# Things that bug you that are standard in film/TV **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 31, 2003, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-that-are-standard-in-film-tv/178660 "2003-05-31T00:02:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![Bakhesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Bakhesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bakhesh)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-that-are-standard-in-film-tv/178660/221 "2003-06-09T09:46:18Z")
Another soap opera one. One of the characters takes another to one side for a personal conversation, and then talks at full volume in a room full of people. The other people in the room seem to completely lose the ability to listen in, even when only a couple of feet away ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-that-are-standard-in-film-tv/178660/222 "2003-06-09T11:41:39Z")
> [@](#): > > Firing a pistol in a car or small room would likely make your ears ring like crazy, if not screw your hearing up good! Amen. My dad has no hearing in his left ear because somebody shot a gun too close to him during an army training exercise. ---
**Author:** ![curly\_chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ba0ec/32.png) [@curly\_chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curly_chick)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-that-are-standard-in-film-tv/178660/223 "2003-06-09T12:08:43Z")
In the soap operas we get over here, no one - and I mean no one ever finishes a drink in the pub. There is always half an inch of pint left in the glass. It’s bad enough that they never specify a brand, even in Eastenders and Coronation St where the writers have a fictional brand set up for the sole purpose of not having to pay Diageo or whoever it is a placement fee. “Mine’s a pint” they say They get said pint, have a chat and leave an inch or so in the glass when they leave. ---
**Author:** ![Bakhesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Bakhesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bakhesh)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-that-are-standard-in-film-tv/178660/224 "2003-06-09T12:35:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by curly chick \* > \*\*In the soap operas we get over here, no one - and I mean no one ever finishes a drink in the pub. > There is always half an inch of pint left in the glass. > > It’s bad enough that they never specify a brand, even in Eastenders and Coronation St where the writers have a fictional brand set up for the sole purpose of not having to pay Diageo or whoever it is a placement fee. > > “Mine’s a pint” they say > They get said pint, have a chat and leave an inch or so in the glass when they leave. \*\* It might be a good thing that they leave an inch in the glass, cos they spend all there time in the pub. In Coronation Street for example, everyone goes straight to the rovers every single lunch time, and has a couple of pints. Then straight back to work. After work, straight back to the rovers. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-that-are-standard-in-film-tv/178660/225 "2003-06-09T12:51:30Z")
Another one just occurred to me that I on’t think anyone has mentioned yet: When someone’s on the phone in a public place, and they want to keep the conversation private, they just cup their hand over the mouthpiece and talk in a _very slightly_ lower voice. There is no way this would prevent anyone from hearing their conversation. @ **Bakhesh** and **curly chick** - they never seem to pay for the drinks either, do they? ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-that-are-standard-in-film-tv/178660/226 "2003-06-09T17:47:42Z")
This one has already been mentioned, but I would like to add to it. Whenever something comes on the news the person will turn the TV or radio off right as the relevant story is announced. They don’t listen to any further details, which are usually important. What also bothers me about this is that they will always turn the TV/radio on at the _exact_ time the report begins. They never miss the beginning of it nor do they have to wait for another report to finish up (to say nothing of the fact that we never see commercials airing the moment someone turns a TV on, how I wish this were the case IRL). In older TV shows and movies I’m sure nobody ever had to wait for their TV set to warm up. It was as if instant-on technology existed back then. Lastly, the TV/radio will always be already on the correct channel/station and nobody has to flip through several other channels first. ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Bongo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a9adbd/32.png) [@Winston\_Bongo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Bongo)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-that-are-standard-in-film-tv/178660/227 "2003-06-09T21:13:23Z")
Another one to file under “poor gun safety”: regular joe heroes and other non-cops will often holster their guns by sticking them _down the front of their pants._ Speaking as a male person, I can think of about 400 better ways to store a loaded gun than by sticking it where it could easily go off and render me an honorary member of the Sopranos. ---
**Author:** ![Fionn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Fionn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fionn)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2003, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-that-are-standard-in-film-tv/178660/228 "2003-06-10T02:06:46Z")
I’m annoyed by the “I’ll have a beer” thing too. I can’t think of any time I’ve heard anyone in real life say “I’ll have a beer” and then specify which kind. Just once, I’d like to see a movie or TV bartender say “You want to help me out with that one?” ---
**Author:** ![scablet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@scablet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scablet)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2003, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-that-are-standard-in-film-tv/178660/229 "2003-06-10T13:08:14Z")
Now I don’t know about anyone else, but I wince visibly whenever anyone drinks straight from the milk carton in any show or movie. Excuse me, THAT IS FRIGGING NASTY. Maybe in TVLand everyone wipes the top of the jug after they’ve poured it just so that Junior doesn’t get a mouthful of sour milk flakes when he comes home from soccer practice and drains the last of the bovine juice, but **I** was certainly never given that courtesy growing up. Yuuuuck. SourMilkFlakes. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2003, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-that-are-standard-in-film-tv/178660/230 "2003-06-10T14:46:13Z")
It takes _exactly_ xxxx amount of time to trace a phone call. The bad guy knows this…thats why he is only on the phone xxxx-1 second. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2003, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-that-are-standard-in-film-tv/178660/231 "2003-06-10T16:34:25Z")
**Scrablet** , in my experience, having a character drink milk from the carton is just a way of showing he - because it’s always a guy - is lazy, slovenly and single. ---
**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:** [June 10, 2003, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-that-are-standard-in-film-tv/178660/232 "2003-06-10T21:12:51Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Francis E Dec, Esq \* > \*\* > Suburbia - it doesn’t exist_\* At least you’d never know it from TV or movies. Nobody on film lives in a suburb that was developed in the last 30-40 years, with its sprawl, strip malls, sea of parking lots and generally pedestrian-impossible design – you know, where most middle-class Americans really live. They all instead live in the city or in Norman Rockwell land. > \*\* You’re basically right, though _Poltergeist_ would be an outstanding exception. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2003, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-that-are-standard-in-film-tv/178660/233 "2003-06-10T21:46:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dwc1970 \* > \*\*This one has already been mentioned, but I would like to add to it. Whenever something comes on the news the person will turn the TV or radio off right as the relevant story is announced. Lastly, the TV/radio will always be already on the correct channel/station and nobody has to flip through several other channels first. \*\* Something like this happened to me once in real life. My wife sent in an entry for free tickets to a show to a radio station. She turned the radio on to that station about the time of the drawing - and the drawing was just beginning. They called two names, then said, “wait, we’ll pick another” and picked her entry. Then she turned the radio off. This would have been a “yeah, right” moment if it was in a TV show. You never can tell. BTW, TV isn’t the only culprit. I was reading a Nancy Drew book to my daughter where the same thing happened. ---
**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:** [June 10, 2003, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-that-are-standard-in-film-tv/178660/234 "2003-06-10T21:54:07Z")
Also from the computer rant department…anyone who knows computers can sit down at any computer and make it do anything. In _Revenge Of The Nerds_, for instance, the head nerd sits down to help somebody in the computer center, and before you know it, he’s created a little animated figure. No coding is seen. Or for another example: in _Star Trek IV_ Scotty doesn’t know what a mouse is, yet can almost immediately figure out how to calculate complex engineering formulas on an antique computer. ---
**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:** [June 10, 2003, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-that-are-standard-in-film-tv/178660/235 "2003-06-10T21:58:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by AV8R \* > \*\*I couldn’t count the number of times I’ve seen a scene where someone is sleeping, then the alarm clock goes off, and then the person is so upset at the alarm that they throw it against the room to make it stop. > Do people ever really do that? > Do they really want the extra errand of going out and buying a new alarm clock? \*\* Reminds me of an old Don Martin comic from Mad Magazine. A surly guy gets woken up by his alarm clock, so he throws it out his high-rise window with one sweeping arm gesture. The clock falls into the mouth of man who is yawning, who swallows it, and the clock continues to ring inside his stomach. The pedestrian angily marches up to the surly guy’s room and stands next to his bed. Guess what happens to him next? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2003, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-that-are-standard-in-film-tv/178660/236 "2003-06-10T22:05:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Francis E Dec, Esq \*… **glass bottles** - X2 is latest film to show people in the U.S. drinking soda pop, Dr. Pepper in this case, out of the glass bottles that were common in yesteryear. This is commonly seen in commercials and ads, but nobody does so in real life because glass bottles aren’t even available for most sodas!.. \Sorry for the hijack but glass bottles are **very** common, at least where I live (near Philadelphia). I’ve got 12 bottles (6 each of 2 different flavors) in my fridge right now. I see them everywhere for lots of different flavors and brands.\ ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2003, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-that-are-standard-in-film-tv/178660/237 "2003-06-10T22:25:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bump \* > \*\* > I really don’t like the way that all movie guns have no recoil and aren’t deafeningly loud. Firing a pistol in a car or small room would likely make your ears ring like crazy, if not screw your hearing up good! Plus, if someone’s firing anything besides a 22, the gun should usually kick pretty good and require them to aim a little better. > \*\* Actually, firing a medium-caliber pistol at arms length outdoors will have a ringing in your ears for a while. I don’t want to imagine what indoors is like. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2003, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-that-are-standard-in-film-tv/178660/238 "2003-06-10T22:26:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Flowerchild \* > \*\*Small Hijack, > > If you want a blatently funny example of poor gun saftey, rent Plan 9 from outer space, the detective actually puts his finger on the trigger and scratches his head with the front of the gun. \*\* That’s one of the big things that suck in my mind from the movie. Maybe all these cops were rejects from the police Acadamy. At least Barney Fife was smart enough to keep the bullet in his pocket. ---
**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:** [June 11, 2003, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-that-are-standard-in-film-tv/178660/239 "2003-06-11T00:05:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jjimm \* > \*\*Nobody ever pays taxi drivers. They jump out and run, and the cab just drives off, rather than the enraged cabbie chasing them down the street. \*\* I just assumed they were paying before getting out of the cab. I usually do; in fact, in just about every taxi I’ve been in there’s there’s a little slot in the partition you can pass the money through. or there’s no partition at all. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2003, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-that-are-standard-in-film-tv/178660/240 "2003-06-11T07:57:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Spectre of Pithecanthropus \* > \*\*I just assumed they were paying before getting out of the cab. I usually do; in fact, in just about every taxi I’ve been in there’s there’s a little slot in the partition you can pass the money through. or there’s no partition at all. \*\* Yeah, but do you pay them while the taxi’s still zooming down the street? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-that-are-standard-in-film-tv/178660.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-that-are-standard-in-film-tv/178660.md?page=13)