# What bad habits or compulsions do you have that lessen your enjoyment of TV/movies/books? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 25, 2012, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-habits-or-compulsions-do-you-have-that-lessen-your-enjoyment-of-tv-movies-books/616785 "2012-03-25T20:24:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2012, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-habits-or-compulsions-do-you-have-that-lessen-your-enjoyment-of-tv-movies-books/616785/21 "2012-03-27T05:26:04Z")
It’s not a bad habit or a compulsion, but having ADHD and liking Law and Order do not mix, at all. You zone out for a minute during that show, and your up the creek. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2012, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-habits-or-compulsions-do-you-have-that-lessen-your-enjoyment-of-tv-movies-books/616785/22 "2012-03-27T10:56:46Z")
Tagging on to a comment earlier about researching basic facts, I find more often than not, shows with military characters or themes often screw up the simplest things because apparently the writers think they know what they need to know. Uniform errors abound. Terminology errors, also - there was a show where a nurse was talking about reenlisting. Um, nurses are officers. They don’t enlist. :rolleyes: Also, really senior ranking personnel who look like they’re 12 years old - criminy, match the age of the actor to the approximate age of the rank. And get the haircuts right, dammit!! One that seemed to occur in every show in the 70s - airliner in the air, pilot(s) incapacitated, hero of the show has to land the plane. It reached the peak of ridiculousness when The Incredible Hulk was in the cockpit. (just for clarity, the little boy I was babysitting loved that show, so I was forced to endure it…) At the time, I was a private pilot and from my limited knowledge of single engine planes, I was pretty sure someone who knew nothing was not going to be talked thru landing a 747. Sometimes suspension of disbelief is pretty much impossible. ---
**Author:** ![lorene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/65b543/32.png) [@lorene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorene)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2012, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-habits-or-compulsions-do-you-have-that-lessen-your-enjoyment-of-tv-movies-books/616785/23 "2012-03-27T11:28:58Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > Yes! If there are too many errors, I just can’t go on. I’m reading a book right now that I’m liking a lot, except that people keep getting “disorientated”. It’s like being jabbed in the eye every time I run across it. > > I have a terrible attention span for movie-watching. I will almost always look up the film on IMDB _while I am still watching it_, to see who the actors are or what mistakes to watch for. I do that too! The IMDB while watching the movie or TV show. I have to know right then and there what else I have seen this person in. I also agree with the book thing. I’ve been known to abandon books that would otherwise be enjoyable because I just can’t stand all the editing errors. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2012, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-habits-or-compulsions-do-you-have-that-lessen-your-enjoyment-of-tv-movies-books/616785/24 "2012-03-27T11:52:10Z")
Any time I hear a Wilhelm Scream it takes me right out of the film. Hint for those who don’t know what that is: don’t go and find out-once you really hear it for the first time you can’t “un-hear” it. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2012, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-habits-or-compulsions-do-you-have-that-lessen-your-enjoyment-of-tv-movies-books/616785/25 "2012-03-27T11:54:36Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > And people who refer to musical theatre “soundtracks.” Only movies have soundtracks; musicals have cast recordings. Movies have scores. Soundtracks are collections of pop songs tangentially connected with the movie. ---
**Author:** ![dogbutler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogbutler/32/428_2.png) [@dogbutler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dogbutler)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2012, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-habits-or-compulsions-do-you-have-that-lessen-your-enjoyment-of-tv-movies-books/616785/26 "2012-03-27T12:03:59Z")
One thing I picked up watching _The Walking Dead_, is where are all the rekilled zombies? If they overran a military poistion, the troops would at leat kill more than on or two. Also, how did a Centurion tank get in to downtown Atlanta? ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2012, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-habits-or-compulsions-do-you-have-that-lessen-your-enjoyment-of-tv-movies-books/616785/27 "2012-03-27T14:22:50Z")
I love movies. I really love them, even the mediocre ones. But once a bad mistake occurs, say a lousy SFX shot or plot hole happens, my suspension of disbelief is gone for the rest of the film. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2012, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-habits-or-compulsions-do-you-have-that-lessen-your-enjoyment-of-tv-movies-books/616785/28 "2012-03-27T21:00:56Z")
I am in no way, shape or form an engineer. But even I can see that a lot of spaceships in sci-fi movies are WAY over-engineered and have far too much unnecessary gadgetry and delicate gizmos that in real life would always be in need of repair or tune-up. A ship like the _Nostromo_, for instance, would probably need a couple of hundred people to keep it in working order, not less than a dozen yahoos who were too dumb to turn up the lights. It certainly lessens the _SO_’s enjoyment whenever we watch any sci-fi film other than _2001_. ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2012, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-habits-or-compulsions-do-you-have-that-lessen-your-enjoyment-of-tv-movies-books/616785/29 "2012-03-27T23:56:38Z")
I think I speak for the majority of people employed in the emergency medical care industry when I say “stop showing ineffective CPR on tv and movies.” Seriously, anyone who has done CPR can see just how aggravatingly ineffective those chest compressions are! I know, you can’t actually do real CPR on a person who doesn’t need it, or you’ll hurt them. That’s why you can’t show it! Use camera angle tricks or a dummy or something, but please, pretty please, stop showing people bending their elbows when they’re doing CPR. ---
**Author:** ![birdbrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dfb087/32.png) [@birdbrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/birdbrain)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2012, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-habits-or-compulsions-do-you-have-that-lessen-your-enjoyment-of-tv-movies-books/616785/30 "2012-03-28T00:40:44Z")
When watching a movie with an English audio track it annoys me when non English speaking characters in non English speaking countries speak to their non English speaking countrymen in English with accents. It just bothers me. I also hate when TV/movie characters assume the viewer won’t understand their esoteric dialog so they unnecessarily explain things to each other. The intent is obviously to not leave the average viewer out of the loop but it feels so forced. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2012, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-habits-or-compulsions-do-you-have-that-lessen-your-enjoyment-of-tv-movies-books/616785/31 "2012-03-28T08:38:26Z")
> [@birdbrain](#): > > I also hate when TV/movie characters assume the viewer won’t understand their esoteric dialog so they unnecessarily explain things to each other. The intent is obviously to not leave the average viewer out of the loop but it feels so forced. Plus someone who doesn’t know what the heck an HPLC is won’t know it when they spell it out anyway… as my mother once put it “who cares, it’s all magic boxes to me!” ---
**Author:** ![SunSandSuffering](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@SunSandSuffering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunSandSuffering)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2012, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-habits-or-compulsions-do-you-have-that-lessen-your-enjoyment-of-tv-movies-books/616785/32 "2012-03-28T11:07:05Z")
I’m a compulsive “pauser” ie. don’t let me near the remote control when watching something or I’ll keep pausing it to explain boring, but connected, trivia. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2012, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-habits-or-compulsions-do-you-have-that-lessen-your-enjoyment-of-tv-movies-books/616785/33 "2012-03-28T12:03:05Z")
I need to look up “familiar” guest-star actors, or I’ll spend the entire show or movie trying to figure out where I’ve seen them before. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2012, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-habits-or-compulsions-do-you-have-that-lessen-your-enjoyment-of-tv-movies-books/616785/34 "2012-03-28T13:44:14Z")
> [@SunSandSuffering](#): > > I’m a compulsive “pauser” ie. don’t let me near the remote control when watching something or I’ll keep pausing it to explain boring, but connected, trivia. Me too, but that only lessens OTHER people’s enjoyment of TV and movies. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2012, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-habits-or-compulsions-do-you-have-that-lessen-your-enjoyment-of-tv-movies-books/616785/35 "2012-03-28T14:26:52Z")
> [@VOW](#): > > I proofread automatically everything I read. It gets annoying. Yep, me, too. Editor by profession, so it is hard to turn off. Publishing houses do not have “house editors” anymore, it’s all done freelance, so standards have really dropped–even the major houses put out huge books with typos and other errors. I even second-guess line and word breaks. _The New Yorker_ has really gone downhill, editing-wise! With period movies and TV shows, I tend to mentally check off clothing, hair and makeup goofs. “Women did not wear lipstick or pluck their eyebrows in 1850 . . .” ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2012, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-habits-or-compulsions-do-you-have-that-lessen-your-enjoyment-of-tv-movies-books/616785/36 "2012-03-28T14:28:41Z")
Like most people that have an understanding of computers, I find how they are portrayed (Hollywood OS, miracle “can we clean that up a bit”, [random pieces of jargon](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkDD03yeLnU) and whatnot) most of the time both in Film and TV maddening. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2012, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-habits-or-compulsions-do-you-have-that-lessen-your-enjoyment-of-tv-movies-books/616785/37 "2012-03-28T14:32:06Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Yep, me, too. Editor by profession, so it is hard to turn off. Publishing houses do not have “house editors” anymore, it’s all done freelance, so standards have really dropped–even the major houses put out huge books with typos and other errors. I even second-guess line and word breaks. _The New Yorker_ has really gone downhill, editing-wise! > > With period movies and TV shows, I tend to mentally check off clothing, hair and makeup goofs. “Women did not wear lipstick or pluck their eyebrows in 1850 . . .” Hair. The hair is always the worst. Pan Am bothered me so much I quit watching it. ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2012, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-habits-or-compulsions-do-you-have-that-lessen-your-enjoyment-of-tv-movies-books/616785/38 "2012-03-28T14:58:09Z")
> [@birdbrain](#): > > When watching a movie with an English audio track it annoys me when non English speaking characters in non English speaking countries speak to their non English speaking countrymen in English with accents. It just bothers me. > > I also hate when TV/movie characters assume the viewer won’t understand their esoteric dialog so they unnecessarily explain things to each other. The intent is obviously to not leave the average viewer out of the loop but it feels so forced. It’s especially annoying when they explain something poorly. Makes me slap my forehead and makes my DH crazy when I point it out. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2012, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-habits-or-compulsions-do-you-have-that-lessen-your-enjoyment-of-tv-movies-books/616785/39 "2012-03-28T15:28:02Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > With period movies and TV shows, I tend to mentally check off clothing, hair and makeup goofs. “Women did not wear lipstick or pluck their eyebrows in 1850 . . .” My wife likes to gripe about women in TV/movies who wear makeup to bed, or while swimming, or while on a commando raid, etc. I don’t even notice it. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2012, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-habits-or-compulsions-do-you-have-that-lessen-your-enjoyment-of-tv-movies-books/616785/40 "2012-03-28T15:29:12Z")
I’m a botanist, and I notice plants in the background. “Yeah right, you’re supposed to be in the middle of nowhere. Yet there are nettles, on dry ground. So you’re near either a pasture or a settlement.” “It is supposed to be winter? Look at all the green leaves on that beech! You’re just spraypainting fake snow over some March trees!” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-habits-or-compulsions-do-you-have-that-lessen-your-enjoyment-of-tv-movies-books/616785.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-habits-or-compulsions-do-you-have-that-lessen-your-enjoyment-of-tv-movies-books/616785.md?page=3)