# 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:** 224
**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:** [December 23, 2024, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4467 "2024-12-23T17:08:18Z")
Maybe that _would_ be a better twist, but the thread isn’t “come up with a better version of a common trope”, it’s “What is extremely common in TV or movies, etc.”, and the “trusted superior turning out to be in cahoots with the bad guys” trope is extra-extremely common. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2024, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4468 "2024-12-23T17:10:56Z")
> [@solost](#): > > and the “trusted superior turning out to be in cahoots with the bad guys” trope is extra-extremely common. See _Air Force One_ for a prime example. ---
**Author:** ![abcdefghij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/43a26b/32.png) [@abcdefghij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abcdefghij)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2024, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4469 "2024-12-23T17:16:40Z")
_Mission: Impossible_ 😠 ---
**Author:** ![iamatractorboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iamatractorboy/32/21261_2.png) [@iamatractorboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamatractorboy)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2024, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4470 "2024-12-23T17:17:27Z")
_Witness_ is another example (albeit a great film). Also… Minority Report And LA Confidential Both having very similar scenes where someone goes to the trusted authority figure to tell them about a theory they have on a particular crime, unwittingly revealing to said authority that they know more than he thinks is acceptable, and are hence done away with. ---
**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:** [December 23, 2024, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4471 "2024-12-23T17:17:57Z")
_ **24** _ was good for this one. Not only do people who’ve been desk jockeys their whole career turn out to be bad guys, they’re also somehow highly skilled genius-level assassins. ---
**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:** [December 23, 2024, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4472 "2024-12-23T18:17:36Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > A much better twist would be that the hero discovers strong reasons to suspect their superior of being in cohoots with the bad guys; it turns out that the reason they looked so suspicious was that they really **are** up to secret, questionable things, just not what the hero thought. Both of those options have played out in different seasons of the TV show 9-1-1 Lonestar. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2024, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4473 "2024-12-23T19:50:59Z")
What is way, WAY overdone is for a US intelligence agency to suddenly decide it has to kill off a couple or more or it’s top agents- retired or no. Of course that backfires. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2024, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4474 "2024-12-23T22:46:43Z")
I gave up on **24** after the first season, when the same person was kidnapped three times in one day. Speaking of “almost never happens in real life” … ! ---
**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:** [December 27, 2024, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4475 "2024-12-27T02:40:02Z")
How about a courier having a briefcase handcuffed to their arm to transport secret papers? ---
**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:** [December 27, 2024, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4476 "2024-12-27T05:03:57Z")
That’s how I bring lunch to work. ---
**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:** [December 27, 2024, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4477 "2024-12-27T06:37:18Z")
> [@Biotop](#): > > How about a courier having a briefcase handcuffed to their arm to transport secret papers? Gotta be hell going through the X-ray machine. And a big ATTA-BOY for Dewey\_Finn ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2024, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4478 "2024-12-27T07:11:42Z")
If you’re the President of the United States in an action movie, at least one of the high level Secret Service agents on your personal duty is going to betray you, often for a really contrived reason. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2024, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4479 "2024-12-27T11:23:16Z")
Yeah-- the Holloywood CIA and the Hollywood Secret Service doesn’t vet those guys real well. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e47774/32.png) [@epbrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2024, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4480 "2024-12-27T12:03:02Z")
I ran into one that’s not extremely common but I’ve run across before: someone’s about to kill themselves when someone _else_ tries to kill them, prompting them to drop everything to figure out why. But I know there’s a general trope that someone prevented for any reason (from talked off the ledge to the answering the phone) in the movies or on tv never tries again. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2024, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4481 "2024-12-27T18:41:47Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > Yeah-- the Holloywood CIA and the Hollywood Secret Service doesn’t vet those guys real well. The Real Life CIA and iirc Secret Service still uses the Polygraph- which is about as scientific as tea leaves. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2024, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4482 "2024-12-27T20:11:55Z")
It’s an interrogation tool that can be effective. The interpretation of the results are nonsense, but the subject doesn’t always understand that. The Secret Service has claimed their agents more reliably detect false statements than the polygraph, or any other service of government. No idea what that was based on. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2024, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4483 "2024-12-27T20:24:15Z")
Oh yes, some places really do polygraph tests, although they can’t be admitted in courst.It still looks bad if you turn one down. I once had to take a polygraph test and was denied a job due to the results saying I exhibited prevarication. I did NOT lie and so I know for a fact they are unreliable or can be fooled. ---
**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:** [December 27, 2024, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4484 "2024-12-27T21:07:14Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > It’s an interrogation tool that can be effective. The interpretation of the results are nonsense, but the subject doesn’t always understand that. > > The Secret Service has claimed their agents more reliably detect false statements than the polygraph, or any other service of government. No idea what that was based on. I was once in a class given by a Secret Service polygraph expert. The class wasn’t about polygraph, it was an interview class. He freely admitted most of his success was due to his ability to interview not the polygraph. Some of it was because of his talent (which he had I saw videos but much of it was because he conducted more formal interviews in a month than most cops do in a career. Part of it was also nerves due to the machine. Some people give it all up in the pre-interview before the machine is hooked up. ---
**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:** [December 27, 2024, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4485 "2024-12-27T21:17:15Z")
I know we have covered Miranda in this thread so I won’t get into that. Something I’ve seen several times on TV recently has been someone being told there was a warrant for their arrest and then demanding to see a copy of the arrest warrant because it was their right before submitting to the arrest. Sorry but that’s not the case. It’s 2024. Warrants are electronic. I can print out a copy if you want it back at headquarters when we get there but there isn’t a printer in the car. You are getting arrested first. It’s possible under certain circumstances the cop might have a paper copy with him but legally it’s enough that the validity of the warrant was verified electronically. ---
**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:** [December 28, 2024, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4486 "2024-12-28T02:27:31Z")
So you’re telling me, “Wanted Dead or Alive” posters are electronic too? I despair. [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=223) [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=225)