# What are the most/least accurate shows about your profession? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 15, 2008, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-least-accurate-shows-about-your-profession/445397 "2008-04-15T03:56:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ArrMatey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrmatey/32/3522_2.png) [@ArrMatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArrMatey)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-least-accurate-shows-about-your-profession/445397/21 "2008-04-15T17:46:26Z")
[QUOTE=Antigen] I haven’t seen anyone get lab work right on TV. CSI is insanely exaggerated - nobody gets results from the sorts of tests they’re doing within an hour or two. And as for the medical shows… For the love of God, Dr. House, could you please order a CBC and Chem7 before you start with the brain biopsies? [/QUOTE] To add to that; having worked in a medical library doing research hunts for doctors… Can they once… JUST ONCE… Not immediately know every possible thing it might be? Some of those things are actually in books and periodicals… Periodicals the doctors ask for -every day-, and we root out the necessary info for them. No doctor remembers it all. It’s just not possible. ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-least-accurate-shows-about-your-profession/445397/22 "2008-04-15T17:47:41Z")
No one makes movies or shows about insurance agents, so I have no idea if they would portray the industry correctly or not. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-least-accurate-shows-about-your-profession/445397/23 "2008-04-15T17:53:29Z")
[QUOTE=pbbth] No one makes movies or shows about insurance agents, so I have no idea if they would portray the industry correctly or not. [/QUOTE] Somebody’s never seen _Double Indemnity_! …I’m hoping that kind of thing doesn’t happen a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-least-accurate-shows-about-your-profession/445397/24 "2008-04-15T17:58:55Z")
[QUOTE=Bayard] In an episode of _24_, a bad guy evades some super-duper IT security system by sending data offsite through … wait for it … _the wall outlet_. Yup, you can just route packets right over the 110 lines. Works like a charm. [/QUOTE] Only if you use the **24 point font!** Preferably flashing. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-least-accurate-shows-about-your-profession/445397/25 "2008-04-15T18:05:30Z")
[QUOTE=KRM] Only if you use the **24 point font!** Preferably flashing. [/QUOTE] Well, of course you’d want to use 48 point when you’re going out through the 220 outlet. ---
**Author:** ![ArizonaTeach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/45deac/32.png) [@ArizonaTeach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArizonaTeach)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-least-accurate-shows-about-your-profession/445397/26 "2008-04-15T18:15:43Z")
[QUOTE=Chimera] I’ve also worked in Security for three years. TV/Movie Security Guards are always either Baton Wielding Buff Morons who throwdown at the first sign of trouble but always get beat up, and/or they’re completely incompetent. Whereas in real life, Security Guards are more likely to be Gary Coleman or Wilford Brimley. [/QUOTE] I dunno…Wilford Brimley, security guy, was pretty bad-ass in **The Firm** , which was totally accurate in all other respects. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-least-accurate-shows-about-your-profession/445397/27 "2008-04-15T18:26:48Z")
[QUOTE=pbbth] No one makes movies or shows about insurance agents, so I have no idea if they would portray the industry correctly or not. [/QUOTE] There’s The Adjustor by Atom Egoyan. [“Noah is an adjuster, having sex with his customers. His wife Hera watches pornographic movies for the Board of Censors.”](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101273/plotsummary) Sound familiar? ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-least-accurate-shows-about-your-profession/445397/28 "2008-04-15T18:28:40Z")
I’m a civil servant and I’m frequently asked if my job is like Yes Minister. Having worked for a Minister I can tell you that it’s not (maybe it was at one point, but not any more). The notion that my perm sec would go around trying to hamstring the efforts of Ministers is just laughable in itself. I’ve not seen it but apparently the show The Thick of It is quite bang on the nose about a few things in the running of a British politician’s office. ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-least-accurate-shows-about-your-profession/445397/29 "2008-04-15T18:34:41Z")
My former profession: on air radio personality. Best: WKRP in Cincinnati Worst: WKRP in Cincinnati Yep. The situations and byplay between station personnel were so real to those of us in the business. We could only sit and gape in amazement and wonder how they got the advance copy of our autobiographies when we hadn’t even written the damn things yet… But the on-air studio sequences were so fake. For one thing, when your microphone is live, the studio speakers turn off to prevent feedback - and you wear headphones to hear the mix. Of course, that would really screw up any continuity in the sequence, so I can see them not doing that, but… And only ONE turntable? And ONE cartridge tape machine? The _worst_ station I ever worked had 2 turntables and 3 cart machines. You’ve got to have that to maintain on-air flow! So best AND worst in one show. Not bad, huh? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-least-accurate-shows-about-your-profession/445397/30 "2008-04-15T18:44:50Z")
I’ve never seem a protrayal of the videogame industry that is even remotely realistic. Most of the time they tend to assume that making games is similar to playing games. Yeah … just like performing surgery is similar to having your appendix out. What’s worse, commercials for trade schools that purport to train you how to be a game developer do exactly the same thing … . ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-least-accurate-shows-about-your-profession/445397/31 "2008-04-15T18:47:58Z")
[QUOTE=Bayard] In an episode of _24_, a bad guy evades some super-duper IT security system by sending data offsite through … wait for it … _the wall outlet_. Yup, you can just route packets right over the 110 lines. Works like a charm. [/QUOTE] Well, there is something called powerline ethernet, but it’s meant for single-house use and doesn’t have a very long range. Think of it as a weird alternative to wifi. Or did he just bite the end off a LAN cable and jam it into a wall outlet? ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-least-accurate-shows-about-your-profession/445397/32 "2008-04-15T18:54:07Z")
Have any movies been made about waferfab? That said, _Monsters, Inc._ was pretty accurate (in a tangential fashion) in depicting how people get along in a factory. Most people are schlubs who have been friends for decades but don’t really have much to talk about. Some people are heroes, office politics can be murder. The bosses might be willing to kill their firstborn for a profit, but they present themselves as really nice guys… and one secretary has all of the real power. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-least-accurate-shows-about-your-profession/445397/33 "2008-04-15T19:18:53Z")
[QUOTE=gotpasswords] Well, there is something called powerline ethernet, but it’s meant for single-house use and doesn’t have a very long range. Think of it as a weird alternative to wifi. Or did he just bite the end off a LAN cable and jam it into a wall outlet? [/QUOTE] They didn’t go into details. But I like the idea of biting the end off the cable. Anyway, the bad guy (girl, I guess) was sending the data to some bad-guy HQ someplace. The “good” guys just glossed over the process with a statement like “She sent it out over the power line! There’s plenty of bandwidth!” 'Cause mentioning the bandwidth gives it that air of plausibility. ---
**Author:** ![svrider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb8c5e/32.png) [@svrider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/svrider)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-least-accurate-shows-about-your-profession/445397/34 "2008-04-15T19:26:23Z")
Not many shows about DBAs but I surely recognize many situation from the great UK series The IT Crowd from earlier in my career. Office Space is not that far off either. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-least-accurate-shows-about-your-profession/445397/35 "2008-04-15T19:28:18Z")
[QUOTE=pbbth] No one makes movies or shows about insurance agents, so I have no idea if they would portray the industry correctly or not. [/QUOTE] [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0420740/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0420740/) Here ya go! Give us a report ---
**Author:** ![TroubleAgain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-least-accurate-shows-about-your-profession/445397/36 "2008-04-15T19:53:04Z")
[QUOTE=Bayard] Alas, people quietly sitting on their asses and typing makes for pretty lousy entertainment. [/QUOTE] True. So true. IT is not as glamorous as most people think it is. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-least-accurate-shows-about-your-profession/445397/37 "2008-04-15T19:53:51Z")
I will have to see A Little Trip To Heaven, but honestly that Adjustor movie just looks like porn. My job is not very porno-like at all. The rest of my life, sure, but not my job! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-least-accurate-shows-about-your-profession/445397/38 "2008-04-15T20:22:53Z")
[QUOTE=Rico] And only ONE turntable? [/QUOTE] Nitpick: the studio shown on _WKRP_ definitely had two turntables. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-least-accurate-shows-about-your-profession/445397/39 "2008-04-15T20:31:00Z")
[QUOTE=beowulff] I’ve never seen a movie or TV show (other than a documentary) that was even remotely accurate about what I do - hardware / software / product development. [/QUOTE] Ditto. My favorite scene is when some character sits at a random computer terminal (that isn’t locked apparently) and types 600 words a minute without using a mouse, then declares “I’m in!” Bonus points if the keyboard plays a sound with every keystroke (beep boop bip bip beep boop) - yeah - that’s how my dev machines are set up. Extra bonus points if they’re only using ONE HAND while twirling and clicking a ballpoint pen with the other. Extra Extra bonus points if they have a gun to their head, have only 30 seconds to hack into a government encrypted system, and are getting a blowjob. As for a specific least accurate example: the made for TV movie Pirates Of Silicon Valley with Bender as Steve Ballmer and Noah Wylie as acid-dropping swami guru Steve Jobs was one of the top three comedies of all time for me. ---
**Author:** ![ASAKMOTSD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/919ad9/32.png) [@ASAKMOTSD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASAKMOTSD)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-least-accurate-shows-about-your-profession/445397/40 "2008-04-15T21:16:22Z")
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