# What the hell is going on? Some weird things you've noticed about TV shows. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 28, 2000, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-going-on-some-weird-things-youve-noticed-about-tv-shows/34867 "2000-09-28T14:05:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2000, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-going-on-some-weird-things-youve-noticed-about-tv-shows/34867/81 "2000-09-29T06:45:25Z")
Someone else mentioned video game noises–but the thread is kinda long and I don’t remember who right offhand (Ashley Sleepy!) That bugs the hell outta me, too! Sometimes–I’ll see somebody playing a non-1980’s era videogame on a newer generation piece of hardware–but they always use the same retarded Atari 2600 noises from Pacman or Q-Bert or whatever. I once saw them use those same 4 beeps while the camera showed the kid playing F-Zero on a Super NES! Don’t they realize how far digital music has come?! Nobuo Uematsu (A Japanese game music composer) has become a celebrity in his own right! The Hollywood Symphony Orchestra is recording a CD with his works on it! The other thing that bugged me was the “dummied-down” GUIs in computers on-screen. The Sandra Bullock movie “The Net”. (Oh no! The evil computer virus is lowering the screen resolution! Now the graphics are all blocky and pixelized–what will we do?!) -Ashley ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2000, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-going-on-some-weird-things-youve-noticed-about-tv-shows/34867/82 "2000-09-29T07:03:38Z")
> [@](#): > > The thing I love about “The Drew Carry Show” is that they DO laugh at themselves on a fairly regular basis. That would be great if it was actually worth laughing at. Beer joke after fat joke after beer joke after fat joke after REALLY bad musical number gets old quick. The Drew Carry Show has taught me that you can drink beer _constantly_ every single second that you aren’t at work and never show any signs of alcoholism. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2000, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-going-on-some-weird-things-youve-noticed-about-tv-shows/34867/83 "2000-09-29T14:06:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by neutron star \* > \*\*The Drew Carry Show has taught me that you can drink beer _constantly_ every single second that you aren’t at work and never show any signs of alcoholism. \*\* Yeah, … and … ? ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2000, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-going-on-some-weird-things-youve-noticed-about-tv-shows/34867/84 "2000-09-29T14:58:11Z")
And (especially on soaps) everyone has a cell phone, and everybody gets through on their cell phones all the time! They never get a message that the call can’t go through or the caller is outside of the area, even if they are calling Europe. Nobody ever has to look for a pay phone. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2000, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-going-on-some-weird-things-youve-noticed-about-tv-shows/34867/85 "2000-09-29T15:34:47Z")
It’s good to know that someone else appreciates that. Still have no idea why they use Atari noises though. Secondly, have you noticed the effect being in a TV show or film has on computers? Either The computer is massively difficult to use and some super hacker is required to do the simplest things (Well it took 3 days of work but I’ve accesed solitaire) The computer does complex tasks with the click of a mouse (There, after pressing five keys my 2 dimensional drawing has become an animated 3-d model with orchestral backup) ---
**Author:** ![mk9kahr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@mk9kahr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mk9kahr)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2000, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-going-on-some-weird-things-youve-noticed-about-tv-shows/34867/86 "2000-09-29T16:36:25Z")
I caught on to this a few years ago and have been ranting to friends and family a lot. I call it the “Continual Degradation of the American Male”. Commercials are the worst about it, with sitcoms being a close second. It never fails, when the Male is wrong, the Female can harp on it for the full 30 min. BUT… in the rare situation when the Female is wrong, any mention of it is a serious no-no for the Male. OK, I guess that is true to life. Still annoying, though. ---
**Author:** ![BoBettie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2000, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-going-on-some-weird-things-youve-noticed-about-tv-shows/34867/87 "2000-09-29T16:54:37Z")
My peeves: Soap opera stuff- If someone is having a drink like coffee, there is NOTHING in the cup. You can look right in there- empty as can be. Why can’t they put some liquid in it?? If you have to get out of bed after sex, you must gather the whole sheet up and walk around with it like a strapless dress. Hello?? Bathrobe??? Zette ---
**Author:** ![Aglarond](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@Aglarond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aglarond)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2000, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-going-on-some-weird-things-youve-noticed-about-tv-shows/34867/88 "2000-09-29T17:21:26Z")
Along the lines of the husband knowing nothing and the wife pointing it out. Now the dads know nothing and the kids are pointing it out. I’m tired of listening to these stupid 4 year olds tell their fathers about the nutritional value of frickin Cheerios. Doesn’t happen. ---
**Author:** ![vix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a88e4f/32.png) [@vix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vix)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2000, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-going-on-some-weird-things-youve-noticed-about-tv-shows/34867/89 "2000-09-29T17:22:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by McKenna \* > Oh yeah, I’m in Boston. One word: Providence ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2000, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-going-on-some-weird-things-youve-noticed-about-tv-shows/34867/90 "2000-09-29T17:25:58Z")
And how come every single computer you see in every TV show or movie _has_ to be a Mac? Even in the awesome movie Office Space, the main character was running a Mac to debug code for Y2K. At one point in the movie he closes all his programs and returns to a C:> prompt. I’d like to know how that works… ---
**Author:** ![struuter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9e5f3/32.png) [@struuter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/struuter)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2000, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-going-on-some-weird-things-youve-noticed-about-tv-shows/34867/91 "2000-09-29T17:32:05Z")
I’m hesitant to post this–not wanting to piss anyone off or be too far off OP. But…If you’re not a regular cast member and you find yourself being beamed down with Worf, Data, Ryker and Troi…um, you ain’t coming back. ---
**Author:** ![Scribe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Scribe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scribe)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2000, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-going-on-some-weird-things-youve-noticed-about-tv-shows/34867/92 "2000-09-29T17:34:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by rjk \* > \*\*More on shooting: everybody takes turns! Bad guy takes three shots and ducks for cover. Hero takes three shots and ducks for cover. Bad guy takes three shots … > > Couldn’t one of them stop shooting and wait for the other to stick his head out? > > \*\* Reminds me of this serial that I once watched. The good guys and the bad guys were having a gun fight…and the good guy was hiding behind a chain link fence as he was shooting! ---
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2000, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-going-on-some-weird-things-youve-noticed-about-tv-shows/34867/93 "2000-09-29T17:42:18Z")
I totally agree about the computer things that have been mentioned. Computers are alternately shown as magical boxes that allow anyone to find any information in seconds, or as so sophisticated that only a super-genius “hacker” can do the simplest things. Not only that, but it seems that the large majority of people on TV have Macs. I’m not a Mac-basher (usually, hehe) but come on! Don’t the majority of all computer users have PCs with Windows 9x installed? Note how every machine on TV/movies has no noticable delay of any sort. Viewing a webpage? _snaps fingers_ There it is, in less than a second. Opening a program? _snap_ There it is! Booting up the machine? _snap_ Again, just a matter of seconds. Downloading an MP3, or some other file? Less than a minute. I refuse to believe that so many people have a computer so much better than mine! (Not to mention that they apparantly have personal T1 lines.) _grumble grumble_ Not to mention when someone is shown using a flat-screen monitor, especially college kids. Even a 13-inch one of those things costs more than my entire system did! ---
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2000, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-going-on-some-weird-things-youve-noticed-about-tv-shows/34867/94 "2000-09-29T17:44:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by neutron star \* > \*\*And how come every single computer you see in every TV show or movie _has_ to be a Mac? Even in the awesome movie Office Space, the main character was running a Mac to debug code for Y2K. At one point in the movie he closes all his programs and returns to a C:> prompt. I’d like to know how that works… \*\* D’oh! You beat me to the Mac thing. _grumble grumble_ ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2000, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-going-on-some-weird-things-youve-noticed-about-tv-shows/34867/95 "2000-09-29T17:48:34Z")
RE: timing on soap operas. That’s cause they never really know when the cutting room is going to switch scenes. So, you end up doing a scene that may be 15 pages long, but will be chopped up into 7 different bits, so instead of a natural pause 'tween your lines and the other persons, you have these pregnant (sts) pauses. But, the one thing that always fries me on cop shows: Cop goes to interview some one at their work/home, whatever. Phone will ring. IT’s for the cop. I want to see another Naked Gun movie use this: Drebin goes to interview witness. Phone rings, it’s for him. Goes to lunch. Phone rings, it’s for him. He’s stuck in traffic, car phone in car next one over rings, it’s for him. He’s in line at the theater, cell phone of person next to him rings, it’s for him. He goes home, phone rings, it’s a wrong number. ---
**Author:** ![DavisMcDavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dfb087/32.png) [@DavisMcDavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavisMcDavis)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2000, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-going-on-some-weird-things-youve-noticed-about-tv-shows/34867/96 "2000-09-29T18:37:15Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by gigi \* \*\* > [@](#): > > Paul and Jamie’s on “Mad About You” was the size of a real NYC apartment. And then when they are having the baby they say, where will put her, maybe we’ll have to give up the spare room (which is filled with junk). SPARE ROOM?? You’re paying like an extra $1000 a month for a junk room?? \*\* They were probably able to afford it because Paul was a generally-out-of-work documentary filmmaker - and you know they make a lot of money - and Jamie was able to support them by becoming a full-time student at NYU. It totally added up. Oh, and although the “Friend’s” apartment always irritated me, it was revealed on the “Joey and the Janitor Ballroom Dancing” episode that it’s actually an illegal rent-controlled sublet from Monica’s grandmother, which is how they can afford it with only Rachel’s coffee bar tip money. So they at least bothered to explain that two seasons in… Other things (these from soap operas): 1. Constantly and redundantly state the full name and relationship of everyone in each conversation: “Joe, as you know you are my brother, and ever since we signed the contract to hire our sister Susie on as Web designer for our family’s company, Jabot Cosmetics, I’ve been thinking…” 2. A swimming pool is never to be used. You simply sit near the corner of it and let the light reflecting off the unseen water shine onto your face. 3. The sunlight at the beach is exactly the same as the light inside your house - too bright for indoors and too dim for outdoors. 4. Although you live in a palacial mansion, you spend all of your time in just one room, generally the living room. 5. When alone, always read aloud what you’re typing, or else type in such a way that the characters appear in a perfectly regular fashion, without errors and at constant speed, as the camera points at the computer screen screen. From movies: No matter what happens to it - slogged through mud, dropped in a pool, carried in the mouth of a dog - the floppy disk carrying the secret formula will always work whenever inserted into the nearest computer - IBM, Mac, Atari 2600, whatever. ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2000, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-going-on-some-weird-things-youve-noticed-about-tv-shows/34867/97 "2000-09-29T18:52:56Z")
You would probably be a bit more irritated if they used _your_ phone number in a tv show or movie, and every moron in your area code that saw the show decided to dial that number. That’s why the phone company set aside one exchange expressly for the entertainment industry to use. Sure, they could have used numbers that were not all in the same exchange, but what if a soap star said xxx-5194 instead of xxx-5195? And area codes don’t work either - only certain areas require 10 digit dialing. It would be unrealistic for people in other areas to state an area code. ---
**Author:** ![Gunslinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gunslinger)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2000, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-going-on-some-weird-things-youve-noticed-about-tv-shows/34867/98 "2000-09-29T19:12:52Z")
The never-reloading-in-westerns phenomenon is simple: it’d make for boring lulls in the action. Everybody swap magazines in auto pistols, and Dirty Harry uses his speedloaders, but with a Colt single-action revolver, it’s one round at a time: 1. flip open little gate on the side of the gun 2. insert cartridge 3. turn cylinder 1/6 turn 4. repeat 2. & 3. five more times 5. close little gate 6. fire It takes _forever_ (time is relative–see below\*). It is shown in the gunfight at the end of the made-for-TV **Purgatory** on TNT, though; lots of shooting, then everybody ducks behind a building and reloads, then jump out and start shooting again. \*–In Vietnam, my dad thought he was taking too long (several seconds) to reload his M16 in firefights…then the guys told him he was firing again before the empty magazine hit the ground. ---
**Author:** ![Me\_Joe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecccb3/32.png) [@Me\_Joe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Me_Joe)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2000, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-going-on-some-weird-things-youve-noticed-about-tv-shows/34867/99 "2000-09-29T19:24:20Z")
This is more true about soap operas, but I have noticed it on sitcoms as well: 95% of all the people on these shows are blonde. virtually every woman is blonde. there are usually what? 20-25 regular cast members on a soap, split roughly down the middle. So out of 12 or 13 women, say 11 of them are blonde. Not as many men, but a good majority of them tend to be fair haired or even having blonde highlights. In fact, they all seem to have the same hue and shade of blonde hair without even the smallest variation in coloring. I realize that’s a small matter in the big picture (compared to say, the fact that 99.999999999% of soap and sitcom casts are causcasian/white), but it happens on such a dispropotionately high level that it can’t be an accident. do producers favor blonde actresses or actors for parts, and if so, why do they insist on perpetuating such an unrealistic aryan image? ---
**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:** [September 29, 2000, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-going-on-some-weird-things-youve-noticed-about-tv-shows/34867/100 "2000-09-29T19:26:22Z")
\*\* > [@](#): > > 1. A swimming pool is never to be used. You simply sit near the corner of it and let the light reflecting off the unseen water shine onto your face.\*\* Not quite; swimming pools do have two uses. First, they’re handy for drowning people in. Also, gorgeous women can go for nude midnight swims in them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-going-on-some-weird-things-youve-noticed-about-tv-shows/34867.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-is-going-on-some-weird-things-youve-noticed-about-tv-shows/34867.md?page=6)