Faux Life: Things That Happen On TV But Not In Reality

[Ohiopirate02]

42 minutes ago, Bastet said:

This, along with buying carrots with greens attached - and, if buying them in the same trip as I pick up a baguette, may indeed have them sticking up over the top of my canvas bag - is one of those food/drink instances in which I'm like a TV character.  I have mugs (but not for coffee, which I don't drink, for hot cocoa), but I also have a cute tea set, and when I drink tea, I use one of those cups, not a mug.

I am aware of the answer to this, but I still marvel at how many different TV and movie characters can still a baguette in their shopping bag.  Every baguette I have ever purchased is too long for this.

21 minutes ago, Anduin said:

I've never been to a Starbucks. Is it really coffee that tastes like pumpkin? That really doesn't sound very nice.

It's not pumpkin but the spices associated with pumpkin pie--allspice, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, etc. 

[Bastet]

5 minutes ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

I am aware of the answer to this, but I still marvel at how many different TV and movie characters can still a baguette in their shopping bag.  Every baguette I have ever purchased is too long for this.

That's the trope -- a bag with a baguette (and maybe some carrot greens for color) sticking up out of the top.

Edited May 11, 2023 by Bastet

[Anduin]

37 minutes ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

It's not pumpkin but the spices associated with pumpkin pie--allspice, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, etc. 

Interesting. I'd probably try one if there was a Starbucks nearby, but I'm not going hunting. In fact, I just did a search for Starbucks. The nearest one is in Victoria. I'm in Perth! I'm not sure how far away it is, but believe me, it's too far.

[ABay]

1 hour ago, Anduin said:

I've never been to a Starbucks. Is it really coffee that tastes like pumpkin? That really doesn't sound very nice.

This has always annoyed me because the first time I heard it I also thought *gag*. It's not pumpkin, it's spices that go in pumpkin pie, like nutmeg and allspice. But those also go in a lot of other things so why name the drink after disgusting pumpkin? It's also become so frigging twee. Almost makes me dread autumn.

[Zella]

57 minutes ago, Shelbie said:

They also always sip it immediately after pouring the boiling water into the mug and leave the bags in while holding onto the string.

I am not sure it's ever said aloud what he's drinking, but in The Wire, Stringer Bell is sometimes standing around plotting his next move while dipping what's clearly the string of a tea bag in a mug. 

[Anduin]

1 hour ago, Zella said:

I am not sure it's ever said aloud what he's drinking, but in The Wire, Stringer Bell is sometimes standing around plotting his next move while dipping what's clearly the string of a tea bag in a mug. 

I had to check, but yep. Idris Elba. He's a pom, of course he drinks tea. :)

[possibilities]

I love carrots with the greens still on. The greens make an excellent broth.

I remember Sheldon offering a hot beverage, but I don't remember him ever specifically saying it would be tea.

 

[Zella]

11 minutes ago, Anduin said:

I had to check, but yep. Idris Elba. He's a pom, of course he drinks tea. :)

I wondered if the tea bag offended his sensibilities. 😁

Edited May 11, 2023 by Zella

[Bethany]

10 minutes ago, possibilities said:

I remember Sheldon offering a hot beverage, but I don't remember him ever specifically saying it would be tea.

It depended on what was wrong.  He had a different hot beverage for sad or mad or disappointed or whatever.

"Penny: You doing okay, sweetie?
Sheldon: There is ominous music playing, and there is an afghan over my head. I don't know where you're from, but where I'm from, that means I'm not doing okay.
Leonard: Want me to make you some tea?
Sheldon: Tea is for when I'm upset. I'm not upset. The university's forcing me to work with Kripke. I'm outraged.
Leonard: So, cocoa?
Sheldon: Yes, cocoa. Do you have any idea what it’s like to be paired with someone who’s so incredibly annoying?
Leonard: Oh, teacher! Me! Me!
Sheldon: See, I did all this great work, and now he's just going to come along and ruin it. I am angrier than ever and filled with despair.
Penny: What beverage do you make for that?
Leonard: Oh, no, no, no, I know this. Uh, hot apple cider with cinnamon sticks?
Sheldon: Yes, hot apple cider with cinnamon sticks!"

[DoctorAtomic]

On the few occasions I do drink tea, I have a Chinese red, cast iron pot to steep it. Height of fancy. 

[proserpina65]

On 5/10/2023 at 9:05 PM, Zella said:

Yeah I don't get this. I've given up ordering hot tea in restaurants because they usually only have Earl Grey. I don't want that nasty shit. Get me English or Irish breakfast tea (or strong Southern-style iced tea) or get out. 

The only American show I can think of where anyone drinks Earl Grey is Star Trek Next Generation. 

20 hours ago, Anduin said:

Interesting. I'd probably try one if there was a Starbucks nearby, but I'm not going hunting. In fact, I just did a search for Starbucks. The nearest one is in Victoria. I'm in Perth! I'm not sure how far away it is, but believe me, it's too far.

Don't bother,  it's nasty. 

[Mittengirl]

One time on Home Improvement Tim Taylor had a cup of tea.  If I recall correctly, he was making a cup for his wife, Jill, and I waited to see if he would have a cup as well.  The only reason I remember it is because it was surprising to see a man drinking a hot beverage that wasn’t coffee or cocoa.

[Shannon L.]

I have to wonder just how many sexy, female, drug lords and heads of criminal enterprises there really are out there.

[Blergh]

8 hours ago, Shannon L. said:

I have to wonder just how many sexy, female, drug lords and heads of criminal enterprises there really are out there.

As per my entirely unscientific guess, I'd say possibly a larger number than you might want to believe but definitely a smaller number than scriptwriters would like audiences to believe!

P.S. IMO, anyone who opts to profiteer via pushing poisons onto vulnerable masses (thus also contributing to their buyers and buyers' loved ones desecration and/or ruination) automatically renders themselves to be Medusa's uglier sib.

Edited May 14, 2023 by Blergh

[Zella]

13 hours ago, Shannon L. said:

I have to wonder just how many sexy, female, drug lords and heads of criminal enterprises there really are out there.

My favorite fictional version of this is when they're decidedly not young and sexy women. Like Mags Bennett on Justified. Absolutely terrifying and extremely cunning villain and purveyor of illicit marijuana. But outwardly a very ordinary and decidedly unglamorous middle-aged woman. She sounds so much like one of my great-aunts when she talks that it kind of makes me nostalgic to watch the episodes she's in. LOL 

Edited May 14, 2023 by Zella

[CoderLady]

16 hours ago, Shannon L. said:

I have to wonder just how many sexy, female, drug lords and heads of criminal enterprises there really are out there.

TV writers may not agree, but I think if you're a woman and a successful head of a criminal enterprise you don't need to be sexy. Once you're at the top and there's no one to kiss up to, you can stop wearing the wigs, makeup and uncomfortably tight clothes and just concentrate on crushing your rivals and maximizing your profits. I would. Theoretically, of course.

[andromeda331]

The Equalizer just reminded me of this one. They had Robyn's teenage daughter Dee playing teenage Robyn in a flash back. Amazing how her daughter just happens to exactly like her. This happens all the time on TV. A villain on Castle looked just like his grandfather, Golden Girls Dorothy looked just like her grandmother, the Nanny Fran plays her mother in flash back and Maxwell as his father, MacGyver looked just like his ancestor, Darren from Bewitched somehow looked exactly like his several centuries ancestor Darren the Bold and one my favorites Emily Quartermaine looking just like Quartermaine ancestor even though Emily's adopted.

[AstridM]

23 hours ago, CoderLady said:

TV writers may not agree, but I think if you're a woman and a successful head of a criminal enterprise you don't need to be sexy. Once you're at the top and there's no one to kiss up to, you can stop wearing the wigs, makeup and uncomfortably tight clothes and just concentrate on crushing your rivals and maximizing your profits. I would. Theoretically, of course.

Amen. And “sexy” doesn’t have to mean trying to appeal to the male gaze.

[Mabinogia]

13 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

one my favorites Emily Quartermaine looking just like Quartermaine ancestor even though Emily's adopted.

That one is great. I would love to think they did it to poke fun at the trope of a character playing their ancestor when younger but, as much as I loved GH (haven't see it in years but was a soap opera fiend back in the day), I can't give them that much credit. lol

[Cloud9Shopper]

In Law and Order Organized Crime the other night, when Olivia got shot in the hip and she was taken to urgent care and was up and around hours later, back at work within a matter of a week or two and everything. What urgent care treats GSWs? (My mom, my sister and my sister’s wife are all nurses and they thought that was hilarious, and no way would that happen IRL; Olivia would go to a trauma center.) The promo hyped up her getting shot as this big serious injury only for her to get nothing more than a glorified Band-Aid and looking like she got hit with a paintball gun. And she barely even seemed like she was in pain. So weird and kind of an unnecessary B plot. 

 

[possibilities]

I'm still not over the 9-1-1 show having one of the cast get rebar spiked through his head and he's back at work firefighting and doing emergency rescues with no residual effects. 

Gunshot to the hip? Pfft!

[Crashcourse]

2 hours ago, possibilities said:

I'm still not over the 9-1-1 show having one of the cast get rebar spiked through his head and he's back at work firefighting and doing emergency rescues with no residual effects. 

Gunshot to the hip? Pfft!

Yeah, that was a character named Chim.

But wait, it gets better!  In the last episode, there's a freeway collapse and he gets gashed in the stomach, blood pouring out.  No biggie, he's back at work soon after, fit as a fiddle.  🙄

[Bastet]

19 hours ago, Cloud9Shopper said:

In Law and Order Organized Crime the other night, when Olivia got shot in the hip and she was taken to urgent care and was up and around hours later, back at work within a matter of a week or two and everything. What urgent care treats GSWs? (My mom, my sister and my sister’s wife are all nurses and they thought that was hilarious, and no way would that happen IRL; Olivia would go to a trauma center.) The promo hyped up her getting shot as this big serious injury only for her to get nothing more than a glorified Band-Aid and looking like she got hit with a paintball gun. And she barely even seemed like she was in pain. So weird and kind of an unnecessary B plot. 

I don't watch any of the L&O shows (I hate 99% of cop shows), but I did watch SVU for a bit way, way back in the day because I liked Olivia and Elliot's partnership.  When I dropped by a friend's house this weekend to pick something up, she was watching her recording of the episode you're talking about.  It was paused on a scene of the two of them in a restaurant, so I told her to let it play, as it would be nice to see them again.  I found the shooting a pretty cool scene, but then when a character said Elliot had taken her to a nearby urgent care, I could not stop laughing.  My friend explained they were out of town, not in NYC, but come on -- an urgent care clinic for a GSW?!

Going by the minimal treatment she required, I guess an urgent care was plenty, but it was just so odd I kept driving my friend crazy by commenting on it -- there was no storyline purpose to her being there instead of a hospital, so I can't figure out why they wrote it like that.  I did like the touch that, when we saw her back in her office, she was standing -- since she had said in the exam room she wouldn't be sitting anytime soon.  But the whole thing was weird.

[Zella]

3 hours ago, possibilities said:

I'm still not over the 9-1-1 show having one of the cast get rebar spiked through his head and he's back at work firefighting and doing emergency rescues with no residual effects. 

Gunshot to the hip? Pfft!

[juno]

5 minutes ago, Zella said:

Bows to the Holy Grail!

[Danielg342]

On 5/10/2023 at 7:17 PM, possibilities said:

I want to know which shows have people with tea on them.

The Mentalist. Patrick Jane was a big tea drinker.

On 5/13/2023 at 9:47 PM, Shannon L. said:

I have to wonder just how many sexy, female, drug lords and heads of criminal enterprises there really are out there.

I don't have a hard number for this, but I'd imagine there are few though that number may be rising (since most criminals are men but the participation of women in crime has grown in the past few decades). I'd also imagine that, of the women that are successful at becoming kingpins (queenpins?) there are quite a few of them who did so via sex appeal. Someone who is sexy and confident can be quite intimidating and what better way to keep your male underlings in check by being a constant tease?

[Cloud9Shopper]

4 hours ago, possibilities said:

I'm still not over the 9-1-1 show having one of the cast get rebar spiked through his head and he's back at work firefighting and doing emergency rescues with no residual effects. 

Gunshot to the hip? Pfft!

This seems to be a trope in medical and cop shows. I remember a few similar incidents on ER with characters with enough smoke inhalation they can’t breathe or getting woozy from falling or coming back to work way too soon after traumatic injuries but insisting on working on traumas and carrying a full load. Or on New Amsterdam with Max blinding himself during the chemical spill. Know when to quit, people! 

[possibilities]

Over in the 911 thread, there's been talk of how Our Heroes are actually SuperHeroes, not humans after all.

At the moment, I'm happy enough not to have them kill off the characters, but it's really absurd how fast they recover from their injuries. A few seasons ago, one of them (Eddie this time, not Chim!) was lying on the ground with blood pouring out of his head after a gunshot wound. Yet, he's fine! Back at work like nothing happened. 

[Annber03]

That happened on "Criminal Minds" all the time, too. It's a miracle half that team is even still standing and able to work at all, let alone do anything else. Reid alone should be dead multiple times over :p. 

I'm not eager to have shows kill off characters, either, I'm fine with characters being in peril and pulling through, but yeah, if they're going to do that, it would be nice to see them actually deal with the fallout/recovery of what they've been through a little more often. You build up this big, dramatic moment of characters in danger, there should be some follow through. Just having everyone go back to normal immediately afterward takes the wind out of the sails and kills the tension.

Plus, for the fandom crowd, plenty of opportunity for some good hurt/comfort among the characters! Who'd want to pass up the chance to write those kinds of potential storylines :D? 

[Bastet]

1 hour ago, Annber03 said:

I'm fine with characters being in peril and pulling through, but yeah, if they're going to do that, it would be nice to see them actually deal with the fallout/recovery of what they've been through a little more often.

Hell, one of my favorite bits of realism from Major Crimes (part of the one percent of cop shows I like) is the acknowledgment that getting hit hurts.  All these shows where people bounce right back from being shot, stabbed, and the like, and here we had Sharon successfully goading a misogynistic murderer into slugging her so they'd have something to hold him on for the time they'd need to retrieve evidence, and they cut from Rusty saying "Wow, my mom's a badass" to Sharon heading towards her office whining, "Oww."  And later she's still holding an ice pack to her cheek.  It's such a simple thing, but missing from most of television -- it's this weird dichotomy where a single punch knocks the bad guys unconscious, but the good folks are completely unaffected.

[Zella]

1 hour ago, Bastet said:

Hell, one of my favorite bits of realism from Major Crimes (part of the one percent of cop shows I like) is the acknowledgment that getting hit hurts.  All these shows where people bounce right back from being shot, stabbed, and the like, and here we had Sharon successfully goading a misogynistic murderer into slugging her so they'd have something to hold him on for the time they'd need to retrieve evidence, and they cut from Rusty saying "Wow, my mom's a badass" to Sharon heading towards her office whining, "Oww."  And later she's still holding an ice pack to her cheek.  It's such a simple thing, but missing from most of television -- it's this weird dichotomy where a single punch knocks the bad guys unconscious, but the good folks are completely unaffected.

The Fall also features a pretty savage beatdown on the protagonist cop after she goads the misogynistic serial killer in an interview. 

[Haleth]

12 hours ago, Crashcourse said:

But wait, it gets better!  In the last episode, there's a freeway collapse and he gets gashed in the stomach, blood pouring out.  No biggie, he's back at work soon after, fit as a fiddle.

Nothing tops when Jack Bauer actually died on 24.  He got over it and was back saving the world within the hour.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

On 5/22/2023 at 3:30 PM, Crashcourse said:

Yeah, that was a character named Chim.

But wait, it gets better!  In the last episode, there's a freeway collapse and he gets gashed in the stomach, blood pouring out.  No biggie, he's back at work soon after, fit as a fiddle.  🙄

 

14 hours ago, Haleth said:

Nothing tops when Jack Bauer actually died on 24.  He got over it and was back saving the world within the hour.

I was about to ask if Chim is related to Jack Bauer somehow. Great minds!

[Bethany]

In a more lighthearted faux thing - I was just watching a sitcom rerun where basically everyone in this well to do middle class family got one gift each for Christmas.  While I'm not doubting this is the case in some families it's not particularly common - except on TV shows.

[meep.meep]

But were they beautifully wrapped TV presents?  The ones where the top and bottom of the box are separately wrapped so the recipient just has to lift the top off to open it.

[DoctorAtomic]

If you only have to lift over the top of the gift, then why don't people just peek ahead of time?

[Quof]

Because they are tied with a big (unwrinkled) ribbon, with a perfect bow on top, and you could never retie the bow.

[merylinkid]

The bow lifts off too.

There are only two kinds of piles of presents -- 1 and only 1 for each person in the family or a carefully arranged tower of presents for each child.   There is no in between.

[DrSpaceman73]

On 5/23/2023 at 7:09 AM, Haleth said:

Nothing tops when Jack Bauer actually died on 24.  He got over it and was back saving the world within the hour.

Yeah I remember that!  Crazy!  

Also he could get all around LA in 10 minutes with no traffic.  They should have done at least one bottle episode with him just stuck in traffic for an hour. 

[Ohiopirate02]

I do appreciate the set designers on Everybody Loves Raymond.  In at least one of their Christmas episodes, there is a trash bag full of wrapping paper in the background on Christmas morning.  And depending on the episode, the gifts are wrapped just like we would.  

[Quof]

We always had the garbage bag of wrapping paper.  And we couldn't throw it away until days later, when we had double checked that we hadn't thrown away a present, a card or a receipt. 

[DoctorAtomic]

If you have a wood stove, you can just through the paper in there.

[Quof]

Hears my mother screaming "what if there's a receipt in there???!"

[Bethany]

I want a laundry room like the ones I see on TV.  A separate room, with a lovely curtained window, bright, clean, fully furnished and with the high end washer and dryer taking pride of place.  This is not, and never has been, my reality!

[Raja]

13 minutes ago, Bethany said:

I want a laundry room like the ones I see on TV.  A separate room, with a lovely curtained window, bright, clean, fully furnished and with the high end washer and dryer taking pride of place.  This is not, and never has been, my reality!

Being in the business Mike Brady could indulge in every fantasy for his bunch 

[Quof]

But stacked his children to the ceiling, 6 people sharing one bathroom, while he had a den the size of a Target.

[Raja]

1 hour ago, Quof said:

But stacked his children to the ceiling, 6 people sharing one bathroom, while he had a den the size of a Target.

You know Mike believed brothers should bunk together, only the 70s saw Greg get the largest attic in SoCal 

[andromeda331]

17 hours ago, Quof said:

But stacked his children to the ceiling, 6 people sharing one bathroom, while he had a den the size of a Target.

Well, it's not like he was an architect. Oh, wait...

On 5/25/2023 at 7:43 AM, Ohiopirate02 said:

I do appreciate the set designers on Everybody Loves Raymond.  In at least one of their Christmas episodes, there is a trash bag full of wrapping paper in the background on Christmas morning.  And depending on the episode, the gifts are wrapped just like we would.  

I also liked that their house always looked like kids lived there. 

[Bethany]

3 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

I also liked that their house always looked like kids lived there.

And as the kids got older the house changed to reflect that.  Which was a nice touch.  The other side of the coin was nothing ever changed in Marie and Frank's house which looked like the decorated around 1970 (give or take a decade) and then left it.  I loved that.

[Trini]

When there's a birthing scene, or scene with a newborn baby, and the baby is obviously older than a newborn -- for me, I'm totally willing to let that slide, because a TV set is no place for a three-day-old.