimate son, etc… While IANAL, estate or otherwise, some of these have a million problems. While the one on _Mama’s Family_ is perhaps _feasible_, most of these would be challenged immediately on grounds of mental competency or some other loophole I would think. Another one I remember is _Diff’rent Strokes_. Mr. Drummond inherits a block of Manhattan from the estate of a great-great-great-great-great-great-uncle (not sure about the number of greats, but 18th century- and of course the man’s portrait looks just like Conrad Bain in period wear) because he’s the last living heir. This is verified by the genealogical charts kept by his sister, Dodie Goodman (who like Drummond grew up in rich families NYC and Newport but has an inexplicable accent). Okay, so in the first place… if the real estate has been in limbo for a century or two until an heir was found (which how hard would that be since they have the last name), wouldn’t there be a century or two of back taxes? Who’s been paying them? Don’t they have title? I’m pretty sure the buildings on it aren’t all the original 18th century buildings. Also, Drummond has a sister… supposing that it’s the rare family that has somehow completely died out in the last 2 centuries, that would make her half owner as well. I know this isn’t Hamlet, but think people, think! Of course I remember watching that episode when it first aired and almost screaming for another reason. Drummond learns his ggggggg-uncle’s fortune was built on slave trading when he’s given his papers, including a 200 year old log showing “took on 60 Negroes” in some African port. Drummond responds by _tearing up this 200 year old log_!!! I was a kid and having an Indiana Jones moment screaming “Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!! It belongs in a museum!” (He seems to think he’s doing a favor to everybody, but everybody knows there was slavery in this country, and that log entry may be vital to the research of a doctoral student or a descendant of one of those slaves tracing their roots or… well, it behooves nobody to destroy it.) Anyway, back to the subject: anybody know enough about estates to know whether any of these things would actually happen? Could I really inherit the estate of a 4th cousin that I didn’t know anything about or could I really be compelled to marry and have a son I must name Rehoboam Xavier to inherit my loopy millionaire grandpa’s estate or whatever? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-small-factual-inaccuracies-in-tv-shows-that-annoy-you/493743.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-small-factual-inaccuracies-in-tv-shows-that-annoy-you/493743.md?page=8)