# 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:** 178
**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:** [April 22, 2024, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3546 "2024-04-22T22:21:58Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > 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 I fully expect that, if I were to fall off a cliff and be hanging onto a tiny tree branch growing out of the cliff side, I’d be thinking “Hey, I’ve seen this setup before. Nothing to worry about…” ---
**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:** [April 22, 2024, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3547 "2024-04-22T22:59:14Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Looking for my first job, I remember having to travel all over the Northeast. Price Waterhouse flew me down to Virginia from a want ad I responded to in the newspaper (years later I would work for PwC as a manager). And you sort of applied for a “job” Hah! I wonder if we’ve ever run into each other! Likely not, as the Virginia office was the private sector and I was public sector. I worked for PW - was hired on “for a job”, not for a specific slot. I was actually “on the bench” for several weeks before they assigned me to a project. Some time after that, they went to the practice of only hiring for specific project slots. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2024, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3548 "2024-04-22T23:01:37Z")
That’s about as likely to happen as an anvil (ACME brand, of course) being dropped from a hot-air balloon by a coyote. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2024, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3549 "2024-04-22T23:14:26Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > > [@msmith537](#): > > > > Looking for my first job, I remember having to travel all over the Northeast. Price Waterhouse flew me down to Virginia from a want ad I responded to in the newspaper (years later I would work for PwC as a manager). And you sort of applied for a “job” > > Hah! I wonder if we’ve ever run into each other! Likely not, as the Virginia office was the private sector and I was public sector. > > I worked for PW - was hired on “for a job”, not for a specific slot. I was actually “on the bench” for several weeks before they assigned me to a project. > > Some time after that, they went to the practice of only hiring for specific project slots. Unlikely. I worked out of the PwC office in New York and I was only there not quite a year sometime later in the mid-2000s. ---
**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:** [April 22, 2024, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3550 "2024-04-22T23:15:56Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Unlikely. I worked out of the PwC office in New York and I was only there not quite a year sometime later in the mid-2000s. Yeah - we never bumped into each other then! ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2024, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3551 "2024-04-23T05:34:19Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > . 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, For example- if you follow Bear Grylls survival hints- you will die. He was doing some crazy acrobatic stuff that 95% of us can’t do, and even more if you are in a survival sitrep. And- no, you dont drink your urine. You _can_ eat bugs but better if they are toasted in a fire first. ---
**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:** [April 23, 2024, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3552 "2024-04-23T05:41:08Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > 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 Per the thread title, I’m under the impression that — if I’m ever being followed by armed pursuers — I just need to cross the street and give a look to my would-be assailants right before a vehicle inevitably passes between us and, man, I’m _gone._ ---
**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 23, 2024, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3553 "2024-04-23T07:55:38Z")
> [@digs](#): > > I fully expect that, if I were to fall off a cliff and be hanging onto a tiny tree branch growing out of the cliff side, I’d be thinking “Hey, I’ve seen this setup before. Nothing to worry about…” And it’s nice to know that if you fall or get pushed off of a building that you can hang on by your fingertips until you either pull yourself up or the bad guy has a change of heart. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2024, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3554 "2024-04-23T08:04:43Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > Or the cough medicine variant. > > Someone has a cold in the first act of an 80s or 90s sitcom → they get recommended something to take → say they feel much better but are acting weird → other lead character reads label and asks “how much of this have you had?” > > In the real world, yes, cough syrups often contain significant alcohol and you can go over the driving limit from drinking them, so you have to be careful. But I think you reach toxic levels before you could actually get drunk on them. Most of us prefer to have our headaches, nauseu and vomiting _after_ a good drinking sesh. that’s called roboing because a certain make of robotussin was used by teenagers to get a buzz from … and and as a tween I as sick and mom wasn’t home one night and I was tired of feeling bad so I started chugging from the bottle ,not something you’d wanna do really ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2024, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3555 "2024-04-23T10:48:33Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > > [@Lumpy](#): > > > > 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 > > Per the thread title, I’m under the impression that — if I’m ever being followed by armed pursuers — I just need to cross the street and give a look to my would-be assailants right before a vehicle inevitably passes between us and, man, I’m _gone._ You could grab some random coat and hat from wherever and just disappear. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2024, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3556 "2024-04-23T11:58:29Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > That’s about as likely to happen as an anvil (ACME brand, of course) being dropped from a hot-air balloon by a coyote. No hot air balloon or coyote, but, as I wrote in a piece for the SDMB e-zine _Teemings_, there _were_ situations in which you did have to “Watch out for Falling Anvils” I tried to dig it up via the Wayback Machine, but couldn’t find it. ---
**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:** [April 23, 2024, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3557 "2024-04-23T12:55:18Z")
[Was it this?](https://web.archive.org/web/20040426141454/http://www.teemings.com/issue01/anvils.html) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2024, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3558 "2024-04-23T14:31:36Z")
That’s it. Howe did you dig it up? I tried googling by the title and the title paired with “Wayback Machine”, and tried going to the Wayback Machine site and using their search function. None of that worked. ---
**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:** [April 23, 2024, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3559 "2024-04-23T15:19:22Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Howe did you dig it up? I tried googling by the title and the title paired with “Wayback Machine”, and tried going to the Wayback Machine site and using their search function. None of that worked. I checked the first issue, and saw it had a piece called _“Watch Out For Falling Anvils”_, and dropped my plan of checking the second issue and the third and so on; dumb muscle would’ve gotten it in the end, but dumb luck got it right at the start. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2024, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3560 "2024-04-23T15:23:11Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > I checked the first issue, and saw it had a piece called _“Watch Out For Falling Anvils”_, and dropped my plan of checking the second issue and the third and so on; dumb muscle would’ve gotten it in the end, but dumb luck got it right at the start. But how did you get tom the first issue? I couldn’t even do that. ---
**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:** [April 23, 2024, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3561 "2024-04-23T15:28:52Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > But how did you get tom the first issue? I went to [archive.org](http://archive.org) and typed in [teemings.com](http://teemings.com). ---
**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:** [April 23, 2024, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3562 "2024-04-23T18:23:53Z")
> [@scabpicker](#): > > Hehehe, we call the parking spot closest to the door of the establishment you want to visit “The Kojak spot”. AKA [Rock Star parking](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RockStarParking) or Charlie’s Angels parking. ---
**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:** [April 23, 2024, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3563 "2024-04-23T18:34:28Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > > [@Mijin](#): > > > > Or the cough medicine variant. > > > > Someone has a cold in the first act of an 80s or 90s sitcom → they get recommended something to take → say they feel much better but are acting weird → other lead character reads label and asks “how much of this have you had?” > > > > In the real world, yes, cough syrups often contain significant alcohol and you can go over the driving limit from drinking them, so you have to be careful. But I think you reach toxic levels before you could actually get drunk on them. Most of us prefer to have our headaches, nauseu and vomiting _after_ a good drinking sesh. > > that’s called roboing because a certain make of robotussin was used by teenagers to get a buzz from … and and as a tween I as sick and mom wasn’t home one night and I was tired of feeling bad so I started chugging from the bottle ,not something you’d wanna do really I’ve always called it robo-tripping. Dextromethorphan (DXM) has hallucinogenic properties if taken at high doses. You pretty much have to down an entire bottle at once. It’s not something you do by accident. It has to be much higher than the therapeutic dose. I’m no doctor but I believe it’s much more dangerous if you take a version with acetaminophen. The dose then becomes formula for liver failure. ---
**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:** [April 23, 2024, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3564 "2024-04-23T19:01:40Z")
Seems a mix of things. Family guy had stewie [getting drunk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9GES2aGiOA) on cough syrup, while the south park guys very explicitly [got high](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMwqJ5izGPY). ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2024, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3565 "2024-04-23T19:08:17Z")
Is anyone here following that bizarre story out of Oklahoma where two women, one of whom was involved in a long-term custody dispute, were murdered, and one of the suspects is the paternal grandmother of the children? Her initial plan was - I kid you not - putting an anvil on a truck and finding a way to catapult it into their car as it was driving down the highway. [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=177) [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=179)