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

[Kel Varnsen]

On 10/9/2021 at 9:39 AM, kariyaki said:

They’re not bolted but they’re really fucking heavy. It’s usually a two man job to pull a manhole cover up.

If they are ones with holes in them you can pry them off with a pick (think like a miners tool). But yea lifting them is probably a two person job. There were stories where I live a few years ago about people stealing them (presumably when scrap metal prices were high). Although it seems like that would be a pretty easy thing to shut down through metal recyclers.

[JustHereForFood]

2 hours ago, crazycatlady58 said:

Yes, that's what she said. You follow the rules of the house.  Although if I know someone prefers no shoes in the house I would ask if I could bring a pair of house shoes that had not been worn outside. 

Fair enough. I mean, I wouldn't expect anyone to go barefoot in my place, I would offer a spare pair of slippers and I would expect someone who invited me to their place to offer some as well (otherwise I would insist on keeping my shoes, because I would most likely get a cold without them). But as others have said, it is a result of what is considered a norm where you grow up, just like other things, for example how much one is supposed to tip.

[Mabinogia]

13 hours ago, crazycatlady58 said:

Although if I know someone prefers no shoes in the house I would ask if I could bring a pair of house shoes that had not been worn outside. 

I always bring a pair of slippers when I go to my aunt's house. I have a special, thin pair that fold up easily and I can shove them in my pocket. 

I also tend not to like to wear shoes in the house because I more often than not have my feet up on furniture, usually curled up under me, and I don't want shoes on my furniture. 

Edited October 11, 2021 by Mabinogia

[DrSpaceman73]

On tv when getting married they always write their own vows. 

Im not saying people in real life don't do it, but it's much lower than the 100 percent on tv. 

[juno]

21 minutes ago, DrSpaceman73 said:

On tv when getting married they always write their own vows. 

Im not saying people in real life don't do it, but it's much lower than the 100 percent on tv. 

Of course that always preceeds the question "If anyone has any objections speak now or forever hold your peace" and of course there is usually someone that objects and they will then run out of the place of worship with the bride/groom .

[praeceptrix]

1 minute ago, juno said:

Of course that always preceeds the question "If anyone has any objections speak now or forever hold your peace" and of course there is usually someone that objects and they will then run out of the place of worship with the bride/groom .

Now I really want to see an episode of something -- anything -- where the person objects and runs off with both the bride and the groom!

[DoctorAtomic]

I've been to one wedding where they wrote their own vows, but they weren't long and kind of witty. They had met on an internet site, much like this fine place, and basically just blasted internet hook ups. 

[Bastet]

I don't remember the last time I was at a wedding with traditional vows instead of a personalized statement and promise, but I try to attend as few weddings as is socially acceptable, so I'm hardly out there collecting a representative sample. 

I'm sure the "for better, for worse, yadda yadda yadda" vows are indeed still in greater real-life use than they are on TV, but they're boring, so I don't mind that about TV weddings.  What I do find tiresome is how among every TV couple coming up with their own vows, there is pretty much always one who can't come up with a single word to say until it's time to speak, and then he - because, let's be real, it's always a he - flawlessly bursts forth with something far more articulate, poetic, and schmoopy than he's ever been shown to be.

[DrSpaceman73]

6 hours ago, Bastet said:

I don't remember the last time I was at a wedding with traditional vows instead of a personalized statement and promise, but I try to attend as few weddings as is socially acceptable, so I'm hardly out there collecting a representative sample. 

I'm sure the "for better, for worse, yadda yadda yadda" vows are indeed still in greater real-life use than they are on TV, but they're boring, so I don't mind that about TV weddings.  What I do find tiresome is how among every TV couple coming up with their own vows, there is pretty much always one who can't come up with a single word to say until it's time to speak, and then he - because, let's be real, it's always a he - flawlessly bursts forth with something far more articulate, poetic, and schmoopy than he's ever been shown to be.

No you're schmoopy!

[Shannon L.]

I have to give The Rookie kudos again this week for avoiding a trope.  This time it's the new parents who are going out to a nice dinner for the first time since the baby was born and leaving him with a babysitter.  They put him to bed, set the baby monitor down, thanked the sitters and left.  Not everyone has to anxiously explain a half a dozen different things, then go through that moment of two of "Maybe we shouldn't go". They also enjoyed their date without worrying about the baby and calling in a few times, just to be sure everything was ok.  I was once again shocked at this alternate behavior by characters in a tv show.

[DoctorAtomic]

That's like the 70s. My parents went out all the time - don't be a jerk to the babysitter or we'll kill you. Here's the number of the restaurant. That worked well. 

The wedding I mentioned was open bar and at a winery. As much as I also avoid weddings, this one was appointment event. *And* us hippie bitches did even have to wear a suit. 

Edited October 13, 2021 by DoctorAtomic

[Raja]

5 hours ago, Shannon L. said:

I have to give The Rookie kudos again this week for avoiding a trope.  This time it's the new parents who are going out to a nice dinner for the first time since the baby was born and leaving him with a babysitter.  They put him to bed, set the baby monitor down, thanked the sitters and left.  Not everyone has to anxiously explain a half a dozen different things, then go through that moment of two of "Maybe we shouldn't go". They also enjoyed their date without worrying about the baby and calling in a few times, just to be sure everything was ok.  I was once again shocked at this alternate behavior by characters in a tv show.

It only took having a cop and a firefighter as babysitters 

[Shannon L.]

36 minutes ago, Raja said:

It only took having a cop and a firefighter as babysitters 

Good point.  But, that still wouldn't stop a lot of writers.  Besides, I like the way the couple is being written as new parents. They're more laid back than most of couples are usually written.

[DrSpaceman73]

Who knows if these AITA things are real, but if I saw this on a tv show, I'd view it as typical TV hijinks that would never really happen. 

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/man-faces-backlash-choosing-football-155306991.html

 

Summary :. Man realizes the wedding of a college friend of his wife's is the same day as the Patriots BUCS game with tom Brady back in NE.  Of course he chooses the game. 

The sitcom tv aspect of it comes in when he asks her GAY BEST FRIEND to take her to the wedding so he doesn't have to go to the wedding himself.  She is shocked he did this, they fight......etc.  

[Bastet]

As soon as the college and NFL schedules are announced each season, the important games go onto my calendar so I know not to commit to anything else on those dates/times.

They said yes to the wedding before the schedule was known, but he still had plenty of time to realize the conflict, tell his wife he now really didn't want to go the wedding he never wanted to tag along to in the first place, and ask what she thought.  Then she could either decide she'd go by herself, invite someone else, or tell him she wants him to come with her like they'd planned.  If she picks the last one, suck it up and go, dude; welcome to marriage.

Instead waiting until just a few weeks before and then arranging for her friend to go with her, without ever talking to her about it until he presented it like a done deal was stupid.  Of course she's going to get upset under those circumstances.

And, yes, it does sound like a plot from one those Everybody Loves Raymond type of sitcoms. 

Edited October 14, 2021 by Bastet

[Zella]

29 minutes ago, Bastet said:

As soon as the college and NFL schedules are announced each season, the important games go onto my calendar so I know not to commit to anything else on those dates/times.

At the library where I work, we always pull up our state college team's schedule when planning fall events so that we don't schedule stuff that conflicts. We've learned the hard way that the turnout is always dismal if it conflicts with game day, and we have even had people get up in the middle of events and leave to go watch the game. (My favorite was the guy who interrupted an author talk to say some version of "This has been real good, mister, and this is nothing personal, but the Hogs are fixin' to play, and I can't miss it.")

So, yeah, I totally buy people doing this zany sitcom-level weirdness over the game IRL. 

[Danielg342]

6 hours ago, DrSpaceman73 said:

Who knows if these AITA things are real, but if I saw this on a tv show, I'd view it as typical TV hijinks that would never really happen. 

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/man-faces-backlash-choosing-football-155306991.html

 

Summary :. Man realizes the wedding of a college friend of his wife's is the same day as the Patriots BUCS game with tom Brady back in NE.  Of course he chooses the game. 

The sitcom tv aspect of it comes in when he asks her GAY BEST FRIEND to take her to the wedding so he doesn't have to go to the wedding himself.  She is shocked he did this, they fight......etc.  

I can actually see the press release now:

"When the wedding of Alice's friend Craig conflicts with a football game Bob desperately wants to see, Bob concocts a plot that he hopes will satisfy everyone."

My real world commentary on that situation is that it appears to me that husband and wife have far more issues together than the wife being ditched for a football game. Just like how I believe most TV sitcom couples are depicted so badly I wonder why they haven't divorced yet, it wouldn't surprise me (sadly) that this couple is headed down that road.

The NFL released its schedule on May 12. So, if hubby's a big football fan and the wife knows he's not too keen on going to the wedding they were invited to, the couple had ample time to argue, figure things out and reach a compromise. The fact that hubby is resorting to tricks behind the wife's back tells me they're not communicating properly and that's a bigger issue than watching what would turn out to be a rain-drenched, slow slog of a match that I'm not sure hubby would have been happy with anyway (Tampa Bay won 19-17 after the Patriot kicker's field goal attempt clanged off the upright).

Of course, that's real life, and if the couple care about each other, they'll fix that issue. Most TV sitcom couples never do and it's irritating, to say the least. I do get why Hollywood prefers to have scheming husbands (and they're always husbands, because Hollywood likes making the wife the only mature one) because that's far more entertaining than a couple who talks things through. Not to mention the fact that long, impassioned arguments seem more the territory of a drama than a comedy.

Still, like the comic book villain that would make things much easier on themselves if they just shut up and shot their adversary already, it's mind boggling TV couples never think they need to work on their communication problems if the two of them do all they can to actively avoid a fight. You'd have to think:

1. Why would the husband want to be with a woman who makes him feel uncomfortable to really express his feelings and thoughts with, let alone someone he can't "be himself" around?
2. Why would the wife want to be with a man who can't bothered to talk to her and bring up issues he may have, let alone a man who eventually wears her out because she constantly has to worry about what issue she's missed because he's concocted a grand scheme that usually fails instead of actually talking to her?

I hope the football fan and his wife have realized their issue and are now working to resolve it (or, maybe just realize they're just not working out, which is OK). I just wish Hollywood writers would realize the same thing.

[Ohiopirate02]

12 hours ago, DrSpaceman73 said:

Who knows if these AITA things are real, but if I saw this on a tv show, I'd view it as typical TV hijinks that would never really happen. 

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/man-faces-backlash-choosing-football-155306991.html

 

Summary :. Man realizes the wedding of a college friend of his wife's is the same day as the Patriots BUCS game with tom Brady back in NE.  Of course he chooses the game. 

The sitcom tv aspect of it comes in when he asks her GAY BEST FRIEND to take her to the wedding so he doesn't have to go to the wedding himself.  She is shocked he did this, they fight......etc.  

I saw that post on Reddit when it was first posted, and it was completely fake.  This does happen with college football games because they play on Saturday.  The NFL schedule is set and does not have Saturday games until December.  That Patriots-Buccaneers game was on a Sunday night and not on a holiday weekend.  No way there was a wedding happening at the same time.  

[DearEvette]

12 minutes ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

I saw that post on Reddit when it was first posted, and it was completely fake.  This does happen with college football games because they play on Saturday.  The NFL schedule is set and does not have Saturday games until December.  That Patriots-Buccaneers game was on a Sunday night and not on a holiday weekend.  No way there was a wedding happening at the same time.  

Huh.  Did the original say a Saturday? Because the article does say the wedding was on a Sunday.

[Ohiopirate02]

15 minutes ago, DearEvette said:

Huh.  Did the original say a Saturday? Because the article does say the wedding was on a Sunday.

The poster's scenario had the wedding on a Sunday, and that's what tipped me off that the whole story to follow was fake.  Very few Americans get married on Sundays to begin with, let alone weddings that would have interfered with a game that kicked off at 8:20pm eastern time.  Unless this was some sort of destination wedding in Hawaii, but that would have been necessary information for the poster to have included. 

People use this particular sub-reddit to craft writing exercises to to flat out troll, and I suspect the poster was the latter.  His account is currently suspended.  This guy crafted this scenario to get flamed by Redditors and is somewhere loving all of this attention he is getting online.  

[DearEvette]

10 minutes ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

he poster's scenario had the wedding on a Sunday, and that's what tipped me off that the whole story to follow was fake.  Very few Americans get married on Sundays to begin with, let alone weddings that would have interfered with a game that kicked off at 8:20pm eastern time.  Unless this was some sort of destination wedding in Hawaii, but that would have been necessary information for the poster to have included. 

Ok, the Sunday wedding would not have tipped me off. If anything it was the 'Gay best friend Tito' that would have had my Spidey senses tingling.  That is an element that screams you are setting a scene or trying to embellish a story.

The Sunday weddings are more common that you might think, though.  My sister in law is an  event planner and let me tell you, if you want a wedding on the cheap or a particular hot venue, planning outside the normal Friday-Saturday paradigm is key.  She started doing Sunday-Brunch weddings and they became really popular. Ironically she also does very popular  football themed weddings on Sunday as well (she is based in Buffalo and they are psycho about the Bills).

[ABay]

30 minutes ago, DearEvette said:

 Ironically she also does very popular  football themed weddings on Sunday as well (she is based in Buffalo and they are psycho about the Bills).

"Psycho" is an understatement.  🙂

[Zella]

55 minutes ago, DearEvette said:

The Sunday weddings are more common that you might think, though. 

Yeah I always thought they were unusual, but I found out just last week my college roommate's sister is getting married this month on a Sunday. I think it's a 6 pm wedding. It really surprised me because around here Saturday weddings are very much the norm. 

[KittyMom4]

On 9/30/2021 at 9:04 PM, Danielg342 said:

The love interest who tells the potential suitor where they really stand and lets them down easy.

I always wish this was true in real life. Any time I've been broken up with or had to break up with someone it was a miserable, usually tearful, quite often angry event. Never once did it go well. And never once did the person I was breaking up with "understand" or walk away without an insult or argument. Along with that, being on the receiving end was never pleasant and I can tell you that there were a couple times when I did not handle it quietly or graciously. 

On 10/9/2021 at 6:02 PM, crazycatlady58 said:

Everyone is different, I prefer people to wear their shoes in my house. I am more concerned about picking up a foot fungus or athletics foot.

LOL, agreed, plus I am very sensitive to foot odors so if I catch a whiff I'm going to gag. 

On 10/9/2021 at 8:06 PM, Constant Viewer said:

I was always taught it was rude to take your shoes off in someone else's home unless you were asked or given permission.

Me too, I always ask my host what their preference is. In the cold months when I have to wear snow boots or heavy shoes I will bring slippers or heavy socks with me to wear during the visit. 

[Danielg342]

10 hours ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

I saw that post on Reddit when it was first posted, and it was completely fake.  This does happen with college football games because they play on Saturday.  The NFL schedule is set and does not have Saturday games until December.  That Patriots-Buccaneers game was on a Sunday night and not on a holiday weekend.  No way there was a wedding happening at the same time.  

Yahoo! has not retracted the story or updated it to say that it's fake. Though I think your arguments make a lot of sense- and you are correct, the Redditor's account is suspended- do you have any other proof other than your intuition that this Redditor hoodwinked us all?

[Ohiopirate02]

8 minutes ago, Danielg342 said:

Yahoo! has not retracted the story or updated it to say that it's fake. Though I think your arguments make a lot of sense- and you are correct, the Redditor's account is suspended- do you have any other proof other than your intuition that this Redditor hoodwinked us all?

I spend enough time on that particular subreddit to see the signs of a fake story.  One of the biggest is the lack of additional comments by the OP.  Normally,  the OP will respond to comments by other posters usually to clarify their original post.  There is a word limit so you can't always include everything.   Or he/she is so convinced that they are not the asshole that they have to respond to people who call out their bullshit.   If this particular story was true, that guy would not be able to resist commenting especially when some of the commenters were disparaging to the Patriots.  

Yahoo also cannot verify if this story actually happened.   Redditors are anonymous and many people create throwaway accounts on AITA.  Then the account was suspended so while the post remains,  any information about the poster is not accessible.  

[Irlandesa]

2 hours ago, Danielg342 said:

Yahoo! has not retracted the story or updated it to say that it's fake.

Yahoo is mostly an aggregator.  I've seen stories on there that were accidentally posted on the original site (think an obituary) and pulled but they remained in Yahoo.

[Danielg342]

2 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

Yahoo is mostly an aggregator.  I've seen stories on there that were accidentally posted on the original site (think an obituary) and pulled but they remained in Yahoo.

It's posted by "In The Know by Yahoo!", so I assume it's actually written by a Yahoo! team and not just a story pulled from another website. What that means in broader terms I don't know because I'm not that familiar with "In The Know".

[Zella]

I don't use Yahoo, but I am a rather avid AITA reader, and it is pretty common for posts to be removed (either by mods or the asshole in question), to the point that a lot of people when reposting screenshot, so you can still see all the glorious assholishness even if it is removed. 

I noticed Yahoo copied the actual text for the same workaround. I doubt Yahoo cares whether it was removed or why as long as their clickbait article got clicks. 

Edited October 15, 2021 by Zella

[SusanM]

I'm sure this has probably come up before but a faux thing that really irritates me is the way people are up,  dressed and with every hair in place - they then sit down around the table and eat a full breakfast.  Then and only then do they get up to leave for work and/or school.  Maybe if you live and work in Small Town but not really otherwise I suspect for most people.  If I wanted to start my day like that I'd have to be up at 5 in the morning to accomplish all this and still be at work on time.  

Edited October 15, 2021 by SusannahM

[DoctorAtomic]

My work is 7 minutes away, and I couldn't even do that. Making oatmeal was about it. 

 

[Mabinogia]

1 hour ago, DoctorAtomic said:

My work is 7 minutes away, and I couldn't even do that. Making oatmeal was about it. 

My work is currently at home and I still can't pull it off. I roll out of bed, log in in my pjs and if I have a video meeting that day I might get changed into my day pjs (logoless shirt instead of branded tee shirt) and bra. 

Even when I did go to work I made my oatmeal when I got there.

[DoctorAtomic]

I don't have any set time so I can get there when I got there. I don't like to rush in the morning. 

[smittykins]

In my small town, the middle/high school bus comes through my apartment complex at 6:45 am. I’m not ready to even think about breakfast for at least 45 minutes.

[DrSpaceman73]

Parents on tv always miss their kids 'first steps'.   At least one of them.  And then act like it means their kids are doomed forever. 

I honestly don't remember either of my kids first steps.  I might have been there. I'm sure parents miss it in real life....people work, you can't be there all the time. 

Yes I know it's symbolic and meant as a wake up call to be there for them. Still, there are much more important things. Ask parents.  

On the other hand, if you are off in the middle of the night having sex with the teen age neighbor boy when it happens, it probably does mean something.   Like on You, season 3

Edited October 17, 2021 by DrSpaceman73

[Mabinogia]

58 minutes ago, DrSpaceman73 said:

Parents on tv always miss their kids 'first steps'.   At least one of them.  And then act like it means their kids are doomed forever. 

I really couldn't tell you if either of my parents witnessed my first step. All I know is, that was the first step towards a life of pain and misery. It was the first step towards my eternal damnation. Or not. I doubt I cared then and I sure don't care now. But yeah, TV parents are a bit obsessive. 

[RealHousewife]

On 10/15/2021 at 5:42 PM, Mabinogia said:

My work is currently at home and I still can't pull it off. I roll out of bed, log in in my pjs and if I have a video meeting that day I might get changed into my day pjs (logoless shirt instead of branded tee shirt) and bra. 

Even when I did go to work I made my oatmeal when I got there.

We're morning work twins! I used to make oatmeal in the office too. I always thought if I worked from home I'd get up and cook breakfast, or maybe exercise first thing. Yeah, no. 

[andromeda331]

My parents were so excited for my brother to take his first steps they kept pushing him. When he finally did they realized their mistake as he then was on the move and getting into everything. When it was my turn they tried to get me to wait as long as possible. They were in no rush. 

[RealHousewife]

14 minutes ago, andromeda331 said:

My parents were so excited for my brother to take his first steps they kept pushing him. When he finally did they realized their mistake as he then was on the move and getting into everything. When it was my turn they tried to get me to wait as long as possible. They were in no rush. 

I was the baby who got into everything. I particularly loved getting into my mother's jewelry and putting in on myself.  My mother says she wishes she had more pictures of me and my shenanigans. I was an otherwise easy baby though. 

My parents weren't the type to make anything a huge deal like they do on TV. Turning 16 wasn't treated like one of the biggest events of your life. TV and movies in general really make the teen years look a lot more fun and in some ways adult than they are IRL. I've never met an emancipated minor who had the looks and maturity of Dylan McKay. I haven't watched high school shows in many years. Do they still cast a lot of actors well into their 20s?

Edited October 17, 2021 by RealHousewife

[DrSpaceman73]

1 hour ago, RealHousewife said:

I was the baby who got into everything. I particularly loved getting into my mother's jewelry and putting in on myself.  My mother says she wishes she had more pictures of me and my shenanigans. I was an otherwise easy baby though. 

My parents weren't the type to make anything a huge deal like they do on TV. Turning 16 wasn't treated like one of the biggest events of your life. TV and movies in general really make the teen years look a lot more fun and in some ways adult than they are IRL. I've never met an emancipated minor who had the looks and maturity of Dylan McKay. I haven't watched high school shows in many years. Do they still cast a lot of actors well into their 20s?

I never watched many episodes but freaks and geeks was probably the most realistic high school tv show. 

My wife got an umbrella for her 16th birthday.  Not at all like on tv. 

[AgathaC]

I was the first baby and grand baby so apparently there was a lot of attention on my “firsts.” There’s home movie footage of my parents and grandparents using a doll to lure me into walking — without success. Apparently, as soon as my dad stopped filming, I actually did it. Somehow I survived to be a functional adult despite not having such a milestone documented. (Thank goodness my parents had more kids because from what I’ve seen and heard, I would have ended up a spoiled twit or a basket case with all those adults hovering over every move.)

As for the morning routine, I remember Gilmore Girls being particularly bad. Her school was a 30- or 45-minute drive away, yet unless running late was a plot point, Rory and Lorelei had time for a leisurely breakfast at the cafe with bright sunlight and a bustling street behind them. Whatever.

[DearEvette]

1 hour ago, RealHousewife said:

I've never met an emancipated minor who had the looks and maturity of Dylan McKay. I haven't watched high school shows in many years. Do they still cast a lot of actors well into their 20s?

They have gotten a teensy bit better but I think they still cast older becauae of child labor laws.  There is one youtube reviewer who call these "those shows with geriatric teens"  and I LOL my ass off. 

I will confess that I had a big Sweet 16 birthday party.  But in all fairness, I have eleventy- billion first cousins so most of my party goers are my cousins and we have always been each others birthday party guests throughout our entire lives.  I am the oldest girl in my generation too, so there was that.

[Danielg342]

First step...first words. In theory, they could happen when the parents aren't in the room with the baby (such as when the baby is in the crib at night), so the parents can't know for sure when those milestone events actually happened. They can talk about when they first observed the milestones but that's about it.

(Unless they have a camera on the baby 24/7...which would be weird...)

As for parents missing the milestones...they're unpredictable, so I don't see why TV makes missing those events such a colossal mistake by the absent parent. I would assume it would be understandable if one parent missed that event. Missing your kid's recital...considering that's usually a scheduled event, that would be a bigger deal.

6 hours ago, DearEvette said:

They have gotten a teensy bit better but I think they still cast older becauae of child labor laws.

Several other things are at play there too. Most importantly, child porn laws are notoriously messy- even though laws make exceptions for artistic depictions, what's considered "art" can be open to interpretation so all it takes is one prosecutor who disagrees with the production company on what is "art" and you've got a mess.

Even when you don't have litigators to deal with, using actual teens can be risky. Hounddog, from 2007, received quite a bit of criticism for casting then 13-year-old Dakota Fanning for a character who got raped. Even though during the actual scene all you see is Fanning's face and her reactions to what was going on, the scene still generated quite a bit of controversy because of Fanning's age.

So it makes sense why Hollywood prefers casting actors and actresses who are 18+ for teen roles that explore adult themes, simply because the headaches with using actual teens for those roles would be too great. Think about- could 13 Reasons Why get away with its story if its two principal actors were younger than Katherine Langford (19) and Justin Prentice (23) at the time of production?

To go further, as a writer myself, even though in my world I have places where no one would bat an eye at teens having sex or drinking, because of the laws in this world, if I'm going to have a scene where a character does "adult" things, I'm going to make sure the character is at least 18. It's just not worth the hassle otherwise.

In a perfect world for creators like me- because I'm certain in 2021 the vast majority of people are at least aware that teens engage in "adult" activities all the time- we could use actual teens in "adult" situations since it's not unrealistic. However, there are probably too many within the prospective audience who would be uneasy watching such scenes, not to mention navigating the complicated legal issues surrounding things like child porn and child labour laws.

So I tend to give producers a pass for using young adults for teens. Until attitudes change and people become more accepting of seeing an actual 15-year-old drinking a beer on TV, we're probably stuck with "Dawson Casting" for quite some time yet.

[SVNBob]

33 minutes ago, Danielg342 said:

First step...first words. In theory, they could happen when the parents aren't in the room with the baby (such as when the baby is in the crib at night), so the parents can't know for sure when those milestone events actually happened. They can talk about when they first observed the milestones but that's about it.

Precisely.  I've seen a number of anecdotes on Reddit and elsewhere on the 'net from daycare workers and nannies that say they specifically don't tell parents if a baby starts walking or talking while the child is under their care.  They then act surprised when it happens soon after the parents come back, as if that moment was the first step or word, and that the parents got there "just in time" to witness said first.

[Bastet]

54 minutes ago, Danielg342 said:

They can talk about when they first observed the milestones but that's about it.

Which is why I don't get all the "I missed it" blubbering when a parent isn't present the first time a baby does something; the first time each parent sees it happen is still the first time they experience it, so who cares if someone else had that experience first?

Unless they look 40, I don't care about casting adults as teenagers; acting, like any skill, improves with experience, so I'd rather have someone older and better than someone who isn't as good but happens to be the right age.

[RealHousewife]

1 hour ago, Bastet said:

Which is why I don't get all the "I missed it" blubbering when a parent isn't present the first time a baby does something; the first time each parent sees it happen is still the first time they experience it, so who cares if someone else had that experience first?

Unless they look 40, I don't care about casting adults as teenagers; acting, like any skill, improves with experience, so I'd rather have someone older and better than someone who isn't as good but happens to be the right age.

True! Beverly Hills 90210 is an amazing show. 

[merylinkid]

4 hours ago, Bastet said:

Which is why I don't get all the "I missed it" blubbering when a parent isn't present the first time a baby does something; the first time each parent sees it happen is still the first time they experience it, so who cares if someone else had that experience first?

It's not the like kid remembers who was there and who wasn't for something like that.   It has zero zilch effect on the kid whether the parensts see the first step or hear the first word or not.   

[Shannon L.]

7 hours ago, SVNBob said:

Precisely.  I've seen a number of anecdotes on Reddit and elsewhere on the 'net from daycare workers and nannies that say they specifically don't tell parents if a baby starts walking or talking while the child is under their care.  They then act surprised when it happens soon after the parents come back, as if that moment was the first step or word, and that the parents got there "just in time" to witness said first.

My mom took care of children and most of them came to her between 6 and 10 weeks and she never told the parents of any firsts, just in case they were the types to get upset that they missed it.  I might have been a little sorry not to have seen a first, but I don't think I'd have been too upset.  But then again, I wasn't the type who cried all day on my first day back from maternity leave either.

[Ohiopirate02]

I think the whole concept of parents on TV getting upset they missed a baby milestone goes to how TV writers show the audience a character is a "good" parent.  In TV, a "good" parent is present for all of these moments, and a "bad" parent is one who misses them.  So if a character is supposed to be a "good" parent, they must freak out at missing xyz.  If they didn't, how would the audience know they are "good."

[Blergh]

OTOH, on TV when grown folks hold over their parents' head having missed childhood milestones despite parents having circumstances beyond  their control, it leads the audience to think that the grown folks have nursed wounds instead of attempting to understand the  circumstances. 

One time on the Golden Girls, Dorothy wailed about how her late father didn't visit her in the hospital as a child when she had (I think) her tonsils out and dismissed his excuse of having had to work even decades later when Sophia said he DID have to work so they could pay that hospital bill ( insurance was somewhat out of reach for most Depression working class folks). Even with Sophia's plea, Dorothy still held onto her grudge against Salvatore for this by saying 'All I know is that  I NEVER got over it'. How I wish Sophia had replied 'You've never gotten over ANYthing!'