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

[ParadoxLost]

Do people go to bed with their watches on?

 

It can't be that unusual since they decided to make most activity trackers, almost all of which have a sleep tracker, watch- like.

[ganesh]

Tv shows showed people with regular watches going to bed a long time before the tech caught up. I wonder how many people sleep with regular watches on. 

[paulvdb]

Is that supposed to be unusual? I always go to bed wearing my watch. I only take it off in the shower.

[janie jones]

Maybe it depends on the watch?  I have a super-bulky one now, but I'm pretty sure I wore my old one to bed and also only took it off in the shower.

[ParadoxLost]

Tv shows showed people with regular watches going to bed a long time before the tech caught up. I wonder how many people sleep with regular watches on. 

 

Of what I can recall, most of the time the person sleeping/waking up with a watch on is hung over or had a guest over.  I always took the watch as not getting fully undressed before passing out or being preoccupied with other things that a watch doesn't interfere with.

[ChromaKelly]

Backtracking to hair - I can't stand it when women (for that matter, men with long hair too) have their hair down while working in a lab, restaurant, hospital, etc. Drives me crazy! I want to hand them all a hair elastic.

[ganesh]

If anyone is into bdsm on tv, they end up dead. 

[ganesh]

If you're in a hospital, police station, or other stressful venue, you will go to the vending machine to get a snack or whatever. Your prize will get stuck and you will beat up the vending machine until someone comes over and gets the snack for you as a prelude to A Meaningful Conversation. 

[juno]

When a character likes (love) another character no matter who they meet or how awesome they are they are not allowed to have any relationship, or if they do it will be doomed until the shippy (did I just make up this word?) comes along. See Everwood, West Wing, The Flash. On TWW, Josh was so much more compatible with Amy but had to have Donna.

Edited June 15, 2015 by juno

[ganesh]

On tv, if you're driving in your car with the radio on, when you get to your destination, you will shut the car off immediately and the radio will cut out because you couldn't be bothered to take the extra second to shut it off first.

[merylinkid]

Ummm, isn't that what you do?    I mean why turn off the radio when turning off the car also turns off the radio.   And turning on the car also turns on the radio.   It's not the time so much as why not?

[ganesh]

Because you might short out the system that's why not. It's the same as turning off the lights. You park the car, turn off the fan, ac, lights, roll up the windows, etc. You start the car in the morning and the radio automatically blares on? I highly doubt that. I've never been in a car where the radio was on and we parked and just shut off and got out. That's just not taking care of your vehicle. 

 

It's a tv trope when people are driving somewhere alone and the radio is playing The Meaningful Song. Then they roll up to Important Place and immediately shut off the car and get out to Face What's Coming. 

[shapeshifter]

...You park the car, turn off the fan, ac, lights, roll up the windows, etc. You start the car in the morning and the radio automatically blares on? I highly doubt that...

I almost always do that. I have a 2009 Toyota, the first car I ever bought new. It still has the original battery. Sometimes in sub-zero (Fahrenheit) weather, it has trouble starting.

[Rick Kitchen]

I have never, ever in my life turned off the car radio.  Why?  Let it come on when I turn on the engine.

[DittyDotDot]

I don't think I've ever witnessed a person turning off their radio before they turn off the car.

 

ETA: I have my lights set on automatic.

Edited June 17, 2015 by DittyDotDot

[ganesh]

I answered why already. 

Also this.

 

I almost always do that. I have a 2009 Toyota, the first car I ever bought new. It still has the original battery. Sometimes in sub-zero (Fahrenheit) weather, it has trouble starting.

 

My friend had a 1999 Civic and replaced the battery once. He had it till 2014. I didn't think this was so incomprehensible. I thought it was a tv thing.  That's just poor car ownership. 

 

Although, to be fair, I know most cars shut the lights off automatically. The principle is the same. 

 

I mean, it's not me. I was noting a trope.

 

http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2013/0710/7-tips-to-make-your-car-last-and-increase-its-resale-value/Turn-off-accessories-before-start-up

[Popples]

Because you might short out the system that's why not. It's the same as turning off the lights. You park the car, turn off the fan, ac, lights, roll up the windows, etc. You start the car in the morning and the radio automatically blares on? I highly doubt that. I've never been in a car where the radio was on and we parked and just shut off and got out. That's just not taking care of your vehicle. 

 

Yes, there have been a few occasions where I've started the car the next day only to have the radio scream at me because the previous driver hasn't turned the volume down. I don't think I know anyone who actually turns their car radios off. Turned the sound down, sure, but not completely off. My step-father is a mechanic and he hasn't said anything about the radio being on or off has anything to do with vehicle maintenance because the radio goes off with the engine. It won't eat the battery like the leaving the lights on will.

[DittyDotDot]

I didn't think this was so incomprehensible. I thought it was a tv thing.  That's just poor car ownership.

 

I don't think it's incomprehensible, I've just never seen anyone actually do it.

[Raja]

I have never, ever in my life turned off the car radio. Why? Let it come on when I turn on the engine.

The only time that I worried about it was in the Army.The procedure was to cut thr radios announce fire in the hole like engineers do when firing explosives and then the driver would hit the starter.

In cars made this century electricity stays on powering the radios for ten minutes after turning the car off or until a door opens.

[ganesh]

I'm stunned at so many people who don't turn off their radios. 

[shapeshifter]

Now I am sad that Click and Clack are not around anymore to settle this issue.

[Kromm]

It's leaked into the real world too much, so maybe it's not TECHNICALLY "only on TV" anymore, but I've been thinking about how on TV, whenever a show visits Las Vegas, there's ALWAYS someone who blurts out either "Vegas, Baby!" and/or "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas".  Like EVERY TIME there's going to be a character that says this. Maybe that's the "Only on TV" aspect.  In real life someone blurting either of those things out would probably come off like a jackass.  In TVLand, it's pretty much EXPECTED someone will say them.

[Sandman87]

It's leaked into the real world too much, so maybe it's not TECHNICALLY "only on TV" anymore, but I've been thinking about how on TV, whenever a show visits Las Vegas, there's ALWAYS someone who blurts out either "Vegas, Baby!" and/or "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas".  Like EVERY TIME there's going to be a character that says this. Maybe that's the "Only on TV" aspect.  In real life someone blurting either of those things out would probably come off like a jackass.  In TVLand, it's pretty much EXPECTED someone will say them.

You left one out: "...or as I like to call it, 'Lost Wages!'" I have never that particular phrase in real life, yet it crops up fairly frequently on TV. Maybe the problem is that I don't associate with the kind of dipshits who might say that sort of thing.

[Moose135]

I don't remember the last time I turned off the radio in a car I drove - in fact, in my new car, there isn't an "off" switch for the radio.  You can turn the volume all the way down, but it's part of an integrated system, with no way to turn it off entirely.

[lucindabelle]

Does any woman take off a single earring while talking on the phone, or do they only do that on soap operas?

 

Goodness yes. I am a journalist and often typing while talking on the phone and it is very uncomfortable cradling the phone if I have big earrings on. So yes I do that every day,

 

Thanks! It has been 17 years. ;) I figured out fairly quickly that real life in Canada and the US is not like TV and never tried just throwing money on a table and leave.

  

I have never actually see anyone peel off a few bills from a wad of money and throw it on the table, but back in the day before cards when paying with cash was more common, getting the bill and leaving the money on the table (if you didn't need change), either in the little folder thing, or under a glass was a lot more common I think.

 

In ny: nj at diners and many restaurants it's perfectly acceptable if paying with cash and don't need change. Usually you'd put it in the envelope not throw it on the table but I've definitelybleft bills on the table in casual places. Once the bill has come of course. If I were in a hurry to catch a ghost or murderer and knew what I'd ordered I might not wait for the bill,

 

Maybe I, my mother, sisters, and girlfriends are odd, but only on tv have I ever seen women routinely put their hair up before bed. In my world, you put your hair up to clean, exercise, wash your face, whoop ass, or take some time to get it looking professional/fancy. You don't bother with a bun or a braid, no matter how sloppy, not to mention having your clip/elastic poking you while you sleep.

  

Do people go to bed with their watches on?

When I had waist length hair I hd to braid it every night if I didn't want it to be a tangled mess in the morning" Victorian women did this too for the same reason.

Also I often wear my watch to bed, it's an automatic and relies on my body to stay in time. And if I take it off good chance I'll forget to out it on in the morning,

[Raja]

Only on T.V. can a man be both a Vietnam war veteran and a FBI agent in 2015 when they have a retirement age. Presidents Johnson and Nixon didn't send the little drummer boy to Nam did they?

[Kromm]

Only on T.V. can a man be both a Vietnam war veteran and a FBI agent in 2015 when they have a retirement age. Presidents Johnson and Nixon didn't send the little drummer boy to Nam did they?

Do they really do this anymore?  Seems to me it's always "Gulf War vet" now when they need that go-to "past war trauma" cliché.

[Bastet]

It's the same as turning off the lights.

 

No, it's not -- if you're talking about not turning the lights off when you shut the engine off (as opposed to leaving them set on Auto so that, if appropriate, they'll come on when you start the car again rather than you turning them on yourself afterward), they stay on and thus run down the battery until I start it up again.  If I leave the radio on - which I have done my entire driving life - it remains on for the fraction of a second between when my ignition shifts from on to off and doesn't come on again until I start the car up again.

 

At any rate, standard car audio systems don't draw much power.  It's why you can sit there with the engine off but radio on for quite a while and not cause problems; the tiny time in between off and start, and start and off, is practically nothing (thank you, capacitor).

 

If you prefer starting your car when no extra electronics will come on as part of that process (of course, your clock and the car's computer have drawn tiny bits of battery power the whole time the car was turned off), that's obviously a fine thing and I certainly don't mean to imply it's silly to do so.  Rather that it's not a big deal not to, and, more to the point, it's hardly only TV characters who don't follow your lead.

Edited June 18, 2015 by Bastet

[shapeshifter]

Only on T.V. can a man be both a Vietnam war veteran and a FBI agent in 2015 when they have a retirement age. Presidents Johnson and Nixon didn't send the little drummer boy to Nam did they?

On an episode of a show last fall (maybe Elementary?) a character was about 80 years old and yet had been the one to give orders to Nazis during WWII. He would have been at the oldest 15 at the time. The writers must have not carried a couple of ones when doing the math for his age and the decades.

[lucindabelle]

Yeah math on TV is not good. I was irritated by an episode of the Americans where a WWII widow is presented as being in her late seventies when during the eighties she'd have been considerably youngerl in 1983 WWII had only haooened 40 years earlier, it wasn't this sepia toned thing anymore than 1975 is. I mean it was a long time ago yeah but,,,,

Similarly Don on mad men really should have been drafted into WWII. It just bizarre given his age.

[Andyourlittledog2]

Eh, the ages of the woman and her dead husband on The Americans was fine as far as I'm concerned. WWII soldier ages were much higher overall than more recent wars - the Army was desperate for anyone healthy enough, all the way up to fortyish. There was a lot of disagreement on The Americans forum so I don't really want to replay that here though.  

 

Don Draper -- interesting. How old was he supposed to be in 1960 when the series started?  I find the clothing and styling of that period always makes me think people are a good ten years older than they actually were. High school girls look forty to me, for instance, when styled that way. I never got a good read on his age at the start of the series. The Korean War was awfully recent though, so that does track oddly on the surface now that you mention it. Hmmm. 

 

I'd rather have these issues though than the usual 'high school kids' who are actually in their late twenties that we normally see on TV.  Sometimes they look right (Willow, BtVS) but sometimes it's just weird (Dylan McKay 90210).

[Cobalt Stargazer]

Don Draper -- interesting. How old was he supposed to be in 1960 when the series started?  I find the clothing and styling of that period always makes me think people are a good ten years older than they actually were. High school girls look forty to me, for instance, when styled that way. I never got a good read on his age at the start of the series. The Korean War was awfully recent though, so that does track oddly on the surface now that you mention it. Hmmm. 

 

FWIW, Jon Hamm was thirty-six when Mad Men premiered, but you're right that the clothing of the period ages people. January Jones, who was thirty at the time of the pilot, could have easily passed for older due to Betty's clothes and hairstyle. There's a reason her thread was called 'Grace Kelly With A Twist' back on TWOP.

[ToxicUnicorn]

On an episode of a show last fall (maybe Elementary?) a character was about 80 years old and yet had been the one to give orders to Nazis during WWII. He would have been at the oldest 15 at the time.

I have a friend of a friend whose first government job (in the early '90's) was "to chase down Nazis", to prosecute them for war crimes.  He claimed he had a lot of slow days.

 

True story.

[DittyDotDot]

Similarly Don on mad men really should have been drafted into WWII. It just bizarre given his age.

 

How old is Don supposed to be? If he was drafted into the Korean War in 1950 at age 18, that would make 32 when the show starts in 1960. It tracks for me.

[Raja]

How old is Don supposed to be? If he was drafted into the Korean War in 1950 at age 18, that would make 32 when the show starts in 1960. It tracks for me.

I remember in the Rockford Files era almost all characters were Korean War not WWII veterans unless he was being compared to young Vietnam veteran. I guess the extra five years allowed younger actors to be cast.

[ganesh]

On a different note: If you're on tv and you're good at coding, whether a hacker or not, you just have *no* time for these Luddites who don't know how to root a phone or can't spare 3 seconds to explain something without hemming and hawing. And you never look at anyone in the eye when you talk to them because you have to stare at the screen. To. Type. Your. CODE.

[Demented Daisy]

Only on T.V. can a man be both a Vietnam war veteran and a FBI agent in 2015 when they have a retirement age. Presidents Johnson and Nixon didn't send the little drummer boy to Nam did they?

 

I think Rossi was given a pass because of his extraordinary knowledge and abilities.  So he's good until he's 65.  (Depending on how old he was in '75, he could have a couple of more years.)

 

If you were talking about someone else, then ignore me.  :-)

[Raja]

Do they really do this anymore?  Seems to me it's always "Gulf War vet" now when they need that go-to "past war trauma" cliché.

I wasn't paying close attention on Criminal Minds but Joe Mantegna's Supervisory Special Agent was in Vietnam not Gulf War era USMC equipment. I guess he is playing his real age on the show?

[Kromm]

I wasn't paying close attention on Criminal Minds but Joe Mantegna's Supervisory Special Agent was in Vietnam not Gulf War era USMC equipment. I guess he is playing his real age on the show?

Well sure.  It makes sense with a person in his late 60s that he'd be in a war 45-50 years ago. Those numbers do indeed add up.

[lucindabelle]

How old is Don supposed to be? If he was drafted into the Korean War in 1950 at age 18, that would make 32 when the show starts in 1960. It tracks for me.

How old is Don supposed to be? If he was drafted into the Korean War in 1950 at age 18, that would make 32 when the show starts in 1960. It tracks for me.

Don turned 40 the year he married Megan so no. It doesn't track. He's older than 32 when the show began.

And in any case how do you get 18 +10 = 32, or am I missing something?

mom complains about this every time we watch, young executives in the 60s in their mid thirties to early forties were WWII vets, like jfk.

Edited June 20, 2015 by lucindabelle

[DittyDotDot]

Don turned 40 the year he married Megan so no. It doesn't track. He's older than 32 when the show began.

And in any case how do you get 18 +10 = 32, or am I missing something?

mom complains about this every time we watch, young executives in the 60s in their mid thirties to early forties were WWII vets, like jfk.

 

Sorry, I was thinking Don would've been born in '32--yes he would've been 28 when the show starts, sorry, about that--but that works for me. I always thought Don was no more than 30 when the show started. To me, Don was supposed to be younger than the other executives like Roger who served in WWII. He was a contrast to the older, stodgier generation, IMO.

 

I didn't realize he was 40 when he marries Megan, but the time jumps tend to mess with my perception of ages in the later seasons? S1 works for me though.

[Raja]

I think Rossi was given a pass because of his extraordinary knowledge and abilities.  So he's good until he's 65.  (Depending on how old he was in '75, he could have a couple of more years.)

 

If you were talking about someone else, then ignore me.  :-)

While the Vietnamese tank drove through the US Embassy gates in 1975 US soldiers in Vietnam were gone by 1972. There were fewer still around then we have trainers in Iraq today. there was the one Marine company team in the Mayaguez incident in 1975. I suppose entertainment producers would jump on that one fight to give their characters a few more buffer years like they did when they had Korean veterans instead of WWII veterans and now use Afghanistan veterans instead of Iraq veterans.

[lucindabelle]

Yeah we know he's 40 because she throws him that birthday party and tells Peggy he's turning 40. He also has a line to bobby about it. His being older than 28 anyway makes sense given the position he's achieved... It would have taken him at least a couple of years to get it. And his children are too old for him to be 28 in fact betty is 28 when she meets glen which I think is season one?

All the seasons really work for me, it's just a detail that bugs so I try to forget it,

Also Roger seems older an he is because of the white hair, he's only in his 40s (which makes sense given his acid trip experiments later). I'm lad he ended with age appropriate Marie. I always liked him with Mona, who is Slatterys real life wife.

Edited June 20, 2015 by lucindabelle

[Cobalt Stargazer]

Also Roger seems older an he is because of the white hair, he's only in his 40s (which makes sense given his acid trip experiments later). I'm lad he ended with age appropriate Marie. I always liked him with Mona, who is Slatterys real life wife.

 

To be fair, John Slattery was just starting to go gray back when he was playing Al Kahn in Homefront, and that was way back in the early '90s. With that said, Roger was supposed to represent an older generation than Don or even Pete, who were the "up and comers"

[lucindabelle]

Slatterys is prematurely white. It looks good on him,

Roger seems to have been born around 1918 given a movie reference he made in one episode to the golem (which rather hilariously people thought might mean he was Jewish) So maybe 7-8 years older than don. Who is about 15 years older.than Pete.

.

Don turns 40 in 1966 (season 5) so he was born in 1926 making him 18 in 1944 . The war ended on sept. 2 1945...a year and a half later. Most people his age in the 60s were vets of WWII, not of the Korean war... When Don would have been well into his 20s. He is 34 when the show begins, which makes sense for where he is in his career and his life. He has two children neither of which is an infant, he's been at that firm for at least a few years.

on the show his birthday is given as June, in the episode where Megan throws him the appalling party, and he says his real birthday was six months earlier, so the math does not work. If dick Whitman was born not in June but in January 1926 why wasn't he drafted again, when the war effort REALLY needed manpower?

Not to beat a dead horse as I've made this point a lot. But every time it comes up on the show my mother would be seriously annoyed. My feeling is that the Showrunner didn't know and wanted to make a point about different generations, a point that doesn't really work. And if he wanted it to be vague all he had to do was not tell dons age... But he did.

[ABay]

never mind

Edited June 21, 2015 by ABay

[The Crazed Spruce]

I think this talk about the relative ages of the characters from Mad Men is starting to detract from the topic at hand. Maybe we ought to move it to the MM forums, hmmm?

[Shannon L.]

Only on tv can someone pull ice cream out of the freezer and it's immediately soft to the point of almost runny.

[Bastet]

You probably know this, but just in case -- that's because it's mashed potatoes or shortening rather than ice cream (because of the heat of the studio lights and time it takes to film).

[Kromm]

{imaging how they fake chocolate ice cream}