# You get to fix one of your pet peeves about shows and movies... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 21, 2016, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-get-to-fix-one-of-your-pet-peeves-about-shows-and-movies/760460 "2016-07-21T02:06:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![LionelHutz405](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lionelhutz405/32/536_2.png) [@LionelHutz405](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LionelHutz405)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-get-to-fix-one-of-your-pet-peeves-about-shows-and-movies/760460/61 "2016-07-21T18:25:54Z")
No more paying for cabs or drinks by just grabbing a bill from your pocket without worrying about the amount or expecting change. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-get-to-fix-one-of-your-pet-peeves-about-shows-and-movies/760460/62 "2016-07-21T18:34:57Z")
> [@YogSothoth](#): > > And no more people twisting and turning their bodies like you’re playing VR. Real video gaming looks like a dispassionate couch potato barely paying attention to what’s going on on the screen Not in my experience. Real video gaming usually involves twisting, turning, and also yelling if the character in the game doesn’t respond quickly enough. ---
**Author:** ![Borborygmi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/borborygmi/32/217_2.png) [@Borborygmi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Borborygmi)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-get-to-fix-one-of-your-pet-peeves-about-shows-and-movies/760460/63 "2016-07-21T18:38:42Z")
I personally get to vet all paid product placements going forward. Don’t worry, most don’t bother me a bit. So far only these two are prohibited: [ol] [li]No boxes of Dunkin’ Donuts. Ironically they look too much like the knockoff ‘Donuts Donuts’ boxes that I am used to seeing in TV and movies and it takes me out of the moment.[/li][li]No one is allowed to encourage a colleague in need of information to “Bing it!” No one is ever going to adopt Bing as a verb like we all did for Google, Microsoft. Just accept it.[/li][/ol] ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-get-to-fix-one-of-your-pet-peeves-about-shows-and-movies/760460/64 "2016-07-21T18:41:47Z")
> [@YogSothoth](#): > > This didn’t use to bother me, but now I just find it so lazy. For phone numbers, no more 555, use a real area code from that area and just make up the rest of the numbers. \*\* I don’t care if you accidentally get a real person’s number, it happens. > \*\* Ever heard of lawsuits? ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-get-to-fix-one-of-your-pet-peeves-about-shows-and-movies/760460/65 "2016-07-21T19:50:10Z")
> [@Reluctant\_A](#): > > I imagine you might feel differently if you had to go through a period of three or four months where a couple hundred drunk college kids a day were calling your house. Probably, but if I based all my decisions on how I would feel if it happened to me, I’d be a much better person > [@Doug\_K](#): > > Not in my experience. Real video gaming usually involves twisting, turning, and also yelling if the character in the game doesn’t respond quickly enough. Depends on the game I guess, or the type of people. Unless its Mario Kart, the kind of rapid contortions I typically see on screen is exaggerated nonsense > [@Velocity](#): > > Ever heard of lawsuits? Doesn’t the disclaimer at the end protect against that? When they say “None of this is based on a real story, everything you see is fictional”, its an effort to stave off money grubbers saying “This movie was based on me, pay me!”. I’m pretty sure it would be easy to prove that a random phone number is just that: random. So for the sake of immersion and accuracy, I’d tell them to take that chance. If they accidentally pick a person’s number, oh well. What are they going to sue for really? Annoyance? Its not harassment because its not on purpose ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-get-to-fix-one-of-your-pet-peeves-about-shows-and-movies/760460/66 "2016-07-21T20:00:41Z")
I would insist that I be in charge of determining where they can insert commercials into movies. I understand why commercials are necessary. But when you’re watching _Pulp Fiction_, and Pumpkin and Honey Bunny have just taken over the diner, and he comes over and sticks the gun in Jules’ face, you can not then cut away to some motherfucking lizard trying to sell me insurance and expect to just pick things up where you left off. > [@Mr\_Shine](#): > > Breaking the rules of the OP here, but I thought of another one I’d do instead. Don’t hire 2 people with very similar faces, hair styling and build for the same movie and dress them similarly. Make one of them dye their hair, cut it differently or have them have different clothing styles. I don’t want to spend the first hour of the film thinking “wait isn’t that the guy who…” > [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > As a Good Liberal, I’m glad to see diverse casting. As a consumer of entertainment, that same diversity can make for more interesting productions. > > Too many shows have several almost indistinguishable good looking dark haired white guys. (There was historical reason for this in _Downton Abbey_, when it was noted that all Lady Mary’s swains looked alike; they put blonde streaks in Poor Matthew’s hair to make him stand out. _Writing_ to distinguish the different characters? Not from Lord Fellowes.) > > Actresses also tend be young, white, slim & have the same long hair. At least hair color varies. Sometimes a character is The Edgy One–give the guy some facial hair & let him wear a hat! I’ve never watched _NCIS_ but know there’s an Edgy Young Chick in the cast; does she _always_ dress that way? > > I like casts that include different ages, body types, races & degrees of beauty. Let’s have more character actors with interesting faces! Yes, casts will include disproportionate numbers of good looking people; but why must they resemble the Abercrombie & Fitch catalog? They seem to make more of an effort to give female characters distinct looks. Odd that you would mention _NCIS_. Sasha Alexander was on that show in its first few seasons, and she had very dark hair. A few years later she was cast alongside Angie Harmon on _Rizzoli & Isles_ and her character is kind of medium blonde. I don’t know if it applies in this particular case, but I have heard it said that producers won’t cast two blondes or two brunettes for fear that the audience won’t be able to tell them apart. > [@Reluctant\_A](#): > > Oh, and if I could have one more, no more ambiguous series finales, ever; I don’t need every series to end HEA, but I can’t abide ambiguity from my entertainment. I hear ya, but it can work. There was an English comedy called _One Foot in the Grave_ about an old man named Victor who seemed cursed by the gods, and his long-suffering wife. In the last episode, the wife, Margaret, is mourning her husband’s death at the hands of a hit-and-run driver. There are flashbacks showing the events leading up to his death. Margaret confides to her minister that the one thought that keeps her going is the chance to find the driver and kill him. Margaret does find solace by making a new friend who has also just lost her husband. On a visit to the friend, Margaret discovers that she’s the killer; she had been driving to the hospital to have one last moment with her dying husband. Margaret is in the perfect position to take her revenge, if she wants it. And then we see her walking out to her car and driving off with a wistful look on her face, then a montage of all various indignities suffered by Victor in his last days. It’s fucking brilliant. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-get-to-fix-one-of-your-pet-peeves-about-shows-and-movies/760460/67 "2016-07-21T20:05:35Z")
> [@Neo-Calredic](#): > > It annoys me how most of the times anyone in movies or TV gets stabbed anywhere, it’s an instant off switch for their entire body. Good guy sneaks up behind evil henchman #3168Z, stabs him in the center of the back, henchman goes down silently, apparently dead before hitting the ground (and usually with hardly a trace any blood spilled). Um, no. > > The instant, super-easy neck snap all action heroes seem to be capable of is a variation of this, and equally annoying. I read David Toma’s (the real life detective that the TV show was based on) autobiography and he had the opposite complaint. He said TV and movies make it look like a guy can get stabbed in the back, slap a bandage on and be good to go, whereas in real life he was in the hospital for over a month and took two or three months before he could go back to work. ---
**Author:** ![Reluctant\_A](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@Reluctant\_A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reluctant_A)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-get-to-fix-one-of-your-pet-peeves-about-shows-and-movies/760460/68 "2016-07-21T20:28:37Z")
> [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > Actresses also tend be young, white, slim & have the same long hair. At least hair color varies. Sometimes a character is The Edgy One–give the guy some facial hair & let him wear a hat! I’ve never watched _NCIS_ but know there’s an Edgy Young Chick in the cast; does she _always_ dress that way? FYI, that “Edgy Young Chick” is older than me, and I have a kid in college. > [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I hear ya, but it can work. There was an English comedy called _One Foot in the Grave_ about an old man named Victor who seemed cursed by the gods, and his long-suffering wife. In the last episode, the wife, Margaret, is mourning her husband’s death at the hands of a hit-and-run driver. There are flashbacks showing the events leading up to his death. Margaret confides to her minister that the one thought that keeps her going is the chance to find the driver and kill him. Margaret does find solace by making a new friend who has also just lost her husband. On a visit to the friend, Margaret discovers that she’s the killer; she had been driving to the hospital to have one last moment with her dying husband. Margaret is in the perfect position to take her revenge, if she wants it. > > And then we see her walking out to her car and driving off with a wistful look on her face, then a montage of all various indignities suffered by Victor in his last days. It’s fucking brilliant. I won’t question whether it’s well done, or smart writing; you and I may not agree on whether “smart” is a prerequisite for “enjoyable” or “satisfying.” I happen to think, for example, that _Arlington Road_ was a pretty smart movie, and that was the movie that basically made me stop watching movies. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-get-to-fix-one-of-your-pet-peeves-about-shows-and-movies/760460/69 "2016-07-21T20:38:54Z")
> [@Reluctant\_A](#): > > I find this thread to be interesting and informative. My biggest takeaway from it is that most Dopers seem to have a much more… I don’t know, pedantic (?) TV watching experience than I do. “Pedantic” may not be the best choice of words, but I can’t think of a better one. Yes! I swear, I’ve been a big fan of T.V. and movies for almost 50 years, and until I started reading the Dope, I had no idea that anyone expected them to be realistic. I just always assumed that they take place in an alternate universe where those things that make the drama more exciting and the comedy funnier and the love story more romantic were the way things work. If I want real life, it’s there to experience. If I want entertainment, I have no desire or expectation that it be realistic. With that in mind, the one pet peeve that I would fix is that a recast would always be the default when an actor leaves a show. To go back to _Downton Abbey_ for a moment, why, oh, why, when British shows have a much better track record with recasts, did they feel the need to kill Matthew off just because Dan Stevens left the show? There are plenty of attractive British actors who could have admirably filled the part and retained the integrity of the story. This holds true for almost every show. I’m not saying that no one should ever be killed off (or suddenly have to move to Paris), but it should be a planned exit that fits the storyline, not a result of an actor leaving. I’ll occasionally make an exception if a beloved actor dies, because it gives fans a chance to grieve, but other than that, I always prefer a recast. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-get-to-fix-one-of-your-pet-peeves-about-shows-and-movies/760460/70 "2016-07-21T20:44:27Z")
No shaky cams in TV/Movies. I propose increasing funding to the “Dolly and Steadycam Operators and Kneecapping Goons Local #437”. ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-get-to-fix-one-of-your-pet-peeves-about-shows-and-movies/760460/71 "2016-07-21T21:04:21Z")
If it’s not too broad, I’d like to have a volunteer come in and glance over the dialogue written for characters by script writers from a different demographic and make sure it makes sense. Like a teen who can say “People my age grew up wanting to be like Lebron, not Michael Jordan.” Or an urban black guy to say “Nobody has said ‘Yo that’s wack!’ in 20 years, if ever.” ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-get-to-fix-one-of-your-pet-peeves-about-shows-and-movies/760460/72 "2016-07-21T21:17:14Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Roles must be played by actors who really are the age of their characters. > > No more “youthful” looking 30 year old actors playing high school students!!! It’s not as if one of them is going to become president of SAG/AFTRA or anything… But I agree with this, except that you have to allow for somethlng like 18-year-olds playing 14-year-olds if only because of child labor laws. However, my pet peeve is, no more animated shows having different sets of continuities. What I mean is, you can’t have a show have continuity for some things but not others. Case in point: _The Simpsons_. Homer and Marge are always in their high school “class of 1984,” but then it turns out that Marge went to college in the early 1990s. They mention on a number of occasions that Sideshow Bob was first arrested (for framing Krusty for armed robbery) “in 1990” even though none of the kids would have been born in 1990 if none are older than 10 now. Apu’s nephew Jamshed and Selma’s adopted daughter Ling get older, while the other kids on the show - including, apparently, Jamshed’s sister - don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-get-to-fix-one-of-your-pet-peeves-about-shows-and-movies/760460/73 "2016-07-21T21:34:34Z")
Well, it’s a tossup between “no more obviously silkscreened signs, banners, and flags in settings where they clearly would not have been available,” or “no anachronistic technology when an even vaguely period-appropriate version would have been available (save for outright parody, deliberate and not half-assed production design, outright science fiction, etc. etc.)”. But I think the latter is overreaching it. Okay, but a really pet peeve one? “Green Lanterns—the superheroes—don’t get to wear the [sigil of a green lantern on a white disk on their costume](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/ef/Justice_league_green_lantern.jpg), unless the costume design has white on it someplace else, too.” I’m…I’m sorry, I know there’s a history there, and I know I’m the only one. _But it just bugs the hell out of me_. It’s like a big loose thread on someone’s jacket, or a picture frame that’s _just_ too crooked. It’s just obsessive-compulsively distracting. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2016, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-get-to-fix-one-of-your-pet-peeves-about-shows-and-movies/760460/74 "2016-07-22T02:29:31Z")
I guess I’ve watched too many old sci-fi movies, but I grimace when I see a man and a woman running and the woman ALWAYS falls down and can’t get up without help from the man. Either pick yourself up and keep moving, or make it so the man falls down sometimes. Or just watch where you’re going, morons. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2016, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-get-to-fix-one-of-your-pet-peeves-about-shows-and-movies/760460/75 "2016-07-22T02:49:04Z")
> [@YogSothoth](#): > > If they accidentally pick a person’s number, oh well. What are they going to sue for really? Annoyance? **Its not harassment because its not on purpose** With this sort of mindset - maybe you had better not enter this or some other industries. No disrespect but - yeah. ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2016, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-get-to-fix-one-of-your-pet-peeves-about-shows-and-movies/760460/76 "2016-07-22T02:51:25Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > Yeah, alright. I’ll dial it back some… > > I would either eliminate Wilhelm Screams, or require ALL screams to be Wilhelmses. Oh hell yes! I freaking hate the Wilhelm Scream. Complete immersion breaker. Re: Firearms, if someone gets shot while wearing body armour don’t just have them get up, peel back their clothing to show it and then get on with life as usual - make them sore and bruised for a while - like they have just absorbed 400ft lbs of impact energy on their ribs. Also, guns are _loud_, unless someone has earplugs in the won’t be hearing very well after a shootout (thumbs up to _Black Hawk Down_ for acknowledging this). ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2016, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-get-to-fix-one-of-your-pet-peeves-about-shows-and-movies/760460/77 "2016-07-22T03:09:21Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > “Green Lanterns—the superheroes—don’t get to wear the [sigil of a green lantern on a white disk on their costume](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/ef/Justice_league_green_lantern.jpg), unless the costume design has white on it someplace else, too.” > > I’m…I’m sorry, I know there’s a history there, and I know I’m the only one. _But it just bugs the hell out of me_. I’m not sure I’m entirely following you here. There’s supposed some other white on the outfit somewhere; Green Lanterns have a dress code? ---
**Author:** ![Reluctant\_A](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@Reluctant\_A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reluctant_A)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2016, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-get-to-fix-one-of-your-pet-peeves-about-shows-and-movies/760460/78 "2016-07-22T03:19:51Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I’m not sure I’m entirely following you here. There’s supposed some other white on the outfit somewhere; Green Lanterns have a dress code? I think what he’s getting at is that he’d rather Green Lantern uniforms looked more like [this](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dZ2h_bmT2Ek/TZKsDBsTi-I/AAAAAAAAAhg/qoB3R-UNZ5A/s1600/kyle+rayner+Green_lantern.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![caligulathegod](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caligulathegod/32/9685_2.png) [@caligulathegod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caligulathegod)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2016, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-get-to-fix-one-of-your-pet-peeves-about-shows-and-movies/760460/79 "2016-07-22T03:44:40Z")
I have two peeves. One is when someone is looking at grainy low rez surveillance footage and with a simple “enhance!” they can then read the print on a medicine bottle. Same with a small jpeg. The other is whenever someone demonstrates a skill in something, especially when the character is a female (because no way could a female have an actual aptitude on her own), it’s because their dad or other relative was one and they are now an expert by osmosis. Car’s broken down? I can fix it. My dad was a mechanic. Leg broken? I can fix it. My uncle was a doctor. Need some rube goldbergian device? My brother was a mechanical engineer. Drives me nuts. No one can just have an interest or aptitude in something. There always has to be a trite reason. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2016, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-get-to-fix-one-of-your-pet-peeves-about-shows-and-movies/760460/80 "2016-07-22T04:12:02Z")
No more scenes when Person 1 goes to tell Person 2 something, but Person 2 cuts them off, and then talks about something that takes the wind entirely out of Person 1’s sails, and then they ask what Person 1 was going to say so they smile weakly and say it doesn’t matter or tell them that dinner’s ready or whatever. Lame. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-get-to-fix-one-of-your-pet-peeves-about-shows-and-movies/760460.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-get-to-fix-one-of-your-pet-peeves-about-shows-and-movies/760460.md?page=5)