Things common in film, television and fiction that you have never encountered in real life.

I've encountered all of them.

OP, obviously you've never lived in Florida.

All those you mention, but wait, there's more!

Hot pizza delivery guys who need to use your bathroom and conveniently leave the door open.

Feisty grandparents

Bar Mitzvahs

Fun fat girls

Wingmen

A black neighbor or work colleague with no personal life of his or her own and with nothing better to do than to pop by just when the main white character most needs a comic foil

Hen parties/Stag parties

I grew up near the Augusta National, home of the Masters, so I’ve known many golf enthusiasts.

My partner is a golf junkie.

My best friend is very wealthy and I know he gets four figure bonuse.

I'm pretty sure my dead father was a serial killer. And he was a jolly guy.

Yes, a very wealthy guy that loved golf and probably had killed people. At least I could imagine him doing it with ease. The golf part.

People cooking full breakfasts on weekdays.

Embittered/alcoholic savant detectives with troubled pasts and messy personal lives.

People who REFUSE! medical attention after being beat half to death by The Bad Guy(s). *tearing EMT's IV out of arm* *growls* "I'm FINE! That [Bad Guy] SOB ain't getting to ME that easily!"

People who exclaim shit like "I've never taken so much as one sick day in my ENTIRE career!" Like, Bitch, you do realize you're just fucking yourself over, right? Your organization couldn't care less.

Funerals of main cast members who've been killed off, where the ONLY mourners are other cast members and a couple of random nonfamily extras. Like, dude, your life LITERALLY was your job, wasn't it? That is so sad. You ain't even got a play cousin? No great-Auntie on your daddy side?

As opposed to embittered/alcoholic DataLoungers with troubled pasts and messy personal lives?

Cops who are one day away from retirement.

Superheroes

Problems that are happily resolved in 90 minutes/30 minutes/200 pages.

Witty six year olds.

Hospitals where all of the male patients are shirtless in bed.

Private investigators.

Women presidents.

Women presidents.

Kindly small-town southern sheriffs.

Unemployed/underemployed people who are not independently wealthy, but are not stressed about their employment situation, and live fabulously.

A multi-cultural group of friends where each member loves each other equally. I’m not talking 5 whites and 1 black—the group needs to match the ones on TV to have multiple blacks and multiple Asians.

I’m not saying it can’t happen, it’s just that I’ve never seen it.

Prostitute with a heart of gold.

Doctors, Lawyers and Police Detectives going above and beyond to cure the disease or solve the injustice of some poor, downtrodden person. They even work overtime and show up at the patient or victim's home on their personal time to try and figure it out as they are so consumed by it.

I'm an average middle class white person and no doctor or lawyer or law enforcement has ever gone beyond the bare minimum to diagnosis or help me. Maybe they do this for rich folk but not for the average and or below average.

A neighbor who asks to borrow a cup of sugar.

Parking spots easily available whenever anyone pulls over anywhere.

[quote] A neighbor who asks to borrow a cup of sugar.

It’s a thing of the past, but I’ve seen it in my childhood. (As well as being the neighbor who needed to borrow sugar for Mom.)

I’m in love with r10.

A vague old acquaintance suddenly becoming a love interest.

[quote] A neighbor who asks to borrow a cup of sugar.

I've not seen that on TV or in the movies in decades.

We actually had that growing up in the 70s because back then middle-class families did not always have two cars, and women stayed at home and would get bored and sometimes decided to bake. if they were out of something, they could not easily drive to the store.

My biggest pet peeve: In the middle of a dire, IMMEDIATE life threatening event, people stopping to have calm, lengthy "meaningful" conversations.

House interiors by a decorator.

Presumed dead people coming back alive and having had plastic surgery to disguise their features.

Females over age 9 calling their father 'daddy'.

living in big fancy houses with landscaping when only one person works to support a bunch of lazy children and stay at home mom. Also they can afford to take ten people to Hawaii.

(R31) Every episode of The Walking Dead.

True love.

poor thing r37

[quote] Females over age 9 calling their father 'daddy'.

Are you serious? I know adult females who still refer to their father as daddy.

R35, I got you on the Bradys, but not Modern Family. Jay was the CEO of a relatively large company and they had one kid before they “Olivered” the show with Joe.

r35, when the Brady Bunch was on, there really were such things in US society as stay-at-home mom's. It was considered genteel, and men would literally brag that their wives did not have to work outside the home.

Sorry: I meant "stay-at-home moms," with no apostrophe.

Oh, [italic]dear[/italic] to myself!

[quote] Presumed dead people coming back alive and having had plastic surgery to disguise their features.

I thought that was something that never happened in real-life, until it happened to a cousin of mine. Her husband "died" in a fire, we had the funeral and everything. Around a decade later, she had married another man and was happy, when out of the blue her first husband showed up on her doorstep, alive! I don't think he had plastic surgery, but he had changed his hair color.

Do you live at South Fork, r43?

Watching a 60 year old running everywhere or on a motorcycle with no helmet race through crowded streets.

I used to watch a soap opera during my lunch hour. And the thing I couldn't understand was how the characters would continue to interact with one another after they had shafted each other so badly, and often repeatedly, especially family members.

R44 I wish. Honestly, none of us thought that things like that really happened, until it did. One thing they rarely cover on tv, is the legal aspects. My cousin faced jail time for insurance fraud. Thankfully, the investigators came to the conclusion she had nothing to do with it.

Following from R21, something I see in modern tv is middle-aged people of very different ethnic backgrounds dating without ever making any reference to their cultural differences and biases. It's as if everyone has had the same upbringing and experiences.

Also they never get negative feedback of any kind from anyone.

It's laughable on these soaps when previous lovers have sex with the back from the dead, plastic surgeried person and don't recognize them. Did they have their dick/vagina altered also? How about their voice? Hands/Feet? Natural scent?

Suitcases full of mob money that ends up in the wrong hands.

Too many things, where to even begin? Let’s see...

1) Hanging up on a call without as much as a ‘bye‘

2) Walking away after a dramatic statement. Just like that: “I guess you will be gone for a long time, Bob”. Exit the scene.

3) Children intelligent and wise beyond their years

4) Seven year olds who love rock starts from the 70s

5) Butlers making snarky remarks in 20s England

6) Lords and Ladies being very concerned about their dressing maid or the cooks third assistant

7) Doors that are ajar, preferably with a trickle of blood

8) Corpses looking perfectly peaceful and pretty, rather than with soiled pants and mouth agape

9) People who become unrecognisable with a stick-on moustache or a dusty wig

10) Pained writers/artists with a penchant for booE and cigarettes living in an insane loft downtown Paris, London or New York.

I could go on forever..

A Woman's Orgasm

.. with a penchant for booze

Maids and butlers whose wisdom and competence keeps the dopey household from falling apart, and who are also permitted to sneer openly at their employers.

Picturesque squalor.

People in ancient times acting and using words and phrases in suspiciously modern ways.

I’ve met golf enthusiasts. They’re total ducking freaks.

There are a lot of precocious kids with a very deep knowledge of old music who make mixes of obscure tunes for the household. They must be reincarnated from grumpy record snobs.

R43, that's wild. So he faked his own death? What did he say when he showed up?

People running from cops who leap from rooftop to rooftop and climb high fences in lightning speed.

Gun fights and car chases that happen in crowded streets where no one gets hurt.

R26 you beat me to it! I always laugh when I see that in movies/TV shows.

People with regular office jobs who live in 3000sq. ft. NYC apartments.

People who shut off the TV after an important breaking news report to have a conversation about it.

Kids who love lip syncing to Motown hits

[quote] [R35], when the Brady Bunch was on, there really were such things in US society as stay-at-home mom's. It was considered genteel, and men would literally brag that their wives did not have to work outside the home.

This is still very much the case in 2020

Especially the "literally bragging" part.

[quote] stay-at-home mom's.

Oh,dear.

Law enforcement officials who are all good-looking, disciplined, and well-spoken. Haven't they seen the multitude of fugly bumbling oafs the actual public have to deal with?

High school students who look to be in their mid=20s.

People with undefined "office" jobs

Neighbors who constantly drop in, often via an unlocked door

Sassy black maids

And my personal pet peeve: people who hang out at home on weekends and after work in impeccably stylish sportswear, shoes included, especially when they are not expecting anyone to drop by or to leave the house. Everyone I know is in sweats.

Kids who are "best friends" with their parents.

You've never encountered that IRL R70 or that's just the way you'd like the world to operate?

Never or not to the degree you see it in movies.

You have not met my partner, R8.

Female cops who look like models

I'm 2 of 3 OP.

People who ask if they could be excused from the table before they get up.

Pre-teen boy scouts who want Ethel Merman (Madonna for the Generation Zers) and their old-looking parents to participate in a big time talent show.

Middle class families with live-in housekeepers. Especially if the housekeeper is male and/or not from a third world country.

People who toss their ice cream in the trash after one bite.

R79, or leave the bar after taking one sip of their drink.

(R74) Kathy Griffin did a bit years ago and said "They only cast pretty people now." It sent a chill down her spine with the casting of FRIENDS (featuring her friend Lisa K). She said "Everyone on that show was pretty. It used to be normal looking people on sitcoms, with maybe ONE pretty person (hot daughter, hot co-worker, hot neighbor guy) but now they just want pretty. EVERYONE has to be pretty!"

R81 compared to Kathy Griffin everyone is pretty.

A closeted Lesbian dating a straight man.

(R82) She has always acknowledged her D-list looks/status. That's the point.

Definitely the characters who are never shown at work or having a job at all. It only shows them at the coffee shop with their friends or out on a date or something of that sort. It makes sense if it's taken place when all the characters are on vacation together, on a holiday, trapped in some spot, or are high school/college kids, but when they're not, it's very odd.

At least write in that they have a rich sugar daddy or something.

[quote] People who toss their ice cream in the trash after one bite.

[quote] or leave the bar after taking one sip of their drink.

Raises hand!

(not a big eater or drinker)

The reason I always hated FRIENDS. Fake pretty people problems. Who should I date? Brad Pitt? Still hot daddy Tom Selleck? Poor me!

[quote]Gleeful serial killers.

Oh, just you wait!

Yes, attractive female police officers. In real life they all look like butch bulldykes.

Helpful librarians.

R46 I assume you didn't work in an office. The behavior you describe is every-day behavior in an office.

Wayward teens befriending cranky old people (and helping each other to become better human beings).

R90 I take offense! The librarians at my local library are so sweet, I want to mother them all!

Events from the past finally being avenged on the anniversary of the crime/loss/tragedy. You see it a lot in horror films. There's a big tragedy that took place 20 years ago and, for some reason, the killer waits until the exact date to seek vengeance. After awhile, you'd think they'd just get over it.

The hero always finds the perfect parking place, right in front of wherever he wants to be. When the cops serve a warrant, the person is always home. Juries are made up of a perfect age and ethnic mix, and they always appear to be interested in what's going on. (Proving the writer has never been on a jury.)

Heroic dogs who save multiple humans from grisly death at great risk to their own lives.

[quote] People who ask if they could be excused from the table before they get up.

Just like borrowing sugar from the neighbors, this too was prevalent when I grew up.

Yes, you requested to be excused from the table.

You also rose if a female member of your party approached the table, such as returning from the powder room.

Maybe table manners have gone away.

I grew up in the 60s and never saw any of this.

I guess bizarrely baroque table manners departed before the Kennedy administration.

Could it be a regional thing, r98?

People committing suicide by just walking peacefully into the ocean, fully clothed.

Nurses in the hospital parking lot wearing a cap.

Maybe it is regional. I am from the northeast. Maybe they did this stuff in Sante Fe or Seattle.

Or

Nurses wearing a cap.

R102, northeast here also, so maybe not regional. My father did instill strict table manners in us, though, so that may be a part of it.

I only ever saw that stuff on TV.

R59 Apparently, he said things had just gotten too much for him. He had a wife, a little child, and a business that was going well. He wanted to just get away from all his responsibilities. But, then he decided he wanted his old life back. Instead, his wife decided to stay with her new husband, his daughter wanted nothing to do with him, and he went to jail. I'm sure he is out now but no one in the family has had any contact with him that I know of.

For Canada: Chinese food coming in boxes. Ever since I was a kid it always came in a metal container with a cardboard lid. It was something I only saw on tv/in movies.

At weddings (and mostly at the altar) there's always a surprise interruption when the question is asked whether anyone has anything to say before these two are wed.

Often that's when we find out the best man is in love with the bride OR the maid of honor is in love with the groom OR the bride or groom is in love with someone else. These matters are never discussed before the wedding day.

Adult TV characters who never, ever do anything really bad to their children. For example, Tony Soprano. At some point, he would have done something really shitty & undeserved to one of his kids. Nurse Jackie (pill-popping nurse played by Carmela Soprano / Edie Falco). Popping pills all day yet never drops the ball on her kids (e.g., being too hammered to pay attention when needed). TV producers are so wimpy and hands-off when it comes to how adults really would treat their children.

[quote] Are you serious? I know adult females who still refer to their father as daddy.

I know it's regional, but it's creepy when adult children call their parents "Momma" and "Daddy."

R110 I find it far creepier when people refer to their parents by their given names.

Seemingly unlimited money to spend in spite of middle class jobs.

OP, I've known representative of all three of your anomalies without going outside my own family.

Women having sex with their bras on.

99% of people are model thin, aside from the occasional chunky housekeeper and the funny fat friend.

99% of women have perfectly applied makeup, stylish clothes, and chic haircuts. Any woman who doesn't will get a makeover by the end of the movie.

r67, see r42.

Try to be a little quicker next time. Or at least read the whole thread before posting.

This is regional I think, but how nearly everything takes place inside these micro towns where you can easily walk/bike to get anywhere. I always thought how cool it was that my cousins outside of Chicago could walk to school.

Overweight people with skinny siblings and skinny kids. For example, Roseanne Barr and Dan Conner.

[quote]Hanging up on a call without as much as a ‘bye‘

My husband usually hangs up in mid-sentence. No joke.

I was born and raised in Seattle and we had to ask to be excused from the table. This was late 60s-70s. We also couldn’t put our elbows on the table, or we’d get “Hansen*, Hansen, strong and able get your elbows off the table.”

Multicultural groups of friends and multicultural office environments, where each racial group is evenly distributed.

R119, what do you mean by Hansen? Your parent would play Mmmm-Bop if you put elbows on the table.

Still trying to figure out what kind of parents would make such a fuss about kids leaving the table or putting their elbows on the table (?).

It all sounds pretty arbitrary.

Snotty service people, waiters, etc as well as underlings at work who make snide remarks to someone higher up and are never told "Shut up and get back to work".

A four-figure annual bonus is not so rare as you seem to think, OP.

I have met very few people who get a bonus. And none of them got that much money.

It may not be rare to get a big bonus, but I have never encountered anyone who had one. This thread got started because a bunch of friends and I started talking about how TV is full of golfers and people with bonuses---and none of us knew any.

[Quote] This is regional I think, but how nearly everything takes place inside these micro towns where you can easily walk/bike to get anywhere.

E.g Sunnydale

Death by consumption.

You never see parents hitting their children on tv or in movies but up til quite recently, nearly all parents hit their kids.

[quote]You never see parents hitting their children on tv or in movies but up til quite recently, nearly all parents hit their kids.

Quite recently? In what spare-the-rod backwoods holler? Seeing parents hit their children was well on its way out in the 1960s and pretty much gone by the 1970s; not gone completely but not easily visible. Of course in the U.S. it's a matter for states; it is not one of the 58 countries that ban corporal punishment in some combination of school and home, and in 18 states it is legal for schools to administer corporal punishment.

Not everyone lives in the woke blue states of the US....recently I saw a father beating the shit out of a pre-teen girl, presumably his daughter, on the street in a town in the south of France. None of the passersby said or did a thing.

And you really think the real life equivalent of Roseanne doesn't smack their kids? And Catholic schools do not use the ruler for things other than measurement?

And what about women getting bashed at home? The numbers probably haven't gone down much in these supposedly enlightened times.

Still, R129/R130, "up til quite recently, nearly all parents hit their kids" seems both a little DIckensian and an odd thing to miss in in film, television, and fiction.

A lady popping out of a cake at a party.

[quote]Helpful librarians.

Well I never in all my life.

Somebody getting married at the place where they work.

Bonuses are quite common in many industries, it's part of the compensation package.

R134 Speaking of work places, having everyone who works together be best buddies or romantic partners outside work. Some work related shows will depict the characters having no social life outside their Co workers, who they all seem to be close with despite having almost nothing in common.

[quote]Definitely the characters who are never shown at work or having a job at all.

Especially when the characters are business owners. See Paddy's Pub and Rose Apothecary. Who's minding the store?

Speaking of Always Sunny, that show partly avoids the cliche of characters never wearing the same outfits twice. Dennis and Dee do have oddly vast wardrobes, but Mac and Charlie can be seen wearing the same clothes again and again. I think Mac only owns two pairs of pants. Or maybe his mom gives him a new pair of blue workpants every birthday and Christmas.

[quote] Still trying to figure out what kind of parents would make such a fuss about kids leaving the table or putting their elbows on the table (?).

It’s called instilling manners so you wouldn’t look or act like a total rube in polite company.

All kinds of manners have disappeared - males standing when women came into the room, males removing their hat in an elevator/lift, men standing on the outer part of a pavement when walking with a woman, women slapping men across the face without fear of retaliation, no smoking on the street, no casual clothes on planes or shopping in better stores, children and teens addressing all adult non-family members as Mr X or Mrs X.

Disappearing - men holding doors for women, men paying for all dates with women, not being called by your first name in commercial situations,

It always snows on Christmas Eve, even in the warmest of climates.

Visiting a sick coworker in his or her bedroom and bringing gifts

The whole stilted manners thing was very big with middle class families with social aspirations in mid 20th century America.

IIRC, Paul Fussell talks about it in his book "Class" and they were derived from movies and TV shows more than the real life behavior of the American upper classes.

Many DLers are very wedded to these customs as (a) they were much more invested in them than their siblings, and (b) they feel that knowing them somehow sets them apart from their middle and working class peers.

In reality, the rise of working mothers in the latter part of the last century, combined with the concurrent rise in scheduled activities for children meant that these customs quickly went the way of the pencil-dialed telephone.

Vampires or werewolves.

Socializing with co-workers.

Quicksand!

Beat cops who seemed to know everyone in the neighborhood and vice versa

Millionaires who live with their parents and siblings.

I get a five figure bonus yearly. I’m middle class and my job is not what you’d think of as high-paying, I just work forma private firm that values and wants to retain its employees. I’ve also met many golf enthusiasts; I’m a middle-aged college educated white male.

How would you know if you met a serial killer, unless you socialize on death row?

"All kinds of manners have disappeared - males standing when women came into the room, males removing their hat in an elevator/lift, men standing on the outer part of a pavement when walking with a woman, women slapping men across the face without fear of retaliation, no smoking on the street, no casual clothes on planes or shopping in better stores, children and teens addressing all adult non-family members as Mr X or Mrs X."

"Whites only" drinking fountains, gay people arrested for having consensual sex.....ah, the good old days!

I knew someone who got a very large bonus.

Decades ago, did hospitals actually allow patient to wear bed clothing in the wards - pajamas for men and nightgowns for women? Every time I've ever been in the hospital, it was "Okay, strip down to your underwear and put on this gown, opening to the back".

Villains who engage in a lecture before they kill you. "So here we are, Mr. Bond, just you and me. You're going to die painfully now but before I kill you... etc etc"

OP, golf enthusiasts are usually the people who get four-figure or greater annual bonuses. It's an expensive sport!

R153 is correct. I have never encountered a villain who gave a speech before killing me.

90% of this thread is absurd. It’s either people trying to outdo each other listing common things they’re too special to have encountered, or just listing things that only happen within the narrative structure of movies, like “villains” giving speeches.

People only receiving phone calls and/or visitors that are connected to the plot or situation being dealt with in the story.

or turning on the news and, coincidentally, the one story that is airing when you turn on the tv deals with the issue that is directly affecting you

Teenagers whose cultural references are 20 years out of date.

School reunions.

Gay sex in positions where penetration couldn't possibly occur.

Friendly neighborhood policemen, mayors, or school principals.

Christmas Eve snow.

Street hookers who aren't drug addicts.

Jews.

You've never been invited to a school reunion, met a friendly policeman, mayor or principal nor a Jewish person?

Where the hell do you live?

Sex in the shower

Nannies whose passion is destroying the nuclear family that employs them.

In the past, movies and TV would cast 30 year olds as 15 year olds. Now they have gone to the opposite extreme and regularly cast 33 year olds who still look 16. I think as a result Americans have a skewed idea of what an average 35 year old looks like. I sometimes see comments describing any 30 something that doesn't look like a dewy adolescent as "old and hard ".

It is hard to tell if R140 is serious or not.

Let me add some.

Disappeared--Turning over a saucer when someone at the table sneezes, keeping receipts in one's pocket rather than in the bag with one's purchase, using only filtered water for ice, putting a new bar of soap out whenever company shows up, placing forks tines down when there are women at the table.

Never heard of those, R163, except of course making ice cubes with filtered or bottled water, which has not disappeared. Always had little guest soaps in fancy shapes.

I just made them up.

So many of R140s were nonsensical or weird (letting women slap men? one gender walking near the curb but not the other?) that I wanted to join in the fun.

Sexy pink or red lighting coming through a window during a hot sex scene.

Going off on the serial killer thing.....

In movies they are all genius criminal masterminds who enjoy playing cat-and-mouse games with the detectives. They are usually highly educated scientists, or have PhDs. In real life, most of them are dumb, uneducated, poor, and get away with it only because of luck or circumstance.

Rosa DeLauro would be a better choice for VP.

^ sorry wrong thread..lol

R165 - as quaint as you found R140’s list every one of them was common and expected in pre1960’s “respectable” America — except perhaps for the women slapping men — but that happened in movies all the time. In urban areas men always walked nearer to the curb when escorting women - to help shield them from getting splashed by a passing car, or worse back in the days of horses. Even as a little kid in the late 60s my urban grandmother always made me walk on the building side while she was closer to the street “in case a car jumps the curb.” Protecting and deferring to those “weaker” than yourself was ingrained behavior. On the subway men were expected to stand and let women sit.

And though we were working class I always had to asked to be excused from the dinner table and my mom always scolded me to keep my elbows off the table into the mid 70’s. Spanking or other controlled forms of corporal punishment were the norm - I’m not talking about people who terribly beat or abused their kids, just a slap or wack across the butt. If you know any east coast Italian Americans over 45 I will bet when they misbehaved their mothers hit them with a wooden spoon.

Yes, everyone was perfect in the past when I grew up and everyone always protected weaker people! No one ever did anything bad and no one ever committed any crimes until 1980!

R171 - stop your ridiculous trolling. I didn’t say it was better; or those behaviors universally practiced; but that the things R140 said were once considered “good manners” actually were commonly considered as such and he wasn’t making them up. There have always been plenty of boorish people like yourself around,

r172, take a look in the mirror if you want to see a boorish person.

Middle aged superheros.

Also middle aged action hero who are 60 but beat up 30-year-old bad guys, skinny, waifish female action heros who can beat up grown men

55 year old action men that 30 year old women are swooning over.

Purses. They're always perfectly shaped, just like in-store. But if you actually put your stuff in it, everything sinks to the bottom and the purse loses all shape.

[quote] Decades ago, did hospitals actually allow patient to wear bed clothing in the wards - pajamas for men and nightgowns for women? Every time I've ever been in the hospital, it was "Okay, strip down to your underwear and put on this gown, opening to the back".

My father was in and out of the hospital relatively frequently in the 70s and 80s with a heart condition and yes, he was permitted to wear pajamas. That was always the first thing he asked Mom to bring when he was admitted. If they were long sleeved, Mom would cut one sleeve for the IVs.

R170, I grew up in the 60s, long after the time of the horses, so that curb thing seemed especially bizarre. But if we go back to the 19th century we can find all kinds of forgotten etiquette. Like the curb thing, it falls away when it no longer makes sense.

Maybe East-cost Italians hit their kids with spoons, but I am pushing 60 and am Greek. My parents would never have hit us with a spoon, but we were very involved in the Catholic church and Catholic school, which may be why so many of these arcane behaviors are so foreign to me.

Old people who are former vaudevillians ready to put on a show at the drop of a hat. I thought every other old person had been in vaudeville.

Well that's travelling back in time, R179. Considering that the death knell of vaudeville was 1932, most of its performers were born during the reign of Queen Victoria.

Orange juice in a glass pitcher on the breakfast table.

People in beautiful house who hand-wash dishes in the sink.

A person slapping someone else in the face.

Good one, r182!

I always wonder how the hell they shake it up to get the sediment on the bottom mixed in.

The Golden Girls was especially good for that one.

Psychotic clowns.

You're fortunate never to have encountered them, r186

People who get the shit beat out of them but don't cry or tear up. They also never show bruises! I bump into something and I'm black and blue by the next day.

People who have gorgeous places to live but are almost never shown working. I'm talking about you, A Million Little Things. Two women work; one owns a restaurant and the other is an attorney.

Being able to see your physician/pediatrician at a moment's notice. I sometimes wait at least a week or two, even more for a specialist!

quicksand

R125: Perhaps it's time for you and your friends to load-up the truck and get out Clampettville. Head for the big city, take a staff job at a white shoe law firm and watch your fortunes improve.

Oh, I forgot: you, in your far off head, would never consider a job as a "lowly" legal secretary or paralegal. Too bad...Kahchinggg, baby!

Montage

Again, the bonus thing is bizarre

Many jobs--non-retail sales jobs in particular--have a yearly bonus built into the compensation pacakge

I don't think packaged orange juice we have now like Tropicana was available until the mid 70s. Orange juice was fresh squeezed or made from frozen concentrate and was served from a pitcher. In my house it was served in a plastic Tupperware pitcher like this one, except on Christmas and other special occasion mornings.

And now no one drinks orange juice because it's nothing but sugar

Jersey Italian here born 1960 and I can confirm the wooden spoon was indeed the disciplinary aid of choice in my home. Followed closely by the flying slipper/flip flop/shoe (from Italy).

r193, both frozen and ready-to-drink orange juice were indeed commercially available before the 1970s.

Lesbians who fall passionately in love with men.

Re: Wooden spoon controversy: I was brought up in a Polish household and we were spanked with a wooden spoon. I don't remember it being used for any other purpose but to hit us. It wasn't often and only for serious infractions.

The crazed relative they keep in an attic after they kill someone or have a mental break. Just thinking about all the work that would go into pulling that off makes me exhausted.

r152. In German hospitals people are still wearing nightgowns or Pyjamas or anything you like. You only wear this hospital thing before the surgery and short after

Male prostitutes who cater to women exclusively

Bigots who suddenly magically become non bigots after befriending a member of the group they dislike. Prejudice isn't that simple.

Strippers and sex workers who are bestess girl power buddies with the other women, rather than competitors so would happily scratch each others faces off.

R190, is New York also known as Clampetville?

Also, legal secretary and paralegal are the same thing. And they do not get bonuses.

R204, no, they’re two separate jobs.

Shooting or stabbing someone doesn't mean they're really dead, especially if you turn your back on them.

You can crash through a window and fall four stories onto the hood of a car and just get up and walk away.

Being chased by a killer in a deserted cabin in the mountains? Hiding from the monster in the closet? Your ex-boyfriend / ex-husband is stalking you through the streets of your home town? Alien spaceships landing next to your truck in the woods?

Well, if you’re a character in a horror film, chances are your cell phone will have no coverage at a crucial point in your survival.

[quote] People who ask if they could be excused from the table before they get up.

We had to do that when I was really young. If we gulped down dinner & wanted to go back outside & play while parents were still eating we had to say “Please may I be excused from the table?” It got to be a one word question in a singsong voice, “Pleasemybeskyoozedfromthetay-bullll?” And we would rat each other out “She didn’t ask to be excused! She has to come back!l

Characters eating Chinese food right out of the box without putting it on plates, so the audience will get that THEY ARE EATING CHINESE FOOD.

In the 1970s, one of my best friends had parents that were very concerned about their children's manners. They had to ask permission to leave the table. AND they had to eat everything that their mother put on their plate. I hated eating dinner at their house because I never knew if I was supposed to ask permission right along with them. And if they wanted some more food or to have a dish passed, they always had to say "please", which annoyed me because in our house, we just reached and grabbed for what we wanted. So when my friend came over to our house, my mother always complimented him on his manners.

People who are supposed to be horribly dirty and disheveled with perfectly placed glamour dirt to accent cheekbones and styled, tousled hair.

[quote]Characters eating Chinese food right out of the box without putting it on plates, so the audience will get that THEY ARE EATING CHINESE FOOD.

Which doesn't make sense because there is not enough room in the carton for both the entree and the rice. So everyone must be eating a noodle dish.

It doesn't matter what economic background or what age a character is, everyone in film and television has blindingly white teeth.

Clearly you didn’t see Ironweed.

[quote]Clearly you didn’t see Ironweed.

My dear, nobody saw that boring piece of crap. But I do hear that in that picture, Meryl gave Jack Nicholson a handjob. Obviously she's so used to doing it to secure roles that she automatically started doing it and the director told them to keep rolling and left it in the film.

The Meryl/Glenn shit has never been funny. Not even once.

[quote] they always had to say "please", which annoyed me because in our house, we just reached and grabbed for what we wanted.

Uncivilized brute.

After Ma bellowed come and git it.

[quote] Characters eating Chinese food right out of the box without putting it on plates, so the audience will get that THEY ARE EATING CHINESE FOOD.

And every character knows how to use chopsticks.

R24, attorney here. I used to do that "back in the day". People took advantage and I no longer practice law as a result.

R204: A mind is a terrible thing to waste; please put your head to better use than as a dunce/MAGA cap holder. Your defensive, arrogant indifference when confronted with facts is pathetic, but not surprising.

I am all out of troll food, so you're on your own henceforth.

Female characters eating like truck drivers as a comic device, yet remaining rail thin. It’s always junk food, like potato chips and fried chicken and cartons of ice cream, too.

[quote]I am all out of troll food

And post-fourth-grade language skills, apparently.

Women waking up in the morning in full make-up and perfectly styled hair after a full nights sleep.

People leaving a house, about half the time they leave the front door standing open and no one ever locks the door unless it is in the plot for them to get accidentally locked out of the house.

I've mentioned this one in similar threads. A man and woman stand at the front door of her house and she gives him the key so he can unlock and open the door for her. What is that?!

Women stranded in the wilderness and enduring catastrophic events in full makeup and cute wardrobe.

Pulling up in front of a major city department store or office building and getting a parking space.

[quote]A man and woman stand at the front door of her house and she gives him the key so he can unlock and open the door for her. What is that?

It’s called chivalry. And I guess, based on this thread at least, people today are being raised with no manners whatsoever.

Many of these comments remind me of the brilliance of the original Roseanne show. For the first time, you saw people who seemed real on a sitcom. Roseanne's house wasn't always tidy. She portrayed a woman who had to work and was exhausted when she got home and didn't always prepare the best meals for her family. I think it's one show that came very close to portraying what real life was like.

There were earlier realistic sitcoms; eg, The Honeymooners, All in the Family, Steptoe and Son.

If you call Girls a comedy, that was pretty realistic - ugly people, shithole apartments, grungy sex, failed careers.

Of British comedies, Filthy Rich and Catflap and Men Behaving Badly seemed pretty realistic.

R230 Because dainty damsels are incapable of opening heavy wooden doors on their own with their white gloves, corsets and tartan prairie dresses and need a swarthy gentleman caller to come to their aid.

Piles of snow on NYC sidewalks the week before Christmas, leafy green trees in the snowy mountains at Christmas.

When someone dies, their eyes close, and their head drops to one side.

As a former hospice nurse for 8 years, I presided at the deaths of some 3 to 4 dozen people, and never, ever, witnessed anything like that.

Such twaddle.

Windows with no screens in them

People who visit each other at their jobs during lunch hour to tell them something they could have phoned them about.

[quote]People who have gorgeous places to live but are almost never shown working. I'm talking about you, A Million Little Things. Two women work; one owns a restaurant and the other is an attorney.

lol this sort of reminds me of the VH1 retrospect show I Love the 80s when the panelists discussed The Cosby Show. A couple of them mentioned that Claire Huxtable was never shown working as an attorney or dealing with clients.

[quote]You never see parents hitting their children on tv or in movies but up til quite recently, nearly all parents hit their kids.

Roseanne spanked one of her kids. There was an episode of Friday Night Lights where Tami Taylor slapped her daughter.

Potato shaped millennials who don't work or barely work, are mostly unfortunately nude, or in skimpy ugly clothing, with "we tried our best parents" and friends who also never seem to work. They also drink like fish during the week but apparently have no repurcussions at work, and few in their personal lives. They're all sooooooo well educated but do nothing and don't seem to have college loans. They also date/drop off sex way out of their league and then complain about how the guy doesn't want to connect with them. WHINE!.

Neighbors who burst into people's homes/apartments without knocking. Hysterical on the screen, in real life - not so much.

Care to elaborate, R224, or does your ignorance speak for itself?

Mary! Mary!

[quote] Because dainty damsels are incapable of opening heavy wooden doors on their own with their white gloves, corsets and tartan prairie dresses and need a swarthy gentleman caller to come to their aid.

See now where did you get all that? I never said anything close to what you’re saying.

There’s a lot of things gentlemen do for ladies that aren’t absolutely necessary, holding a door for them comes to mind, but are done out of courtesy and respect.

Are you really that much of a clod? Didn’t your parents teach you to respect women?

Beautiful, young, sophisticated NYC women who actually fall in love with guys who look like Woody Allen because he's "intelligent" (as opposed to using him as a sugar daddy).

Guys pushing 60 running at full speed for 2 miles with nary a knee, hip, or breathing issue in sight.

R245, he dated much younger, more attractive women in real life.

R242 And in the projects at that! How Willona escaped being shot is beyond me. We didn't play, even in the 70s.

R245: Objection! See, Norma Jean Baker and Arthur Asher Miller.

R249 Overruled...Marilyn had daddy issues and "fell in love" with/screwed anybody who was nice to her. believe me, I know the type.

Leaving headlights on after parking a car, often followed by running away from the car and leaving the driver’s door wide open

R225 I know many women, usually older ones, who sleep in full makeup.

People who show up to work with coffee for all their coworkers.

Parents giving kids "the sex talk".

Maybe it happens, but I'm pretty sure most parents just never mention anything at all.

R253 That does happen sometimes in real life. I worked at ice skating rink for awhile in college and we sometimes had skating or hockey events that started at 6 or 7 am and one of my supervisors who showed up for a later shift did bring coffee for the people who had been on the early morning shift.

R230, you call it "chivalry," but I call it having no manners and no respect for women.

Did anyone ever think it was "polite" to act as if women were by nature invalids? It just seems so disrespectful.

I hold the door for anyone, offer anyone a hand when they carry heavy packages, and any number of things because I was raised to be considerate of others.

Doing all that for one gender only shows a profound lack of consideration for half the human race.

FFS how many threads can we possibly have that turn into DLEG discussions of their childhoods from four generations ago and Mother's Rules For Proper Living?

We will be continuing our discussions of Rules for Proper Living until everyone is living properly.

Thank you

Your Mother's Rules For Proper Living are antiquated and ridiculous.

People breaking bottles over someone’s head. The skull is more apt to shatter than the bottle.

Snow that falls only in the background and never on the speaking characters in the foreground.

[quote]Unemployed/underemployed people who are not independently wealthy, but are not stressed about their employment situation, and live fabulously.

What do you mean?

Gilmore girls was pretty unrealistic. In real life Rory would be named Kayleey and would be regularly getting into screaming altercations with Lorelei, who would be a server at a diner, not a successful entrepreneur.

R261 : I went with my friend to this frat party a while back and there was a group of people fighting with another group of people kind of in the entrance or through the doorway and they were all smashing bottles on each other. They must have been really swinging them because they all shattered when they were hitting each other with them. These were beer bottles etc.

R264, rich girls who get pregnant at 15 almost never keep the baby. That part was unrealistic.

Fire in the fireplace, champagne bottle in a bucket of ice, and sexy saxophone music coming from somewhere. Has that ever happened in real life?

Someone like Carrie Bradshaw not only landing, but marrying someone like Mr. Big. I didn't find either of them fairly attractive, but he had money and could basically buy the hottest trophy wife he wanted. What would he want with Carrie. I always thought it would have been interesting to leave that series on a realistic note and have Carrie alone at the end, but still hopeful and looking for love. Having them get together was a dumb move, but the fraus fucking loved it.

R267 You have obviously never been seduced by me.

IMO, the reason the woman would hand the man the key to the house door is:

Possibly, there's a burglar in the house. The man (who would open the door and "clear the area") would be the one to confront the burglar. The woman could stand back until the dust-up is completed.

People bursting into song and occasionally dance at unexpected moments.

Another one - men going around the car to open the door for a woman. Never heard of the house key one.

Some manners are outmoded and unnecessary, but I regret the loss of some others. I hate seeing teenagers slouching on seats on public transport while elderly adults are forced to stand. If these teens are sitting in the priority seats, I will always tell them to move their lazy ass and let a person for whom it is intended sit down.

Police officers giving a turn signal.

r272. Opening the door and men going around the car to open the door for me, my friend rising at the table, when I leave or come back (well not at the pizzeria next door, but when in high class restaurants) is part of my daily life. This is called very good manners.

The louvered window between the kitchen and dining room. Perfect for eavesdropping. My poor neighbors have asked to borrow sugar a few times, among other things.

R274, are you two gay men?

Why is rising when a woman enters a room considered good manners? What is the specific reason for standing up and how does it apply now that women (in most countries) aren't bought and sold (married off) ? I don't get it. Are we supposed to pretend that certain people are royalty or...?

[quote] champagne bottle in a bucket of ice,

Which reminds me: Always having ice in the ice bucket at the home bar. Looking at you, Dallas.

Male prostitutes who cater exclusively to women

Always able to get parking in front of the building where they’re about to have some dramatic scenes.

Regular role with impossibly neat houses. Everything lined up and put away, everything shiny...not even a basket of laundry in sight.

PEOPLE.....not “role” ! !

Single woman hangs out at her married sister's home constantly, husband doesn't mind.

R279, are you r201?

I think of r281’s a lot. Especially when I have to clean my own damn house.

^^ these movie people never take a drinking or wine glass from where it’s dried in a dish rack. They always open a big cabinet where there’s rows of gleaming glassware.

[quote]Snow that falls only in the background and never on the speaking characters in the foreground.

This is funny with British shows with scenes that are filmed outdoors. You can see that it's raining in the background but the actors never get wet. Their hair stays styled, their clothes aren't wet.

In television news: People losing their jobs because of some offhanded comment they make. Everyone I worked with would have gotten fired if this was what happened in the real work place.

Slapping a woman because she was being hysterical.

[quote]People with four=figure or greater annual bonuses.

This is crazy talk -- I typically get a bonus of six figures and I'm not even a rich person. Believe me, you encounter people with four figure annual bonuses whenever you go outside.

The ones after the decimal point don’t count.

Has anyone mentioned parking right outside a building by any chance?

^ I'm (R26). I did it days ago but no one here can read that far back. Lazy...

Satisfying sex.

People calling their mother-in-law "Mum" or "Mother"

Nobody attends a synagogue, a mosque, a Buddhist temple, a Unitarian congregation, an Anglican chapel, a jinja, a meeting house or a Presbyterian chapel.

R296 Actually on tv, I'd say there are alot of Anglicans because many depictions of church seem to be an amalgamation of Catholic and Protestant, which is very Anglican.

I don’t see mixed ethnicity gatherings.

I moved to a more liberal city, yet everyone gathers with their own clones just like chickens. It’s as if Midwest stupidity has followed me.

Where do you live R298?

I have lived in New York and Miami and I thought the single ethnicity groups you see on TV are unrealistic.

In those cities, when you go out with people from work, friends from school, a wedding, etc. it is pretty rare to be all one ethnicity or even race.

I have to agree with people who are shocked that OP thinks a four figure bonus (so only 1,000 bucks) is some rare oddity. Bonuses are very common.

In hedge funds it used to be 1/3 of salary.

R283 or better yet, she lives there.

Speak for yourself, R293. If a thread interests me, I read it through. Not all of us are as lazy as you.

Someone who calls their sister "sis"

r278, that was Consuela's job, to keep that ice bucket filled with fresh ice! You don't think JR or Jock or Suellen would put up with melted ice when they wanted some bourbon and branch water, do you?

Detectives testing what they believe to be cocaine by dabbing a little on their tongue.

Characters who get wet, either in rain, or even drenched in bodies of water, but seconds later are seen in the same clothes, miraculously dry.

Women’s hair looking beautifully done, even though they’ve just gone through stressful situations.

(Wasn’t it Pauline Kael who complained about the ending of “Ben-Hur,” remarking that Jesus not only cured Ben-Hur’s mother and sister, but also did their hair? Seems so.)

Women who sleep in a full face of makeup.

555 phone number prefix

Someone forcing me to look into a mirror and then describing in detail how hideous I am.

At least, it hasn't happened YET.

Families attending church is common in American TV shows.

Examples 311?

I remember back in the early 00s, someone mentioning that the only show on TV that showed people going to church was The Simpsons. Maybe it's more prevalent now?

R310, let me show you something....

[quote](Wasn’t it Pauline Kael who complained about the ending of “Ben-Hur,” remarking that Jesus not only cured Ben-Hur’s mother and sister, but also did their hair? Seems so.)

I remember watching The Ten Commandments on tv for the first time as a child. We were a churchgoing family, so I already knew the story. Moses goes up on the mountain and when he comes down, the glory of God is upon him.

Imagine my surprise when I watched as Moses came down from the mountain and all that had changed was that he had a new hairdo.

People drape a robe at the foot of their bed which can be reached when they need to get up suddenly. If I left one there it would be on the floor in no time during the tossing and turning I do when sleeping.

Another sleeping related one is how easily people get out of bed after a supposed sleep, unlike me who has to learn how to walk again each time.

Heterosexual men who don't constantly make homophobic comments when with their friends.

People sleeping through the night sitting up in a chair.

`I have slept through most of the night in a chair on a few occasions.

You just have to be tired enough.

[quote] Imagine my surprise when I watched as Moses came down from the mountain and all that had changed was that he had a new hairdo.

A blow dry bar on the top of the mountain. You can't walk through all that dry dust without having to give your hair a gentle boost every once in a while.

Stupidity of women getting in cars late at night while walking the streets. Then they get murdered. Wtf? Use common sense. There I said it...

R322, they’re fictional, Dan Quayle.

R316, that made me laugh because when I was a kid I must’ve seen a character do that. I did it that night and was baffled—baffled, I say!—as to how the hell it got on the floor the next morning.

Mean girls or guys getting their comeuppance, every single time. In real life, that rarely happens, and they continue to live a charmed life. If and ever comeuppance finally does happen,, it takes 20 plus years (Weinstein and Cosby), and IF is a big word here.

People who don't turn on any lights when they hear a strange noise at night or come in from work. I understand if you're just getting up to get a drink of water and you're familiar with your set up, but if there's a murderer on the loose or your friend has been missing for awhile, turn on a light, you big idiot.

R6 "I'm pretty sure my dead father was a serial killer." Wait, what?

I'm not usually one to bemoan horror films for lack of logic. For example, many times, the characters have no reason to believe anything strange is going on, so why would they arm themselves to the teeth and turn on every light in the house, but it bothers me when they drop their weapons, don't double check to see if the person who's just been attacking them is really dead, etc.

Halloween is known for being such a great horror film and it is, but Jamie Lee Curtis' character makes some really idiotic decisions every time she drops that knife. She drops it 2 or 3 times I think. First time is understandable - she hit him with the knitting needle and, if he were a normal guy, he'd have probably bled out and died. I forgive her for that, but after he comes back and chases her into the closet and she stabs him, she tosses away the knife again and it's so damn stupid. Clearly, this guy has some sort of superpower. Keep stabbing him until his ass is dead.

Male or female, it doesn't matter. Detectives and undercover investigators often have to perform at strip clubs in order to catch mobsters.

Characters frequently learn that the people who raised them weren’t really their parents.

R330 I think that used to be more common in real life. Especially the old trope of discovering that your older sister is really your mother, since abortion was illegal and there was a stigma around single mothers, many grand parents would raise the child as their own to avoid scandal. There were a few cases in my family and of course everyone knows that was how Jack Nicholson was raised. It is less likely now. Because even with adoption parents tend to be more open about it. Though, I went to school with at least two people who thanks to DNA testing discovered their fathers weren't their fathers.

On sitcoms, conversations can't wait five minutes until someone gets out of the shower. It's reasonable and common on sitcoms, to walk into a bathroom when someone's in the shower and yank open the curtains to engage in a serious conversation.

Psychiatrists fucking their patients.

Miraculous change in outlook after soul-searching gaze into mirror

A friendly bar fly or magical negro who's always there to hand out important, life affirming messages to the main character right at the end of act 2 to lead them into act 3 a changed person.

R335, compliments.

Sometimes those magical negros or bar flies are ghosts or spirits!

Gay men always give their straight girl besties fashion tips and romantic advice

Friends replace family. Every Saturday is spent brunching with friends (Sex & The City). All holidays are spent with friends, not family even when they are a very short distance away (Friends).

full body casts

People who can call a lawyer instantly. "I need to call my lawyer" -- really? You have one on retainer? How fucking guilty are you?

Walking into a dark apartment or house and not immediately turning on a light.

Purses. They're always perfectly shaped. Not so in real life, everything falls to the bottom.

"Golf enthusiasts."

Well, you avoided a lot of lame white guys. Also, I once happened to be in Monterey/Carmel during the Dinah Shore Invitational, or whatever it's called now. Lots of lame white nude-lipstick lesbians. (Or maybe it was just lip balm).

"People with four=figure or greater annual bonuses."

Not coincidentally, my lesbian cousin who lives in Carmel. Also, quite a few people during the dot com boom, although most of them were unemployed when the bubble burst.

"Gleeful serial killers."

I try to avoid serial killers and people who are big fans of Glee.

Just kidding. I love Glee. And when I've killed my third victim, I'll let you know.

[quote] Purses. They're always perfectly shaped. Not so in real life, everything falls to the bottom.

This is not the first time this has been mentioned in this thread so I find it fascinating that at least two people picked this. I never knew there was anything wrong with the purses on TV, never having carried one.

Now I have something new to look for.

[quote]Well, you avoided a lot of lame white guys. Also, I once happened to be in Monterey/Carmel during the Dinah Shore Invitational, or whatever it's called now. Lots of lame white nude-lipstick lesbians. (Or maybe it was just lip balm).

Dinah Shore golf + lesbians = Palm Springs, not Monterey/Carmel.

R344

In period movies set in the 40s or 50s, you always see these people doing elaborate swing dancing routines in nightclub scenes, with Broadway-level choreography - lots of lifts, flips, etc.

And what’s wrong with that?

Old, ugly guys paired up with hot younger women. Eg, Ed O'Neill-Sophia Vergara, Woody Allen-Helena Bonham Carter, Jack Nicholson-Helen Hunt, Larry David-Cheryl Hines and every other woman he's been paired with.

Less than rich and even poor families seem always to be well equipped with well-tailored funeral clothes at the ready.

Huge, gaping pregnant pauses.

"Oh, there's an escaped thing (monster, animal, dinasour, killer, toddler) chasing after us. Let's run like our lives depend on it, but let's go ahead and pause, and have a long look back with our mouths agape, breathing heavily, looking back at the beast that's gaining on us, before we start up running again!"

I have golf enthusiasts in my family, and my husband usually got at least a five-figure bonus every year when he was working.

Never met a serial killer, though, gleeful or otherwise. At least that I know of.

Do you want to?

*evil laugh*

Men (often a little chunky or unattractive) who persistently keep making a series of dramatic gestures and declarations of love to the hot girl who doesn't seem interested until she is finally won over. Never do any of these men so much as get a restraining order, in fact they don't even look creepy.

People who lived before the 20th century with 21st century views on race, gender and sexuality.

People who die violently., in an accident or from gunfire, who go silently and with dignity after a brief speech, rather than screaming, crying or defecating on themselves.

Handsome, charming successful and professional adult men who have had very little sexual experience because he is just waiting for a woman that really means something. These men often adore small children and want nothing more than to give up their entire career trajectory for the woman they love.

indeed, I've never met many people who lived before the 20th century

Is it possible R356 that you have ever read something written by someone who lived before the 20th century, or perhaps even visited a museum or something?

Guess not.

70-year-old men with 30-year-old wives and 5-year-old children

A musical soundtrack

Laughter and applause from a large group of people.

Shhhh! No one tell Truman at r352 that he’s actually in a TV show.

When a dead person is lying on his stomach on the floor and someone just pulls at his shoulder with one hand and rolls him onto his back effortlessly. Dead bodies are hard to move.

Slow motion.

[quote] Ed O'Neill-Sophia Vergara,

Not just that one, Ed O'Neill and Katey Sagal, were mismatched in the looks department. It never made sense that he was constantly lusting after all these other women, while ignoring Peg. And, that she had to beg him for sex. She was much too hot for him, he should have been on his knees thanking God everyday that she wanted to have sex with him.

[quote] Mean girls or guys getting their comeuppance, every single time. In real life, that rarely happens, and they continue to live a charmed life. If and ever comeuppance finally does happen,, it takes 20 plus years (Weinstein and Cosby), and IF is a big word here.

I agree. Harvey Weinstein is now 67. Jeffrey Epstein was 66 when he died in jail. Bill Cosby is 82. These guys got to rape and fuck for decades, relatively unimpeded. IMO, they didn't really get a comeuppance.

This one was prevalent in "L&O":

While being questioned by police, people are always walking away, carrying on with their activity while answering.

Speaking of dead bodies, when killers stage an elaborate haunted house for their final victim to walk through with each dead friend's corpse falling from an attic or popping out of a closet right as they walk by. Some of these killers are missing their calling.

[quote] Huge, gaping pregnant pauses.

This is something I'm seeing more and more of on tv shows. And I hate it.

R365, John Mullaney does a funny bit about Law and Order cliches, like guys who keep stocking the shelves while they're being questioned about a murder

[quote]Walking into a dark apartment or house and not immediately turning on a light.

I do this sometimes. If it's at night and my eyes have adjusted to the dark, I don't immediately want a glaring light in my eyes. Plus, I know the layout of my apartment, so it's not like I'm going to knock into anything.

[quote]John Mullaney does a funny bit about Law and Order cliches, like guys who keep stocking the shelves while they're being questioned about a murder

On British police shows, the people are really rude to the police.

"Is that ALL, detective? Because I really need to go get my car tires rotated."

The thing that bothers me about British police shows is when they come to deliver bad news. The police show up and say, "I'm sorry to inform you that your husband has been murdered." The grieving wife sinks into the sofa and one of the police says, "I'll go make us a cup of tea." I don't know how the British are, but I'd be like, "Don't go rummaging through my kitchen. You're a stranger in my house. I don't care if you are police, you have no right to go rooting around in my cupboards." But then again, I'm very territorial of *my* stuff.

R370 I would think if someone has just told you that your husband has been murdered, you wouldn't be caring about someone rummaging around your kitchen.

R368, I love John Mullaney! I might have seen that bit on YouTube, but the show's idiosyncratic questioning has always puzzled me! I guess action is the main thing.

R371, depends on the husband and depends on the kitchen.

John Mulaney (one L) on Law & Order:

Been the first

Gotten the second (low salary/big bonus that was performance based)

I haven't, but I worked with a woman who grew up with Albert deSalvo, the Boston Strangler. They used to walk to school together

A character opens the door to a visitor, stares at them for a moment, and then, without a word, steps back and lets them walk in. No “hello”, no “what the hell are you doing here” – even though it’s usually an unwelcome or disliked visitor this happens to.

R340, many people have lawyers in the sense of having been involved in a lawsuit, having made a will, or having negotiated a contract. The lawyer is not (usually) on retainer, any more than your doctor is. They’re just a lawyer you’ve used in the past, so, when you need one again – or want to claim that you do – you get to say “I’ll have to talk to my lawyer.”

R350: And everyone wears black to funerals. In my experience, few people wear black at funerals nowadays, even the next of kin.

Total dry brushing of teeth. I foam at the mouth like Cujo.

Hot, fit cops.

R379, you use too much toothpaste.

[quote] The grieving wife sinks into the sofa and one of the police says, "I'll go make us a cup of tea."

Well sugared

People swallowing aspirin or pills without drinking anything. Even if water is available nearby.

Getting dressed up to stay at home even the Kardashians throw on leggings and a simple shirt if they are staying in (with a camera in their faces).

Wearing heels to go for a walk or running errands. Just no, woman are rarely that in love with heels to kill their feet unless there is a specific destination or important person to impress.

Sex in the City was the worst. It's snowing outside, no woman would wear those heels to chill at their friends apartment.

The women in heels no matter the circumstances thing is pretty annoying. Most women only wear them when they feel like dressing up. They're not jogging around Manhattan or running from a serial killer with those puppies on.

Women going out without a handbag.

I have a female friend who refuses to use a handbag and she's not a lesbian. She just puts her stuff in her pockets like a man.

What an angry man grabs a woman by the shoulder and she screams "Stop, you're hurting me!"

I always wondered WTF was up with that?

R389 Yeah ,that's become such a weird cliche moment . I guess it's supposed to signal her damsel in distress vulnerability or something . You never see a man scream "Dude you're hurting me!" if another guy grabs his arm.

[quote] Police officers giving a turn signal.

This just reminded me of my mother sticking her arm out the window when she was making a left turn into our street. Sometimes the turn signal didn’t work, but sometimes the turn signal worked but she stuck her arm out anyway because she had to stop in the one lane road and wait for traffic to pass by in the left lane, so she stuck her hand out to make sure people coming up behind her knew she was stopped to make a turn.

On the whole issue of reticules, I’m reticent. I leave it up to Lady Bracknell ...

In hetero themed romantic comedies or dramas, having a decent easygoing guy paired with a status hungry bitch or having a sweet, kind hearted woman stuck with a bully frat boy asshole. 8 times out of 10 like attracts like.

>>>>having a decent easygoing guy paired with a status hungry bitch

Hello, real life?

This is very common on photo-shoots - the open-mouthed "deer in the headlights" look shown by female models, and luckily quite rarely seen on male models. It makes the women look totally retarded.

I used to say staring off into the distance in deep thought doesn't happen, but with Rona, we might have a lot of people doing that by week three of self-isolation.

Remember those THE ROOKIES episodes where Kate Jackson’s character was always being taken hostage every other week so she could be rescued by her policeman husband?

[quote]Wearing heels to go for a walk or running errands.

This is more common with short women. I've had two women co-workers who always wore heels. Not out in the snow, but in Summer and indoors, they were always in Tina Turner style heels.

But if they were at work, that’s a little different than what that poster was referring to.

[quote]But if they were at work, that’s a little different than what that poster was referring to.

To clarify, these women that I knew would wear heels everywhere. Grocery shopping, running errands, children's little league games, etc. It may not be that common, I was just saying that both these women were short and I think they felt they had to add height by wearing heels.

Oh, I gotcha, r400.

Plus you’re cute.

Jock scientists.

A Pet peeve mentioned in similar threads but making large breakfasts for ungrateful children and husbands that take one bit of toast, a sip of coffee or juice, then run out the door. No thank yous or sorries for being assholes. They are always running llllaaattttteeeee. It was always over the top with pancakes, eggs, bacon, fruit, coffee, juice, the works. Also, what person doesn't know their spouse or child's general schedule and breakfast habits?

My mother rarely had time to cook me a warm breakfast, but when she did it felt rather special. Seeing people disregard something like that and just waste food pisses me off.

This video was great!

[quote]making large breakfasts for ungrateful children and husbands that take one bit of toast, a sip of coffee or juice, then run out the door. It was always over the top with pancakes, eggs, bacon, fruit, coffee, juice, the works. Seeing people disregard something like that and just waste food pisses me off.

Oh, none of that food goes to waste.

Now you know why fraus get so fat.

Whenever there’s a crisis, someone is always there to make coffee and sandwiches that no one eats.

A giant bowl of salad at a dinner table with two people sitting at it. Enough salad for 12 people.

Someone awaking from a nightmare by sitting up suddenly gasping for breath.

^^^ Hmm, I went through a phase of late-night panic attacks where I did just that.

Judges throwing out court cases and the defendant walking right out of the front door of the courthouse. No paperwork no chats with the DA, just case over! Looking at you Legally Blonde. Also, who uses the ceremonial front door of those grand courthouses with a million and one stairs in heels or dress shoes? In real life, they'd direct visitors to a popular side entrance, go through security, than enter a lobby with elevators to reach other floors. No one is going to go through the hassle of climbing 30 steps.

After a long run someone hides from their pursuer in a spot without needing to breathe, when in real life you would need a few minutes to recover and slow down your panting and gasping.

Speak fo yoseff.

A young man desperate to be a famous writer someday

R390 I love the line in Dumb & Dumber where Lloyd, being strangled, chokes out “Harry, your... hands are freezing”

Movie makeovers where the guy are girl from normal middle class means has the disposable income to purchase thousands of dollars in new clothes. Hair, shoes, pants, shirts, wok outfits, accessories, and a dress/suit for the climax at a fancy gala. I don't know of anyone capable of doing a shopping spree that replaces their entire wardrobe in one movie montage, aka a day.

The Devil Wears Prada and Miss Congeniality are one of the few makeovers that made sense because their jobs were suppling the clothes.

Whenever people offer their guests something to eat in the movies they always say they're not hungry or just ask for a glass of water.

When I offer my guests something to eat they ransack my fucking fridge.

[quote]Hair, shoes, pants, shirts, wok outfits, accessories, and a dress/suit for the climax at a fancy gala.

True. Having a special outfit just to cook Chinese food does seem unnecessarily extravagant.

I always wear a special outfit for my climax.

As one does.

Alley ways in NYC

That does bug me r418. There are no alleys in Manhattan!!! (There are in NYC, plenty in Brooklyn and Queens)

[quote] There are no alleys in Manhattan!!! (There are in NYC,

Wait, what?

Lacking a fear of heights. So many action movies have everyday men and woman put into extreme hostage situations that place them on top of sky scrapers or on helicopters and shit. They are told to do things like jump! Most people faced with 300 foot drop would either suffer from vertigo or be frozen in place. No ones jumping off of shit or hanging on to jets. Their sweaty hands would have caused most people to plummet to their death.

I still love these movies.

[quote] everyday men and woman

Just the one, dear?

R421, I thought that was one of the realistic things in the 1978 Superman, when Lois Lane goes on the bottom of the elevator at the Eiffel Tower and was scared shitless (as most of us would be) as it rose.

Correction, it was Superman II.

[quote]There are no alleys in Manhattan!!!

There are a few.

Before they invented four wheels Rimova suitcases.. Always running with suitcases to the train and on airports like there is no weight.

[quote]Always running with suitcases to the train and on airports like there is no weight.

That's what I hate about every production of The Sound of Music I've ever seen.

Someone who can move out by throwing everything into a suitcase the size of a lunchbox.

[quote]There are no alleys in Manhattan!!!

So how did they do those legendary back-alley abortions?

r428, in addition to that, people who say, "I'll send for my things."

Send who?

This is always from the woman's perspective. She walks into a room just as her man is surprised by a kiss from some hot vixen. Instead of confronting her man and that harlot, she just runs away in tears as he yells, "It isn't what it looks like!" Gag.

In real life there would be some words. The vixen would have been cursed out by either the guy, his girlfriend or both of them. Soul Food got it right, though Vanessa Williams was chewing on her anger for a hot minute after she caught her man fucking. 56 second part.

Hum...Trump lives here, so we have all of those.

- Turning off the lights, and it’s almost as bright without them.

Is the moon full all the time?

- The whole concept of day for night. Night scenes filmed in broad daylight, which no one seems to question.

- Raining in the foreground, with sunlight shining in the background. What kind of selective weather is this?

- Characters outside in a snowy landscape. But no visible breath. And also, some white stuff seems to be sticking to their feet. Artificial, gunky snow.

- People come indoors, with flecks of snow on their jackets. But, it doesn’t melt. No wonder. It’s artificial. (They used to use asbestos for this. Great...)

The breakfast thing is silly.

Who makes a giant breakfast on a workday/schop day? Everyone is in a rush to get ready for work and school.

I didnt know anyone who sat down with their family to have some elaborate breakfast on a weekday, that type of preparation only happened on weekends.

Snow on the streets of NYC at Christmas.

r434. We sat down at home for breakfast during the week. But just a cup of coffee or tea and a piece of bread or cake and in the winter time with fresh homemade orange juice.

A female president.

R434 a friend of mine’s mother was the ultimate house wife in the late 90s to early 2000s when I was in elementary school. She made a warm breakfast every weekday morning for her two kids and husband (when home), a police officer. Pancakes, waffles, eggs, bacon, were normal weekday breakfast meals. Cereal was a Saturday morning treat that my friend and his sister would get themselves as mom and dad slept in. I now know what they were doing. Safe to say, I loved sleeping over on weekdays when my parents were on vacation or away for business.

She also went to the grocery store every almost every weekday, before picking up her children from school. She had to be bored to tears or crazy. I’ve never met a modern woman with that schedule, but as my mom said, she wanted her housewife duties to be a “full-time job”. Unlike other housewives, her home was actually emasculate, outside of my friend’s play area, and she wasn’t dressed sloppy.

I wonder how she’s taking this quarantine and if she’s maintain that lifestyle.

I always see the characters have a big pitcher of juice in their kitchen. Who does that when it's just your immediate family? I could see a big gathering of 10 or more people, but just 2 to 4 people?

[quote] I always see the characters have a big pitcher of juice in their kitchen.

I’ve brought this up either here or on another thread:

How do they shake it? As in something like orange juice.

I asked my mother about pitcher of juice, she said it was popular back when they used concentrate. I think it's just one of those movie/TV tropes that stuck around, similar to baguettes or uncovered greenery sticking out of every TV/movie grocery bag. A Reddit user once said the grocery trope is done because without known items sticking out of the bag viewers may become distracted by the grocery purchases instead of focusing on scene.

I don't understand the confusions about the pitchers of orange juice. As mentioned, it's still sold in frozen concentrate which you add with water - in a pitcher or other large container. And just from comparing in the market, it appears to be cheaper than buying a container of juice.

Who eats cake for breakfast?

R443, I do, every chance I get.

Cak and graxy?

Everybody on Datalounge.

Films set in places where it is much more likely to be overcast or raining, eg the UK, are often shown with sunshine and blue skies in every scene.

I hate it when milk is in a glass pitcher on the kitchen table. Who pours their milk from the plastic gallon container into a glass pitcher?

Who doesn’t? What are we, animals?

"I hate it when milk is in a glass pitcher on the kitchen table. Who pours their milk from the plastic gallon container into a glass pitcher?"

What am I? A farmer?

People being held under water (or swimming underwater) for a long time/distance.

Even if you can hold your breath for a minute, once you’re moving or struggling, you’re going to gasp for air pretty soon, and drown.

Men with six pack abs, even professors and other supposedly nerdy guys

Women who are 5'10 and 115 pounds

Yeah actors with ripped bodies make sense when they are playing superheroes and what not, but when you have these everyday guy characters who inexplicably have some amazingly sculpted body Okay.

It's very common to see people in regular jobs that are fit. Go to your gym during rush hour, typically there are a number of guys that look great with their shirts off. Jut normal people that do the 3-5 day gym split coupled with healthy eating and a high metabolism.

People who to the gym a few times a week do not have Hollywood body r453. Those are two different things.

R453, most Americans are overweight, if not obese. And going to the gym a few times a week won't give you a six pack

Well, that's partially correct r455, which is why I also said, "coupled with healthy eating and a high metabolism." It's very possible, I don't know where you live (no shade) but in every part of the country there are guys that get fit for the summer or a vacation. The original poster said abs, not celebs with Hollywood trainer created perfection. I've seen plenty of ripped normal guys, but that body only last a week or two and only comes out before a beach vacation.

Let's not argue. This is a fun thread.

Well, the thread is about things that are more common in movies that in real life, not things that don't exist

Buff (or borderline anorexic) people are definitely more common in movies and tv

A complete absence of anyone who is fat / chubby -- as mentioned upthread.

And IRL programmers are NOT gym freaks. Most of them are fat / chubby and MANY are total perverts. Good programmers spend their spare time doing stupid coding shit like making demos or tools or even working. They don't spend their time shopping for protein shit, working out and jogging around a city for hours because they generally don't have the time. Someone who is good at creating things doesn't have the time to hone their body because they spend their time honing their skills. The only time guys are muscular and some kind of artist or master at their craft is if developing muscle happens because whatever they do is physical in nature.

I'm sure that there will be some people who want to argue with that, but if you believe otherwise you probably just suffer from pretty people privilege i.e. you kind of suck but no one will tell you so because they want to fuck you.

Carrying trays of empty coffee cups.

Is it too much for props to at least fill them halfway or the actor to pretend they are full? The Devil Wears Prada is the worst offender.

People sitting down to use the telephone and looking up the number in their address book.

Two people having a conversation where one speaks, turns their back on the other who then speaks, then turns their back on the first who spoke, and repeat.

You do see overweight people; character actors in the past, and any kind of part now, but one thing you never see onscreen is acne.

Question for eldergays - did your mother clean house in a dress, high heels, perfectly coiffed hair, and pearls like they showed women in in 1950s tv?

I have a crush on Miles McNutt

R463 i love that Supergirl is the screenshot.

Playful pillow fights where feathers are flying through the air.

A perfectly positioned large bowl of fresh fruit sitting on a kitchen table.

Someone who leaps from a roof to another and slams his chest and arms against the other roof but doesn't break all his ribs.

"You do see overweight people"

Only a small number of them. Maybe 70% of Americans are overweight but, like, 1% of actors are

[quote]Playful pillow fights where feathers are flying through the air.

Along the same lines, when characters have food fights with everything from a couple tossing handfuls of popcorn at each other in the living room to families throwing food at each other in the kitchen. At no time does anyone scream, "Okay, who the FUCK is going to clean up this mess?!?"

College dorm rooms with their own bathrooms.

Unless you are in a suite, dorm rooms do have bathrooms.

Where do you think they pee? And shower?

Roaring frat house style parties in highschool.

Maybe my highschool was lame or something, but highschool parties were nothing like the crazy affairs you can see in TV/movies. You don't see these wild keggers til college.

Communal bathrooms and shower rooms, r471.

Dorms have community bathrooms on the floor that people share.

I miss communal showers. Hands down, the best thing about college.

I went to college and work at one now.

Never saw communal showers or bathrooms. Often two rooms will share a bath, but many have their own bath.

The university could not charge much if they had communal toilet facilities. So that would never happen.

[quote] The university could not charge much if they had communal toilet facilities. So that would never happen.

Oh. Because you’ve seen a grand total of two colleges in your esteemed life in your little corner of the world, no other college anywhere could possibly be designed any different. Makes sense.

R470 Some colleges do have dorms that more like apartments with their own bathrooms.

Lol R477, exactly. Also R471 has never been to a college, ever.

R471 is a moron. Yes, R478, that is true. But that's an apartment. I'm talking about a good old-fashioned dorm room for two people that in real life has a communal bathroom down the hall, not in each dorm room. I don't understand why my post is going to make a part 2 thread before Trump's next briefing.

I lived in the dorms in the 80s. Four to a room with our own bathroom.

I've been a fuckton of college campuses. I have absolutely seen those apartment style set ups where there is an individual bathroom in the room, but those are the exception, not the rule.

Most freshman/sophomores who live on campus are dealing with two to a room, bathroom in the hallway.

R477, actually 5 colleges over the last 30 years.

I only ever saw the kind of arrangement you describe in films from the 50s or before.

I doubt anyone would pay enough for such a dorm today to make running it worthwhile to the school.

School dorms compete with "luxury student housing" that developers build near campuses.

So they have to have some minimal amenities.

Spontaneous Motown singalongs, where everyone knows all the lyrics and harmonizes perfectly

I went to college (public) in the '70s. We had two-to-a-room with a communal toilets/sinks/showers (and one bathtub.)

My school was split with the old dorms with communal bathrooms and new dorms, excuse me Residence Halls, with the private baths between two rooms. Some of the new freshman Halls kept the communal bathroom model, but the race to build bigger and better amenities has lead the private bathroom to be more and more common. Everyone is right, depending on the university!

None of these rooms had a stove or anything, in case anyone is still confused.

Let’s play nice. No use calling each other out of this light hearted topic.

Golf nuts yes I've met a number. Having worked in the accounting and legal communities you find a number of golfers.

Thanks for putting it into perspective, r487.

Perhaps we should start a college dorm layout thread.

I’d prefer a college dorm get laid thread, where we discuss our sexual escapades in dorm rooms.

I went to a state-supported university, in the early 2000s, and never had a communal restroom. I think there was one such dorm left on campus at the time but it closed after my sophomore year.

On Ivy League campuses, there are always several close-in, convenient and elegant-looking old dorms. They'll never be torn down or have exterior renovations because they're historic and are in harmony with the inner campus architecture. Have these had interior renovations to convert them to apartment-style rooms? It would be enormously expensive to do so, and I can't help but think that Harvard and Princeton would do pretty well in attracting students even with old-fashioned bathroom-down-the-hall dorms.

R493 I can't speak about the Ivy League, but my state university, that I mentioned in R492, has several historic structures including dorms. The entire heart of the campus is on the National Register of Historic Places. They completely gutted and renovated those residences around 20 years ago, while keeping the exteriors the same. I can't imagine the Ivy League would keep the old style, the wealthy helicopter parents wouldn't go for it.

Can we stop with the fucking college campus crap. Jeeezus. What's the headline on this thread?

I went to one of the universities with old style dorms, one person to a room. And in terms of quiet and privacy, I think it is a hell of a lot better than being in a suite with 3 other people sharing a bathroom.

R496 , did you have your own bathroom or did you have to share a bathroom?

Down the hall, communal bathroom.

WHATS HAPPENING had such a mediocre budget that whenever the characters came to the restaurant where Shirley worked, they almost always ordered a grape soda, which was usually just colored water.

[quote] which was usually just colored water.

That’s RACIST!!

Two people having sex up against a wall where both experience mind-blowing orgasms after three seconds of thrusting.

^ Yeah, I love all the movie sex scenes where women have an orgasm after 30 seconds of sex!

My dream.

[quote]which was usually just colored water.

[quote]That’s RACIST!!

It should be "water of color."

People who take pills or capsules WITHOUT as much as one sip of liquid. Like, "I have a bad headache/I'm a pillhead, and I'm going to sit in my car, take two pills, swallow, grimace, and drive off."

Saw this on [italic]Chicago PD[/italic] the other day, and it reminded me how much I HATE this.

I’ll get coffee and sandwiches...

That is so funny, R505, but I was thinking the constant need to drink water to swallow a pill was a TV trope, not a real life thing.

Don't most people find it easier to swallow a pill without water?

[quote]Don't most people find it easier to swallow a pill without water?

Not me. Maybe if they didn't taste like the most bitter poison. But they do.

Yeah R508. No R507.

R507 types poor.

They ain’t chewable Flintstones!

What do you do if you need water to take a pill but you’re in a dorm room without a private bathroom?

I thought the trope is that when you swig the water you throw your head back theatrically.

Even if there are a group of 7000 bad guys shooting at a good guy, they ALWAYS miss, even if they're trained marksmen

Streets so bright at night, as if the moon was hovering just above the rooftops.

When I try to drink and swallow a pill at the same time I choke.

It is so much easier to swallow it alone.

And my typing is perfect.

[Quote] Don't most people find it easier to swallow a pill without water?

I don't.

A car crashing into a fruit stand.

LA thunderstorms

Aw, r515, I was only teasing you.

I (we?) needed some laughter with everything going on.

*virtual smooches* (social distancing and all)

I know, R519. I was trying to make a joke back, but I failed to make the tone clear.

When you are isolated in a pandemic, humor skills are the first thing to go.

I always find it amusing when TV shows will showcase vastly different scenery and weather than where the place is set. There's a scene in the American version of The Office where a couple of the characters are driving through "Pennsylvania " and you can see the lighting and the mountains on the distance are clearly Southern California, and couldn't possibly be anywhere on the East Coast.

R521, I always remember seeing The Deer Hunter in Pennsylvania, the state where it takes place. There is a gorgeous shot of a deer in front of a snow capped mountain that got a huge laugh.

(There are not snow-capped mountains on the East Coast.)

R521, good point. I honestly thought Korea really looked like the Southern California shown in MASH, for example.

Yeah scenery is a good one. The Waltons is a good one. They filmed in a mountains and hills of Southern California which, while beautiful, do not look like the Appalachians in Virginia, because they are nowhere near as lush and green.

When rich people become “poor” on TV shows they seem to stay in their fancy neighborhoods, clothes, and social circles, even if they’ve been working at a dinner for the past year living off of tips. Soaps and TV dramas are the worst. No one is ever getting a visit from the sheriff with an eviction notice. If the family downsized, they still obtain some oversized apartment in their ritzy neighborhood.

Shoes on the bed. Characters will come in from the outside and plop down on their bed with their shoes on. Their parents come in for a chat and don’t say anything. It always annoyed me.

[quote]When rich people become “poor” on TV shows they seem to stay in their fancy neighborhoods, clothes, and social circles, even if they’ve been working at a dinner for the past year living off of tips. Soaps and TV dramas are the worst. No one is ever getting a visit from the sheriff with an eviction notice. If the family downsized, they still obtain some oversized apartment in their ritzy neighborhood.

I remember many years ago a writer for Soap Opera Digest wrote about the poor characters never wearing anything twice and homeless characters always looking quite clean.

Neighborhoods supposedly in New England that look suspiciously more like San Fernando Valley.

Strippers who don't actually strip - they just dance around in bikinis (you see this in pg-13 movies and tv shows)

Bimbos burning dishes in the oven. Kids screwing up pancakes for mom‘s breakfast in bed. Soufflés falling. Bachelors unable to cook spaghetti without flinging sauce all over the walls. Everybody drinking milk at dinner.

People driving cars and not looking at the road, head turned toward passenger, talking to passenger. Not having to stop, slow down, make a turn, etc.

r540. Sums it up! But am not sure that is the real life.

As someone is dying, they have the strength to deliver a very long monologue, or if it's a musical, sing a reprise of a song.

Cats angrily jumping ONTO people from cupboards, etc.

R521, yes the misplaced scenery and seasons are always funny.

The absolute worst example I’ve seen was in a series called “American Dreams”. Does anyone remember that? It ran on NBC from 2002-2005. It was set in Philadelphia in the early ‘60s. In the first season, there’s a scene where one of the characters is released from school because JFK has been assassinated. She runs home down a street lined with cherry trees, all in gorgeous full bloom. In November. It was funny but also such a seriously stupid mistake that it detracted from the moment, which was supposed to shocking and sad.

If you're in Pennsylvania in late November and you see a fruit tree by the road in full bloom, you can assume you're dreaming or dead because it doesn't happen. It would look absolutely surreal in real life.

R531, doesn't that drive you nuts? I keep wanting to yell "keep your eyes the road!"

The thing is, sometimes when that happens the inattention is part of the story and there's a terrible accident (usually killing the driver's wife and child so he can suffer dramatically from guilt, sink into alcoholism that only the love of a(nother) good women can rescue him from, etc. He's probably a cop, by the way).

Anyway, because these "Look at me! I can drive without watching the road" scenes do sometimes result in tragedy, it's anti-climactic when they're used as just a device for conversation and nothing happens.

To go along with the driving tropes:

Who the fuck turns their steering wheel back and forth while driving on a highway? If we really moved our steering wheels that much we’d be pulled over for drunk driving.

I had to film a driving scene when I was in my early 30s, before I learned how to drive. Lots of steering wheel movement. Lots of head movement.

Now that I can drive I see how wrong I was. Now when I watch films and TV I can spot which actors know how to drive and which do not.

r538 Sweetie -- it was porn. No one was paying any attention to your driving.

Relentlessly noble and moral prosecutors whose only concern is justice . Now, there are some decent minded ones but many are just as petty, sociopathic and cold blooded as widely maligned defense attorneys. You hear of prosecutors pushing for insane sentences for minor non violent offenses and pushing cases that have weak evidence at best. While at the same time somehow frequently not being able to "build a solid case " when they are dealing with someone rich and powerful.

[Quote] The absolute worst example I’ve seen was in a series called “American Dreams”. Does anyone remember that? It ran on NBC from 2002-2005. It was set in Philadelphia in the early ‘60s.

I do! I used to love that show.

People carrying bags of groceries with leafy greens draped over the top of the bag.

R542, that was not only discussed, but someone brought up a reasonable and interesting explanation as to why that is.

[quote]People carrying bags of groceries with leafy greens draped over the top of the bag.

Don't forget the baguette sticking out.

The popular girl troupe. Throughout the 80s, peaking at the turn of the century, we had so many teen movies and shows that featured these queen bee, popular girls that ruled a high school with an iron fist. She was usually the most unlikeable person and rarely attractive enough to garner the outlandish reactions from the "nerds". I've seen so many movies where these goddesses strut down a hallway while some nerd stop and stares like a lobotomy patient. But maybe that was a thing before each of us could access porn via our cell phones.

Thankfully, Mean Girls was so popular that it helped kick off the decline of that troupe. You can't act like The Plastics in real life without people laughing in your face, so that mentality became less cool in real life. You may see a mean girl here and there, but the ridiculousness of this goddess stalking the halls is winding down for a more realistic take on high school. Cool kids are usually smart and maybe wealthier. Their groups of friends are more mixed than just jocks/cheerleaders and everyone else. Cheerleading alone doesn't make you popular anymore (if it ever did) and there are more "unpopular" or average than "popular" people on a football team.

I went to high school in the exurbs (rural & suburban mix) setting in the late 2000s. Friends from larger cities confirmed that it's generally the same across the board with regards to a more interchangeable group of people that make up the popular people.

Prom is not the most amazing thing in the world where people wait to lose there virginity like some teenage wedding night. It's a decent milestone at best. Being Prom Queen is cool but also nothing to write home about. Homecoming Queen was the real prize in my school. You got to be in the town parade on the convertible, presented at a pep rally. You had a crowning ceremony, where the previous Queen put on your crown, your court and the court form the districts other two high schools were in attendance (and vice versa at their ceremony). You were presented at half time with the rest of your court (we announced the win 3 weeks in advance of the game). You ended it all with the homecoming dance. Girls really wanted that crown. Cancer or the untimely death of someone's popular older brother really helped garner a ton of sympathy votes.

[quote] where people wait to lose there virginity

Oh, dear!

R546, be honest, you were not elected Homecoming Queen and it still hurts.

People driving down a tree-lined street in a suburban neighborhood for a 3 minute scene with the scenery wizzing by the windows and the driver never once has to stop at a light or stop sign.

r548 funny enough, I was the Homecoming Queens escort, we didn't have Kings. Safe to say, I wanted the crown for myself. I was also a Junior Prom Prince.

R550, did you give yourself sexually to the football team?

I love you, r551!!

Well, r550? Let’s hear it.

What is it R453?

R553, see r441.

That's disgusting r552! I repented and found the light.

What if I was really fem, r555?

[quote] Now that I can drive I see how wrong I was. Now when I watch films and TV I can spot which actors know how to drive and which do not.

I smoked cigarettes since age 14. (I have quit since then.) I can spot which actors & actresses don't smoke in real life, like Jane Fonda. I first noticed her bad "smoking" in "Agnes of God."

To be honest, I was always self-conscious about how I looked, smoking. Maybe it's hard to look "natural."

Good one. I do the same thing, r557. And those that don’t inhale, either.

That's a lame reason R544. When Jane told Sydney she was a new suspect in Michael's hit and run on Melrose Place, I could care less what was in the bag she was holding.

[quote]I have met very few people who get a bonus. And none of them got that much money. It may not be rare to get a big bonus, but I have never encountered anyone who had one.

They may have recieved them but not told you. I have an hourly position but still got 4 digit bonuses the past 2 years ($1,000 and $3,000). I was asked to keep it myself because many of my coworkers weren't getting them and would feel resentful. The second bonus was based purely on merit, and a lot of my coworkers do not write well enough to record accurate, detailed case notes.

I got a 6 figure bonus last year -- and you all know me, I'm that bitch.

Why do I have a feeling that all these people with bonuses are super wealthy to begin with?

Does anyone making less than $100K per year get a bonus?

When someone dies and is cremated, they always have to haul the ashes to scatter them in some far off place. Hilarity ensues with urn and ashes jokes.

[quote]Does anyone making less than $100K per year get a bonus?

I make less than $35,000 per year- that's the total for both jobs, not just one. I'm the one who got 2 bonuses but was asked not to upset my coworkers by making that fact public.

^ I'm not saying it's common, because it definitely isn't at my pay grade, but it does happen.

^^^So it might indeed be something that one has never encountered in real life.

If it's happened to me twice, then I've encountered it in real life and can't claim otherwise.

LOL at the idea anyone making $100,000 a year is "super wealthy".

[quote]—I survived rural Ohio, but got a surprisingly good education there, apparently.

Are you sure?

[quote] They may have recieved them

Oh, dear!

Bonuses are common in white collar jobs once you get into the positions that “require” a bachelors degree. But the Christmas bonuses have been primarily shelved. The conversation about bonuses isn’t as popular because when it arrives (typically in the Spring following your stupid annual reviews) you don’t have an immediate need for the cash (Christmas shopping/holiday travel) so it’s become unacceptable to mention it outside of the office. Once blue collar workers stop receiving them, in many sectors, it became easier for corporate America to devalue the bonus and make it a supplemental benefit rather than any expectation.

My parents told me that the Christmas bonus were a conversation piece and popular for blue collar union jobs and white collar jobs. No one mentioned the specific amounts, but you might talk about the timing of the expected check.

Spring/Annual bonuses typically top off at 3-5% of your annual salaries for “excellent work” or work that “exceeds expectations”. But most people receive the mid-point. After taxes (40% goes to Uncle Sam for bonuses) it’s not very impressive, but appreciated none the less. They throw bonus together with the annual salary increases to cover for the pathetic 2-3% salary bump. Again, nice to have, but it doesn’t keeping pace with inflation. This is how corporate America gets away with the stagnant wage growth.

This isn’t a poor me post, just adding context to the devaluation of bonuses and salaries.

Lol, r569, you got me for not proof-reading, but I still write better case notes than many of my coworkers. Think about what theirs must look like if I'm at the top of the heap. 😬

Nah, I love ya, r571. It was just too juicy not to point out. We all knew it was a typo.

[quote]Bonuses are common in white collar jobs once you get into the positions that “require” a bachelors degree.

I think that's true in many cases, r570, although I don't have a Bachelors. I have more hands-on experience than many of my coworkers, and that was another reason I got the second bonus. Some of our degreed staff lack the common sense necessary to apply what they've learned to real life situations.

Don't most full-time jobs require a Bachelor's degree?

Do you live on planet Earth R574?

Okay, R575, maybe I should have said doesn't every office job require a Bachelor's degree. Even receptionist are expected to be college graduates.

[quote]Don't most full-time jobs require a Bachelor's degree?

Schools are not in session 40 hours per week and I don't have any home cases right now, so I am not a full time employee.

Few of our office staff have degrees.

"home case"? What the hell is that?

Are you saying people who work in schools are not full-time because schools are not in session 40 hours a week?

And that a school office staff (administrators, bookkeepers, supervisors, etc.) do not need a college diploma?

Paying people back with interest, but the rate is never mentioned. This is common when people have to pay gangsters, they will say “with interest”. I’m always like, well what’s the rate? 0% interest is a thing, so should the characters just make up the rate?

Child / teen spies. They seem to be very common in movies and on tv.

Every year or so there seems to be another family oriented non-sensical comedy thriller film about children spies. (e.g. MY SPY, D.E.B.S., SPY KIDS, HARRIET THE SPY, SPY SCHOOL, KINGSMAN, SPY KIDS 2, etc.)

At least D.E.B.S has lesbians in it.

People who have the last names of famous actors and figures in theater history.

On Oz there was a prisoner named Stanislavski.

"Child / teen spies"

Or spies who are deadly assassins (99% of spies don't kill anyone)

Hammering something, hitting your finger and yelling damn or fuck.

Immediately available empty taxi cabs.

To continue with the spy theme, I will add on incredibly gorgeous spies. Years ago I remember reading that governments actually tend to prefer to recruit Average Joe (or Jane's ) as spies, as they don't want to hire someone who will attract a huge amount of attention.

[quote]"home case"? What the hell is that? Are you saying people who work in schools are not full-time because schools are not in session 40 hours a week?

R578, paraprofessionals/aides and behavior therapists only work while school is in session- the students are only there for 6 or seven hours, at most.

I don't know how many hours office staff are paid for. Custodians are full-time in out district, but not most of the kitchen staff. After school programs do not usually get their aides from on-site staff. They are separate agencies.

Home cases are obviously in client's homes. No need to get hostile about me referring to them by that name, as that's what they're called by all behavioral, speech, and OT agencies.

[quote]Hammering something, hitting your finger and yelling damn or fuck.

You've never seen this? My grandfather usually yelled, "shit!" and my dad's favorite was, "Son of a bitch!"

[quote] and my dad's favorite was, "Son of a bitch!"

Oh my. I hope he wasn’t talking to you.

Lol, he has called me a bitch many times.

R587, your communication and writing are a bit hard to follow which makes me think that schools might not require degrees for staff.

But again, I was trying to narrow the focus. Most office jobs (like in office buildings where the main business activities happen in offices) generally require college degrees from employees.

Schools have offices, but most people would not call working in a school an office job (since the main activity of the organization happens in classrooms not in office). Also, I do not think ANY school would be giving out bonuses.

Other types of jobs may require degrees for office workers, but it's not a requirement for all of our district's office staff to have degrees, nor is it required at our agency. My friend is an office manager for a dentist and doesn't have a degree either. Did you mean at larger companies?

I am not paid by the district directly- they contract with our agency, which does indeed give sparodic bonuses. The agencies are reimbursed by Regiona Center or insurance companies for home cases. Most outlying therapy services are contracted through private sector agencies this way.

*Regional Center

What the hell are you going on about R593?

"Districts" do not control who a company hires. If a company uses a headhunting agency or some other consulting firm to help with their hires, they tell the agency what the qualifications are, not the other way around.

You seem to be really ignorant about how companies and corporations work. If you think schools and dentists are comparable, you really do not get it.

Attractive lesbian couples.

Getting a phone plugged in at a restaurant table because the actor has to take a call. OK, that's from the 1970s but it still cracks me up.

Schools allowing outlandishly sexual things like auctions were their basketball team gets shirtless in front of adults and classmates. Looking at you One Tree Hill.

Allowing a play like They Rocky Horror Picture Show” be played at a high school. Hello Love Simon. For that matter The Perks of Being a Wallflower, even though it was a community theater production filled with underage teenagers.

Car chases that involve 15 cars and a couple of explosions to occur but only one or two cop cars show up. The cops always get into an accident as well.

I’m real life there would be an arm of cop cars and a helicopter following that chase.

Don't know why you're getting so hostile about other people's jobs.

I don't work for a "headhunting agency." I work for a BEHAVIORAL agency and they have their own internal policies. The District and Regional Center do not control how our raises, salaries, or bonuses are decided or administered. We hold the district as accountable to us as we are to them, because our services are legally binding and cannot be interfered with by school employees.

YOU "seem to be really ignorant about how companies" work. Not everyone is employed by a corporation. There are 30,000 behavioral therapists in Los Angeles at 140 agencies.

You didn't say WHICH TYPE of office you were referring to, so I used the example of my friend to illustrate that there are many types of offices and a degree isn't required at all of them. Sorry if that contradicts your obviously very limited experience of the world.

R597, high school girls in movies and tv always dress skimpier than real life dress codes would allow.