# 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:** 243
**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 13, 2025, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4869 "2025-04-13T15:30:42Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > She is being tracked by the most sophisticated NSA tracking system ever imagined. All she has is a stolen taxi. How the hell did she get to Peru and back in a week without the bad guy knowing where she went? Did she drive? You know, they quickly showed us the this-or-that bit in the subway tunnel — where she seea that turning left would get her handcuffed by the authorities, and so turns the _other_ way right before a diversion happens — and I can’t help but wonder if they could’ve sold us on a scene where she outfoxes security with some improbable _right-place-at-the-right-time_ shenanigans. But maybe I’m giving them too much credit. ---
**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 13, 2025, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4870 "2025-04-13T17:05:04Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > > [@Loach](#): > > > > She is being tracked by the most sophisticated NSA tracking system ever imagined. All she has is a stolen taxi. How the hell did she get to Peru and back in a week without the bad guy knowing where she went? Did she drive? > > You know, they quickly showed us the this-or-that bit in the subway tunnel — where she seea that turning left would get her handcuffed by the authorities, and so turns the _other_ way right before a diversion happens — and I can’t help but wonder if they could’ve sold us on a scene where she outfoxes security with some improbable _right-place-at-the-right-time_ shenanigans. > > But maybe I’m giving them too much credit. You are. At that point she had no control of her powers so they were pretty much random. She didn’t know they were being tracked by a NSA supercomputer so she didn’t know she had to hide from it. She doesn’t have powers like Domino where things just happen to her. She would have to buy a plane ticket without using a card. She would have to get through an airport without being on camera. She would have to take an international flight without using a passport. And then do it all again on the way back. Or maybe drive there and back in a stolen taxi in a week. ---
**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 13, 2025, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4871 "2025-04-13T18:09:44Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I’ve read a bunch of things from ER doctors who say it’s very realistic but the amount of cases and pace are a bit exaggerated. Decades ago when _Adam-12_ was being broadcast an LAPD sergeant was asked about the show’s authenticity. He said it was pretty good except for putting eight years’ worth of interesting incidents into an eight hour shift. ---
**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 13, 2025, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4872 "2025-04-13T18:21:20Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > > [@Loach](#): > > > > I’ve read a bunch of things from ER doctors who say it’s very realistic but the amount of cases and pace are a bit exaggerated. > > Decades ago when _Adam-12_ was being broadcast an LAPD sergeant was asked about the show’s authenticity. He said it was pretty good except for putting eight years’ worth of interesting incidents into an eight hour shift. I don’t think it’s quite that bad. Trauma centers in densely populated areas can be insanely busy. But busy doesn’t necessarily equate to having a wide range of extremely interesting and different cases in one shift. I am sure that those that work there have stories of days like that but they don’t happen often. I would say it’s exaggerated but probably not too exaggerated. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2025, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4873 "2025-04-13T20:31:51Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Even before the big event the ER in the show had more interesting unusual cases than they usually have in a shift or a week of shifts. Well, in the any season of the Rookie Nolan gets into more gunfights that the entire LAPD does in a year. > [@DesertDog](#): > > Decades ago when _Adam-12_ was being broadcast an LAPD sergeant was asked about the show’s authenticity. He said it was pretty good except for putting eight years’ worth of interesting incidents into an eight hour shift. Yep. Most realistic cop show was Barney Miller- altho not many cops are that funny. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2025, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4874 "2025-04-13T20:56:56Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > 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. I live in a condo, and we have our couch about a third of the way into the room. But we have a smallish TV so it’s not too close. I like the circulation, plus I have room for a large bookcase on the wall where the couch would have been. More room for books? Yes, please. ---
**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:** [April 13, 2025, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4875 "2025-04-13T21:36:34Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > How the hell did she get to Peru and back in a week without the bad guy knowing where she went? Did she drive? Not through the [Darién Gap](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dari%C3%A9n_Gap) she didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2025, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4876 "2025-04-13T21:46:50Z")
American football teams where the kicker is the star player. ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2025, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4877 "2025-04-13T22:00:05Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > Decades ago when _Adam-12_ was being broadcast an LAPD sergeant was asked about the show’s authenticity. He said it was pretty good except for putting eight years’ worth of interesting incidents into an eight hour shift. That’s what I said about _The Hurt Locker_: five years’ worth of the _worst of the worst_ calls, smashed into 120 minutes of movie. Tripler If you took calls in a ‘bell curve’ format, some of the scenes in tht movie would be 7th or 8th ‘sigma’. ---
**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 13, 2025, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4878 "2025-04-13T22:03:06Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > > [@Loach](#): > > > > How the hell did she get to Peru and back in a week without the bad guy knowing where she went? Did she drive? > > Not through the [Darién Gap](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dari%C3%A9n_Gap) she didn’t. Are you trying to tell me that Larry Bud Melman wouldn’t have made it to Tierra del Fuego? ---
**Author:** ![Guttermouth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guttermouth/32/18989_2.png) [@Guttermouth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guttermouth)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2025, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4879 "2025-04-13T23:19:41Z")
Now this is the medical shit that slaps. The medical shows do love to exacerbate symptoms & how to medically treat others. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4880 "2025-04-14T03:49:53Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > Decades ago when _Adam-12_ was being broadcast an LAPD sergeant was asked about the show’s authenticity. He said it was pretty good except for putting eight years’ worth of interesting incidents into an eight hour shift. It’s no better with Hospital dramas. A typical Resident Rounds in Grey’s Anatomy, or House, or ER, or St. Elsewhere, or…_any_where else on TV, may go something like this: Room 1 Intern: “Why is this patient turning into a statue?” Chief Resident: “Ah, this is Mr. Stone. Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva. If he sneezes too hard, his elbow will fossilize—so be gentle.” Room 2 Intern: “This Patient says her hand slapped her last night.” Chief Resident: “Ms. Jetson has Alien Hand Syndrome. We keep her hand and face separated now. They don’t play nice together.” Room 3 Intern: “This patient says she thinks time is melting?” Chief Resident: “Oh, Grace Slickerton has Alice in Wonderland Syndrome. Don’t worry, you’re not tripping—the room just looks like a Dali painting.” Room 4 Intern: “This patient has tree bark on his hands!” Chief Resident: “Epidermodysplasia Verruciformis. We prune Mr. Oakman every Thursday.” Room 5 Intern: “This patient mimicked everything I said, then screamed! What’s his problem?” Chief Resident: “That’s Jacques Cousteauman, he has Jumping Frenchman of Maine Disorder. Trigger-happy reflexes. Don’t startle him unless you want to get slapped, scolded in French, and have a baguette thrown at your head.” Room 6 Intern : “This patient speaks in Chinese, but says she’s from Newark, New Jersey?” Chief Resident: “Yes, Yuja Wangstein has Foreign Accent Syndrome. Yesterday she was Austrian and taught me to polka.” Room 7 Intern: “This patient says he only breathes when he’s awake?” Chief Resident: “Indeed, Mr. Blueface has Ondine’s Curse. Needs a ventilator to nap. Try not to yawn near him or you’ll have to call the morgue.” Room 8 Intern: “This patient has a blistering rash and Stage IV lymphoma? What gives?” Chief Resident: “Paraneoplastic Pemphigus—the evil twin of dermatology and oncology—a double header.” Room 9 Intern: “This patient hasn’t had a cold in ten years but nearly died from a paper cut?” Chief Resident: “Hyper IgM Syndrome. His immune system is as confused as you are.” Room 10 Intern: “Patient has RPI deficiency? I’ve never seen that!” Chief Resident: “And you’ll never see it again. Congratulations. This is your zebra of the year.” Room 11 Intern: “Patient is still motionless. What gives?” Chief Resident: “Mr. Stillman has Moebius Syndrome, a very rare neurological disorder. He’s awake, but doesn’t blink, do expressions, or post on social media…except, of course, on The Straight Dope.” Sure, these disorders are all real, but you’d have better odds of hitting the Mega-Millions Lotto, than to see more than 1 or 2 of them in a hospital at the same time. Oh, how I long for Marcus Welby, MD to be back in practice to keep things real! ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4881 "2025-04-14T04:12:37Z")
The two most effective firearms our hero can use are a simple pistol, which can outrange and outfits bad guys with full size assault rifles, or a full sized machine gun which they fire standing up with no need for either someone to help feed the belt to them (or hold extra ammo) or anything to contain the tremendous amount of recoil. ---
**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 14, 2025, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4882 "2025-04-14T04:51:19Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > The two most effective firearms our hero can use are a simple pistol, which can outrange and outfits bad guys with full size assault rifles, or a full sized machine gun which they fire standing up with no need for either someone to help feed the belt to them (or hold extra ammo) or anything to contain the tremendous amount of recoil. Recently in _1923_ the bad guys are attacking a house. The good guys are holding their own until one of the bad guys pops up with a Thompson submachine gun and starts hitting targets with effective long range fire. Automatic fire with pistol ammo was more effective at long range than the rifles. ---
**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 14, 2025, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4883 "2025-04-14T09:28:08Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Not through the [Darién Gap](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dari%C3%A9n_Gap) she didn’t. In 1962 when I was in the sixth grade the Panamerican Highway was a very big deal and the science teacher I had that year had it on his bucket list, a term not yet invented. He was an avid fisherman and his dream was to drive the length of the highway stopping at every fishing hole along the way. Poor guy’s probably dead by now and, yes, you can ferry around the gap, but that just ain’t the same. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4884 "2025-04-14T15:37:24Z")
Bad guys (or sometimes even good guys) need a vehicle pronto. So they get into the first unlocked car they see, reach under the dash, find a couple of wires with about 2 feet of slack, rip off some electrical tape and touch two of the wires together. Presto- the car starts right up. I don’t know how easy it ever was to hotwire a car but I don’t think it’s possible in modern cars and I certainly don’t see any handy wires with plenty of slack under my dashboard. ---
**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:** [April 14, 2025, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4885 "2025-04-14T16:50:00Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Bad guys (or sometimes even good guys) need a vehicle pronto. So they get into the first unlocked car they see, reach under the dash, find a couple of wires with about 2 feet of slack, rip off some electrical tape and touch two of the wires together. Presto- the car starts right up. Corollary: they spend about 3 seconds searching the vehicle and find a spare key, usually kept up on top of the driver’s sunshade. Because we all keep our cars unlocked with easily findable spare keys in them, right? ---
**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:** [April 14, 2025, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4886 "2025-04-14T17:19:36Z")
And everybody keeps a spare house key on the top of the door frame. Occasionally they’ll have someone look for one of those fake rocks to get a key, but just sitting on top of the door frame seems to be extremely common on TV. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4887 "2025-04-14T18:17:00Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > So they get into the first unlocked car they see, reach under the dash, find a couple of wires with about 2 feet of slack, rip off some electrical tape and touch two of the wires together. Presto- the car starts right up. In vehicles where the ignition key cylinder is in the dashboard, it kinda is that easy to hot wire a car. But yeah, since they started putting the key in the steering column, it’s a bit more difficult to track down the correct wires. In modern cars, it’s going to be an extensive engineering task to fool the anti-theft measures. So, it’s easier to try to steal the car through other means, such as relay attacks against the key fob. The basics are covered pretty well here: > **[How to Hotwire a Car Quickly in an Emergency](https://mechanicbase.com/electric/how-to-hotwire-a-car/)** > > Everyone wants to know how to hotwire a car, even if you are not going to do it. Here is a guide on how to hotwire a car in an emergency situation in 8 easy steps. Some thieves used to just carry what amounted to a portable wiring harness. Clip the leads to the correct points on the starting circuit and the ignition coil, and you’re ready to go. Steering column locks are a different story, though. ---
**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:** [April 14, 2025, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4888 "2025-04-14T18:30:34Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > The two most effective firearms our hero can use are a simple pistol, which can outrange and outfits bad guys with full size assault rifles, or This is because Our Hero with his 17-round Glock can fire one-shot kills to the head and heart of all his assailants like he’s the love child of Roy Rogers and Annie Oakley. He combines this with an admirable ability to duck and run as automatic fire from the bad guys strikes sparks all around him. Okay, so maybe O.H. will take a painful but survivable flesh wound. And if there are few enough attackers that he has some rounds to spare he might spend a couple on suppressive fire; but basically his magazine will always hold just enough rounds to stop his attackers, or maybe be just one short to allow for a dramatic faceoff. [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=242) [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=244)