# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![athelas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@athelas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/athelas)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-would-like-to-see-in-a-movie-or-tv-show/377756/61 "2006-10-26T13:28:01Z")
I’d like to see a TV show that takes place on an aircraft carrier. Because those things are just that cool. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-would-like-to-see-in-a-movie-or-tv-show/377756/62 "2006-10-26T13:28:09Z")
Not so much something I’d like to see, because I do see it from time to time, but I’d like them to be a lot more consistent with it: If we start the scene with a couple in bed in the final throes of passion, that’s fine. They break the clinch and have a minute or two of dialogue. Also fine. They get up to go to the bathroom, or answer the phone, or whatever, and they’re _wearing pajama bottoms_ or otherwise clothed so as to make aforementioned throes somewhat problematical. WRONG! Have them drag the sheet along or let them walk behind the conveniently-placed sofa or potted plants so we can’t tell that the actors are actually wearing undies. Or, heck. Full frontal’s fine, too. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-would-like-to-see-in-a-movie-or-tv-show/377756/63 "2006-10-26T13:31:32Z")
[QUOTE=athelas] I’d like to see a TV show that takes place on an aircraft carrier. Because those things are just that cool. [/QUOTE] They tried that. It didn’t float. ---
**Author:** ![Stan\_Shmenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Stan\_Shmenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Shmenge)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-would-like-to-see-in-a-movie-or-tv-show/377756/64 "2006-10-27T00:16:19Z")
If everything was very realistic on a movie or tv show, people would walk/tune out. You aren’t paying to see people get wrong numbers, watch television commercials because the news story they are looking for hasn’t come on yet, etc. The fundamental rule of filmed drama is that every moment of every scene must serve to advance either the mood, the storyline or the character development. You don’t waste the audience’s time looking for parking. They just went through that hassle outside in the mall parking lot. They came into your movie screening to escape that shiat, yo? As to the OP, I would like to see a movie or TV show where it is so compelling I forget I am watching, and I don’t deconstruct it. It has been a while, folks. I don’t enjoy deconstruting crappy movies, but I can’t help myself. And almost all movies are crappy nowadays. ---
**Author:** ![Stan\_Shmenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Stan\_Shmenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Shmenge)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-would-like-to-see-in-a-movie-or-tv-show/377756/65 "2006-10-27T00:22:40Z")
And if you think about it, it is amazing how many conventions we put up with in cinema. A lot of it is just the grammer/shorthand that we have come to expect. It is both needed and welcome. Granted, good directors can play off your expectations with these conventions! Who expected the guy to be shot at that moment in “Pulp Fiction”? In movies, usually they make some big speechola before plugging the guy. Tarentino shocked you with something you weren’t expecting at that moment. That being said, he uses conventions “conventionally” all the time. You can’t make a movie without 'em. ---
**Author:** ![Zjestika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/8edcca/32.png) [@Zjestika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zjestika)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2006, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-would-like-to-see-in-a-movie-or-tv-show/377756/66 "2006-10-28T20:24:01Z")
[QUOTE=PoorYorick] Oh, and before you hang the phone up, say _goodbye_. Jeez, people on TV are just so rude. [/QUOTE] Totally! They don’t have to have a big “Uh huh, okay, I’ll call you tomorrow, I love you.” A simple “Bye, Mom” is usually sufficient. Also, could you close the door when you enter a house/apartment? People on TV must have been raised in barns! ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2006, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-would-like-to-see-in-a-movie-or-tv-show/377756/67 "2006-10-28T20:51:22Z")
[QUOTE=Ethilrist] They tried that. It didn’t float. [/QUOTE] ::: adds Ethilrist to “Dopers definitely going to hell for that one” list. ::: ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2006, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-would-like-to-see-in-a-movie-or-tv-show/377756/68 "2006-10-29T02:05:03Z")
For once, I’d like see the late-middle age male lead (Michael Douglass, Harrison Ford, Sean Connery, etc.) be matched with a late-middle age female, instead of an impossibly young, gorgous woman. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2006, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-would-like-to-see-in-a-movie-or-tv-show/377756/69 "2006-10-29T02:21:16Z")
“Drama is life with dull parts removed.”–Alfred Hitchcock(?) ---
**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:** [October 29, 2006, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-would-like-to-see-in-a-movie-or-tv-show/377756/70 "2006-10-29T02:24:42Z")
I would like to see two characters in a horribly illicit relationship- incest, a teacher and an underage student, a priest and a nun, etc.- enjoy and be thoroughly happy with their forbidden love and get away with it scott-free. Standards and Practices would never allow it however. ---
**Author:** ![Crawlspace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Crawlspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crawlspace)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2006, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-would-like-to-see-in-a-movie-or-tv-show/377756/71 "2006-10-29T03:36:43Z")
I always wanted to see a pair of shows set in the same city have some sort of overlapping storyline. I thought it could have worked great with Friends and Seinfeld: Get Jerry and Ross in an accident or something. Then you could see the interactions on one show and see how they relate the interactions in the other show. Get to see the way the writers would handle the situations differently. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2006, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-would-like-to-see-in-a-movie-or-tv-show/377756/72 "2006-10-29T22:31:08Z")
In war films, a character at the other end sends a few disjointed dits and dahs over the radio as being Morse Code and the hero reads it as “meet”…“me”…outside the house with the …red door …but not the one with the new lock…or the …patchwork …curtains …the roof …has a …new …tyle with …slight scratch on it etc.etc. and yes I DO know about .radio teleg codes ,and they`re not THAT good . ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2006, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-would-like-to-see-in-a-movie-or-tv-show/377756/73 "2006-10-29T22:40:19Z")
After firing off 5000 rounds in a firefight somebody actually changing mags and stoppages (of the weapon)at random intervals due to a misload or whatever rather then at a significant stage of the film !Also somebody going food shopping and NOT having a french loaf sticking out of the bag. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2006, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-would-like-to-see-in-a-movie-or-tv-show/377756/74 "2006-10-29T22:45:42Z")
Wouldn`t be quite as exciting !Theres been a murder at 27 smith st. sarge ,police walk into the kitchen where the householder is standing over the blood soaked body of his wife ,brandishing an axe and saying you deserved it you bitch ! Might be hard dragging the plot out for a couple of hours ! ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2006, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-would-like-to-see-in-a-movie-or-tv-show/377756/75 "2006-10-29T23:16:19Z")
I’d like to see a sitcom where a dumpy, frumpy, short-tempered, middle-aged woman with poor manners is married to a gorgeous, well-built man who appears to be fifteen years younger than she is, and they’re happily married for no apparent reason. Also, they met in college despite what seems to be a large age difference. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2006, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-would-like-to-see-in-a-movie-or-tv-show/377756/76 "2006-10-29T23:41:18Z")
I’d like to see a top-notch ninja or martial artist get bested…by a guy with a shotgun, standing 20 feet away. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2006, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-would-like-to-see-in-a-movie-or-tv-show/377756/77 "2006-10-30T00:07:19Z")
[QUOTE=Ranchoth] I’d like to see a top-notch ninja or martial artist get bested…by a guy with a shotgun, standing 20 feet away. [/QUOTE] Sorta happened in one of the Indiana Jones movies. Guy jumps out swinging a sword, Indy calmy shoots him. ---
**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:** [October 30, 2006, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-would-like-to-see-in-a-movie-or-tv-show/377756/78 "2006-10-30T00:25:00Z")
Fine-with-homosexuality-as-long-as-its-not-my-son father fears his son may be gay because he’s engaging in gender nonconforming behavior. It turns out his son is in fact gay and _not_ just trying to impress girls. ---
**Author:** ![fessie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@fessie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fessie)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2006, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-would-like-to-see-in-a-movie-or-tv-show/377756/79 "2006-10-30T09:15:06Z")
[QUOTE=Oakminster] Sorta happened in one of the Indiana Jones movies. Guy jumps out swinging a sword, Indy calmy shoots him. [/QUOTE] You do know that Harrison Ford improvised that completely on his own - the script called for a protracted swordfight. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2006, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-would-like-to-see-in-a-movie-or-tv-show/377756/80 "2006-10-30T11:13:38Z")
I think the story was that he was sick the day of the shooting, so he suggested that as an alternate scene. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-would-like-to-see-in-a-movie-or-tv-show/377756.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-would-like-to-see-in-a-movie-or-tv-show/377756.md?page=5)