# What is extremely common in real life but almost never happens on TV or movies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [January 20, 2025, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-real-life-but-almost-never-happens-on-tv-or-movies/1013143 "2025-01-20T00:56:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**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:** [January 20, 2025, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-real-life-but-almost-never-happens-on-tv-or-movies/1013143/1 "2025-01-20T00:56:43Z")
Companion thread to[this thread.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311) Going to the bathroom occasionally happens but is orders of magnitude shown less on the big or small screen. That’s probably a good thing. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2025, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-real-life-but-almost-never-happens-on-tv-or-movies/1013143/2 "2025-01-20T00:59:52Z")
Ragtag group of misfit underdogs beats establishment at its own game. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2025, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-real-life-but-almost-never-happens-on-tv-or-movies/1013143/3 "2025-01-20T01:01:05Z")
My post in the “mother” thread: > [@What is extremely common in TV or movies but almost never happens in real life?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4589): > > > [@What is extremely common in TV or movies but almost never happens in real life?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4583): > > > > Seconded that we need a spin-off thread: > > > > Police detectives are called to the scene of a homicide. It turns out to be a dirt-common impulse killing after a drunken argument escalated into a fight. > > And then… we watch them do paperwork. And chat with coworkers about their favorite movies, and how unrealistic cop shows are. And then they leave at 5 and pick up takeout on the way home to get some time with their family… where they… _don’t obsess about The Case!_ ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2025, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-real-life-but-almost-never-happens-on-tv-or-movies/1013143/4 "2025-01-20T01:06:25Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > Ragtag group of misfit underdogs beats establishment at its own game. Sounds like somebody failed to actually read the OP & title. Which is also stunningly common in real life but very rarely happens in the movies; messageboards being nearly absent from modern entertainment. 😁 ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2025, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-real-life-but-almost-never-happens-on-tv-or-movies/1013143/5 "2025-01-20T01:21:37Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Which is also stunningly common in real life but very rarely happens in the movies; messageboards being nearly absent from modern entertainment Yep even spending time on a computer is rarely seen. A quick, and always successful, google-ish search is pretty much all that you get. …I suspect that this is going to be a tricky thread without some ground rules. There’s obviously a plethora of totally mundane things rarely shown on TV, and it’s also tempting to give examples that are really talking about TV tropes, but negated. ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2025, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-real-life-but-almost-never-happens-on-tv-or-movies/1013143/6 "2025-01-20T01:44:19Z")
Being on your cellphone while walking and talking at the same time, and another call comes in; you inevitably bungle putting the first caller on hold while simultaneously hanging up on both callers. Hollywood never has this problem–they switch between calls with ease. Tripler I do this _constantly_–stoopid iPhone. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2025, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-real-life-but-almost-never-happens-on-tv-or-movies/1013143/7 "2025-01-20T01:54:30Z")
I feel like this must have happened to Larry on _Curb Your Enthusiasm_ at some point. ---
**Author:** ![GESancMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gesancman/32/2923_2.png) [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2025, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-real-life-but-almost-never-happens-on-tv-or-movies/1013143/8 "2025-01-20T04:54:37Z")
When people talk in real life, there are often lots of “uhs”, “ums”, “ya knows”, and so on. You rarely see this on TV or in the movies - dialog is always smooth and continuous… and unrealistic. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2025, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-real-life-but-almost-never-happens-on-tv-or-movies/1013143/9 "2025-01-20T06:18:30Z")
Masterbation. Unless you count porn movies, obviously. Then its really common, but still not as common as real life. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2025, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-real-life-but-almost-never-happens-on-tv-or-movies/1013143/10 "2025-01-20T06:56:17Z")
Saying “goodbye” before hanging up the phone. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2025, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-real-life-but-almost-never-happens-on-tv-or-movies/1013143/11 "2025-01-20T10:05:22Z")
> [@Tripler](#): > > Being on your cellphone while walking and talking at the same time, and another call comes in; you inevitably bungle putting the first caller on hold while simultaneously hanging up on both callers. Hollywood never has this problem–they switch between calls with ease. I never even try to switch and honestly have no clue how to do so. I’m an Android user. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2025, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-real-life-but-almost-never-happens-on-tv-or-movies/1013143/12 "2025-01-20T12:03:25Z")
> [@Seanette](#): > > I never even try to switch and honestly have no clue how to do so. I’m an Android user. If you look at the screen while the second call is ringing / beeping you’ll see some new buttons / words have appeared. On my Samsung Android it looks about like - Answer [name of new caller] & put [name of old caller] on hold - Answer [name of new caller] & hang up on [name of old caller] - Merge the two calls together. With the invisible implied “do nothing” fourth option being - Ignore [name of new caller] and they’ll be sent to voicemail soon. That’s fairly idiot-proof. Except if … - You tap one of those buttons with your cheek unwittingly and unnoticed. - You tap the button to change calls just as the incoming call jumps to voicemail and disappears from your phone. - You tell the first person “Oh, I’ve got a call I need to take; I’ll be right back”, and they unexpectedly hang up and the first call disappears from your phone just as you’re tapping one of the three new buttons. - You’re still reading your screen and considering your choices when the incoming call jumps to voicemail and disappears from your phone. In my personal case … Very often my phone only rings twice before the call jumps to voicemail, rather than the 4 or 5 rings I’d prefer. Suggesting the system thinks my phone is actually making noise a few seconds before it is. Or maybe the world has just gotten less patient & the phone carriers know it and have programmed the forward-to-VM timer appropriately short. As such, unless my phone is sitting out next to me while I’m seated with a free hand, I often cannot answer it before the call jumps to VM a moment too soon. That same effect applies to a second call while I’m on a call. By the time I can notice the sounds of a second call coming in, look at the phone, make a decision, and get my grubby finger pointed at the desired button, the second call is about to disappear, or just did. And no, I’m not a slow-moving geezer. Yet. ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2025, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-real-life-but-almost-never-happens-on-tv-or-movies/1013143/13 "2025-01-20T12:08:20Z")
I don’t know what’s common for everyone but for me… Around the house, people don’t wear shoes, people wear comfy clothes - they don’t look like they just came off the shelf. Hair and stuff isn’t perfect. People scratch, cough, etc. from time to time. There are occasional short side conversations - oh, Sally called… ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2025, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-real-life-but-almost-never-happens-on-tv-or-movies/1013143/14 "2025-01-20T13:11:47Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > …I suspect that this is going to be a tricky thread without some ground rules. There’s obviously a plethora of totally mundane things rarely shown on TV, and it’s also tempting to give examples that are really talking about TV tropes, but negated. But…if you leave out mundane stuff and negated tropes, what’s left? When I half-jokingly suggested starting a thread like this in the other, ‘mother’ thread, I used a couple negated tropes: > [@What is extremely common in TV or movies but almost never happens in real life?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4579): > > Hmm, might make for a good spinoff thread… Somebody has a cough— and it’s not a harbinger of death! It’s just a mild cold or minor throat irritation. A young woman of childbearing age throws up— and she’s not pregnant! She just has Norovirus. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2025, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-real-life-but-almost-never-happens-on-tv-or-movies/1013143/15 "2025-01-20T13:22:18Z")
Well there might be some interesting parts of the human experience that have been relatively neglected, possibly due to the difficulty in trying to convey them in visual media, or just for no particular reason. I thought the minor illness was a good example; it’s a PITA thing (sometimes literally) that even young and fit people will experience once or twice a year. But it’s hard to make that into anything meaningful in a story. Whereas a character suffering a life-threatening illness, alien parasite etc is. So Chekov’s cough is rarely just the common cold (especially now that the meme of getting drunk on cough medicine is a tired trope). ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2025, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-real-life-but-almost-never-happens-on-tv-or-movies/1013143/16 "2025-01-20T15:51:44Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > Going to the bathroom occasionally happens but is orders of magnitude shown less on the big or small screen. That’s probably a good thing. Especially after getting up after a good night’s sleep. People in movies do all kinds of things immediately after getting up, from cooking breakfast, having sex up to fighting baddies, but no one ever takes a pee first thing in the morning, like everybody in real life does. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2025, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-real-life-but-almost-never-happens-on-tv-or-movies/1013143/17 "2025-01-20T16:03:49Z")
You know how you can be walking down a familiar staircase, think you have one more riser to go but you don’t and you try walking through the floor or end up hitting the deck? Never see that in a movie. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2025, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-real-life-but-almost-never-happens-on-tv-or-movies/1013143/18 "2025-01-20T16:07:46Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > no one ever takes a pee first thing in the morning, like everybody in real life does. Jim Carrey’s character did in _Me, Myself & Irene_; but you’re right that it’s rare. ---
**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:** [January 20, 2025, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-real-life-but-almost-never-happens-on-tv-or-movies/1013143/19 "2025-01-20T16:15:38Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > I thought the minor illness was a good example; it’s a PITA thing (sometimes literally) that even young and fit people will experience once or twice a year. But it’s hard to make that into anything meaningful in a story. Whereas a character suffering a life-threatening illness, alien parasite etc is. So Chekov’s cough is rarely just the common cold (especially now that the meme of getting drunk on cough medicine is a tired trope). I seem to recall an episode of _ **Law & Order: SVU** _ in which Det. Olivia Benson was struggling with a bad case of the flu. As far as I recall the main import of that was simply that Benson was having to defend herself against Internal Affairs when not at her best. ETA: it was a bit more than that; the fact that Benson had been home sick without seeing anyone left her with no alibi for a murder IAD pegged her for. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2025, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-real-life-but-almost-never-happens-on-tv-or-movies/1013143/20 "2025-01-20T16:18:19Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > > [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > > > no one ever takes a pee first thing in the morning, like everybody in real life does. > > Jim Carrey’s character did in _Me, Myself & Irene_; but you’re right that it’s rare. Will Smith’s character did so in _Independence Day_ as well. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-real-life-but-almost-never-happens-on-tv-or-movies/1013143.md?page=2)