# 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:** 13
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2021, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/241 "2021-02-08T03:09:44Z")
No, it was the kid: > **[Boy, 8, accidentally kills self at gun show](https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna27399337)** > > An 8-year-old boy died after accidentally shooting himself in the head while firing an Uzi submachine gun under adult supervision at a gun fair. “It’s all fun and games until someone shoots themselves in the head…” ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2021, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/242 "2021-02-08T03:11:20Z")
Okay, so both versions happened. ---
**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:** [February 8, 2021, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/243 "2021-02-08T03:20:50Z")
Holy crap. Maybe children and Uzis don’t mix, after all. ---
**Author:** ![TiberiusNeroClaudius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f04885/32.png) [@TiberiusNeroClaudius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TiberiusNeroClaudius)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2021, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/244 "2021-02-08T04:12:06Z")
One of the Corpsman when I was in the military once remarked how unlike in training films (and later “Baywatch”) the person in real life needing CPR is never a pretty woman. Usually a middle age alcoholic man who vomits in your mouth.Baywatch was great for guessing “will it be two breaths or three” for the Hof to revive her? Will she cough? Once she even died but it turned out she was dead already so even the Hof couldn’t save her. Electronic Technicians in movies always giving time estimates to fix problems. Wrong. Fixing is usually easy. Diagnosis is the hard part and can vary…there may be more than one problem once things arc and spark ---
**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:** [February 8, 2021, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/245 "2021-02-08T04:52:22Z")
> [@TiberiusNeroClaudius](#): > > Electronic Technicians in movies always giving time estimates to fix problems. Wrong. Fixing is usually easy. Diagnosis is the hard part and can vary…there may be more than one problem once things arc and spark. As an Electrical Engineering buddy of mine puts it, “Once you let the smoke out, you’ll never get it back in.” ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2021, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/246 "2021-02-08T05:04:41Z")
> [@TiberiusNeroClaudius](#): > > One of the Corpsman when I was in the military once remarked how unlike in training films (and later “Baywatch”) the person in real life needing CPR is never a pretty woman. Usually a middle age alcoholic man who vomits in your mouth.Baywatch was great for guessing “will it be two breaths or three” for the Hof to revive her? Will she cough? Once she even died but it turned out she was dead already so even the Hof couldn’t save her. > Electronic Technicians in movies always giving time estimates to fix problems. Wrong. Fixing is usually easy. Diagnosis is the hard part and can vary…there may be more than one problem once things arc and spark Also if they are in need of CPR and not already in a hospital most likely they will be staying dead. Multiple things have to line up just right for CPR to save a life without even taking into account that there was a damn good reason why they needed CPR in the first place. As for the cops using their guns topic. The town I work in has existed for well over 300 years. There have been four police involved shootings in which there was one wounded and one killed. All 100% justified. The vast number of people who held the job over the years never used their weapon. There are a ton of them about weapons and cops that are ridiculous and lead to the public having very unrealistic views on how things should be. If one cop dies in the line of duty everyone is devastated. There is a giant solemn funeral with bagpipes. The hero uses it to fuel his sense of revenge. On TV it may be a plot point for a season or two. That is if it’s one of the stars. 20 cops can be gunned down and no one notices as long as they didn’t have speaking roles. In the first Lethal Weapon movie Mr Joshua is going after the Murtagh family for revenge at the end. He doesn’t know it’s a set up. They knew he was coming and left a note on the Christmas tree which leads to the final fight. So why didn’t they let the two officers who were guarding the house outside know what was happening? Was letting them get murdered part of the plan to lull Joshua into a false sense of security? They were just extras after all so I guess their murders don’t count. ---
**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:** [February 8, 2021, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/247 "2021-02-08T05:08:31Z")
> [@Tripler](#): > > Giant blazing fireballs from high explosives’ detonations. Sorry Hollywood, but C4 and SEMTEX don’t generate giant fireballs like your petroleum-based-effects’ pyrotechnic shots do. This was lampshaded in the Jim Carey Grinch movie. When he ran a tiny Whomobile into a hydrant it exploded, generating a fireball at least ten stories high. He did the don’t look back at the explosion thing as well, but he was running, not walking. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2021, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/248 "2021-02-08T05:16:29Z")
> [@Leftwix](#): > > A staple in soap operas is amnesia, very rare in real life I believe. I don’t remember ever seeing this in a soap opera. ---
**Author:** ![Newtosite](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/newtosite/32/8623_2.png) [@Newtosite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Newtosite)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2021, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/249 "2021-02-08T05:44:16Z")
I saw it in As the World Turns in the 60’s. One of the characters had amnesia for a time, and it was very dramatic when her memory suddenly returned. ---
**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:** [February 8, 2021, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/250 "2021-02-08T06:16:12Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > > [@Leftwix](#): > > > > A staple in soap operas is amnesia, very rare in real life I believe. > > I don’t remember ever seeing this in a soap opera. I’ve seen it many times but I haven’t watched soap operas since the 80’s. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2021, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/251 "2021-02-08T06:23:28Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > > [@Leftwix](#): > > > > A staple in soap operas is amnesia, very rare in real life I believe. > > I don’t remember ever seeing this in a soap opera. I see what you did there. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2021, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/252 "2021-02-08T06:37:12Z")
People, angered at the content of phone call, throwing their own cell phone into a solid object or large body of water. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2021, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/253 "2021-02-08T08:36:44Z")
this happens a lot in movies and especially video games…the American street gang/mafia etc has more members than the army natl guard and police force …the lone hero mows through them all…even the biggest mafia family had what 50 members at the most? Now in Mexico and South America, this might not apply, ---
**Author:** ![Bonum\_Legatum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bonum_legatum/32/6183_2.png) [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2021, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/254 "2021-02-08T10:38:17Z")
Amnesia in soap operas: In the book “Tune In Tomorrow”, radio actor Mary Jane Higby wrote that it was introduced as a plot device in the 1930’s when it “struck Joe in the radio show ‘Mary Marlon’”… Ratings shot up for that show, so writers used the same device. Then it was discovered that there was an error in the rating calculation and there had been no effect – but by then it had become a common plot device. ---
**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:** [February 8, 2021, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/255 "2021-02-08T11:58:07Z")
> In the first Lethal Weapon movie Mr Joshua is going after the Murtagh family for revenge at the end. He doesn’t know it’s a set up. They knew he was coming and left a note on the Christmas tree which leads to the final fight. So why didn’t they let the two officers who were guarding the house outside know what was happening? Was letting them get murdered part of the plan to lull Joshua into a false sense of security? **They were just extras after all so I guess their murders don’t count.** > _(Bolding by Tripler)_ This reminds me of something, that may be a subtle hijack: James T. Kirk has a never-ending supply of “[redshirts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redshirt_(stock_character))” to go through while on away missions. But that’s not the point I wanted to make: Hollywood typically has the CO and high-level commanders on away missions. To my knowledge, this never happens. Now, I can’t speak for the Navy or Coast Guard, but I’m going to put dollars to donuts, that the Captain is a little too busy overseeing the strategic/operational mission and running the ship, to be meddling in a tactical field trip. You’d have experienced NCOs, and _maybe_ a junior CGO on an away team or patrol. But not the full Command Staff. Tripler Yeah, yeah, I know that everyone in Starfleet is apparently an Officer. There’s a thread about it I’ll link to later on. . . ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2021, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/256 "2021-02-08T12:38:50Z")
No landmines are designed to arm when stepped on with a loud audible “click” and then detonate when you take your foot off. They just explode. Software engineers and hackers do not pound away at their keyboards while streams of code flash by on the screen. ---
**Author:** ![DemonTree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demontree/32/8646_2.png) [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2021, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/257 "2021-02-08T14:03:35Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > Maybe my experience was atypical, but I didn’t need anyone telling me “Puuuush! Puuuush!! One more!” In fact, my Dr kept telling me not to push. I dunno - my body was doing what it needed to do, and I don’t recall having a whole lot of control over the contractions. Mine was the opposite. The midwife kept telling me to push harder. The baby was only small, too. She also said ‘one more push’ after I got the head out, which turned out not to be necessary. > [@Morgyn](#): > > I had a boss once who delivered her second child in about an hour and a half. In fact, the baby was delivered by a plumber working in a bathroom nearby because despite her telling the nurse the baby was coming _ **now** _ , the nurse decided my boss didn’t know what she was talking about, said it would be hours yet, and left her screaming for help in the room. Luckily the plumber heard her. Why do so many childbirth stories include the medical staff ignoring what the mother says and her previous experiences, and insisting they know better? ---
**Author:** ![blabbermeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9a140/32.png) [@blabbermeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blabbermeister)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2021, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/258 "2021-02-08T14:17:56Z")
In sitcoms, when someone gets amnesia they can easily be convinced to do things they don’t like and wouldn’t normally do. ---
**Author:** ![DemonTree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demontree/32/8646_2.png) [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2021, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/259 "2021-02-08T14:21:48Z")
> [@digs](#): > > “Tough day, Gimme a beer.” > “We’ve got Fantasy Factory, Spotted Cow, Blue Moon…”, > “Really tough day. Just gimme a beer.” > “That’s too bad. You want a hoppy small-batch IPA, or a Pilsner from a mega-bottler?” > “A beer.” cf “So, you in the mood for a bottle, a can, or personally I’d go for a b jnħnħ nbbbbb in a tall cold pint glass.” > “Give. Me. A. Beer.” > “Okay, here’s your Natty Light…” > “Pfffft! _[spits first mouthful all over the bar]_ … What _IS_ this crap?” When I worked in a pub we had a range of beers of various types and prices, but the ‘standard’ beer was the cheapest generic lager. So if someone just asked for a beer, they’d get a pint of Carling. Similarly if you asked for vodka you’d get Smirnoff, unless we had been told to try and upsell. ---
**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:** [February 8, 2021, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/260 "2021-02-08T14:37:44Z")
I’d just like to point out to the teeming millions here that my original post was clever, entertaining and made sense. It was DemonTree who changed some of it into a garbled mess. Though come to think of it, a _b jnħnħ nbbbbb_ in a tall cold pint glass might be just what we need about now… [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=12) [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=14)