# 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:** 89
**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:** [July 5, 2022, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1762 "2022-07-05T13:00:53Z")
We were on some farmland, walking through a wooded area, and came upon a bull. Unpenned. So we continued walking nonchalantly away, and the bull ignored us. Another time we were at Sturbridge Village in central Massachusetts, and a cow had gotten out of the pen. My wife Pepper Mill herded it back into captivity. She grew up near cows. . ---
**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 5, 2022, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1763 "2022-07-05T15:06:24Z")
Woke up early one foggy morning on Catalina Island and decided to go for a walk by myself. As I gained altitude, the fog got thicker, so I could barely see my feet. Suddenly large brown shapes coalesced around me, and I realized I was in the middle of a few, no, a family, no, dozens of bison. I could feel their breath on me, and I asked one “WHAT are you doing here?”\* I managed to wander through the herd, but it took a lot of swaying to avoid touching any of them. Don’t know how careful I needed to be, they acted pretty unimpressed by my presence. . \*Anyone here know? I think I [found the area](https://www.google.com/maps/@33.3622753,-118.3526069,129m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en) on Google Maps, but no evidence of a fence or an actual pasture… ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2022, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1764 "2022-07-05T15:24:31Z")
Bison wander freely around Catalina. > **[Catalina Island bison herd](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalina_Island_bison_herd)** > > The Catalina Island bison herd consists of American bison on Catalina Island off the coast of Southern California. In the 1920s or 1930s, several bison were brought onto Catalina Island for a movie. The bison are now quite popular with the tourists. Some buildings have been painted with images of bison and decorated with bison weather vanes. Over the decades, the bison herd grew to as many as 600. The population currently numbers approximately 100. > Over the first 20 years, 23 bison were moved... ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2022, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1765 "2022-07-05T17:39:34Z")
Prosecutor turned author Vincent Bugliosi repeatedly pointed out how uncommon it was to find usable fingerprints at a crime scene, esp. on a weapon. He routinely had to explain this to juries since it was too common of them to assume that _if_ this was the perp, the cops would have found fingerprints at the scene, so maybe “not guilty”? ---
**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:** [July 5, 2022, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1766 "2022-07-05T17:50:07Z")
When I was in grad school the police brought in some items from a murder scene (Including, I think, the suspected weapon) in the hopes of getting DNA residue to fluoresce under intense argon ion laser light. Even with really good cutoff filters, though, we couldn’t get anything. Those nifty high-tech solutions don’t always work, either. Actually, I would’ve been surprised if they got anything useful – the surfaces weren’t smooth and even, the kind you’d want for readable prints. It didn’t matter, though. we didn’t get fluorescence from anything. ---
**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 5, 2022, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1767 "2022-07-05T18:22:35Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > We ran like mad, but the vicious thing knocked me down and trampled me. There is, of course, an XKCD about that. [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/feathered_dinosaur_venn_diagram.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/feathered_dinosaur_venn_diagram.png) My pet theory is that in real life, the kid at the beginning of Jurassic Park who made fun of the ‘six-foot turkey’ never got a talking-to from Dr. Grant, and grew up to produce several of the movie’s sequels. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2022, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1768 "2022-07-05T18:31:44Z")
[Johnny Cash fought an ostrich to (at best) a draw](https://countryrebel.com/how-johnny-cash-was-once-nearly-killed-by-his-pet-ostrich/). ---
**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:** [July 5, 2022, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1769 "2022-07-05T19:36:18Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Sort of. Twenty some years ago a banker/farmer I knew thought he’d make a killing in ostrich. He was showing me around, explaining the business. Instead of walking the long way on a road, he thought we could cut across a field. We’d almost made it when a big bull ostrich came charging out of a barn. > > We ran like mad, but the vicious thing knocked me down and trampled me. My friend managed to divert the birds attention while I got up and ran the last few yards, rolling under the chain link fence in the three foot space escape area. > > I got some nasty bruises. Could’ve been worse. Could’ve been a _photoracus_ (although the film calls it a “giant chicken”. There was supposed to be a “prehistoric creature” aspect that was lost during production. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/HOrf31We4ho/maxresdefault.jpg "Mysterious Island (1961) Giant Chicken Attack") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOrf31We4ho) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2022, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1770 "2022-07-05T20:15:46Z")
> [@Bonum\_Legatum](#): > > Has anyone crossed a farm field and been chased by a bull? A Archie Goodwin has! 😛 > [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I’m doing my bit to eliminate both. While I eat as many steak dinners, hamburgers and meat-lover’s pizzas as I can possibly hold, I also would like to rid the ocean of any critters that want to eat me. Pretty much almost nothing does. The Great White attack because they think you are a seal, and there are many accounts of a swimmer bitten once and spit out. Of course, that can still be lethal. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2022, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1771 "2022-07-09T06:01:32Z")
When a couple are having sex on TV/movies but they’re trying to keep the sex scene as tame as possible they’ll have both people completely underneath the covers and have them make sounds like they’re being tickled. You’ll also see the bed sheets flapping around like both people are on their backs and moving the sheets with their hands and legs (which they most certainly are) ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2022, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1772 "2022-07-09T08:50:25Z")
> [@Bonum\_Legatum](#): > > Has anyone crossed a farm field and been chased by a bull? I’ve been chased by an ostrich, crossing a field while doing geological mapping in uni. Luckily we were most of the way across already before it spotted us, because those things are _fast_. I like to recount it as “that time I was chased by a huge cock” ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2022, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1773 "2022-07-09T17:58:04Z")
> [@Bonum\_Legatum](#): > > Has anyone crossed a farm field and been chased by a bull? According to a certain type of film about rural life, this would be a common thing. But - I’d expect a bull would look up, and instinct would kick in “Not my species - no competition.” and go back to chewing his cud. Or the farm person would know enough to NOT go into the field on foot. Not really a country kid, but been in rural areas enough. Put me in the category of “knowing when to not go into _that_ field.” Been in fields with dairy cows a lot. They tend to not care. But strange bulls/steers meant find another route. I think a lot of people are not smart enough to figure that out. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2022, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1774 "2022-07-10T21:17:38Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Pretty much almost nothing does. The Great White attack because they think you are a seal, and there are many accounts of a swimmer bitten once and spit out. Of course, that can still be lethal. Neither here nor there. A goldfish will not eat me even accidentally, so them I would not want to kill. ---
**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 10, 2022, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1775 "2022-07-10T22:44:19Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > both people are on their backs Well, it _is_ The Beast with Two Backs. What?.. Oh. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2022, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1776 "2022-07-10T23:38:25Z")
That is true. 😀 ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2022, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1777 "2022-07-14T20:23:21Z")
Or when the woman is wearing a bra or camisole. Yes, the producers want to hide her sweater monkeys less they invoke the wrath of the FCC. Mind you, it’s been a few years, but every woman I’ve ever been intimate with (including the Mrs., rest her soul) prefer not to wear so much as a hanky during conjugal relations, let alone be covered by a sheet. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2022, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1778 "2022-07-14T21:26:32Z")
Yeah, just so. I understand showrunners wanting to keep the sexy bits PG, but I’ve never known any woman to keep her bra on for a second longer than needed. Hell, Mrs. SMV loses hers the minute she walks in the house, even if she has nothing more planned for the evening than eating pizza and binge-watching _This Is Us._ ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2022, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1779 "2022-07-18T14:50:48Z")
I don’t know if this has been mentioned yet, but it always irritates me - After the couple has sex, the woman wraps the sheet and/or blanket around her when she gets out of bed. My first thought is, “now the bed has to be completely remade!!” ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2022, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1780 "2022-07-18T18:19:21Z")
Another odd trope I’ve noticed recently: if you wake in the night thinking you’ve heard a burglar moving around downstairs, then _of course_ you reach for the handy torch (flashlight) that _of course_ you keep on your bedside table, in order to creep downstairs vaguely pointing it here and there, rather than do anything rash like, oh I dunno, switching the lights on. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2022, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1781 "2022-07-18T19:00:57Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > rather than do anything rash like, oh I dunno, switching the lights on. Not just home owners vs. burglars - apparently TV/movie police training is to never turn on the lights. Much better to walk around in the dark with 1,000 lumen flashlight on your weapon showing the bad guys exactly where you are. I think it was the original John Wick where he shot all the bad guys in the dark house by aiming at their flashlights. [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=88) [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=90)