# 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:** 56
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2021, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1101 "2021-04-02T03:57:52Z")
There’s that thing on TV where somebody says something, and somebody else partly overhears it, and then gets upset because it’s out of context. I mean, I’ve never once been talking about newspapers, and then suddenly everybody is worried about a duck. I think that was the plot of four five episodes of _Three’s Company_. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2021, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1102 "2021-04-02T04:00:26Z")
Not only are bombs easy to disarm, it happens often and any schmuck can do it with a salty traumatized veteran on the phone walking them through it. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2021, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1103 "2021-04-02T04:19:13Z")
This happened in the episode I just watched in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. They assumed based on a conversation that a woman was dealing drugs, when in fact she was selling eyebrow growth powder. And no I’ve never had this happen in real life. > [@digs](#): > > Ummm, I’ve been remodeling a tiny bathroom and breathing adhesives and paint fumes all day, that’s what’s happening. I’ll stop now… That’s okay, every day needs a little surreality. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2021, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1104 "2021-04-02T07:16:38Z")
Now I can’t speak for everyone, but there’s so many comedies that have jokes/scenes about special “birthday sex” privileges where once a year a man’s significant other will do some weird sexual thing with them, but just for their birthday. Simpsons, Family Guy, even an Arby’s commercial have had that scenario, but I’ve never heard of it happening in real life. Generally people who don’t do particular sex acts tend not to do them for a reason, doesn’t matter if it’s someones birthday or not. ---
**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:** [April 2, 2021, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1105 "2021-04-02T09:06:46Z")
Only four or five?!? 🤨 ---
**Author:** ![blabbermeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9a140/32.png) [@blabbermeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blabbermeister)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2021, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1106 "2021-04-02T13:32:30Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > There’s that thing on TV where somebody says something, and somebody else partly overhears it, and then gets upset because it’s out of context. Often the person is just rehearsing for a play, which of course they never tell their roommate/spouse about. Of course, in every TV sitcom there’s a community theater which EVERYONE at some point in their life performs in, and they always invite a director who (although directing the Podunk production of “Pippin”) acts like a haughty asshole with Hollywood aspirations. ---
**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 2, 2021, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1107 "2021-04-02T13:59:03Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > Not only are bombs easy to disarm, it happens often and any schmuck can do it with a salty traumatized veteran on the phone walking them through it. It’s not _ **that** _ easy-- it always comes down to a decision in the final seconds “do I cut the blue wire, or the red wire? Guess wrong and BOOM”. Pretty stressful. ---
**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:** [April 2, 2021, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1108 "2021-04-02T14:07:02Z")
> [@solost](#): > > It’s not _ **that** _ easy-- it always comes down to a decision in the final seconds “do I cut the blue wire, or the red wire? Guess wrong and BOOM”. Pretty stressful. This is why the really evil villains construct their bombs with all the wires colored red. It’s a little more trouble when you’re assembling them in your Evil Hideout, but it pays off in the end. They also build the digital countdown timer so that the bomb detonates when the countdown reaches 5 minutes, rather than zero. It causes no end of confusion and fun. ---
**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 2, 2021, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1109 "2021-04-02T14:17:27Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > This is why the really evil villains construct their bombs with all the wires colored red. Diabolical! I think I’ve actually seen that. There have been so many iterations of this trope. A couple more: “Make sure you cut the red wire and NOT the green wire!!” “but…I’m color blind…” “Make sure you cut the red wire” (guy disarming bomb doesn’t trust guy giving instructions, so cuts the other wire instead) “I always know to do the opposite of whatever you tell me” ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2021, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1110 "2021-04-02T15:01:18Z")
or just rip them all out - ala ‘castle’. ---
**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:** [April 2, 2021, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1111 "2021-04-02T16:50:24Z")
There was a funny episode of _ **Hawaii Five-O** _ (the _real_ one, not the pale imitation) on yesterday. Danno had to disarm the vest of a dead suicide bomber to save himself and three other people trapped in McGarrett’s office. Of course, an expert has to tell him how to do it over the radio while the clock ticks down. The whole time, I was screaming “You’re on the second floor, fer chrissakes! Pick up the asshole and toss him off the balcony before the bomb goes off!” ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2021, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1112 "2021-04-02T17:30:52Z")
The cancelled video game Rainbow Six: Patriots had a similar scene. Terrorists have planted a bomb on a civilian on a crowded bridge, while Rainbow’s bomb defusal guy desperately tries to disarm it in time it’s actually decided to just toss the guy into the water below since it would save more lives that way since the terrorists already told them detonation was imminent. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2021, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1113 "2021-04-02T20:07:38Z")
“Some days you just can’t get rid of a bomb” - Batman ---
**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:** [April 2, 2021, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1114 "2021-04-02T21:41:03Z")
That reminds me of all the times someone has been trying to frantically erase a harddrive by tapping away at a keyboard before someone else arrived. Just pick up the heaviest implement in the room, and smash the damn thing. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2021, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1115 "2021-04-02T22:02:37Z")
Sorry, didn’t read through the 1100 previous answers… Cops (or detectives) writing on big, clear plexiglass panels. Clear would be the worst for legibility. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2021, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1116 "2021-04-02T22:18:32Z")
Probably already mentioned in this thread, but I’ll post it again: Therapists or doctors sleeping with their patients. Good way to demolish your career if you do that. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2021, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1117 "2021-04-02T23:14:49Z")
I always wondered why they didn’t just stick a magnet to it. That may not work anymore but back in The Day that’s all it would take. ---
**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:** [April 2, 2021, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1118 "2021-04-02T23:27:57Z")
People crawling in an air duct. AFAIK, I don’t know anyone that has crawled in a duct. And the they’re always silent. And they’re always immaculate. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2021, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1119 "2021-04-02T23:50:21Z")
Oh, yeah. I’ve never crawled inside of one, but I have worked with them. Every time you touch it, it makes a rattling noise, as loud as a gong in a Hollywod movie, and if the building is more that a week old, the inside will be filthy. ---
**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:** [April 2, 2021, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1120 "2021-04-02T23:53:48Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > People crawling in an air duct. AFAIK, I don’t know anyone that has crawled in a duct. And the they’re always silent. And they’re always immaculate. I’ve complained about this one before. Most air ducts narrow down to an opening too small to admit people. And they’re not built to take the weight of people, But they keep using them. As far back, at least, as **It! The Terror from Beyond Space** , where the alien monster crawls around inside the air ducts (on a freakin’ space ship! Where you _know t_hey’d be tiny) and, of course, in the rip-off of that film, **Alien** (where, at least, the ship was enormous, so it kind of made sense). And in **Aliens** , and **Jurassic Park** , and so on. The most ludicrous case was in the first James Bond film, **Dr. No** , where the opening to a human-sized air duct is _in Bond’s prison cell_. It’s electrified, but he just uses his rubber-soled sneakers to bust it open. Then he crawls through. But at times he’s doused with water (_in an air duct!!!_) and the sides heat up, for no good reason… In the novel this kind of makes sense – the duct is an intentional trap and obstacle course that No set up and is guiding Bond through, with Bond thinking that he’s escaping. But that’s not the case in the movie, because Bond _does_ escape through the ducts, and takes the place of a guard. The whole episode is bizarre. They sort of made fun of this in the Zucker/Zucker/Abrahams movie **Top Secret** , where Val KIlmer escapes his prison cell through an air duct only to find himself crawling back into it at the other end. [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=55) [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=57)