# What is extremely common in TV or movies but almost never happens in real life? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 6, 2021, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311 "2021-02-06T04:16:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 102
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2022, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2022 "2022-09-11T21:51:18Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > The most recent example of this is in the newest Resident Evil movie where a gasoline tanker truck explodes less than 50 feet away from a rookie cop wearing headphones and the cop does not hear it at all. You think he’d feel the heat, if nothing else. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2022, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2023 "2022-09-11T22:22:21Z")
Wasn’t it J. I. Rodale, founder of the press that still bears his name? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2022, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2024 "2022-09-11T23:44:55Z")
See my post above from 9 September. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2022, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2025 "2022-09-12T00:57:09Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Ah, Chekhov’s radiator. In Almadovar’s film _Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown_, there was Chekhov’s gazpacho. ---
**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:** [September 12, 2022, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2026 "2022-09-12T12:07:27Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > In films and TV when a room includes an old fashioned radiator, someone will eventually be handcuffed to it. I had to revisit this because Mrs. solost and I were watching a show last night in which someone was handcuffed to an old-fashioned radiator. Mrs. solost was probably wondering why I was laughing quietly to myself. The show if anyone’s curious: Devil in Ohio, Netflix ---
**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:** [September 13, 2022, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2027 "2022-09-13T02:21:50Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > And I seem to remember hearing that bell in movies or TV shows set in universities or colleges, though we never had that bell when I was there. I attended a junior college where the main building was a former high school. Apparently the bell system still worked; it started off one day while remodeling was going on, que mass confusion from students and faculty. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2022, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2028 "2022-09-13T04:28:21Z")
Two guys are in an epic fist fight. One guy knocks the other down, and before he can hit him again, he reaches down and lifts the guy up, giving the guy an opportunity to continue the fight. If I’m in a life or death fight with someone, he’s not getting back up if I can help it. This was a scenario in every early tv show, and all westerns. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2022, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2029 "2022-09-13T07:37:36Z")
Small towns where a local business owner has killed DOZENS of people including cops to ensure his business and thus profits aren’t interrupted and somehow gets away with it. Yeah some business that probably doesn’t even make a million a year is going to have the clout to murder a decent chunk of the local population and everyone knows it but doesn’t say anything because without it the town would be dead, except for the people in town who are already dead of course. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2022, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2030 "2022-09-13T15:46:58Z")
Oh, yeah! Serial killers and crazy stalkers with marginal jobs are able to buy FBI-level surveillance equipment, expensive, complicated tool for accomplishing their crimes, storage areas, and more complicated equipment for torture, or for disposing of bodies. ---
**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:** [September 13, 2022, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2031 "2022-09-13T15:54:40Z")
Movies or shows (I’m looking at you Hallmark Channel) are set in small towns but these towns have all the features that are generally reserved for larger areas. “Parks and Recreation” was also bad about this. It claimed to be set in a small town in Indiana but they had a very large police force, many parks, extravagant city hall facilities, and even luxurious offices for their what would normally be unpaid city council. ---
**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:** [September 13, 2022, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2032 "2022-09-13T17:03:32Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > “Parks and Recreation” was also bad about this. It claimed to be set in a small town in Indiana but they had a very large police force, many parks, extravagant city hall facilities, and even luxurious offices for their what would normally be unpaid city council. > [@](#): > > Pawnee is said to be the seventh-largest municipality in Indiana. This would put its population between 80,294 and 80,405, the populations of the real ranking sixth and seventh largest cities in Indiana, [Bloomington](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloomington,_Indiana) and [Gary](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary,_Indiana). However, Pawnee’s population has also been described as between 50,000 and 70,000.[[2]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pawnee_(Parks_and_Recreation)#cite_note-2) Per the book _Pawnee: The Greatest Town in America_, the town is “roughly the same size as [Bismarck, North Dakota](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bismarck,_North_Dakota)” — which had a population of 61,272 as of the [2010 United States Census](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_United_States_Census). As of the 2000 Census, Pawnee had a population of 79,218 according to NBC’s fictional Pawnee website. (from [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pawnee_(Parks_and_Recreation))) ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2022, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2033 "2022-09-13T18:30:33Z")
That was how I always pictured Pawnee. Not a small town, but a small _city_. Someplace similar to say, La Crosse, Wisconsin. ---
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2022, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2034 "2022-09-13T19:01:36Z")
> [@SlipperyPete](#): > > Falling off a roof and being impaled by something. Has never happened to me even once. @SlipperyPete Given your username, I’m happy to hear that. ---
**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:** [September 13, 2022, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2035 "2022-09-13T19:08:47Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Two guys are in an epic fist fight. One guy knocks the other down, and before he can hit him again, he reaches down and lifts the guy up, giving the guy an opportunity to continue the fight. If I’m in a life or death fight with someone, he’s not getting back up if I can help it. Reminds me of the lampshading of that trope in Firefly (paraphrased): Mal and Big Baddie in a fight to the death. Crew arrives, “We’ll save you, Captain!” Zoë: “Hold your fire, this is something the Captain has to do one-on-one.” Mal: “No, it’s NOT! Shoot him!” ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2022, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2036 "2022-09-14T20:06:58Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Two guys are in an epic fist fight. One guy knocks the other down, and before he can hit him again, he reaches down and lifts the guy up, giving the guy an opportunity to continue the fight Related, it always strikes me as contrived when there’s a brutal hand-to-hand fight to the death between two expert combatants, and there are actually swings and back-and-forths. I would have thought, without knowing a thing about it, that any time one combatant got a serious advantage – landed a really substantial blow on their opponent, knocked them dizzy for a moment, whatever – it would be all over because the person with the temporary advantage would instantly pounce and do something truly incapacitating while the other guy’s attention wasn’t fully on defense. But there are plenty of on-screen fights in which one person is WAY ahead, clearly temporarily having their way with the other person, but then after a while of being brutally pounded on with basically no defense, they get a second wind and get back in the fight (and, likely, end up winning). Total BS? ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2022, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2037 "2022-09-14T20:17:00Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > Related, it always strikes me as contrived when there’s a brutal hand-to-hand fight to the death between two expert combatants, and there are actually swings and back-and-forths. Happens all the time. Don’t you watch WWE? ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2022, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2038 "2022-09-16T13:44:28Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > And I seem to remember hearing that bell in movies or TV shows set in universities or colleges, though we never had that bell when I was there. The older buildings where I went to college still had a bell system. They rang four times an hour, at the times when a class might potentially be starting or finishing. They shut it off soon after I graduated because there was a major overhaul of the schedules and the hardware couldn’t be altered to ring the bells at other times. I knew it probably wasn’t normal based on the number of instructors who griped about it going off. ---
**Author:** ![Dogginit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogginit/32/16920_2.png) [@Dogginit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogginit)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2022, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2039 "2022-09-17T20:12:26Z")
> [@solost](#): > > > [@SlipperyPete](#): > > > > Falling off a roof and being impaled by something. Has never happened to me even once. > > If it does happen, I’m sure it’s at most only once. > > ETA: I hate to be that guy, but I can’t resist: nice username / post combo! Just do a quick search for " Falling Impalement on Rebar News Stories", happens more often than you might think… ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2022, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2040 "2022-09-18T17:05:47Z")
Chekhov’s Radiator? > **[Chekhov's gun](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chekhov%27s_gun)** > > Chekhov's gun (Chekhov's rifle; Russian: Чеховское ружьё) is a narrative principle that states that every element in a story must be necessary, and irrelevant elements should be removed. Alternatively explained, suppose a writer features a gun in a story; if the writer features it, there must be a reason for it, such as it being fired sometime later in the plot. All elements must eventually come into play at some point in the story. > The principle is recorded in letters by Anton Chekhov several t... ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2022, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2041 "2022-09-19T05:11:35Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > Related, it always strikes me as contrived when there’s a brutal hand-to-hand fight to the death between two expert combatants, and there are actually swings and back-and-forths. One of the Bourne movies – can’t remember which one – refreshingly had a scene where he enters his apartment to find an agent tossing it. A fight ensues and instead of your typical cinematic mano a mano fight was simply, block - block - block - block until the bad guy made a mistake and was killed, rather more like I’d expect if two trained, experienced killers went at it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311.md?page=101) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311.md?page=103)