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

[Danielg342]

3 hours ago, possibilities said:

They probably think green grass is more visually appealing, also. And, it is. But if you live with winter seasons IRL, it kind of distracts from the suspension of disbelief.

Ah, yes, the whole "atmosphere" thing. Yeah, green grass is more appealing than dried up, "browned" grass, but I've seen enough photos- as well as seen similar scenes in person- to know that even a wintry look can look very idyllic if you try.

[GaT]

On 12/15/2022 at 11:25 AM, andromeda331 said:

The grass discussion made me think of how our grass is almost always dried out and looks terrible because we're in a years long drought and water restrictions. A lot of yards look the same or worse for the same reason but on TV the grass always looks great. Any show set in the western part of the country should look like crap (I don't know if the other half of the country has the same problem). 

Did you ever watch "The Walking Dead" or any of the spinoffs? The world has been taken over by  mindless zombies, yet all the lawns are pristine. Who is mowing all those lawns?

[Zella]

16 minutes ago, GaT said:

Did you ever watch "The Walking Dead" or any of the spinoffs? The world has been taken over by  mindless zombies, yet all the lawns are pristine. Who is mowing all those lawns?

My dad and stepmom quit watching the show over that. 😂 My breaking point was Daryl's grungy hair that still seemed styled. 

Edited December 17, 2022 by Zella

[Katy M]

22 hours ago, GaT said:

Did you ever watch "The Walking Dead" or any of the spinoffs? The world has been taken over by  mindless zombies, yet all the lawns are pristine. Who is mowing all those lawns?

Everybody knows that when zombies can't get enough brains they basically turn into goats.

[Lugal]

On 12/14/2022 at 10:01 PM, Moose135 said:

On 12/14/2022 at 8:57 PM, Shannon L. said:

Everyone is susceptible to hypnosis and can be hypnotized inside a minute or two.

And be made to do wildly inappropriate or illegal actions.

And once they've been snapped out of it, they can go on with life just like before with no concern that they may be a security risk or possibly still dangerous.

[possibilities]

People on TV go to your house instead of calling or texting or emailing you, whenever they have a message to relay.

[juno]

1 minute ago, possibilities said:

People on TV go to your house instead of calling or texting or emailing you, whenever they have a message to relay.

... and you are always at home and dressed, with shoes on of course.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

4 hours ago, juno said:

... and you are always at home and dressed, with shoes on of course.

which is good, since they'll probably walk in without knocking.

[merylinkid]

14 hours ago, Lugal said:

And once they've been snapped out of it, they can go on with life just like before with no concern that they may be a security risk or possibly still dangerous.

Even though they can be put back into a trance immediately by someone snapping their fingers or saying a key word.   Then brought back out by the same method.  

[Bastet]

16 hours ago, possibilities said:

People on TV go to your house instead of calling or texting or emailing you, whenever they have a message to relay.

Years ago, Jerry Seinfeld was asked what Seinfeld would look like if they made episodes "today", and he said the whole show would go into the toilet with one episode, because there would be no reason for Kramer, George, or Elaine to drop by Jerry's apartment; even a "show about nothing" can't be four people in a group text all day long.

[DoctorAtomic]

I don't know about that. My friend would always just show up and there was texting. 

[BlueSkies]

Anyone recall in Saved By the Bell how Zack Morris somehow was able to call timeout and the whole world froze? 

[proserpina65]

On 5/30/2022 at 10:45 AM, smittykins said:

I still call my mom on the phone, because she rarely has her cell on(only if she’d away from the house).  She refuses to learn how to text, and she hates her smartphone(Tracfone made her switch from a flip phone several years ago).

Do we have the same mother?  I tried getting her a Tracfone smartphone but she couldn't use it no matter how many times I and my nephew both explained things.  So I had to go back and get her their most basic non-smart phone.  Still, I never call her on it if I know she's home.

On 12/17/2022 at 4:40 PM, GaT said:

Did you ever watch "The Walking Dead" or any of the spinoffs? The world has been taken over by  mindless zombies, yet all the lawns are pristine. Who is mowing all those lawns?

I guess zombies have their uses?

[DoctorAtomic]

13 hours ago, BlueSkies said:

Anyone recall in Saved By the Bell how Zack Morris somehow was able to call timeout and the whole world froze? 

That was early on. He'd talk to the camera. I think it was dropped by the time of 'I'm so scared'. 

[SVNBob]

On 12/21/2022 at 10:44 AM, DoctorAtomic said:

I think it was dropped by the time of 'I'm so scared'. 

Nope.  That happened in season 2 and the Time Outs continued at least into season 4 with Tori.

[Danielg342]

On 12/19/2022 at 3:28 PM, Bastet said:

Years ago, Jerry Seinfeld was asked what Seinfeld would look like if they made episodes "today", and he said the whole show would go into the toilet with one episode, because there would be no reason for Kramer, George, or Elaine to drop by Jerry's apartment; even a "show about nothing" can't be four people in a group text all day long.

Perhaps since nowadays no one bats an eye over the fact that there are people who live together who aren't family or in a romantic relationship, Seinfeld could be reconceived as four roommates who share a modestly sized apartment or a house. Since they're in the same place they'd have a reason for interacting in person as often as they did, plus, arguably, four people sharing an apartment or a house would be realistic for New York City and get around the annoying questions about how the characters could afford the apartment all by themselves.

You could start the series with the four people not knowing each other with the friendship developing as the series progressed. It would make for easy character progression that would be relatable too. This would allow you to make a Seinfeld that is more serial than the original.

Or, you could keep Seinfeld's original premise and start the show with the four of them already friends. You'd keep the original's formula by being strictly episodic, and the four could still get on each other's nerves because living with others is never a picnic, no matter how well you know you roommates.

Thinking about it, a comedy like this should be something Hollywood should explore. A lot of us are struggling with high housing prices, especially in the cities, and there are many housing units where multiple strangers share the living space. A nod to that segment of the population is long overdue, and maybe a Seinfeld reboot could the catalyst for such a show.

[Anduin]

Doctors have bad handwriting. I thought of this yesterday, when looking at my name written on a present tag. The J was backwards, among other things. And I decided to blame my MD cousin, rather than her 7 year old son. She took it in good spirits. :)

[Shannon L.]

Ledges on buildings are always nice and clean--not a drop of bird s***t anywhere.

[Bastet]

4 hours ago, Shannon L. said:

Ledges on buildings are always nice and clean--not a drop of bird s***t anywhere.

Major Crimes having so very many little moments of realism is one of the reasons it's an exception to my hatred of cop shows (the fact the division is run by a former IA captain who makes her detectives abide by the law is the big one, but there are others), and this reminds me of one of those moments:  At a crime scene, with a body in the alley below a parking garage where the victim's car is parked several stories up, Provenza leans over the garage railing to look at the body, placing his hands on the metal as he leans.  In the take that airs, he grumbles and wipes his hands, which is good enough, but in an outtake, he yanks his hands back up and huffs, "My hands are in bird shit!"  (Which they could have left in, as it was on TNT.)

[Blergh]

9 hours ago, Shannon L. said:

Ledges on buildings are always nice and clean--not a drop of bird s***t anywhere.

Somewhat like what happened in one Lucy Show episode in which the title character dropped a valuable penny down a storm drain, which got her to jump down into said drain to vainly try to find said penny then emerging  from  a manhole cover in the middle of the sidewalk! The entire time she was in the drainage/sewer system, Lucy Carmichael never got the least bit dirty or damp! LOL

[janie jones]

On 12/26/2022 at 4:40 AM, Anduin said:

Doctors have bad handwriting. I thought of this yesterday, when looking at my name written on a present tag. The J was backwards, among other things. And I decided to blame my MD cousin, rather than her 7 year old son. She took it in good spirits. :)

I have a friend who has always had terrible handwriting. When he decided to become a doctor I thought that sounded about right.

[Bethany]

Just now, janie jones said:

I have a friend who has always had terrible handwriting. When he decided to become a doctor I thought that sounded about right.

The daughter of one of my cousin's is a doctor and she jokes that they had a special class at med school in doctor handwriting!

[Mabinogia]

3 hours ago, janie jones said:

I have a friend who has always had terrible handwriting. When he decided to become a doctor I thought that sounded about right.

He clearly had no choice, his profession was chosen for him by his handwriting. 

 

3 hours ago, Elizabeth Anne said:

The daughter of one of my cousin's is a doctor and she jokes that they had a special class at med school in doctor handwriting!

I would do fine with the class where they dissect animals, I'd ace the visit to the morgue but I would fail doctor handwriting. I just love beautiful penmanship too much. I couldn't do badly on purpose. It is truly a dying art. 

[Anduin]

19 minutes ago, Mabinogia said:

I would fail doctor handwriting. I just love beautiful penmanship too much. I couldn't do badly on purpose. It is truly a dying art. 

Maybe I should have become a doctor. My handwriting is an ugly scrawl built for speed, not style. Shame about my medical knowledge, but you can't have everything.

[possibilities]

On TV, everybody you work with and all your extended relatives will gather in the hospital waiting room if you are admitted for some emergency or other.

[Egg McMuffin]

On TV, all your relatives gather at your lawyer’s office to hear him read your will after your die.

[andromeda331]

Every few people on TV work at jobs they hate. Most work in their dream jobs or careers as doctors, lawyers, CSI, etc.

[Bastet]

14 hours ago, Egg McMuffin said:

On TV, all your relatives gather at your lawyer’s office to hear him read your will after your die.

I have known more than one person - and these are not morons - stunned to learn you just get a letter.  There used to sometimes be group readings of a will, way back when literacy rates were very low, mail service was exceedingly costly and unreliable, and heirs were generally all right there in town, but it's a custom that wasn't A Thing in America even when movies and, especially, television began.  Yet writers cling to it today.

1 hour ago, andromeda331 said:

Every few people on TV work at jobs they hate. Most work in their dream jobs or careers as doctors, lawyers, CSI, etc.

And they're at the top of their profession at 28.  Here again I cite Major Crimes as a refreshing instance of realism -- the captain/commander of the division was in her 60s, as was her incident commander lieutenant.  Most of the other detectives were in their 50s and 60s; only the newbies were in their 30s, and there weren't many of those -- it properly reflected that, to be appointed to the most elite division, you needed the proven expertise that only comes with experience, and leadership positions require even more.

Edited December 28, 2022 by Bastet

[DoctorAtomic]

There was a joke on Curb, where Larry was dating a Doctor. She left him a note after one of their dates, and it was completely illegible. Jeff suggested to take it to a pharmacist to read, and it worked. 

[Mabinogia]

16 hours ago, Egg McMuffin said:

On TV, all your relatives gather at your lawyer’s office to hear him read your will after your die.

I kind of want to force my relatives to gather for the reading of my will only to find out that I have nothing and the most any of them are getting is my boxed set of Doctor Who videos and a stuffed otter (not taxidermy stuffed like I'm some kind of eccentric hunter, just a stuffed animal that is an otter). 

 

1 hour ago, Bastet said:

And they're at the top of their profession at 28. 

Well naturally, because everyone on TV went to either Harvard or Yale or some other super hard to get into, elite school... unless they're victims of a crime in which case they went to Hudson University. 

Speaking of school, you either are a lazy and/or dumb rich kid who gets handed a spot at an Ivy League college or a poor, hard-working genius who gets the target on their back known as a Scholarship (dun dun dun) and while they are working two jobs and having to keep up their 4.0 GPA still manage to have time to spend hours chatting with friends at the local $10 a cup coffee shop and wear the latest fashions. 

I wish I went to school on a TV show. Stupid reality. 

[Bethany]

24 minutes ago, Mabinogia said:

Speaking of school, you either are a lazy and/or dumb rich kid who gets handed a spot at an Ivy League college or a poor, hard-working genius who gets the target on their back known as a Scholarship

My favourite here are the ones who spent high school doing anything but actually studying, or even attending class - and yet miraculously at the 11th hour they have a come to jesus moment pull out all the stops and end up class valedictorian!  Ok well maybe not quite that extreme but they do usually end up going to the college of their choice because they aced their finals.  Not fake at all.

[Bastet]

I love the stories where someone has been obsessed since preschool with getting into a certain prestigious school, does all the extracurriculars and gets the grades for 12 years, is admitted -- and then decides to go to the local state school with all their friends instead. 

I get it, just like more TV kids than real-life kids live at home during college/move back in after college, because the writers want to keep things the same.  But they never bother to come up with a good reason the character turns down their life-long dream.  

[Mabinogia]

45 minutes ago, Bastet said:

I love the stories where someone has been obsessed since preschool with getting into a certain prestigious school, does all the extracurriculars and gets the grades for 12 years, is admitted -- and then decides to go to the local state school with all their friends instead. 

Call me disloyal but if I get a full ride to my dream school I'm leaving all my friends and family in the dust and hopping the first plane outta there! But seriously, if these so called friends and family really cared about you they'd force you to go to your dream school instead of the local generic school just so you all could hang out together. At least on Blackish they let the daughter go to college away from home. They just went ahead and made a spinoff, so it was a win for them too. lol 

I think out of my senior class maybe a couple ended up at the same school. I was about to say I went to the same college as one of my classmates and we never saw each other on campus, but then I realized at the last minute she went to a different school, which would explain why I never saw her. lol

Why is it I can remember the lyrics to a song I haven't heard in 20 years but I can't remember actual life events that happened to me? Trick question. There is no answer. My mind is just a vast wasteland of random knowledge.

[DearEvette]

2 hours ago, Bastet said:

I love the stories where someone has been obsessed since preschool with getting into a certain prestigious school, does all the extracurriculars and gets the grades for 12 years, is admitted -- and then decides to go to the local state school with all their friends instead. 

On Gilmore Girls, not only did Rory's/Lorelei's quest for Rory to go the Harvard since she was 3 years old end up with her going to the very more local Yale (supposedly only like 20 miles from Stars Hollow) but her frenemy Paris is (surprise!) her roommate. 

I went to the same University  as 3 of my good HS friends and we even requested to live with each other but we did not get assigned to room together and ended up living with other people and since we weren't in the same majors and our school was BIG we rarely saw each other and one of them transferred to a smaller school after freshman year.

[andromeda331]

8 hours ago, Mabinogia said:

Call me disloyal but if I get a full ride to my dream school I'm leaving all my friends and family in the dust and hopping the first plane outta there! But seriously, if these so called friends and family really cared about you they'd force you to go to your dream school instead of the local generic school just so you all could hang out together. At least on Blackish they let the daughter go to college away from home. They just went ahead and made a spinoff, so it was a win for them too. lol 

I think out of my senior class maybe a couple ended up at the same school. I was about to say I went to the same college as one of my classmates and we never saw each other on campus, but then I realized at the last minute she went to a different school, which would explain why I never saw her. lol

Why is it I can remember the lyrics to a song I haven't heard in 20 years but I can't remember actual life events that happened to me? Trick question. There is no answer. My mind is just a vast wasteland of random knowledge.

That's not disloyaled. If you get into your dream school you should go. Your family and friends should be happy for you. Yeah, it stinks that friends are going to go the separate way after graduating high school and a little sad they won't be hanging out together anymore and it's probably for good. But each are doing what's best for their own future. 

It reminds in so many Hallmark movies that parents', childhood friends and old boyfriends are still mad that the woman left for college and living away from home and/or always trying to get the heroine to move back home. As if going away for college and building a life anywhere else is such a rare, shocking thing to do. They are also never proud of the life that she build or even just happy that she's happy with her life and career.

Edited December 29, 2022 by andromeda331

[Danielg342]

13 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

Every few people on TV work at jobs they hate. Most work in their dream jobs or careers as doctors, lawyers, CSI, etc.

I have wondered about this. Unless it's a comedy (where hating your job is a great source of humour), everyone in a drama isn't just super-excellent at their jobs, they're also deeply passionate about it and care about "doing it right" (at least the main characters are). It's completely unrealistic and very much a well-worn trope at this stage, but Hollywood shows no signs of abating the practice and I don't know why.

My guess is that producers are afraid that audiences won't take the characters seriously if the characters themselves don't take their jobs seriously. In a comedy, "Benny hates his job" makes him sympathetic because the focus is on having the audience relate to the idea that Benny hates his job. In a drama, where the focus is on how well Benny does his job, it doesn't evoke a lot of sympathy if Benny hates his job- i.e., "if he doesn't care, why should I?"

Also, since a drama is centred around a challenge in the job, it's not satisfying if the characters failed because they simply didn't care to do a good enough job. How believable can a challenge be if you are not seeing the characters struggle through it? Suddenly the criminal mastermind or the exotic disease doesn't appear so threatening, because they didn't have to put in their best effort to beat the heroes.

Yeah, it's not realistic- but how satisfying a story would that be? It's like watching a football team destroy its opponent 55-0. It's just not fun (unless you're rooting for the team running up the score).

Maybe there's also an "escapism" aspect of it too. Lots of aspects of the Hollywood world are idealistic- unless it's part of a plot, Hollywood depicts  a world where people of different identities mix together and collaborate without a moment's thought, the weather and the elements hardly ever play a factor and no one ever seems to have money issues. Perhaps a world where everyone is passionate about their jobs that they love very dearly is another aspect of it.

I mean, I know I would have loved to have worked in a place where everyone- or at least most people- actually cared. Things would actually get done and I'd have support. That's just me, though.

[DoctorAtomic]

10 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

As if going away for college and building a life anywhere else is such a rare, shocking thing to do.

I wouldn't say it's rare, but I also don't think it's that common. 90%, conservatively of my HS are still living in town or close by. That's why there's so many moves about it. No one is resentful, and, if they are, then look at your own choices. Even undergrad, most in my circle are still within the region. People just don't move or push themselves, imo, to do more from my pov. 

Which leads to - 

6 hours ago, Danielg342 said:

I mean, I know I would have loved to have worked in a place where everyone- or at least most people- actually cared. Things would actually get done and I'd have support. That's just me, though.

I don't care if they don't really care per se, but the lack of motivation to get something done *properly* is a huge problem. I can see that if you don't care much, then motivation just isn't going to be there. You'd think you'd just want to get your work done instead of me asking every hour or so where you are on the tasks. The malaise can be really systemic throughout an organization.

[Bethany]

12 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

They are also never proud of the life that she build or even just happy that she's happy with her life and career.

This is partly because in a Hallmark the heroine really is just waiting to have her blinded by her city job eyes opened and everyone in her small town knows this.  Maddening!

 

Edited December 29, 2022 by Elizabeth Anne

[DoctorAtomic]

The Simpsons killed this trope last year in a great episode. 

It's a real life trope that's dripped into popular culture. What politician hasn't said something along the lines of 'small town values' over the last 50 billion years? Or 'Main Street' something? If everyone apparently lives in a small town, then are they really that small?

[GaT]

17 hours ago, Mabinogia said:

At least on Blackish they let the daughter go to college away from home. They just went ahead and made a spinoff, so it was a win for them too. lol 

The Cosby Show did this many years ago, when they spun-off Denise going to college on A Different World.

[possibilities]

I have no actual data to back this up, but I feel like there used to be more spin-off shows in general, and nowadays it's very rarely even tried.

[DoctorAtomic]

It's easier to cash in on the nostalgia factor with a reboot over creating original material with a spinoff.

[Danielg342]

2 hours ago, possibilities said:

I have no actual data to back this up, but I feel like there used to be more spin-off shows in general, and nowadays it's very rarely even tried.

If you look at the top rated shows from 1988 against the list that we have now, you'll see that the top rated shows of today wouldn't sniff the charts of yesteryear.

Whether or not shows of today are underperforming is debatable, given we have far more viewing options at home than we did in 1988. However, a lot of TV execs were around in TV's higher rated years, so maybe they just don't see today's TV programs as "sure things" anymore, considering the lower profit margins they're generating.

So from that vantage point, it sounds smarter to revive a TV show from yesteryear that had a 20 million plus viewership than to spin off a show from today that has barely half or even a quarter of that number. I'm not sure it is, but the numbers do make a great case.

[DearEvette]

4 hours ago, possibilities said:

I have no actual data to back this up, but I feel like there used to be more spin-off shows in general, and nowadays it's very rarely even tried.

Hmm... I dunno.  I guess it depends on your definition of spin off.

If it is the case where you take one character from one show and create a different show around them... then we get a fair amount of those but not as maybe not many in the past, I think

For these I am thinking shows like, Grown-ish, Better Call Saul, All American Homecoming, Legacies, Legends of Tomorrow, The Good Fight, Station 19 etc.

But if we expand it to also include different shows that share the same universe/setting then that would blow up because of all the different versions of Law & Orders, CSI, Chicago-whatevers, FBIs and the rest of the Arrowverse.

[DrSpaceman73]

House of dragon spinoff. 

Most of the superhero shows have some type of crossover at least. 

Family guy spun off Cleveland. 

But reboots do seem to be the more common trend.   But it will die out I expect in a few years. 

[Blergh]

1 hour ago, DrSpaceman73 said:

. 

But reboots do seem to be the more common trend.   But it will die out I expect in a few years. 

 

True, it can't be too long before shows run out of things TO reboot/remake,etc. How many copies of copies of copies will viewers tolerate?

That's the key!

[BlueSkies]

On 12/28/2022 at 2:02 PM, andromeda331 said:

Every few people on TV work at jobs they hate. Most work in their dream jobs or careers as doctors, lawyers, CSI, etc.

seemingly makes Mr. Bundy all the more funnier lol 

[BlueSkies]

I know this isn't something people irl talk about as well but Al Bundy and Archie Bunker were the only characters I can recall making use of a toilet on the show.  Or speaking about having to go to the bathroom 

[Zella]

2 hours ago, DrSpaceman73 said:

House of dragon spinoff. 

Most of the superhero shows have some type of crossover at least. 

Family guy spun off Cleveland. 

But reboots do seem to be the more common trend.   But it will die out I expect in a few years. 

And Yellowstone has apparently generated 2 spinoffs. 

[possibilities]

Barney Miller had a lot of people using their bathroom. It was a near constant in the show.

Also, I just watched an old episode of WKRP in Cincinnati, where one of the DJs excused himself to use the bathroom.

But in general, I agree that TV leaves that part of life out.