# 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:** 7
**Author:** ![Lisa-go-Blind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Lisa-go-Blind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lisa-go-Blind)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-that-are-standard-in-film-tv/178660/121 "2003-06-02T20:06:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by X~Slayer(ALE) \* > \*\* > \*\*Feminine hygene commercials bug me. None of those women are real. \*\* Then why do they need feminine hygiene? šŸ˜•šŸ˜‰ ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-that-are-standard-in-film-tv/178660/122 "2003-06-02T20:09:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\*All Asian guys either know martial arts or l33t skills in computers. Hardly anyone ever plays a young homely asian chick but if they do, they always wear glasses. Occasionally youā€™ll see a young musical prodigy. Only on piano or a stringed instrument, though. Also: getting the shit beaten out of you doesnā€™t hurt. When your girl cleans or dresses a wound, or applies a tiny bit of anti-septic, that hurts like crazy. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_E\_Dec\_Esq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/48db29/32.png) [@Francis\_E\_Dec\_Esq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_E_Dec_Esq)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-that-are-standard-in-film-tv/178660/123 "2003-06-02T20:16:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by X~Slayer(ALE) \* > \*\ ***Hot babes married to homely fat guys with no money. How come we never see a muscular hunk of a guy showing love and affection to someone who lookes like Ellen Degeneres.** Because all the good-looking guys are gay! šŸ˜ƒ ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-that-are-standard-in-film-tv/178660/124 "2003-06-02T20:18:01Z")
I had to think a while about a nitpick nobody else already coveredā€¦then it came to me! Somebodyā€™s having a conversation on the phone. The other person gets mad and hangs up. You hear the click and the dial tone. Thereā€™s no dial tone when somebody hangs up IRL. You get the obnoxiously loud BEEPBEEPBEEP if YOU donā€™t hang up after a minute, but otherwise thereā€™s just silence. ---
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-that-are-standard-in-film-tv/178660/125 "2003-06-02T20:37:00Z")
1. No one ever locks their car. They just shut the door and leave, no matter how ratty the neighborhood. 2. Whenever a character jumps or falls through a window, the only injuries are those associated with the fall itself. In real life, youā€™d probably see major arteries gushing blood from glass having sliced through them. 3. And, hey, if you ever discover me on the floor lying in a crumpled heap, _ **give me CPR, will ya?** _ Just donā€™t assume that Iā€™m dead, what the hell. ---
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-that-are-standard-in-film-tv/178660/126 "2003-06-02T20:41:36Z")
Oh, and a another computer-related nit pick: Someone opens a computer application theyā€™ve never seen before (such as a database theyā€™ve hacked into), and next thing you know, the fingers are flying and the keys are clicking ninety miles and hour. Voila, they have their answer in about 5 seconds. In real life, it usually takes about 5 minutes of clicking around just to figure how the damn thing works. ---
**Author:** ![Einmon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Einmon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Einmon)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-that-are-standard-in-film-tv/178660/127 "2003-06-02T20:43:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Marley23 \* > \*\*Alan Cumming is rather Scottish, by the way, so itā€™d be kinda weird if he spoke American-accented German. Hmm. \*\* I stand correctedā€¦I actually knew that, too, darn šŸ™‚ It still didnā€™t sound too German, anyway. This has been a pet peeve of mine since _Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade_ where they had exactly one authentic sounding guy. If itā€™s just a couple of extras yelling ā€œZu die GewƤhre!!!ā€ (it really should be ā€œAn die Gewehre!!ā€) itā€™s OK with me. But if you have a main character who constantly uses German phrases (which he _did_ do in the comics, I second **X~Slayer(ALE)** here) itā€™s kind of distracting to me if it doesnā€™t sound right. I also canā€™t stand German actors pretending to have an American accent, itā€™s just ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-that-are-standard-in-film-tv/178660/128 "2003-06-02T20:49:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Diceman \* > \*\*Sitcom characters that are supposed to be middle-class or working class often seem to have a closet full of expensive designer clothes. Rosanne Arnold, Iā€™m looking at you. This was one thing that I liked about Home Improvement: everyone dressed like normal middle-class Americans. Tim (when he wasnā€™t hosting Tool Time) usually wore jeans and a t-shirt, and Jill usually wore a plain olā€™ sweater. \*\* The Conner family, on **Roseanne** , always wore middle-class to lower-class clothing, especially in the very early seasons (Roseanne herself must have worn that purple coat for five years straight). Itā€™s the last seasons, after they won the lottery and became rich, that they wore designer clothes. Re: complaints about emaculate houses. One house that always seems believeable is the one on **Everybody Loves Raymond**. Itā€™s a cluttered house and Marie often complains that itā€™s dirty. Not only is the living room cluttered (and the kidsā€™ bedrooms messy) but the kitchen is tiny. Itā€™s a nice change of pace from the Huxtable house. šŸ™‚ ---
**Author:** ![Caesar\_s\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/73ab20/32.png) [@Caesar\_s\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caesar_s_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-that-are-standard-in-film-tv/178660/129 "2003-06-02T20:55:36Z")
ā€“ In TV shows and movies that hinge upon a misunderstanding, nobody actually says the simple magic words that will clear it up. ā€“ Establishing that a character is unable to do something, having someone teach the character a few aspects of it and from then on said character is a genius at it. This was in _A Life Less Ordinary_ā€“Celine canā€™t drive, Robert points to the gas and brake, and after a few scenes of her driving horribly sheā€™s just fine for the rest of the movie. ā€“ Movies/shows/books, even, where characters have kids but the kids are pretty much ignored for the entire span of time, except for cute little lines and token nods to them. _Friends_ and _Everybody Loves Raymond_ does this a lot. Kids donā€™t have to be the be-all and end-all of the film/show/book, but really, they should have a bit more screentime than that. ā€“ And finally, schools are never ever ever realistic. Iā€™ve never seen a school portrayed realistically on TV. High school seems to last from 12:00 (for the lunchtime events) to 3:00 (for the requisite ā€˜schoolā€™s out, yayā€™ scene of kids tumbling out the front doors of the school building) with kids who do tons of stuff before their school day starts and have just as much to do after it. Also, they never have homework, unless itā€™s a plot point or a setup for a joke. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-that-are-standard-in-film-tv/178660/130 "2003-06-02T21:11:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sampiro \* > **Of course The Cosby Show has to have set some kind of record. In the first place, heā€™s an obstetrician and sheā€™s an attorney, yet the familyā€™s considered middle class.** Maybe that _is_ middle class for people who live in Manhattan? šŸ˜ƒ ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-that-are-standard-in-film-tv/178660/131 "2003-06-02T21:25:44Z")
Heheh, NOOO, it surely is not. šŸ™‚ ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-that-are-standard-in-film-tv/178660/132 "2003-06-02T22:06:52Z")
Car chases tearing through masses of pedestrians (the ones also running through the mandatory food stand), and _everyone_ manages to jump/run clear. If I were strolling through a picturesque old town/a market/sitting at a pavement cafe and a car chase came through, my reaction would be: ā€œWhat the-ā€ - [sound of being crushed]. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-that-are-standard-in-film-tv/178660/133 "2003-06-02T22:12:40Z")
People who are using a computer, whether writing an e-mail or hacking into the CIA, can do so by pressing a bunch of keys quickly and at random, evidently never making typos or having to pause to remember a code. Itā€™s impossible for a car NOT to explode when itā€™s in a crash. (The Simpsons makes fun of this all the time; one time Homer overturned a baby carriage and it exploded.) People have favorite relatives or consuming passions that strangely they never mentioned in any episode before said relative shows up or said passion takes centerpage. (Example of the latter: George Jefferson is portrayed as a one step over illiterate in most episodes, then suddenly we learn that heā€™s a passionate reader of mystery novels- odd that they never mentioned that in the first decade of the show.) People always lie to their parents and then have to get their friends to go along with the lie when they show up (e.g. the janitor has told his mother he owns the company, or the secretary has told her favorite aunt that sheā€™s the boss). Just as evidently anytime a 70+ person makes a crack about sex itā€™s funny, anytime a black person shakes his/her head and says ā€œWhite people!ā€ itā€™s funny. And all black people are hip and have sly dry wits, btw. Drug addiction, death of a best friend (whoā€™s never been on the show before- see above), cancer scares, bankruptcy, etc.: none of them take more than 30 minutes to get over and need never be referred to again. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-that-are-standard-in-film-tv/178660/134 "2003-06-02T22:12:40Z")
People who are using a computer, whether writing an e-mail or hacking into the CIA, can do so by pressing a bunch of keys quickly and at random, evidently never making typos or having to pause to remember a code. Itā€™s impossible for a car NOT to explode when itā€™s in a crash. (The Simpsons makes fun of this all the time; one time Homer overturned a baby carriage and it exploded.) People have favorite relatives or consuming passions that strangely they never mentioned in any episode before said relative shows up or said passion takes centerpage. (Example of the latter: George Jefferson is portrayed as a one step over illiterate in most episodes, then suddenly we learn that heā€™s a passionate reader of mystery novels- odd that they never mentioned that in the first decade of the show.) People always lie to their parents and then have to get their friends to go along with the lie when they show up (e.g. the janitor has told his mother he owns the company, or the secretary has told her favorite aunt that sheā€™s the boss). Just as evidently anytime a 70+ person makes a crack about sex itā€™s funny, anytime a black person shakes his/her head and says ā€œWhite people!ā€ itā€™s funny. And all black people are hip and have sly dry wits, btw. Drug addiction, death of a best friend (whoā€™s never been on the show before- see above), cancer scares, bankruptcy, etc.: none of them take more than 30 minutes to get over and need never be referred to again. ---
**Author:** ![AV8R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/898d66/32.png) [@AV8R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AV8R)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-that-are-standard-in-film-tv/178660/135 "2003-06-02T22:25:03Z")
I couldnā€™t count the number of times Iā€™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? ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-that-are-standard-in-film-tv/178660/136 "2003-06-02T23:10:19Z")
Women apparently wear perfect, unsmudged makeup and hair products even under the unlikeliest circumstances. Outer space. Underwater. On day 5 of being lost in the desert. In the 1800s (or BC, for that matter). It drives me crazy. Someone already mentioned this one, but the Magic Photoshop-type application that can sharpen photographs to crystal perfection. _CSI_ is the most blatant and consistent offender here, but itā€™s been done in so very many movies and TV shows. And the one Iā€™ve harped on before and will harp on again, the obligatory Strip Club Scene ā„¢. Words canā€™t convey how sick I am of this cliche. Itā€™s in every R-rated movie no matter what, no matter how inappropriate/unlikely that would be in real life. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-that-are-standard-in-film-tv/178660/137 "2003-06-02T23:58:10Z")
Another one from the sitcoms: **Noone locks their doors.** Steve Urkel would not be able to come in and blow up the toaster if they _locked the frickin door, like everyone else does._ > [@](#): > > The Conner family, on Roseanne, always wore middle-class to lower-class clothing, especially in the very early seasons (Roseanne herself must have worn that purple coat for five years straight). Itā€™s the last seasons, after they won the lottery and became rich, that they wore designer clothes. Ah. My memory of that show is rather hazy. Itā€™s a defensive mechanism šŸ˜‰ Also, I seem to remember Peg Bundy (from _Married with Children_) wearing outfits that were quite chic-looking. Iā€™d love to know how the wife of a shoe store employee could afford those kinds of clothes. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-that-are-standard-in-film-tv/178660/138 "2003-06-03T01:03:20Z")
Iā€™ll further the point about foreign languages in films. I often wonder who on Earth they hire to write the German/Italian/French phrases they use, and why they canā€™t just hire me instead! šŸ˜ƒ Some of the mistakes they make are so basic they would probably be picked up by Babelfish. ---
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-that-are-standard-in-film-tv/178660/139 "2003-06-03T01:08:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by X~Slayer(ALE) \* > \*\*\*\*this deserves repeating. No matter how highly trained ninja for hire warriors are, the hero will go thru 50 _of the best ones_ without breaking a sweat before even getting to bossā€™s underling. \*\* Those 50 will attack one at a time, patiently waiting for their comrades to hit the ground before attacking. Everything is used. If it is noted then it will used again. If there is a sermon in a church scene about forgiveness, someone will need to forgive someone else. If someone is seen taking advil then then will diognosed with a tumor later. If the protagonist inherits a coat of armor from his English second cousin Neville then a dragon will attack and he will have to save the town. ---
**Author:** ![Govindha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/5fc32e/32.png) [@Govindha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Govindha)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-that-are-standard-in-film-tv/178660/140 "2003-06-03T01:28:30Z")
For the record, tires can squeal on dirt, i 've done it and would never believe it otherwiseā€¦ I dislike the way people die suddenly from some wound be it gunshot or being knifed. Generally speaking, that isnā€™t the case. All the goodbyes and final whispering of events sucks as well. Itā€™s been overdone. I hate the way punkrockers, skinheads and other such groups are depicted as idiots, racists and trouble makers. Thats certainly not always the case. Charcater fights on soap operas are so dumb. The slaps and weak punches, it seems to me the stunts could be a wee bit better. Itā€™s funny how many of the black actors on soaps are scripted to act ghetto but still act more white than I. The small misunderstandings that tear people apart, only to be reconciled right before the end with some sad ass apology and moralā€¦ Car chases suck, foot chases suck, just stop with all the ricocheting bullets and exploding crap, its oldā€¦ ``` one man killing machines, shot at by automatic gunfire never getting hit. When they do get hit it never tears chuncks of fleash away as in real life, it only grazes or whatnot... ``` I donā€™t knowā€¦The whole idea that blacks are cool and whites are uptight and lame gets on my nervesā€¦ Incorporating hip hop into everything sucks. Stop raping the music, its turning to glam and we all know what happened to thatā€¦ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-that-are-standard-in-film-tv/178660.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-bug-you-that-are-standard-in-film-tv/178660.md?page=8)