# Things you would \*like\* to see in a movie or TV show **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 24, 2006, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-would-like-to-see-in-a-movie-or-tv-show/377756 "2006-10-24T21:16:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mouse\_Maven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@Mouse\_Maven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mouse_Maven)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-would-like-to-see-in-a-movie-or-tv-show/377756/1 "2006-10-24T21:16:00Z")
Medical staff in the real scrubs that look like flour sacks. (I swear the movie/TV producers have them tailored to fit better.) Research labs without flasks of colored liquid. Characters looking scruffy when they have been up all night, but not in a sexy way. ---
**Author:** ![Autumn\_Almanac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d26b3c/32.png) [@Autumn\_Almanac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autumn_Almanac)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-would-like-to-see-in-a-movie-or-tv-show/377756/2 "2006-10-24T21:29:05Z")
Computer systems that slightly resemble real life, instead of the _Law & Order_ variety: > [@](#): > > Lennie Briscoe: I need a list of all black males, ages 18-25, who have had a parking ticket in Brooklyn in the past six months. > > Lackey: Will do. > > _three keypresses_ > > _five seconds pass_ > > Lackey: Okay, here’s your list of names, with photos and last known residence. ---
**Author:** ![myskepticsight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@myskepticsight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/myskepticsight)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-would-like-to-see-in-a-movie-or-tv-show/377756/3 "2006-10-24T21:29:42Z")
[QUOTE=Mouse\_Maven] Medical staff in the real scrubs that look like flour sacks. (I swear the movie/TV producers have them tailored to fit better.) [/QUOTE] I read somewhere the cast of Scrubs has their scrubs made for them. Regular scrubs do not fit that well. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-would-like-to-see-in-a-movie-or-tv-show/377756/4 "2006-10-24T21:32:06Z")
I’d like to see actors using computer keyboards in a believable way. It seems that few performers know how to touch-type, because you rarely see actors’ fingers moving in an appropriate manner when they are supposed to be entering data on a keyboard. Sometimes they look more as if they are playing “Chopsticks” on a piano. ---
**Author:** ![Bobotheoptimist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/919ad9/32.png) [@Bobotheoptimist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobotheoptimist)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-would-like-to-see-in-a-movie-or-tv-show/377756/5 "2006-10-24T21:42:30Z")
People using computers and are not typing constantly at an apparent speed of 400 WPM, and are using a quiet keyboard. (echoing **pinkfreud** ) One of those stupid CSI-type shows having the bad guy clam up and demand a lawyer. “First you stole the pumpernickel, didn’t you?” “I want a lawyer” “And then you dug up the family petunia, isn’t that right?” “I want a lawyer” “The only way out was to butcher a sheep, wasn’t it?” “I want a lawyer” ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-would-like-to-see-in-a-movie-or-tv-show/377756/6 "2006-10-24T22:26:57Z")
I’d like to see some radical character change over the course of the series (nerdy preppy character in the beginning, biker gang member with tattoos and mohawk by the end, etc), or some truly unalterable life circumstance such as being in jail from seasons 3-7. I like to see the protaganist changing several times over the course of the series to focus on a different protaganist. I’d like to see a time travel series planned out in advance, with times revisited over the course of the series, such that each season brings new twists on what happened in certain scenes as they are revisted by the time traveller again. I’d like to see any series or film (probably only feasible as a movie or movie trilogy) where it isn’t aired/shown until completed and involved an actor filmed over a long period of time. Extra points for a time travel story filmed over the course of an actors life featuring him interacting with his self from different time periods. Any tv series fairly well planned out in advance. Any piece where the moment of a cliche is clearly about to happen, and it happens some other way instead. ---
**Author:** ![Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunshine_and_Smiles)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-would-like-to-see-in-a-movie-or-tv-show/377756/7 "2006-10-24T22:30:18Z")
People turning lights on in buildings when it gets dark. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-would-like-to-see-in-a-movie-or-tv-show/377756/8 "2006-10-24T22:31:04Z")
[QUOTE=Mouse\_Maven] Research labs without flasks of colored liquid. [/QUOTE] How about just a lab, anywhere, that actually looks like a LAB?! No sliding glass doors, no dramatic lighting (because you need to see what you’re doing), no highly paid doctors doing grunt work, people wiping down their counters, stuff not working… Deep, cleansing breath. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-would-like-to-see-in-a-movie-or-tv-show/377756/9 "2006-10-24T22:37:26Z")
[QUOTE=jackdavinci] I’d like to see some radical character change over the course of the series (nerdy preppy character in the beginning, biker gang member with tattoos and mohawk by the end, etc) [/QUOTE] The characters of Wesley and Cordelia evolved in radical ways like this over the course of \*Buffy the Vampire Slayer \* and _Angel_, which they both spun off to. Wesley in particular underwent the most fascinating arc of any fictional character I can think of, and mirrored your example in more ways that you’d believe. ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-would-like-to-see-in-a-movie-or-tv-show/377756/10 "2006-10-24T22:51:33Z")
I’d like to see someone turn on a TV and not just have the TV on the right channel and at the exact moment the news story begins. For most of us looking for a specific piece on the news, we have to change the channel from what we were watching before and either wait through several other stories first (or commercials), or we tune in too late, if not at least in the middle of the story. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-would-like-to-see-in-a-movie-or-tv-show/377756/11 "2006-10-24T22:56:57Z")
[QUOTE=jackdavinci] I’d like to see some radical character change over the course of the series (nerdy preppy character in the beginning, biker gang member with tattoos and mohawk by the end, etc), or some truly unalterable life circumstance such as being in jail from seasons 3-7. I like to see the protaganist changing several times over the course of the series to focus on a different protaganist. I’d like to see a time travel series planned out in advance, with times revisited over the course of the series, such that each season brings new twists on what happened in certain scenes as they are revisted by the time traveller again. I’d like to see any series or film (probably only feasible as a movie or movie trilogy) where it isn’t aired/shown until completed and involved an actor filmed over a long period of time. Extra points for a time travel story filmed over the course of an actors life featuring him interacting with his self from different time periods. Any tv series fairly well planned out in advance. Any piece where the moment of a cliche is clearly about to happen, and it happens some other way instead. [/QUOTE] Well, for a lot of that you just have to seek out Joss Whedon and J. Michael Straczynski. I want to see weaponry that actually works and impacts like real weaponry. Grenades that are virtually flash and flameless, shotguns that don’t knock the Bad Guy halfway across the room, Bad Guys that can actually shoot as well as, if not better than, the Heroes. Oh, and Michelle Trachtenberg’s boobs. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![usar\_jag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f0a364/32.png) [@usar\_jag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usar_jag)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-would-like-to-see-in-a-movie-or-tv-show/377756/12 "2006-10-24T23:05:19Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] Oh, and Michelle Trachtenberg’s boobs. 😃 [/QUOTE] If, by “Michelle Trachteberg” you meant “Scarlett Johannson”, then I agree with you wholeheartedly. Damn you for beating me to the punch! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-would-like-to-see-in-a-movie-or-tv-show/377756/13 "2006-10-24T23:08:23Z")
For once a hero acting for what’s best instead of being a pious jerk. Evil Guy:“Haha, Protagonist! You can’t shoot me, I’m holding this small child! You’ll never stop me now!” Hero: _bang_ Evil Guy:“Erk! But…you shot me through the child…and you call yourself good?” Hero: “Well, yeah, pretty much. What are the chances i’m going to be in this position again? Even if I do find you again, you’ll probably have killed a load of people before I do. Plus, you being evil and all, you’d probably kill him anyway.” ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-would-like-to-see-in-a-movie-or-tv-show/377756/14 "2006-10-24T23:21:49Z")
[QUOTE=dwc1970] I’d like to see someone turn on a TV and not just have the TV on the right channel and at the exact moment the news story begins. For most of us looking for a specific piece on the news, we have to change the channel from what we were watching before and either wait through several other stories first (or commercials), or we tune in too late, if not at least in the middle of the story. [/QUOTE] Arrested Development did this in Season 3. They were turning on the news to look for a particularly breaking story, but just like in real life, it didn’t come on right as they turned the TV on. A caption read “20 minutes later…” and the news story finally came on, much to everyone’s relief. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-would-like-to-see-in-a-movie-or-tv-show/377756/15 "2006-10-24T23:42:48Z")
[QUOTE=jackdavinci] I’d like to see some radical character change over the course of the series (nerdy preppy character in the beginning, biker gang member with tattoos and mohawk by the end, etc), or some truly unalterable life circumstance such as being in jail from seasons 3-7. I like to see the protaganist changing several times over the course of the series to focus on a different protaganist. Any tv series fairly well planned out in advance. Any piece where the moment of a cliche is clearly about to happen, and it happens some other way instead. [/QUOTE] Those were staples of Babylon 5 and Firefly. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-would-like-to-see-in-a-movie-or-tv-show/377756/16 "2006-10-25T00:12:55Z")
[QUOTE=jackdavinci] I’d like to see a time travel series planned out in advance, with times revisited over the course of the series, such that each season brings new twists on what happened in certain scenes as they are revisted by the time traveller again. [/QUOTE] **Quantum Leap** did this to some extent. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-would-like-to-see-in-a-movie-or-tv-show/377756/17 "2006-10-25T00:26:07Z")
I’d like to see something good happen in a parking garage. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-would-like-to-see-in-a-movie-or-tv-show/377756/18 "2006-10-25T00:36:04Z")
Jewel Staite, a young Diana Rigg and a young Jan Smithers. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-would-like-to-see-in-a-movie-or-tv-show/377756/19 "2006-10-25T01:18:13Z")
[QUOTE=RikWriter] Those were staples of Babylon 5 and Firefly. [/QUOTE] What character went through extensive changes in the half-season \*Firefly \*was on the air? And ignoring _Serenity_, who besides Mal was ever really given the spotlight? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-would-like-to-see-in-a-movie-or-tv-show/377756/20 "2006-10-25T01:30:09Z")
Not _Firefly_. But _Buffy_ and _Angel_ saw all sorts of changes happen to just about everybody. Most of them intense and painful. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-would-like-to-see-in-a-movie-or-tv-show/377756.md?page=2)