# 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:** 230
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2025, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4587 "2025-01-20T00:35:24Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Police detectives are called to the scene of a homicide. It turns out to be a dirt-common impulse killing after a drunken argument escalated into a fight. **Alexandra Eames** : Maybe one day we’ll get lucky and robbery will be the motive. Criminal Intent, _The Gift_ ---
**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:** [January 20, 2025, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4588 "2025-01-20T00:57:46Z")
[Opposite companion thread.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-real-life-but-almost-never-happens-on-tv-or-movies/1013143) ---
**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:** [January 20, 2025, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4589 "2025-01-20T00:59:01Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Seconded that we need a spin-off thread: > > Police detectives are called to the scene of a homicide. It turns out to be a dirt-common impulse killing after a drunken argument escalated into a fight. And then… we watch them do paperwork. And chat with coworkers about their favorite movies, and how unrealistic cop shows are. And then they leave at 5 and pick up takeout on the way home to get some time with their family… where they… _don’t obsess about The Case!_ ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2025, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4590 "2025-01-20T12:12:25Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Hmm, might make for a good spinoff thread… > > Somebody has a cough— and it’s _ **not** _ a harbinger of death! It’s just a mild cold or minor throat irritation. I read the spinoff thread before I read the latest here. I made a comment there that included the random cough. ---
**Author:** ![Pheoinix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7993a0/32.png) [@Pheoinix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pheoinix)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2025, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4591 "2025-01-21T00:34:36Z")
Couches sitting in the middle of a room, rather than up against a wall ---
**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:** [January 21, 2025, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4592 "2025-01-21T03:12:03Z")
It depends on the room size. Our last 2 houses had big living rooms and we had the couches in the middle of the room. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2025, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4593 "2025-01-21T03:31:02Z")
Related but the only time a critical lead on a case happens is right when a cop is already heading home for the day and has to attend their spouses birthday/anniversary/promotion dinner, and it’s one of those critical leads that literally nobody else but the cop can follow. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2025, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4594 "2025-01-21T06:29:50Z")
My apartment has the couch in the middle of the room, it’s in the middle of the room at my sisters house and it was in the middle of the room in my grandparents house. That seems incredibly common to me. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2025, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4595 "2025-01-21T08:39:38Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Probably not depicted on TV and movies as often these days as it was in the past, but…getting stuck in quicksand. You still can get stuck in quicksand, but from what I’ve seen on YouTube it’s a case of getting a foot stuck and not being able to release it easily then dying of exposure or thirst, rather than being sucked under the surface and asphyxiating. ---
**Author:** ![Pheoinix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7993a0/32.png) [@Pheoinix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pheoinix)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2025, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4596 "2025-01-21T09:06:56Z")
Maybe in the US but I’ve never seen it in the UK, apart from in sitcoms ---
**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:** [January 21, 2025, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4597 "2025-01-21T11:30:20Z")
> [@Pheoinix](#): > > Couches sitting in the middle of a room, rather than up against a wall I don’t think I’ve ever seen that (American/Euro-Mutt heritage, middle class). But, come to think of it, all my friends and family have small to medium size living rooms, where there wouldn’t really be space for two people to pass behind the couch. Even in the largest house in our neighborhood everyone sits on the Against The Wall Couch, chats or watches TV, and kids/pets roughhouse on the floor. The one exception was my parents’ house, after they “made it” and were well off enough to add a “family room” onto the house. It was huge, and divided into a TV area and a game area. One couch was along the wall, and one divided the two areas. But they never had the “Married With Children” living room, where the smallish living room had the couch in the middle so everyone could face the camera. Kids would come in and have to stand behind the couch to talk to the rest of the family. I’ve also never experienced that… ah, there’s another “Common in TV Shows” trope. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2025, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4598 "2025-01-21T12:16:28Z")
> [@Pushkin](#): > > You still can get stuck in quicksand, but from what I’ve seen on YouTube it’s a case of getting a foot stuck and not being able to release it easily then dying of exposure or thirst, rather than being sucked under the surface and asphyxiating. Or you can getting drowned by an incoming tide in places with a high tidal range, since quicksand is common along coasts since they contain plenty of water and sand. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2025, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4599 "2025-01-21T13:11:41Z")
That’s possibly for the same reason I rarely see it - I live in a city and don’t know very many people with large apartments/houses so the living rooms are also small. The only way I could have my couch in the middle of the room is to have the couch two or three feet away from the TV, which is too close. I could possibly put the couch far enough from the wall to have a 12 inch table behind it, but not enough for people to walk behind it. Even the smallish living rooms on TV are bigger than mine. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2025, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4600 "2025-01-21T13:26:59Z")
Yeah, it’s probably the rule IRL for TVs to be against the wall, and then for the sofa/couch to be a comfortable viewing distance from the TV. And TV living rooms have to be at least large enough to accommodate all the action in all the scenes they want to show. ---
**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:** [January 21, 2025, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4601 "2025-01-21T13:56:06Z")
Our living room is long and narrow, about 12’x22’. At times we’ve had two couches away from the wall at both ends leaving about 10’x12’ area in the middle. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2025, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4602 "2025-01-21T15:57:36Z")
When I said my living room is small, I meant “small”. The whole room might be 10x 12 - the house is only 16 feet wide and the stairs take up some space. ---
**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:** [January 21, 2025, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4603 "2025-01-21T16:38:16Z")
I’ve lived in places where the couch was up against the wall, but also plenty where the couch was/is in the middle of a room. Hell, I grew up with two couches in two different rooms, neither against the wall and one with a dedicated piece of furniture made specifically to put behind a room-centered couch. ---
**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:** [January 21, 2025, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4604 "2025-01-21T16:42:36Z")
We’ve got our sofa in the middle because the dining table has to go behind it. ---
**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:** [January 21, 2025, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4605 "2025-01-21T17:03:11Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > Related but the only time a critical lead on a case happens is right when a cop is already heading home for the day and has to attend their spouses birthday/anniversary/promotion dinner, and it’s one of those critical leads that literally nobody else but the cop can follow. Speaking of time and leads on a case, it made me think of the typical TV police procedural routine: A murder happens, and the detectives (or the CSIs, or a P.I. who’s been warned off the case by the police, or the FBI, or an FBI guy’s girlfriend who happens to be an anthropologist) begin the old TV murder mystery song and dance, which usually goes something like this: 1. The ‘grieving’ spouse is suspected first. But they have an alibi or are sufficiently convincing. 2. Then the innocent witnesses are interviewed- the neighbor, coworker, friend, etc., anybody who may have heard or seen something. 3. Then the other likely suspects are interviewed-- the person to whom the victim owed money or wronged in some way; the prodigal child who stands to inherit; the person who loudly, publicly got in an argument with victim and threatened them. 4. Then the spouse is caught in a lie or their alibi breaks down and is the prime suspect again. “OK, I lied-- but it was to cover up my affair! I didn’t kill them!!” 5. Finally, at around 10 minutes to the hour, new evidence reveals it was one of the innocent witnesses from step 2. ---
**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:** [January 21, 2025, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4606 "2025-01-21T17:17:51Z")
I searched the thread for “drugs” and didn’t find what I was looking for but I doubt very much that LEO’s will pierce a bag of an unknown substance (which also happens to be evidence) with a knife, stick their finger in it, taste it, and then announce to everyone that it’s cocaine, heroin, flour, etc. [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=229) [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=231)