# What takes you out of a TV show or movie that’s actually trivial? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted, movies\ **Created:** [September 23, 2026, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-takes-you-out-of-a-tv-show-or-movie-that-s-actually-trivial/1033299 "2026-09-23T01:49:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2026, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-takes-you-out-of-a-tv-show-or-movie-that-s-actually-trivial/1033299/181 "2026-09-26T02:41:14Z")
No, but I did have an empty coffee cup in hand. I don’t recall if I pretended to be drinking from it. > [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > I never realized the stakes were so high around elastic breaking. Taking notes. I won’t further hijack this thread, but let’s just say this isn’t even the worst wardrobe malfunction I’ve experienced. ---
**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:** [September 26, 2026, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-takes-you-out-of-a-tv-show-or-movie-that-s-actually-trivial/1033299/182 "2026-09-26T14:43:40Z")
I try to be forgiving about military uniforms. Minor things like ribbons out of place don’t bother me. The beret thing does. I can’t take it when they are wearing it like a French mime instead of a soldier. That and the collar in modern camouflage uniforms. Yes they are designed so you can wear it with the collar up and Velcro closing it at your throat. But nobody does and you would get you ass handed to you if you did. Those collars are for when you wear body armor so it doesn’t chaff your neck. Most people don’t even wear it like that then. You don’t even need a consultant to fix those things. Just Google pictures of real soldiers. There is one that I know only affects me and maybe a few others in the world. There must be some Hollywood costume shop that got a good deal on 8th Infantry Division unit patches. They pop up on a disproportionate amount of uniforms in many different productions over the years. I was in the 8th ID. I was in it almost to the end. The entire division was deactivated around 1993. The talk about uniforms makes me think of the show _Emlisted_ that was on Fox about 10 years ago. The pilot aired and it got destroyed on social media by veterans and current soldiers. They got everything wrong. The producers hit every possible page and site that catered to the military. They apologized for getting it so wrong. They explained a couple of episodes were in the can but if people stuck it out it would get better. And it did. They brought in consultants. They got the small things right like uniforms, haircuts, relationships, military comportment. It turned into a pretty decent show that tackled serious issues while still being funny. It still didn’t survive. Contrast that with the recent _Going Dutch_ that got everything wrong every episode and managed to get 2 seasons. ---
**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:** [September 26, 2026, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-takes-you-out-of-a-tv-show-or-movie-that-s-actually-trivial/1033299/183 "2026-09-26T15:04:35Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > > [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > > > I don’t know about drills now but I can imagine them having a beret class at some point during training. I went through Basic in 89 and recruits didn’t have berets then - only the Airborne, SF, and Ranger units had them. Tankers had black berets in the 60s and 70s but that was before my time. > > With all the preparation involved, they can’t be wearing these things when they are on combat duty, can they? I’m just envisioning soldiers down in the trenches adjusting their hats perfectly while bullets whiz by. Despite the feeling that “it’s always been this way” Army beret culture became the rule late 70s or early 80s. Before that it was more informal and by unit. Green berets for special forces. Maroon berets for Airborne. Black berets for Rangers. Everyone else wore those hats that looked like baseball hats. Then General Shinseki came along and wanted everyone to feel elite. Rangers got tan berets. Everyone got black berets. And everyone realized what a pain in the ass they were. You had to shape it properly. You had to fold it properly to put in your pocket. You needed a mirror to check when you went outside. You needed two hands to put it on right. It doesn’t shield your eyes from the sun. It got dirty easy. We all tried to wear it as little as possible. The old camouflage hats were still authorized for the field. When we deployed the berets stayed home. Depending on the circumstance we were either wearing a helmet or the camouflage baseball hat. I’ve been retired for awhile but it seems to me that with uniform changes the black berets are probably worn very infrequently. Airborne, Rangers and SF still wear them as often as possible. Wearing the beret low over one eye is a choice that many elite units let their people get away with even if it isn’t strictly regulation. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2026, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-takes-you-out-of-a-tv-show-or-movie-that-s-actually-trivial/1033299/184 "2026-09-26T17:45:56Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Someone playing piano the wrong way. In an early SNL sketch, John Belushi (as Beethoven) is miming playing the piano and since he’s facing the the camera we can’t see his hands. At one point he does a full keyboard glissando, beautifully miming it but IN THE WRONG DIRECTION. Of course he knew what he was doing and it got the laugh it deserved. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2026, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-takes-you-out-of-a-tv-show-or-movie-that-s-actually-trivial/1033299/185 "2026-09-26T17:48:09Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > _ **Combat!** _ was filmed in and around MGM’s European Village in Southern California I’ve read that people of German descent used to giggle at the Nazis on _ **Combat!** _ speaking German with strong American accents. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2026, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-takes-you-out-of-a-tv-show-or-movie-that-s-actually-trivial/1033299/186 "2026-09-26T17:57:22Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > _Anchorman_ was set in San Diego in the '70s and used shots including skyscrapers that weren’t built until the '90s. **The Stunt Man** has a scene where two people are talking. Our point of view switches between one character’s face and the other’s. We look over one person’s shoulder at the Hotel Del Coronado; behind the other person we see the Children’s Pool in La Jolla. The two locations are in fact about 10 miles apart. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2026, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-takes-you-out-of-a-tv-show-or-movie-that-s-actually-trivial/1033299/187 "2026-09-26T18:07:03Z")
**Californication:** The teen daughter’s character that was kind of irritating, gothy and implausibly wise beyond her years. Couldn’t make it through the rest of series after she frankly complained to her father (played by David Duchovny), “I can’t even get a boy to let me give him a blowjob.” ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2026, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-takes-you-out-of-a-tv-show-or-movie-that-s-actually-trivial/1033299/188 "2026-09-26T18:28:50Z")
> [@Clawdio](#): > > Scenes in cars where the driver is mindlessly floating the steering wheel back and forth. ISTM that used to be a lot more common a long time ago than it is now. But one thing I just thought of: driving through a major city while having a conversation of a few minutes without stopping for traffic lights or stop signs, or making any turns. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2026, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-takes-you-out-of-a-tv-show-or-movie-that-s-actually-trivial/1033299/189 "2026-09-26T18:39:58Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > The two locations are in fact about 10 miles apart. With a bunch of higher terrain in between. Even with a mongo telescope you couldn’t see one from the other. But boy are they both iconically Greater San Diego. So there’s that. 🤪 > [@commasense](#): > > ISTM that used to be a lot more common a long time ago than it is now. The process of herding a 1950s or early 1960s landboat without power steering down the road does involve a lot of wheel motion. And even then it only sort of goes where you’re pointing it. But I agree that it seems a lot of films & vids shot into the 1980s still used 1950s style steering. Even if the actors weren’t old enough to ever have driven such difficult beasts. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2026, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-takes-you-out-of-a-tv-show-or-movie-that-s-actually-trivial/1033299/190 "2026-09-26T22:16:43Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > > [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > > > The two locations are in fact about 10 miles apart. > > With a bunch of higher terrain in between. Even with a mongo telescope you couldn’t see one from the other. But boy are they both iconically Greater San Diego. So there’s that. Yep. As I remember the scene, one character is standing next to the Hotel Del; the other person has the Children’s Pool just behind him. ---
**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:** [September 27, 2026, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-takes-you-out-of-a-tv-show-or-movie-that-s-actually-trivial/1033299/191 "2026-09-27T00:51:25Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > > [@terentii](#): > > > > _ **Combat!** _ was filmed in and around MGM’s European Village in Southern California > > I’ve read that people of German descent used to giggle at the Nazis on _ **Combat!** _ speaking German with strong American accents. Probably not all of the actors. Eric Braedon was on several episodes. He was born Hans-Jörg Gudegast in Germany. I’m assuming that’s his legal name since his son’s last name is Gudegast. I’m also going to assume his German was pretty good. ---
**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:** [September 27, 2026, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-takes-you-out-of-a-tv-show-or-movie-that-s-actually-trivial/1033299/192 "2026-09-27T01:16:18Z")
He also played Captain Dietrich of the Afrika Korps in _ **The Rat Patrol** _, and was a neo-Nazi on _ **Mission: Impossible** _. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2026, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-takes-you-out-of-a-tv-show-or-movie-that-s-actually-trivial/1033299/193 "2026-09-27T13:26:58Z")
I think you may have found Peak Geo-Disconnect there. Lotta ways the action in a show jumps from place to place for the heck of it. HQ is here, scene 1 is 40 miles away over there, then scene 2 is 30 miles the other way and nobody on-screen notices or cares about the implied 110-mile drive. Eh, it’s a cliché that TV/movies are real life with the boring parts edited out. And a 110-mile drive on SoCal freeways would count as boring for sure. But a single face to face conversation spanning 10 miles for no apparent reason besides scenic background? There’s gotta be a record for that kind of thing and I think you found it. Congrats! ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2026, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-takes-you-out-of-a-tv-show-or-movie-that-s-actually-trivial/1033299/194 "2026-09-27T13:33:16Z")
So this wasn’t some deliberate, tongue-in-cheek effect? I’m lost why this would be done except as some kind of lampshade referencing how fast and loose Hollywood plays with geography. I mean, wasn’t it more difficult and inconvenient to do it this way? Hmm. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2026, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-takes-you-out-of-a-tv-show-or-movie-that-s-actually-trivial/1033299/195 "2026-09-27T16:01:53Z")
I think my favorite is when Hollywood just uses California back lots for Texas locations, and portrays the state as WAY more dry, deserty, and desolate than it is. Most of it, especially the more populated areas aren’t that way. It’s not all pine forests like the eastern third of the state, but a large portion is not terribly different than anywhere else- lots of plains, low hills, grassland, occasional stands of trees, etc… It’s only in the western parts where it starts to get desolate, and even out there, it’s _FLAT_. The only notably hilly/mountainous parts are either the Marathon mountains out in Big Bend (geologically related to the Ozarks and Appalachians), or the Hill Country, which is not very high, but kind of dramatic topographically. It’s just the TV/filmmakers going for the popular conception of Texas as dry, dusty, and desert like, and taking it to an extreme. But it’s always good for a laugh, especially when watching nonsense like _Texas Rising_. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2026, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-takes-you-out-of-a-tv-show-or-movie-that-s-actually-trivial/1033299/196 "2026-09-27T22:01:48Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > I’ve read that people of German descent used to giggle at the Nazis on _ **Combat!** _ speaking German with strong American accents. My Mother kept laughing during The Battle of Britain film, as the polish pilots remarks were not censored. > [@bump](#): > > I think my favorite is when Hollywood just uses California back lots for Texas locations, and portrays the state as WAY more dry, deserty, and desolate than it is. I always wondered how on earth anyone made a living in those Western ranches and towns with desert and sagebrush everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2026, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-takes-you-out-of-a-tv-show-or-movie-that-s-actually-trivial/1033299/197 "2026-09-27T22:10:05Z")
Parts of Arizona and California _are_ like that. And parts of Texas. But not the parts of Texas where anything historical took place in the 19th century. Arid is maybe the worst thing you can say about a lot of Texas west of I-35. It’s certainly not desert with sagebrush and cacti. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2026, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-takes-you-out-of-a-tv-show-or-movie-that-s-actually-trivial/1033299/198 "2026-09-27T22:16:05Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Parts of Arizona and California _are_ like that. And parts of Texas. > > But not the parts of Texas where anything historical took place in the 19th century. Oh certainly. And you can find Ghost towns out in those areas where no crops can grow- but there was precious metals to be mined. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2026, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-takes-you-out-of-a-tv-show-or-movie-that-s-actually-trivial/1033299/199 "2026-09-29T10:08:32Z")
Further on Art Frahm’s enduring legacy: Back in July _The Economist_ published an article on research about the health benefits of incidental everyday exercise, like stair climbing or carrying groceries. Which article just came to my attention. **[How little exercise can you get away with?](https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2026/07/03/how-little-exercise-can-you-get-away-with)** for those with access. It’s illustrated by a simply drawn comic: [![](https://www.economist.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1424,quality=80,format=auto/content-assets/images/20260711_STD000.jpg) ](https://www.economist.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1424,quality=80,format=auto/content-assets/images/20260711_STD000.jpg) For those who can’t see it because of paywall it shows a muscular woman in exercise clothing facing out at us standing with a barbell-bar held over her head. But instead of weights there is a super-sized grocery bag hanging from each end of the bar. She’s straining a bit; this stuff is _heavy_. So what makes these tall trash-bag sized white plastic grocery bags so heavy? Sticking precariously out of one bag is a can and a baguette, plus an unidentifiable something. The other? A lettuce and an apple that surely would have already fallen. And a celery. _Of course_ there would be a celery; how could there not be? Baguettes, celeries, and things that should fall. It’s a perpetual trope. Thank you Art Frahm; at least some of your signature bits live on 75 years later. And FTR, her unseen undies are probably quite secure under her stretchy half-leggings with her muscular thighs and small waist; no wardrobe malfunctions for her. And to link this aside back close to the thread topic: Yes, the comic took me right out of the article. Totally distracting in its majestic silent Frahmitude. ---
**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:** [September 30, 2026, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-takes-you-out-of-a-tv-show-or-movie-that-s-actually-trivial/1033299/200 "2026-09-30T11:35:59Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > And of course, Tony Curtis: “Yonda lies the castle of my fodda.” You know, of course, that he never said that line. It’s attributed to more than one movie, usually **The Black Shield of Falworth** (1954). But it’s not in any of them. The Wikipedia article on the film actually has a section debunking this: > ## False quotation > > The film is famous for an apocryphal line, attributed to Tony Curtis and rendered as “Yonda stands da castle of my fodda” or similar. The plot details above show that this would not fit the story: there is no “castle of my father”. The line is said to have come from a remark made by [Debbie Reynolds](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debbie_Reynolds "Debbie Reynolds") on television.[[3]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Shield_of_Falworth#cite_note-3)[_[better source needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability#Questionable_sources "Wikipedia:Verifiability")_] _[Life](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_(magazine) "Life (magazine)")_ magazine attributed the line to Curtis while performing in the 1951 film _[The Prince Who Was a Thief](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prince_Who_Was_a_Thief "The Prince Who Was a Thief")_.[[4]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Shield_of_Falworth#cite_note-4) Our artist friend Robin Wood. titled one of her fantasy compositions “Yonder Lies the Castle of my Father” Of course, the point is that Curtis had that heavy New York accent in many of his films. It was used to good effect in _Spartacus_, where all the slaves (except Lavinia) have American accents and the Romans have British accents, and Curtis’ was arguably the most American of all. And, ironically, he was one of the few literate slaves. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-takes-you-out-of-a-tv-show-or-movie-that-s-actually-trivial/1033299.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-takes-you-out-of-a-tv-show-or-movie-that-s-actually-trivial/1033299.md?page=11)