# Things that are extremely common in TV shows/movies that you've rarely seen in real life **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 29, 2009, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-extremely-common-in-tv-shows-movies-that-youve-rarely-seen-in-real-life/508161 "2009-08-29T16:20:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 25
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-extremely-common-in-tv-shows-movies-that-youve-rarely-seen-in-real-life/508161/483 "2009-09-14T05:38:21Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > I actually prefer to wear skirts to jeans if I’m at home. You can’t really lie down or snuggle in jeans, IMO. Me too, I start wearing skirts or sundresses as soon as it’s 80 degrees. I hate t-shirts and shorts, they make me look short and wide. in fact, I hate jeans, too, and only wear them when I have to go out of the house somewhere. I was born in the wrong era. Anyway - TV shows/movies often feature the parents attending an elementary school play. I look at the kids up there on the stage and just have to marvel at the imaginative, amusing, impressive costumes they are wearing, that look like they came from a professional costume rental company. Fruits, vegetables, stars and moons and planets, angels, Christmas creches, pilgrims and Indians - all of them button-cute in those beautiful costumes (and no kid suffers from stage fright). ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-extremely-common-in-tv-shows-movies-that-youve-rarely-seen-in-real-life/508161/484 "2009-09-14T05:42:55Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > Yeah, the pink bakery boxes are most certainly a “California thing” - you see them everywhere, and considering that is where most of these shows/films are made, probably nobody thinks this might not be normal elsewhere. Yes, the pink boxes are ubiquitous here, I thought they were everywhere. Even the bakery departments in the larger grocery stores give you your merchandise in a pink box, and for the items that you pick yourself out of bins, like Danishes and bagels, there is usually a large supply of folded-flat pink boxes that you have to set up yourself. From my experience in L.A. butcher shops, of which there are many, usually cater to an ethnic group, e.g. carnicerias to the Latino population, and kosher butchers to Jewish people, and so on. I would assume it’s similar in most large cities, where you get a variety of ethnic groups with particular niche needs/tastes in meat, which cannot be provided by the supermarkets. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-extremely-common-in-tv-shows-movies-that-youve-rarely-seen-in-real-life/508161/485 "2009-09-14T11:51:19Z")
> [@Susanann](#): > > Another thing, is the sparks from when bullets hit cars or fences or whatever… my bullets never spark. I also cannot blow up a car just by shooting at it. Maybe you should stop trying? The neighbors are getting antsy. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![StuffLikeThatThere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc8723/32.png) [@StuffLikeThatThere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StuffLikeThatThere)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-extremely-common-in-tv-shows-movies-that-youve-rarely-seen-in-real-life/508161/486 "2009-09-14T12:11:33Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > Everyone on TV has old fashioned answering machines instead of voice mail. I realize it’s done that way to inform the audience of that all important message, but it does look a bit dated nowadays. I _do_ know it’s old-fashioned, but we have an answering machine. We figured out we could buy an answering machine, and after three months of not paying for voicemail, we would have our money back. We’ve had it for 2 1/2 years. So, 27 months of not paying $7.50/month … we’re a little more than $200 ahead. Yes, I really am that cheap. We’re rare, but we do exist. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Trepa\_Mayfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@Trepa\_Mayfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trepa_Mayfield)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-extremely-common-in-tv-shows-movies-that-youve-rarely-seen-in-real-life/508161/487 "2009-09-14T12:39:21Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > I actually prefer to wear skirts to jeans if I’m at home. You can’t really lie down or snuggle in jeans, IMO. That’s what sweatpants are for! ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-extremely-common-in-tv-shows-movies-that-youve-rarely-seen-in-real-life/508161/488 "2009-09-14T14:36:21Z")
I have an answering machine. I dread coming home and seeing blinking messages, though. If it isn’t someone trying to sell me something, it’s inevitably bad news. (cause there are ‘situations’ in progress with half my family). Sweatpants are OK, but I prefer leggings (in a color that coordinates with my cat) and a longish top over them. Or flannel pajama bottoms and a coordinating t-shirt, for just around the house, not to be viewed by the public. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-extremely-common-in-tv-shows-movies-that-youve-rarely-seen-in-real-life/508161/489 "2009-09-14T14:39:09Z")
> [@pedescribe](#): > > That’s what sweatpants are for! Shudder. Never! Not since I raised my right hand and took that vow to Tim Gunn anyway. ---
**Author:** ![LiveOnAPlane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-extremely-common-in-tv-shows-movies-that-youve-rarely-seen-in-real-life/508161/490 "2009-09-14T17:50:17Z")
> [@Susanann](#): > > … > Another thing, is the sparks from when bullets hit cars or fences or whatever… my bullets never spark. I also cannot blow up a car just by shooting at it. Clearly, you are using the wrong loads. I use .357 Hollywood Magnums and have never had a problem. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-extremely-common-in-tv-shows-movies-that-youve-rarely-seen-in-real-life/508161/491 "2009-09-14T19:15:01Z")
I’ve recently been re-watching the Sopranos, and I have been struck with what a good job they do of portraying sloblike normal life. Tony slouches around in his bathrobe half the time, and the kids leave a hell of a mess. However, I’ve never kept a bunch of guns and money stashed above the ceiling panels. I suspect this is uncommon. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-extremely-common-in-tv-shows-movies-that-youve-rarely-seen-in-real-life/508161/492 "2009-09-14T20:26:28Z")
> [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](#): > > However, I’ve never kept a bunch of guns and money stashed above the ceiling panels. I suspect this is uncommon. It’s the **first** place the cops look… :smack: ---
**Author:** ![trupa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aeb1de/32.png) [@trupa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/trupa)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-extremely-common-in-tv-shows-movies-that-youve-rarely-seen-in-real-life/508161/493 "2009-09-15T02:34:03Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > That German toilet article is flat-out hysterical. Oh Og, I almost peed myself laughing. Here’s my favourite quote. Apologies to German dopers: [QUOTE=[http://asecular.com/~scott/misc/toilet.htm](http://asecular.com/~scott/misc/toilet.htm)] Further research has revealed that the German toilet is in fact designed to facilitate stool examination. This is a wise, healthy practice, argue Germans, a person’s best defence against intestinal disease, water-borne parasites or worm-riddled, undercooked pork sausage. [/QUOTE] And sorry for the German poop examining hijack. We now return you to your regularly scheduled thread. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-extremely-common-in-tv-shows-movies-that-youve-rarely-seen-in-real-life/508161/494 "2009-09-15T02:59:35Z")
People clustered around a TV in a storefront window, watching the news. A person’s pen never runs out of ink. People are either full-on crazy or pretty sane. You never see someone who’s half-way to being teh Boston Strangler. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-extremely-common-in-tv-shows-movies-that-youve-rarely-seen-in-real-life/508161/495 "2009-09-15T04:04:44Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > People clustered around a TV in a storefront window, watching the news. That never happens now but it sure did here (in Sydney) just before we got television in 1956. I remember being held on my father’s shoulders to watch some grainy, poor quality black and white broadcast. People were six to seven deep so I was fortunate in being able to see anything. The same thing happened just before colour television was introduced. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-extremely-common-in-tv-shows-movies-that-youve-rarely-seen-in-real-life/508161/496 "2009-09-15T08:32:03Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Not really, no. As with 90% of all things TV/cinema, it’s done by barely paid interns ;). > > Besides, it’s not really that time-intensive : all the footage must be edited, checked and re-checked for artefacts, frame drops, audio synch etc… anyway (so not much of an increased workload there), and adding a blur here and there is just a matter of circling something with a mouse, clicking “blur”, moving forward to the last frame before the cut and clicking “blur” again. > Now, the Avid machine that does the blurring, yes, \*that \*costs a mint - but it’s the basic workhorse of post-production anyway, so again, no additional costs there. Fascinating- I did not know that! At any rate, it’s still more work than _not_ blurring out obviously identifiable brand names… especially when it’s obvious what the brand is and the producers look like dicks (IMHO) for going to so much trouble to blur it out. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-extremely-common-in-tv-shows-movies-that-youve-rarely-seen-in-real-life/508161/497 "2009-09-15T16:00:42Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > It’s the **first** place the cops look… :smack: That’s why I never store the stuff there. Best to keep it under the crib. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-extremely-common-in-tv-shows-movies-that-youve-rarely-seen-in-real-life/508161/498 "2009-09-15T20:21:27Z")
Here’s a sitcom staple that I’m curious if anybody’s ever had to do: Have you ever had to pretend that a friend is married to someone they aren’t/is the boss at work/some other odd confusing situation/ when their parents are visiting? ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-extremely-common-in-tv-shows-movies-that-youve-rarely-seen-in-real-life/508161/499 "2009-09-15T20:23:04Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Here’s a sitcom staple that I’m curious if anybody’s ever had to do: > > Have you ever had to pretend that a friend is married to someone they aren’t/is the boss at work/some other odd confusing situation/ when their parents are visiting? No, but I have had to pretend to be gay because I told someone I wasn’t interested in them because they were the wrong gender and then they set me up with someone of my preferred gender, but my son was interested in her daughter so I had to go along with the whole charade. Okay, not really, that was a “Frasier.” One of my faves, but again, this is something I’ve never seen either. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-extremely-common-in-tv-shows-movies-that-youve-rarely-seen-in-real-life/508161/500 "2009-09-15T22:31:29Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > -And let’s not forget that Mike Brady _designed_ that fucking house himself. And he only designed TWO bedrooms for SIX kids? WTF??? I know this is a classic example of sitcom nonsense, but now that I think about it I think maybe it is realistic. Especially for the time period. My mother, who was in high school during the original run of _The Brady Bunch_, was one of EIGHT kids and grew up in a three bedroom house. My grandfather was a farmer, not an architect, but even though Mike designed the house himself it’s not like that’s a free pass to do whatever you want. He still had to pay for the land and the construction, and a bigger house presumably would have cost more. Keep in mind that once he remarried Mike became the sole breadwinner for a family of eight people. A seven bedroom mansion would have been ridiculous, and I think even a five bedroom house would have been rather extravagant for the time. I do think he could have included at least a tiny maid’s room for Alice, though. It’s not like he didn’t know she’d be living there, she had already been the Brady family maid for years before to Mike’s remarriage. > [@Sampiro](#): > > Here’s a sitcom staple that I’m curious if anybody’s ever had to do: > > Have you ever had to pretend that a friend is married to someone they aren’t/is the boss at work/some other odd confusing situation/ when their parents are visiting? Not exactly, but on several occasions I was (mostly unwittingly) a beard for a classmate of mine in library school. I have a minor anecdote about a visit from his parents, although I never even met them. I don’t think I was ever in this friend’s apartment more than twice and not for very long either time, but I did sit on his couch. His parents came to visit not long afterward. His mother, who apparently missed her true calling as a crime scene investigator, spotted one of my very long, blondish hairs on a cushion. She picked it up and said “Oh, was a GIIIRL here?” My friend said yes and added that I was just a friend, but he said his mother seemed determined to read more into it than that. “Is she NIIICE? Does she go to school with you?” Probably wishful thinking on her part more than anything else. My friend was pretty obviously gay by American standards, but wasn’t exactly out to his parents. His parents were poor Catholic immigrants and for both cultural and religious reasons were apparently holding out hope that their son would eventually develop an interest in girls. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-extremely-common-in-tv-shows-movies-that-youve-rarely-seen-in-real-life/508161/501 "2009-09-15T22:58:42Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > I know this is a classic example of sitcom nonsense, but now that I think about it I think maybe it is realistic. Especially for the time period. > > My mother, who was in high school during the original run of _The Brady Bunch_, was one of EIGHT kids and grew up in a three bedroom house. My grandfather was a farmer, not an architect, but even though Mike designed the house himself it’s not like that’s a free pass to do whatever you want… I have a book, TV Sets: Fantasy Blueprints of Classic TV Homes by Mark Bennett. The author tried to come up with coherent blueprints for a whole bunch of sticom homes (including Lost in Space and the Flintsones. It claims that the Brady house had 2 and 1/2 baths; Mike & Carol’s master bath, the Jack-and-Jill bath the kids shared, and a half-bath on the 1st floor next to Alice’s room (which means she had to go throught he kids’ rooms or master suit in order to bathe. Also aparently the Cunninghams’ 2nd story was located directly over their backyard. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-extremely-common-in-tv-shows-movies-that-youve-rarely-seen-in-real-life/508161/502 "2009-09-15T23:08:30Z")
Regarding the Brady house, do we know that he built the house after marrying Carol? Perhaps he already had it and had Greg in one room with Peter and Bobby in the other room, and then had to put all three in one room once Carol and the girls arrived. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-extremely-common-in-tv-shows-movies-that-youve-rarely-seen-in-real-life/508161.md?page=24) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-extremely-common-in-tv-shows-movies-that-youve-rarely-seen-in-real-life/508161.md?page=26)