# 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:** 207
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2024, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4127 "2024-08-22T17:52:29Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I thought the grandmother was going to be _in_ the freezer. While that’s extremely common in TV or movies, it almost never happens in real life. ---
**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:** [August 22, 2024, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4128 "2024-08-22T17:58:41Z")
You’ve never watched _ **Forensic Files** _? 🤨 ---
**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:** [August 22, 2024, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4129 "2024-08-22T21:11:09Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > I liked the version in _The Quick and the Dead_. Gene Hackman’s character wonders why his shadow has a bright spot of sunlight in the center. Poisson/Hackman’s spot ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2024, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4130 "2024-08-22T21:41:52Z")
From Reds 2 - Victoria (Helen Mirren) has destroyed a vehicle with bodies inside to delay their pursuers - Sarah: Where did you get the bodies? Victoria: My freezer. Happens all the time - that’s why safety professionals are always going on about taking doors off discarded freezers and refrigerators. (Though handy in the event of a nuclear blast). ---
**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:** [August 22, 2024, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4131 "2024-08-22T22:03:11Z")
We’ve discussed this before, but actually a 1950s-style refrigerator would provide a significant degree of protection at the _periphery_ of a nuclear blast: protection from thermal flash, lung-damaging blast overpressure and flying debris. But no, not if the refrigerator was hurled half a mile by the explosion. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2024, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4132 "2024-08-22T22:12:58Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > We’ve discussed this before, but actually a 1950s-style refrigerator would provide a significant degree of protection at the _periphery_ of a nuclear blast: protection from thermal flash, lung-damaging blast overpressure and flying debris The downside is that after surviving the atomic blast, you’d never be able to get out of the fridge without outside help and slowly suffocate or die of thirst. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2024, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4133 "2024-08-23T01:52:39Z")
> [@Biotop](#): > > Do people in real life frequently leave rooms cleaned but otherwise untouched for years and years after a death? Queen Victoria did, and also had clean linen and wash water etc delivered every day. > [@kayaker](#): > > I know a couple whose baby died of SIDS. Years have gone by and the nursery is unchanged. I just find that creepy. But … > [@Lumpy](#): > > I liked the version in _The Quick and the Dead_. Gene Hackman’s character wonders why his shadow has a bright spot of sunlight in the center. That film started out interesting, then went off the rails… ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2024, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4134 "2024-08-23T01:58:40Z")
Sadly, nobody in the freezer. But the house was still creepy as hell. And it’s still there…still empty. It’s an old wood two-story on the family farm (147 acres) outside of Raleigh. It’s actually livable (with a bit of cleaning up). Neither her grandmother nor grandfather actually passed away in the house. They just got taken away to a nearby medical center… And here we are. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2024, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4135 "2024-08-23T02:02:36Z")
I would not use “sadly” to describe not finding a dead body in the freezer. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2024, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4136 "2024-08-23T02:43:54Z")
Some people have a skewed sense of adventure. Me? I’d jump so high I’d knock myself unconscious on the ceiling. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2024, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4137 "2024-08-23T02:57:47Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I would not use “sadly” to describe not finding a dead body in the freezer. Like you never get hungry. ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2024, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4138 "2024-08-23T04:04:34Z")
It’s rather a dull, small town. It could stand to be a bit more like Cabot Cove. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2024, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4139 "2024-08-23T05:36:08Z")
> [@Stratocaster](#): > > Like you never get hungry. I was gonna use that joke, but I thought it was too sick. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2024, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4140 "2024-08-25T14:22:36Z")
In real life if you suspect someone of murder, and you are discussing it with them with no one else around…I bet you DON’T drink the tea they are serving. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2024, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4141 "2024-08-25T16:05:55Z")
The old “distract the other person and then swap the cups while they’re not looking” bit seems unlikely to have ever happened in real life. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2024, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4142 "2024-08-25T17:20:52Z")
Or getting poisoned and subsequently having to frantically search for/ chase after/ bargain for the little vial of antidote that will save your life. ---
**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:** [August 25, 2024, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4143 "2024-08-25T18:39:02Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > To be honest, that’s not where I thought you were going with that. I thought the grandmother was going to be _in_ the freezer. I bought my first house from [Robert Ettinger](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Ettinger), “the father of Cryonics” and his wife Mae. Since they were retiring to Arizona, they left me a lot of their appliances and yard equipment, saving me a lot of money having to buy that stuff myself. In the basement was a big old-fashioned working refrigerator. I got a lot of “find any frozen heads in there, haha?” comments from friends. I did not. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2024, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4144 "2024-08-25T19:56:24Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > Or getting poisoned and subsequently having to frantically search for/ chase after/ bargain for the little vial of antidote that will save your life. Yep, kinda ruined the second Indy film- that’s not the way poisons work. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2024, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4145 "2024-08-25T20:12:04Z")
So I was in my local swimming pool supply store the other day. Apparently there is no such thing as a dye that turns blue when people pee in the pool. > [@DrDeth](#): > > > [@Wheelz](#): > > > > Or getting poisoned and subsequently having to frantically search for/ chase after/ bargain for the little vial of antidote that will save your life. > > Yep, kinda ruined the second Indy film- that’s not the way poisons work. That’s why happens when your sidekick gets killed by a “mystery gunshot”. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2024, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4146 "2024-08-25T20:27:44Z")
I think most killers would choose a poison without a helpful vial lying somewhere about to save the hero. Also why not use real poison that kills instantly instead of a knockout poison that allows the killer to explain everything triumphantly to the woozy hero (allowing time for rescue). [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=206) [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=208)