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

[DrSpaceman73]

9 minutes ago, vibeology said:

They never say it, but I would have bet that Jay helped both his adult kids buy their first houses. Also, pay for their education and probably first cars as well. Claire and Mitch probably entered adult life with all the things and no debt which makes it just a little more possible.

They actually do say later in the show jay gave them the down payments for their houses.  It's a plot line one episode about whether they were supposed to pay them back or not 

But even so I can't see them affording the payments for those places on their salaries.  Or lack of salary half the time for Mitch.  It's not like cam had cheap tastes either.  

I don't want to get started again on modern family being a perfect example of white privilege again though despite being heralded for its progressiveness in gay marriage.  Which means you're right they had huge advantages because Jay was rich but even then their financial decisions are very 'tv sitcom based' and unrealistic in so many cases. 

And don't get me wrong I love the show especially the early episodes.  But it always bugged me, for alll of them, money was no object for concern despite living in one of the highest priced places in the country. 

[DearEvette]

I thought that the brownstone Cliff and Claire Huxtable lived in was probably about right.  He is a doctor with a private practice and she a lawyer.  So definitely something they could have afforded.  They could have gone way fancier, but with five kids, one of whom was in college, it felt modest enough.

[biakbiak]

55 minutes ago, DearEvette said:

I thought that the brownstone Cliff and Claire Huxtable lived in was probably about right.  He is a doctor with a private practice and she a lawyer.  So definitely something they could have afforded.  They could have gone way fancier, but with five kids, one of whom was in college, it felt modest enough.

Especially that it was supposed to be Brooklyn Heights in the 80s.

[Shannon L.]

I could be remembering wrong, but Malcolm in the Middle seemed about right in regards to income vs. housing and neighborhood. Maybe it was a bit too expensive for them, not too unrealistic.

[Irlandesa]

2 hours ago, merylinkid said:

After the divorce, with Maris pretty much leaving him with nothing, Niles was able to afford a NICER placer than Frasier and he didn't have a talk show.   So its highly possible that Frasier could afford that nice place on his own psychiatrist salary.    perhaps he invested well.   

Maris opted to go to war with him and tried to leave him with nothing which is why he lived in "embarrassing" conditions during their separation.  But Maris had also been lying about what was behind her family's wealth.  Niles Crane's divorce lawyer discovered it was something related to urinals--urinal cakes--and not whatever more snobbish reason she had been giving.  Maris stopped fighting and Niles got a good settlement once they confronted her that they knew the truth.  She was willing to give a good settlement as long as Niles kept his mouth shut. 

That's why he was able to buy a nice place. 

 

[DoctorAtomic]

1 hour ago, biakbiak said:

Especially that it was supposed to be Brooklyn Heights in the 80s.

I thought they lived in Philadelphia? 

I know given the whole situation, the show should not be on the air, and Cosby should rot in jail, but the joke about their affluence was good. 

"I got made fun of at school because we're rich."

"Who's we?"

[DrSpaceman73]

Niles moved out when they were separated but trying to work things out to some fancy place much nicer than frasier's, huge townhouse with three levels. 

Eventually maria cut him off once they decided to divorce and moved to the shangri la, a one room regular apartment that was probably ok but by his and his social circle standards embarrassing.  

Then he stepped it up again after the divorce with the urinal secret. 

Have been rewatching the series for several weeks.  

[Katy M]

37 minutes ago, DoctorAtomic said:

I thought they lived in Philadelphia? 

No the Huxtables definitely lived in one of the NYC boroughs.

[biakbiak]

45 minutes ago, DoctorAtomic said:

thought they lived in Philadelphia? 

Most definitely Brooklyn! Though the exterior shown was in Greenwich Village, the show placed them in Brooklyn Heights.

Edited January 13, 2021 by biakbiak

[WinnieWinkle]

58 minutes ago, DrSpaceman73 said:

Niles moved out when they were separated but trying to work things out to some fancy place much nicer than frasier's, huge townhouse with three levels. 

Yep, the whole battle with Maris ensued and he lost his credit cards and access to the wealth he had been accustomed to because even though he was far from living paycheque to paycheque  she was incredibly rich and controlled the purse strings.

I thought it was pretty realistic (as these things go) in the way they showed that Niles was well off in his own right but not super rich.  He could and did live a good life without Maris's money but not on the scale he had gotten accustomed to.   Can't remember now if they scaled back his more luxurious purchases and choices once the marriage was finally over though.

Edited January 13, 2021 by WinnieWinkle

[janie jones]

8 hours ago, merylinkid said:

After the divorce, with Maris pretty much leaving him with nothing, Niles was able to afford a NICER placer than Frasier and he didn't have a talk show.   So its highly possible that Frasier could afford that nice place on his own psychiatrist salary.    perhaps he invested well. 

There's a theory out there that he invested in Microsoft early.

[paulvdb]

I just started watching the Nickelodeon series The Astronauts. It reminded me of something I originally learned from Space Camp: apparently it's very easy for a group of kids to sneak into a spacecraft and accidentally get themselves launched into space.

[Katy M]

1 hour ago, paulvdb said:

I just started watching the Nickelodeon series The Astronauts. It reminded me of something I originally learned from Space Camp: apparently it's very easy for a group of kids to sneak into a spacecraft and accidentally get themselves launched into space.

Successfully launched into space, even.    No burning up in the atmosphere and plummeting back to earth for these amateurs who have no idea what they're doing

[Bastet]

3 hours ago, paulvdb said:

I just started watching the Nickelodeon series The Astronauts. It reminded me of something I originally learned from Space Camp: apparently it's very easy for a group of kids to sneak into a spacecraft and accidentally get themselves launched into space.

They didn't sneak onto the shuttle, they were the group from Space Camp chosen to sit in it (along with an astronaut) during a flight readiness test.

No one knew that Jinx, a NASA robot who was friends with the youngest of the kids, having overheard the kid (Joaquin Phoenix back when he was Leaf, and it was not very many years ago when I discovered they were two different people) say he wishes he was in space, got into the computer and arranged for thermal curtain failure on one of the SRBs, which requires lighting the other booster and launching.

Why, yes, I did watch that movie (since I loved the space program as a kid) quite a few times.

[Katy M]

7 minutes ago, Bastet said:

They didn't sneak onto the shuttle, they were the group from Space Camp chosen to sit in it (along with an astronaut) during a flight readiness test.

No one knew that Jinx, a NASA robot who was friends with the youngest of the kids, having overheard the kid (Joaquin Phoenix back when he was Leaf, and it was not very many years ago when I discovered they were two different people) say he wishes he was in space, got into the computer and arranged for thermal curtain failure on one of the SRBs, which requires lighting the other booster and launching.

Why, yes, I did watch that movie (since I loved the space program as a kid) quite a few times.

I saw it, too, and I see that it came out in 1986 and I could swear I was younger than that when I saw it, but I must have been even older because I saw it on TV.  And, I could have also sworn that at the beginning of the movie they said it was based on a true story, and I'm not sure why I thought that. I wonder if I flipped the channel from soemthing that was based on a true story?

[Shannon L.]

13 minutes ago, Bastet said:

They didn't sneak onto the shuttle, they were the group from Space Camp chosen to sit in it (along with an astronaut) during a flight readiness test.

No one knew that Jinx, a NASA robot who was friends with the youngest of the kids, having overheard the kid (Joaquin Phoenix back when he was Leaf, and it was not very many years ago when I discovered they were two different people) say he wishes he was in space, got into the computer and arranged for thermal curtain failure on one of the SRBs, which requires lighting the other booster and launching.

Why, yes, I did watch that movie (since I loved the space program as a kid) quite a few times.

I can still quote a few lines from it  🙂

[Bastet]

Just now, Shannon L. said:

I can still quote a few lines from it  🙂

Amateur; I can sit and recite along with the whole movie.  Because, yep, I have it on DVD.

[Katy M]

2 minutes ago, Bastet said:

Amateur; I can sit and recite along with the whole movie.  Because, yep, I have it on DVD.

All I remember is that they landed in White Sands after figuring out that was a different place than White Plains.

[DoctorAtomic]

These helicopter and snowplow parents nowadays. Back in the 80s, kids like me ran all over town, riding bikes, crashing into things, swimming in the lake till dinner, and sneaking on the space shuttle. 

[Blergh]

IIRC, there was an episode in Full House in which Stephanie and Michelle got on a plane thinking it was flying across the Bay from their Frisco home to Oakland , but instead  it wound up flying to Auckland, New Zealand! Even in those pre-Homeland Security days, it's hard to imagine that this could have happened (and the San Francisco International Airport is quite a distance from both of these Bay cities). 

[paulvdb]

13 hours ago, Bastet said:

They didn't sneak onto the shuttle, they were the group from Space Camp chosen to sit in it (along with an astronaut) during a flight readiness test.

Thanks. It's been a while since I watched Space Camp and I guess my memory of it was a bit fuzzy.

[meep.meep]

On 1/19/2021 at 4:17 PM, Blergh said:

IIRC, there was an episode in Full House in which Stephanie and Michelle got on a plane thinking it was flying across the Bay from their Frisco home to Oakland , but instead  it wound up flying to Auckland, New Zealand! Even in those pre-Homeland Security days, it's hard to imagine that this could have happened (and the San Francisco International Airport is quite a distance from both of these Bay cities). 

In real life there was someone who wanted to go to Auckland and accidentally got on a plane for Oakland.  It was on the news.

Now I have to kill you since you used Frisco.  It is not done.

[janie jones]

2 hours ago, meep.meep said:

In real life there was someone who wanted to go to Auckland and accidentally got on a plane for Oakland.  It was on the news.

Did they accidentally buy the wrong ticket, or did they accidentally get on the wrong plane?

[Zella]

Someone getting on a plane for Auckland instead of Oakland and realizing it's too late doesn't strike me as outside the realm of possibility, especially if they're harried or zonk out as soon as they get on the plane.

I know and know of several people who have flown or taken a bus to the wrong place. One of them was one of my dad's buddies in the Army. He came home with my dad one weekend, adored my grandparents, and decided to visit them on his own. But he took the bus to Henderson, NC, and not Hendersonville. He called to have them come get him at the Henderson bus station and they were like, "Um, Mac, where did you say you were . . . . ?"

At my job at a library, I saw an elderly woman who was printing her plane ticket confirmation information had a return flight that was taking her to an out-of-state Fayetteville. Thinking of poor Mac at the wrong bus station, I asked if she realized that was going to another state and not home. She freaked out because that's not at all what she wanted to do. She tried to tip me $20 for catching it, but I wasn't allowed to accept it. I'm still a little bitter I didn't get to keep the 20. 😞

 

Edited January 21, 2021 by Zella

[Raja]

1 hour ago, janie jones said:

Did they accidentally buy the wrong ticket, or did they accidentally get on the wrong plane?

I thought I had a great deal, okay. But I did wonder why nobody asked for my passport.

[meep.meep]

13 hours ago, janie jones said:

Did they accidentally buy the wrong ticket, or did they accidentally get on the wrong plane?

It was decades ago but I think it was an international transfer thing - he had to change planes, didn't read English, and got on the one that sounded right.  He had a passport and a ticket and it was back when they didn't really check the tickets that carefully.

[DoctorAtomic]

Nowadays, when you put your phone/pass on the electronic reader, it should catch that. It flagged me for being in the wrong *zone*. 

[Blergh]

6 hours ago, meep.meep said:

It was decades ago but I think it was an international transfer thing - he had to change planes, didn't read English, and got on the one that sounded right.  He had a passport and a ticket and it was back when they didn't really check the tickets that carefully.

Interesting. Well, one can't say that getting on an international overseas flight instead of a domestic hopper would have been a typical high jink among preteens!

[DoctorAtomic]

In the 80s, kids could even go in the plane cockpit! 

[andromeda331]

I didn't know accidentally getting on the wrong flights happened it real life. My mom and I joked often that we wished that would happen to us. Accidentally end up in Australia, Italy or Ireland. I guess we'd have no choice but to enjoy it.   

[Browncoat]

8 hours ago, DoctorAtomic said:

In the 80s, kids could even go in the plane cockpit! 

Captain Oveur: Joey, have you ever seen a grown man naked?

[DrSpaceman73]

11 minutes ago, Browncoat said:

Captain Oveur: Joey, have you ever seen a grown man naked?

Do you like gladiator movies?

Ever been in a turkish prison?  

[WinnieWinkle]

10 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

I didn't know accidentally getting on the wrong flights happened it real life. My mom and I joked often that we wished that would happen to us. Accidentally end up in Australia, Italy or Ireland. I guess we'd have no choice but to enjoy it.   

It has happened more often than you'd think that someone ends up flying into Sydney, Nova Scotia instead of Sydney, Australia.  Being originally from Cape Breton myself I wasn't surprised to read that in most cases if they stayed they were treated royally and the locals made sure they had a memorable - if unintentional - visit.

[Katy M]

11 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

I didn't know accidentally getting on the wrong flights happened it real life. My mom and I joked often that we wished that would happen to us. Accidentally end up in Australia, Italy or Ireland. I guess we'd have no choice but to enjoy it.   

You need a visa for Australia, so you'd have to enjoy it from the airport.

[Shannon L.]

After this past year, I think we can definitely say that finding a cure/vaccine for an unknown virus, or weaponized version of one, is not going to happen inside of 48 hours.

[Brookside]

In police procedurals where the good guys are racing to catch the bad guys, there is always a parking space exactly where they need it, despite being in New York, Chicago, or some other overcrowded city.

[Katy M]

32 minutes ago, Brookside said:

In police procedurals where the good guys are racing to catch the bad guys, there is always a parking space exactly where they need it, despite being in New York, Chicago, or some other overcrowded city.

And unless it's a plot point, there isn't really all that much traffic to speak of in those cities.  

[Zella]

1 hour ago, Brookside said:

In police procedurals where the good guys are racing to catch the bad guys, there is always a parking space exactly where they need it, despite being in New York, Chicago, or some other overcrowded city.

This one drives me crazy! 

[Mabinogia]

2 hours ago, Katy M said:

And unless it's a plot point, there isn't really all that much traffic to speak of in those cities.  

If there is traffic, it's never just general traffic, it's always some epic backup, bumper to bumper, nothing moving, so that our hero has to jump out of the car and run between the other cars in pursuit, cause nothing says "bad ass" like running between stopped cars in the road. *eye roll*

[DoctorAtomic]

Do it faced-ass drunk and then let's reassess how bad-ass it might be (joking don't do it my shoulder hurt for months).

[KWalkerInc]

In dramas focusing on teenagers, any character in a relationship who has a fling over the summer will arrive back at school that fall to discover that their fling is now suddenly enrolled at the same school as the character and their significant other (even if the fling happened in another country).

[paulvdb]

Did you also just watch last night's episode of

Spoiler

All American?

(spoiler tagged the title for people who haven't watched it yet)

That one goes way back. And it's not just teenagers in a relationship. It can also just be teenagers who are in different social circles where one or both of them don't want people to know about their fling. The oldest example I can remember is Grease. And if I put some effort into it I could come up with a long list of shows and movies where it also happened.

[Danny Franks]

On 1/13/2021 at 3:33 PM, DrSpaceman73 said:

And don't get me wrong I love the show especially the early episodes.  But it always bugged me, for alll of them, money was no object for concern despite living in one of the highest priced places in the country. 

You want to see unrealistic financial depictions? Watch Ballers. I just watched the whole of it and, unsurprisingly it was terrible, but the financial means of the characters was just... baffling.

The Rock's character, Spencer Strasmore, starts the show by loaning his last $300,000 to an NFL player as an inducement to financially represent him. Five seasons later, he's buying the Kansas City Chiefs and I have never once understood how he got so rich. The show completely glosses over any big wins he might have, usually because he has a burst of integrity and turns down money that he feels is coming on the back of screwing someone else over.

[WinnieWinkle]

I almost always have to grit my teeth and ignore it when sitcoms deal with money issues.  On Big Bang Theory they acted like these notable scientists at a prestigious university were earning a pittance (even though they spent a small fortune on take out food and comics in almost every episode). On Everybody Loves Raymond they acted like a Lt in the NYPD was earning so little that in one episode he was reduced to eating baloney pie.  Ugh.  I guess what it comes down to is either writers have no real clue what people outside Hollywood actually earn or (and this is the most likely) they don't care and they will say anything if it serves the plot.

[Blergh]

10 minutes ago, WinnieWinkle said:

I almost always have to grit my teeth and ignore it when sitcoms deal with money issues.  On Big Bang Theory they acted like these notable scientists at a prestigious university were earning a pittance (even though they spent a small fortune on take out food and comics in almost every episode). On Everybody Loves Raymond they acted like a Lt in the NYPD was earning so little that in one episode he was reduced to eating baloney pie.  Ugh.  I guess what it comes down to is either writers have no real clue what people outside Hollywood actually earn or (and this is the most likely) they don't care and they will say anything if it serves the plot.

True! True!

 

And, on the reverse, in Boy Meets World, Shawn Hunter as well as his father Chet and stepmother Virna each got depicted driving their live-in trailer park trailer on roads as easily as one would drive an ordinary pickup truck! Hello, just because it's called a trailer and has wheels doesn't mean that a building that size wouldn't require the hiring of drivers as well as escorts with a bunch of 'Oversized Vehicle' signs warning other drivers to do their best to avoid the roads and highways while said trailers are being transported from Point A to Point B,etc.

Obviously, the show's writers NEVER saw or heard of how an a trailer park trailer was supposed to be moved! 

[DrSpaceman73]

4 hours ago, Danny Franks said:

You want to see unrealistic financial depictions? Watch Ballers. I just watched the whole of it and, unsurprisingly it was terrible, but the financial means of the characters was just... baffling.

The Rock's character, Spencer Strasmore, starts the show by loaning his last $300,000 to an NFL player as an inducement to financially represent him. Five seasons later, he's buying the Kansas City Chiefs and I have never once understood how he got so rich. The show completely glosses over any big wins he might have, usually because he has a burst of integrity and turns down money that he feels is coming on the back of screwing someone else over.

Yes good point, I watched that show for awhile.  

At first it was pretty realistic with him being a former nfl player who is broke.  That is common and all too typical. 

But over time, yes, ridiculous. I didn't know he bought the chiefs. I tuned out after the storyline if them self financing the stadium in las vegas for the franchise that moved there......something like that.  

[bijoux]

5 hours ago, KWalkerInc said:

In dramas focusing on teenagers, any character in a relationship who has a fling over the summer will arrive back at school that fall to discover that their fling is now suddenly enrolled at the same school as the character and their significant other (even if the fling happened in another country).

Or it's the new teacher. Dun dun dun. 

[WinnieWinkle]

Speaking of teenagers, I've lost count of how many times the slacker teen who never went to class and never cared about school at all will suddenly, at the 11th hour, pull the impossible off and end up getting accepted into university - and usually because they've secretly been hiding their brilliant mind all along.  I loved Family Ties so much because they did not do that.  They never turned things around at the last minute and made Mallory into a misunderstood genius.

Edited January 26, 2021 by WinnieWinkle

[CoderLady]

4 minutes ago, WinnieWinkle said:

Speaking of teenagers, I've lost count of how many times the slacker teen who never went to class and never cared about school at all will suddenly, at the 11th hour, pull the impossible off and end up getting accepted into university - and usually because they've secretly been hiding their brilliant mind all along.  I loved Family Ties so much because they did not do that.  They never turned things around at the last minute and made Mallory into a misunderstood genius.

But the slacker, having gotten into a prestigious university that all but guarantees he/she will be set financially and socially for life, will pass up the opportunity because it would mean moving away from the community. Nobody leaves home no matter what.

[DoctorAtomic]

5 hours ago, KWalkerInc said:

In dramas focusing on teenagers, any character in a relationship who has a fling over the summer will arrive back at school that fall to discover that their fling is now suddenly enrolled at the same school as the character and their significant other (even if the fling happened in another country).

 

5 hours ago, paulvdb said:

The oldest example I can remember is Grease.

And then you'll call her a whore. 

 

1 hour ago, WinnieWinkle said:

On Big Bang Theory they acted like these notable scientists at a prestigious university were earning a pittance (even though they spent a small fortune on take out food and comics in almost every episode).

It may depend on their position. If they're a postdoctorate or junior level, then it's possible and depending where you live. Tenure track would be a stretch though. Or if they're working at a fancy lab.