# 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:** 177
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2024, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3522 "2024-04-10T02:51:21Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > If you turn on your bagpipe app, that’ll get some attention. Snort… 🤪 😆 ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2024, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3523 "2024-04-10T04:48:41Z")
I once worked with a married man who had a lot of trouble keeping it in his pants, with both women and men, and there was another co-worker who, after the guy’s wife threw him out (and no, he didn’t understand why) did exactly this. ---
**Author:** ![JacobSwan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@JacobSwan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JacobSwan)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2024, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3524 "2024-04-10T10:54:47Z")
> [@BertNobbins](#): > > There was nothing obviously different about this pub, and it was in Clerkenwell, a perfectly respectable area in London. It wasn’t the Betsey Trotwood by any chance? I used to work in that area and we drank in every pub except that one. Even though it was the one nearest the office. ---
**Author:** ![BertNobbins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3e96dc/32.png) [@BertNobbins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BertNobbins)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2024, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3525 "2024-04-10T17:03:48Z")
No. I’m talking of about 40 years ago, and neither the Slaughtered Lamb nor the Betsey Trotwood existed then. It might have been the Sutton Arms in Gt Sutton Street, but I’m not sure. Some pubs have of course disappeared since then. Why no love for the Betsey Trotwood? I’ve drunk in there a few times and it seems a perfectly decent pub. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2024, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3526 "2024-04-29T16:56:33Z")
7 posts were merged into an existing topic: [Gigabyte’s posts now live in the cornfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gigabytes-posts-now-live-in-the-cornfield/1000932/3) ---
**Author:** ![JacobSwan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@JacobSwan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JacobSwan)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2024, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3527 "2024-04-10T18:21:16Z")
> [@BertNobbins](#): > > Why no love for the Betsey Trotwood? I’ve drunk in there a few times and it seems a perfectly decent pub. This was about 20 years ago and the Betsey was full of miserable day drinkers. Atmosphere like a morgue. A Wetherspoons opened around the corner so they probably all migrated to there. ---
**Author:** ![BertNobbins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3e96dc/32.png) [@BertNobbins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BertNobbins)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2024, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3528 "2024-04-10T18:26:35Z")
The Wetherspoons must be The Sir John Oldcastle down the road. I’ve had many a pint there. Not during the day, though. ---
**Author:** ![JacobSwan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@JacobSwan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JacobSwan)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2024, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3529 "2024-04-10T18:30:56Z")
That’s the one. Only been in there once and it was Christmas Eve and the only place open. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2024, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3530 "2024-04-10T18:34:01Z")
> [@kwintenstraler](#): > > Also, hackers will be tapping fast and furious on the keyboard instead of, you know, using a program to do the work for you (and very much faster). No software person would type what can be scripted. They have to type on THAT computer because all of the data being downloaded shows up on their screen. ---
**Author:** ![BertNobbins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3e96dc/32.png) [@BertNobbins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BertNobbins)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2024, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3531 "2024-04-10T18:49:28Z")
_That’s the one. Only been in there once and it was Christmas Eve and the only place open._ Some people are rude about Spoons but they do serve a social function. They very rarely close a branch but the buggers closed down the one near me. (The Hudson Bay) ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3532 "2024-04-12T11:58:25Z")
> [@On another topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1000932/4): > > Watching that made my day. > > I get that sort of feeling when I show up on a strange forum, and make the mistake of posting something in a thread. > > I feel like all the regulars all turn and look, then look at each other, and for a moment are silent, before somebody starts punching me in the face. 😏 . . . 👊 ---
**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 20, 2024, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3534 "2024-04-20T02:17:25Z")
😁 I don’t know how they did it but I just used the emoji keyboard on my phone. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2024, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3535 "2024-04-20T03:07:31Z")
> [@On another topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1000932/12): > > How does one use emojis here? On the desktop version, you can type a colon, then start typing what emoji you are looking for. 🏎 is ```auto :racing_car: ``` ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2024, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3536 "2024-04-20T04:28:53Z")
On my tablet there’s a bar at the top with icons. I just click on the smiley icon 🐅 ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2024, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3537 "2024-04-21T00:26:40Z")
If you’re on a Windows PC, you can press the Windows key + semicolon. ---
**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:** [April 21, 2024, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3538 "2024-04-21T21:43:35Z")
Something that is extremely common in TV or movies but almost never happens in real life is when someone is in mortal danger and apparently completely helpless, yet somehow they survive. In so many dramatic TV shows and movies I find myself saying “okay, why aren’t they totally doomed at this point? 99.99% of people in this situation die.”. Now _very_ rarely this is done well: it either turns out they weren’t in as much danger as we thought, or they have a non cop-out way of escaping. But Hollywood has given people an unrealistic view of danger. Most people don’t know or aren’t willing to admit that some situations are practically unsurvivable, and you might live just long enough to miserably realize that you’re f-u-c-k-e-d. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2024, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3540 "2024-04-22T11:16:35Z")
> [@On another topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1000932/13): > > No parents, no kids, no friends, no cousins, no aunt or uncles, no significant other. Aside from the cast members of the show, or movie, there just isn’t anybody else. And sometimes it gets a little nuts - if the show or movie is set in a workplace, I don’t expect to see anyone but coworkers and if it’s a family show, well, I don’t see my siblings or cousins that often. But one show ( Blue Bloods, I think) , they’ve had a “Sunday dinner” going on for years - everyone on that show must have married someone who parents are dead _and_ who also comes from a long line of only children because no one ever misses that dinner except for kids off at college. There’s never a wedding or a baptism or a birthday party or a visit to grandma on the other side of the family that causes anyone to miss that dinner. ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2024, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3541 "2024-04-22T12:32:31Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > There’s never a wedding or a baptism or a birthday party or a visit to grandma on the other side of the family that causes anyone to miss that dinner. They killed off Linda, Danny’s wife, because she didn’t want to come to dinner. ---
**Author:** ![Jay\_Z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Jay\_Z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jay_Z)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2024, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3542 "2024-04-22T12:33:25Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > And sometimes it gets a little nuts - if the show or movie is set in a workplace, I don’t expect to see anyone but coworkers and if it’s a family show, well, I don’t see my siblings or cousins that often. But one show ( Blue Bloods, I think) , they’ve had a “Sunday dinner” going on for years - everyone on that show must have married someone who parents are dead _and_ who also comes from a long line of only children because no one ever misses that dinner except for kids off at college. There’s never a wedding or a baptism or a birthday party or a visit to grandma on the other side of the family that causes anyone to miss that dinner. There was a show a while back, Brothers And Sisters. Calista Flockhart and Matthew Rhys were a couple of the stars. It came down to the last season, and budgets were cut. So the stars only appeared in some of the episodes. Whereas in earlier seasons everyone would be there and they’d cut from one subplot to another, now an episode would focus almost exclusively on Calista Flockhart, then she wouldn’t even be in the next episode and they’d focus on other characters. And minor characters who weren’t featured that much before (and were played by less expensive actors) started getting more screen time. At one point the show lampshaded this by someone saying how sad it was that the family couldn’t all be together at the same time anymore, and showing an empty dinner table. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2024, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3545 "2024-04-22T21:04:32Z")
> [@On another topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1000932/14): > > But once you realize a series simply has no family ever interacting in any way with the main character, it gets nuts. > > It’s not that the main character has no siblings. They have no family at all. I suppose that’s better than in TV Hospital shows, where everys single relative to any of the stars comes in with something deadly serious. [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=176) [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=178)