# 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:** 20
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2021, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/381 "2021-02-10T22:33:02Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > someone will surprise a character with a puppy or some other pet in the belief As it happens, the Open Source software project ‘Rust’ is moving to a new home this week to get better support and management. As a member of the core team commented: > Too often still, both industry and hobbyists alike see open source as without cost, but unlike the canonical saying ‘free as in beer,’ open source is more akin to ‘free as in puppy.’ 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![bobsmom101](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobsmom101/32/2867_2.png) [@bobsmom101](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobsmom101)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2021, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/382 "2021-02-10T23:15:19Z")
The cliche of catching a falling person with one hand was mentioned above, and coincidentally there was an actual case reported yesterday in Tuolumne County. A suicidal man jumped from a bridge and a sheriff’s deputy caught his arm on the descent and held him by one hand until assistance arrived to haul him up. There’s a photo of the victim hanging from the deputy’s hand in the cite: > **[Deputy's Split-Second Reaction Saves Man From 150-Foot Fall](https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/tuolumne-county-deputy-parrotts-ferry-bridge/)** > > Reaching out to help, a Tuolumne County deputy saved a man's life on Parrotts Ferry bridge Monday morning.  I guess that’s why the thread title is _almost_ never happens in real life. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2021, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/383 "2021-02-11T00:04:23Z")
Man, that’s one hell of a catch. ---
**Author:** ![XOldiesJock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ec9cab/32.png) [@XOldiesJock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XOldiesJock)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2021, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/384 "2021-02-11T00:52:48Z")
> [@Astrid1](#): > > Someone being fired and leaving the office with a brown box full of its stuff (usually a framed family picture is the last thing to be put in it after sobbing…) > Does this happen in real life? I’m sure it probably does. I’ve actually seen someone **walk out** of a job in this way. I was working for a non-profit organization that was hell on earth. I was sitting in my office when our division director walked by carrying a cardboard box and proceed to the parking lot, get in her car and drive off. Not a word was said. A couple of hours later I got a call from upstairs: “Have you seen Angela?” I reported (with a certain amount of inner satisfaction in my mind) what I had seen. The people upstairs went **ballistic.** They tried calling her but she refused to answer or call back. (This happened quite often at other division offices too.) The truth was, however, she was terrible at her job and I unfortunately got stuck handling the big fundraising event she was supposed to be handling, a mere six weeks out. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2021, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/385 "2021-02-11T01:33:45Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Land, sea, or air, the XO job is crazy-making. You can say that again. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2021, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/386 "2021-02-11T01:41:33Z")
> [@bobsmom101](#): > > The cliche of catching a falling person with one hand was mentioned above, and coincidentally there was an actual case reported yesterday in Tuolumne County. A suicidal man jumped from a bridge and a sheriff’s deputy caught his arm on the descent and held him by one hand until assistance arrived to haul him up. > > … > > I guess that’s why the thread title is _almost_ never happens in real life. Interesting. However, the deputy only had to hold him for 30 seconds, and then several people helped haul him up. If it was in the movies, the guy would have slipped until he was just being held by his fingertips, then with enormous effort the deputy would have taken about five minutes to haul him up all by himself. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@Mark\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2021, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/387 "2021-02-11T12:30:13Z")
Execution scenes with the condemned on the gallows, the rope around his neck, and the trap door ready to be opened. But wait - here’s a last-second reprieve from the “governor”, and the condemned is spared. How often has this happened in real life at this late a stage in an execution process? Who would have been the official to grant a reprieve? ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2021, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/388 "2021-02-11T14:14:44Z")
Just never visit when there is some public event going on, like a fete, concert or open garden day. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2021, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/389 "2021-02-11T14:20:59Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > > [@Mangetout](#): > > > > > [@RivkahChaya](#): > > > > > > I don’t remember what the show was, but the plot was that someone needed an antidote within an hour of ingesting a poison, and they played it out in real time, with a clock in the corner of the TV screen-- got the antidote with something like 3 minutes to spare, and the victim was fine within _seconds_ of taking it. That’s some alimentary system he’s got. Maybe it was absorbed from his stomach right into his bloodstream. I guess it didn’t occur to anyone on the writing staff that it would have been slightly more believable if someone had injected it, or hurriedly jammed an IV into the guy, but oh well. > > > > Yeah, I think I might have seen exactly that one. > > There was an episode of some series (again, I forget the details) where the protagonists were trying to protect some ex-criminal so he could testify, except the guy got shot in the abdomen. A handy nearby doctor said the guy would bleed to death in an hour, but it was OK, because they managed to get him to the door of the hospital in about 58 minutes. > > Part of the humor is that whenever these doctors are able to set an exact amount of time that a patient has, it’s always a conventional amount of time like sixty minutes or forty-eight hours. You never see a tv/movie doctor saying _“This patient will die in exactly two hundred and fourteen minutes unless we get him to a hospital!”_ And it should be noted that the poison countdown only starts when that person starts the timer on their watch. Like “we injected you with 24 hour poison when we processed you 90 minutes ago. So you have 24 hours to rescue the President.” Wait…so do I have 22 1/2 hours or did you inject me with 25 1/2 hour poison? ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2021, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/390 "2021-02-11T15:58:04Z")
Village fetes are death-traps! I’m surprised anyone ever goes to them. ---
**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 11, 2021, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/391 "2021-02-11T16:57:32Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Village fetes are death-traps! Especially the ones featuring tapioca tea. Those boba fetes are deadly. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2021, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/392 "2021-02-11T17:06:41Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > And it should be noted that the poison countdown only starts when that person starts the timer on their watch. Like “we injected you with 24 hour poison when we processed you 90 minutes ago. So you have 24 hours to rescue the President.” Wait…so do I have 22 1/2 hours or did you inject me with 25 1/2 hour poison? I’ve seen scenes where the villain is clear of that point. “You have exactly sixty minutes to open this locked safe starting … now.” “I’ve told you. I’m not this Walter Harper, international jewel thief, that you think I am. My name is Thomas Levy and I’m a history teacher. I don’t know anything about opening locked safes. Just give me the antidote and let me and my family go. We won’t tell anyone.” “You now have fifty-nine and a half minutes, Mr Harper.” ---
**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 11, 2021, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/393 "2021-02-11T17:32:59Z")
Tv detectives and even regular street cops work a case 24 hours a day. Day shift, night shift, it doesn’t matter. No one seems to be interested in getting paid overtime and the bosses never seem to be concerned about paying overtime. Of course that’s exactly how it is in real life. ---
**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:** [February 11, 2021, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/394 "2021-02-11T17:55:11Z")
The lecture theater scene. The teacher begins with a very basic description of a broad topic. He (it’s always a he) asks the students a question, and nobody knows the answer, except maybe a protagonist (even if they are college students and should _all_ know the topic beyond this superficial level by now). And then _ding ding ding_ – class is over. Why did he try to start a new topic so late into his time? I looked on TVTropes if there’s a trope for this, and not really. They have tropes for the fact that the lecture topic will either be relevant to the plot, or a metaphor for the whole movie, but not about how these scenes play out. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2021, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/395 "2021-02-11T18:19:50Z")
Odd that the article didn’t give the deputy’s name, isn’t it? I understand some media outlets won’t publish a suicide’s name, but you’d think they’d have identified the deputy who saved a life. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2021, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/396 "2021-02-11T18:44:23Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > The lecture theater scene. There’s also the trope of the math or physics class with a dozen moveable chalkboards filled with complex equations. I don’t think many lecturers would have tried to teach in this way even decades ago. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2021, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/397 "2021-02-11T20:34:55Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Tv detectives and even regular street cops work a case 24 hours a day. Day shift, night shift, it doesn’t matter. No one seems to be interested in getting paid overtime and the bosses never seem to be concerned about paying overtime. Of course that’s exactly how it is in real life. The papers here are full of stories about lack of uniformed police, because they aren’t rostered on. But when the ex-homicide detectives are interviewed here, they say things like ‘The first 48 hours are important’ and ‘It interferes with your family life, because when a case is active you’re working 20 hour days’. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2021, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/398 "2021-02-11T20:36:58Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > And then _ding ding ding_ – class is over. Why did he try to start a new topic so late into his time? To give the students something to think about. It’s not universal, but it’s a well known teaching method. ---
**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 11, 2021, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/399 "2021-02-11T20:57:13Z")
College items: Professors who are recognized as leaders in their fields will happily teach entry-level courses - because they like to meet “bright young minds”. Teaching assistants are never seen. Students do most of their learning in short discussion sessions with their peers, leaving the rest of the day available for whatever advances the plot. Books are fetishes to be carried around or left open on desks, never read. (Although, I knew some students who bragged that they never cracked a book until just before final exams…) ---
**Author:** ![johnspartan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@johnspartan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnspartan)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2021, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/400 "2021-02-11T21:01:29Z")
Well the odds are apparently increased by the hundreds of people who just love to sit in the stands and watch court cases they have nothing to do with. In their best suits and dresses of course. [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=19) [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=21)