# 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:** 260
**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:** [July 19, 2025, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/5209 "2025-07-19T15:24:04Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Was caller ID available in 1973? I was 6 in 1973, so I’m guessing not. I remember a conversation with some rep from my phone company trying to sell me call-waiting, and it must have been after 1990, because I was just out of college, and living with a housemate. The rep asked me what I’d do if I got a flat tire, and couldn’t get hold of my housemate, because she was on a call already. I said “I’d change the tire.” Idiot. Then I said that call-waiting was a way to get MORE calls. Did they have a way for me to get FEWER calls? I would be interested in that. He didn’t have an answer. It was about two years later that I got something in the mail saying that caller ID was available in my area. It was a few dollars a month, and I could rent a caller ID box from the phone company, or I could buy my own device some place, and hook that up. However it was worded, it made it sound onerous to get one’s own device, but I went and got a new answering machine that was way better than my old one, displayed caller ID, and cost about $7 (granted, more in 1992, but still cheap). Hooked up inline, just like the old one. ---
**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:** [July 19, 2025, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/5210 "2025-07-19T15:32:20Z")
He was in just four episodes between 1974 and 1998: “By Dawn’s Early Light” (the one with the military school), “Identity Crisis” (he was a CIA agent who murdered Leslie Nielsen), “Agenda” (he was the lawyer of a corrupt Congressman), and “Ashes to Ashes” (where he murdered and cremated Rue McClanahan). ---
**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:** [July 19, 2025, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/5211 "2025-07-19T18:52:08Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Was caller ID available in 1973? Wikipedia says the first trial of Caller ID was conducted in Orlando, Florida in 1984, with limited deployment by BellSouth starting in 1987 and by US West in 1989. ---
**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:** [July 19, 2025, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/5212 "2025-07-19T19:58:40Z")
Ah I knew it was one or other of them, they seemed to be in half the 70s ones between them! ---
**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:** [July 19, 2025, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/5213 "2025-07-19T21:02:09Z")
Culp was the murderer in three episodes from 1971 to 1973, and one episode in 1990 (in which he was the father of a murderer). ---
**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:** [July 19, 2025, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/5214 "2025-07-19T23:16:11Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > No idea why the woman in front of me proceeded on red after stopping. But she hit the driver’s side of a very small truck, and injured the driver pretty badly. Brain-fart, treating a red light as one would a stop sign, stop and proceed when the way is clear. I’ve done that, fortunately at two in the morning and there was no one around. ---
**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:** [July 20, 2025, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/5215 "2025-07-20T00:38:32Z")
I was stopped at an intersection outside of Milwaukee early on a Sunday morning in the winter of 1987–88 when a girl ran the red light and broadsided a car traveling west. Neither she nor the driver of the other car (an older woman) were hurt, but both vehicles probably ended up in the junkyard. (The older woman was clearly shocked, but the girl just slammed her steering wheel and yelled “SHIT!”) I saw something similar happen in Minneapolis one day when I was having coffee and a cinnamon roll in a cafe right after a morning downpour. A pickup was rammed broadside in front of where I was sitting. ---
**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:** [July 20, 2025, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/5216 "2025-07-20T08:49:58Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > Brain-fart, treating a red light as one would a stop sign, stop and proceed when the way is clear. I’ve done that, fortunately at two in the morning and there was no one around. That makes sense, and not much else does. I’ve speculated that it’s also possible this intersection is one for which, when traffic is almost nil on the pikeway, and low on the bypass, the light blinks red over the pikeway and yellow over the bypass. Most of the bypass and State Road intersections with low-travel roads do that. If this woman was running late for some place, worrying and trying to hurry, and previously had gone through this intersection a lot _when the light was blinking_ she might have just gotten confused over what to do. ---
**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:** [July 20, 2025, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/5217 "2025-07-20T14:28:13Z")
I can imagine people getting confused if they habitually drive through one of those intersections that is signaled sometimes and blinks when things are slow. Probably why you don’t see them much any more. ---
**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:** [July 20, 2025, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/5218 "2025-07-20T16:29:07Z")
Yeah, that sounds like a set up for exactly what happened. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2025, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/5219 "2025-07-21T08:14:30Z")
In fiction you save the world, literally 2 years later people will be asking “Who are you?” and completely disregard your expertise. In real life you save a bus full of people you basically go on every talk show, get multiple books and spend the next couple of decades being the talking -head expert whenever the next similar event happens. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2025, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/5220 "2025-07-21T08:23:57Z")
In a Die Hard With A Vengeance Zeus has no idea who John McClain is but does know about the Rodney King incident. I feel that John McClain would be a bigger story than Rodney King, a single cop saves TWO different places from a massive terrorist incidents? Like hundreds of people died in Die Hard 2 so that alre would be 9/11 sized news, but one guy prevented more bloodshed?! ---
**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:** [July 21, 2025, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/5221 "2025-07-21T13:00:23Z")
Any film or TV show that refers to previous ones is an exception. And thrillers get complicated if the “secret” agent becomes well known: “Hey, you’re not a bus boy, you’re that Ethan Hunt guy! The Times did a story on you, whadthey call it? ‘Mission: Improbable’?” ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2025, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/5222 "2025-07-21T18:52:35Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > In real life you save a bus full of people you basically go on every talk show, get multiple books Tell that to Oliver Sipple who likely saved President Ford’s life. The SF CHronicle outed him, and he later committed suicide. Ford sent him a note of thanks- that’s it. No medals, no talk shows, no book deals. Just a newspaper being unethical. ---
**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:** [July 26, 2025, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/5223 "2025-07-26T13:49:11Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Tell that to Oliver Sipple who likely saved President Ford’s life. The SF CHronicle outed him, and he later committed suicide. Ford sent him a note of thanks- that’s it. No medals, no talk shows, no book deals. Just a newspaper being unethical. I’d totally forgotten about this. Kind of story that gets your mind reeling-- if Sara Jane Moore had successfully assassinated Ford, then Nelson Rockefeller would have run against Carter in 1976. That’s a hell of a butterfly. Just for the record, Sipple did not officially commit suicide. He was probably drinking enough to be considered an alcoholic, and had been at the VA hospital for breathing troubles a few days before he died. He was simply found dead in bed, and his cause of death listed was pneumonia. But he was 47, and had been on a downward spiral since he was outed-- which came on top of problems for a Vietnam vet with PTSD. Top suspect for outing him, BTW, is Harvey Milk. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2025, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/5224 "2025-07-26T19:08:05Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > But he was 47, and had been on a downward spiral since he was outed-- which came on top of problems for a Vietnam vet with PTSD. Top suspect for outing him, BTW, is Harvey Milk. The LA Times also ran the story. ---
**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:** [July 26, 2025, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/5225 "2025-07-26T19:11:46Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > The LA Times also ran the story. Recently? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2025, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/5226 "2025-07-26T19:15:52Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > Recently? No, at the time, right after the Chronicle outed him. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2025, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/5227 "2025-09-05T22:54:54Z")
Maybe her bachelor’s degree was in oceanography? ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2025, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/5228 "2025-09-06T01:41:53Z")
I was reminded of this by a post on BlueSky (Man and woman arguing as they break up, woman grabs her shirt bottom as she talks) “… And say goodbye to these” (Lifts up shirt) [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=259) [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=261)