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

[shapeshifter]

When my youngest daughter was a new driver, I said she could take the car provided she left the radio off to avoid distractions. I cannot count how many times the radio blared on to a loud music station (instead of NPR) when I went to work the next day. She did eventually total the car--nobody was injured and not technically her fault, but maybe wouldn't have happened if she had the radio off and had noticed the elderly driver pulling out into her because the elderly driver couldn't see if any cars were coming or not.

Anyway, this winter when it is subzero Fahrenheit (-18 C), I will turn my radio off before I turn the car off, because even a tiny bit of battery drain can be problematic.

Did they always turn off the radio before turning off the car on Northern Exposure or Fargo?

Edited July 11, 2015 by shapeshifter

[Quof]

I always turn off the radio, and the heat, before turning off the car.  (I also turn off the lights, because I always drive with the headlights on).  It's a drain on the battery to start the engine with these secondary functions at the same time.  At least that's what I was taught when I learned to drive a million years ago, presumably cars are more efficient now. But it's a good habit to get into.  

[Raja]

Did they always turn off the radio before turning off the car on Northern Exposure or Fargo?

It doesn't seem like something any director would focus on. You can see Jack Webb's influence on old Adam-12 and Emergency episodes where the camera would make a close up on the officer or paramedic fastening his lap belt back before it was required by law as showing it was part of his public service mission.

[DittyDotDot]

I always turn off the radio, and the heat, before turning off the car.  (I also turn off the lights, because I always drive with the headlights on).  It's a drain on the battery to start the engine with these secondary functions at the same time.  At least that's what I was taught when I learned to drive a million years ago, presumably cars are more efficient now. But it's a good habit to get into.  

 

Well, yes, these things do drain on the battery, but the battery also recharges when the car runs, so the damage offset and corrected. That's why when you have to have your car jumped--because the battery is dead--you should leave it running for a bit to recharge the battery.

[FormerMod-a1]

They also turn off when the car is off, so they can't be draining the battery.

[Quof]

But it's an extra demand on the battery when you start the car, especially in cold weather.   Turn them off.

[FormerMod-a1]

 I live in MN and I've never had a problem.  My dad worked for an auto manufacturer and of all the things he taught me (e.g. I'm the only one outside my family I know that sets my parking break every time I park and not just when I'm on an obvious hill), this was not one of them.

[Demented Daisy]

 I live in MN and I've never had a problem.  My dad worked for an auto manufacturer and of all the things he taught me (e.g. I'm the only one outside my family I know that sets my parking break every time I park and not just when I'm on an obvious hill), this was not one of them.

 

 

Now you know 3 people (my husband and I do this).  :-)

[DittyDotDot]

 I live in MN and I've never had a problem.  My dad worked for an auto manufacturer and of all the things he taught me (e.g. I'm the only one outside my family I know that sets my parking break every time I park and not just when I'm on an obvious hill), this was not one of them.

 

I used to do that when I drove a stick, but since I've had an automatic I've ceased doing it, for some reason. Did I get lazy?

[Quof]

I'm in Canada, my father was a mechanic, and taught me to turn off everything that would draw power when starting the engine.

[shapeshifter]

I used to do that when I drove a stick, but since I've had an automatic I've ceased doing it, for some reason. Did I get lazy?

I stopped setting the parking break when I moved from the mountains to flat land, but then during a routine oil change and inspection, I was told I needed to get my breaks adjusted and that if I regularly set the parking break, I wouldn't have had to have it done. Don't know the reasons for this, but I now do always set the parking break and haven't had to have my breaks adjusted since then.

Back on topic: Do shows set in San Francisco show drivers (often cops) setting their parking breaks? Or can we say that Only On TV do people park in SF without setting their parking breaks? Of course, if they turn their wheels so the car rolls to the curb, the parking break might not be necessary, so: Can we also say that Only On TV do people park in SF without turning their wheels toward the curb when parking downhill or away from the curb when parking uphill?

[Snow Apple]

Not sure if this is the right thread, but I always snicker at how attractive the actors are compared to the real people when doing crime reenactments. 

[ganesh]

I'm in Canada, my father was a mechanic, and taught me to turn off everything that would draw power when starting the engine.

 

Maybe this is a cold weather thing. I grew up in New England.

[DittyDotDot]

I live where there's snow on the ground for approximately nine months out of the year and the temperature is below zero more often than not during those cold nine months. So, I polled a few folks recently, out of curiosity. None of them turn off their radio before turning off the engine. One of them was a mechanic and looked at me strangely when I asked him.

 

This could be a very interesting social study...someone should apply for a grant so we can get to the bottom of this. ;)

Edited July 12, 2015 by DittyDotDot

[Snowprince]

45+ years of owning/driving cars, never turned off the radio. Had a battery die on me once....because I'd inadvertently left the headlights on overnight.

Edited July 12, 2015 by Snowprince

[lucindabelle]

I had a car stall twice in entrance to lincoln tunnel, don't ask.

One of the things I was told was to unplug gps from cigarette lighter even if it's not turned on. Just having it plugged in strains it. As does radio,

[Shannon L.]

 

I'm the only one outside my family I know that sets my parking break every time I park and not just when I'm on an obvious hill)

We never did that because in Vermont, over the winter, it could freeze up on you if you had it set over night. We only did it when parking on hills.

Edited July 12, 2015 by Shannon L.

[FormerMod-a1]

We never did that because in Vermont, over the winter, it could freeze up on you if you had it set over night. We only did it when parking on hills.

Interesting.  I grew up in MI and now live in MN and have never had a parking brake freeze on me.  Door locks, door handles, key holes and windows have frozen, but never the parking brake.  And Only on TV do none of these things happen.  Even for whacky hijinks (at least, I don't think I've ever seen hijinks around frozen car parts).

[Quof]

parking brake

brake

brake

 

Sorry, had to do that.

[ganesh]

I can't believe what I started with this. 

[DittyDotDot]

Hee! Isn't this fun.

 

Aquarian, when I was in college in Montana, my door locks would freeze all the damn time. Drove me crazy. I got really good at climbing in through the back seat.  But I've been sitting here racking my brain trying to think of a TV example, but I can't. Is it possible that we have never seen this on TV?

[Demented Daisy]

Hee! Isn't this fun.

 

Aquarian, when I was in college in Montana, my door locks would freeze all the damn time. Drove me crazy. I got really good at climbing in through the back seat.  But I've been sitting here racking my brain trying to think of a TV example, but I can't. Is it possible that we have never seen this on TV?

 

Probably because we hardly ever see winter on TV.  If so, it's usually from the inside.  (How many sitcoms have faked winter blizzards?)

[Shannon L.]

 

Interesting.  I grew up in MI and now live in MN and have never had a parking brake freeze on me.

I looked it up just to make sure I wasn't remembering it wrong (I've lived in CA since I was 18) and there are a couple of sites talking about parking brakes freezing.  It probably doesn't happen often, though.

[FormerMod-a1]

I wasn't denying it's happened to someone, I just haven't had it happen to me.  So I thought it was interesting, in the truest sense of the word.

[shapeshifter]

I did set the parking brake this past winter when it was sub zero Fahrenheit for about a week. Parking outside. Hmmm...maybe it thawed while I idled the engine before leaving the driveway? Maybe it depends on what's surrounding the brake and its fluid (varying with make and model and vintage)?

There have been scenarios on TV of people forgetting to set the brake and the vehicle rolling--usually into water. I think it was a plot point on Monk. Or did they leave the car in neutral (because Only on TV do parking brakes not exist any more than toilet paper)?

[Bastet]

Only on TV do none of these things happen.  Even for whacky hijinks (at least, I don't think I've ever seen hijinks around frozen car parts).

 

Come to think of it, I don't believe I've seen frozen car door locks or the like on TV -- it's something I've only ever heard about from the travails of my friend in Chicago.  I'd chalk this up to being a result of so many shows filming in L.A. (where we definitely do not have that problem), but a lot of TV writers are from other places, and some of them are writing shows that are set in colder climates ... with TV's love for wacky hijinks, I'm surprised this hasn't happened.  In fact, I'm now particularly surprised Seinfeld never did an entire episode about it.

[shapeshifter]

...In fact, I'm now particularly surprised Seinfeld never did an entire episode about it.

Two reasons for that: New Yorkers don't spend a lot of time in cars, and Seinfeld's success came in large part because the humor was based on experiences that the broader audience could relate to. So frozen door locks would not be funny to folks in So Cal or Florida. But I can think of some very funny hijinks just beginning with putting your key in a match before putting it in the door lock. So much to go wrong there!

[Bastet]

Jerry and Kramer both had cars (both of which spawned several storylines) and the network was constantly on Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld in the first few struggling seasons that the show was too specific (read: too New York, too Jewish, and even too specifically the particular set of people with whom those two associated).  So maybe I should say I'm surprised this wasn't an early Seinfeld episode, but I remain - now that the issue of this so rarely happening on TV has been raised - surprised.

[legaleagle53]

Two reasons for that: New Yorkers don't spend a lot of time in cars, and Seinfeld's success came in large part because the humor was based on experiences that the broader audience could relate to. So frozen door locks would not be funny to folks in So Cal or Florida. But I can think of some very funny hijinks just beginning with putting your key in a match before putting it in the door lock. So much to go wrong there!

 

Indeed.  I live in Arizona.  What is this "winter" that you all are speaking of?

[Quof]

What is this "winter" that you all are speaking of?

4 feet of snow in less than 3 days, followed by ice pellets. Bite me!!! : )

[Guest]

4 feet of snow in less than 3 days, followed by ice pellets. Bite me!!! : )

 

the correct response is.  Its not 103 degrees here today neener neener nee-ner :). 

[ABay]

Every winter, I see friends post on FB about how awful it must be to live in the northeast in winter and how happy they are to be in California. As I snuggle into my comfy chair, enjoying my day off work, I ask them which of the 4 seasons they're currently experiencing: drought, wildfire, earthquake, or mudslide.

[Sandman87]

Which reminds me: Only on TV can one get in a car on a hot day without having to deal with a scorching-hot steering wheel, hand brake, or gear shift. People wearing shorts never need to put a towel down on the painfully hot seat. No one ever uses one of those folding sun shields in the front window. No one ever leaves the windows rolled partway down for ventilation.

[Haleth]

And rarely do characters dress appropriately in scenes set in winter.  No hats, light jackets wide open, etc.  (Of course the green trees in the background kill the illusion too.)

[Snow Apple]

Since we're talking about cars starting up, only on TV does a previously perfectly fine car doesn't start when a killer/monster is after them. 

[proserpina65]

Now you know 3 people (my husband and I do this).  :-)

Make that 4.

[ToxicUnicorn]

I'm enjoying the way this thread meanders immensely.  It got me to thinking about interactions that happen at red lights, only on tv.

 

Here's a very old one (but I feel like you are my people): only on tv would you ask the other person in a Rolls Royce at a stoplight for mustard.

 

 

 

 

[shapeshifter]

Only on TV have I ever seen anyone shooting a gun at a car that is driving away. I live not too far from places where drive by shootings are common, and although I've never seen them either, I do know they exist. But shooting at fleeing cars is so commonplace on TV--and has been for as long as there have been TV crime shows--that I have to assume it actually happens IRL. But does it? And if it does, is it fairly easy to stop the fleeing car by blowing out a tire or two with a bullet? Because on TV, sometimes it is easy, and sometimes it seems like the good guys just aren't doing it right.

[Kromm]

is it fairly easy to stop the fleeing car by blowing out a tire or two with a bullet? Because on TV, sometimes it is easy, and sometimes it seems like the good guys just aren't doing it right.

Well that "sometimes/sometimes not" probably is the one realistic aspect.  I mean 1.) moving target 2.) different weather 3.) different levels of shooter experience 4.) different distances 5.) different angles/exposures of the tires 

 

It's got to actually vary quite a bit. People CONSISTENTLY being able to shoot out tires would seem to be the "only on TV" thing, but it being tough sometimes and not at others?  Not as much.

 

Maybe we can pin it down to types of situations where it's conveniently too easy or too hard?  I mean if it was always too easy to shoot out the tires whenever it's the bad guys shooting at the good guys, for example, but always too hard for the good guys to shoot out the tires of the bad guys?  Then we'd have something!

[topanga]

Only on TV do people make passionate whoopee then get dressed and go about their usual business at work, home, or school without taking a shower or at least washing up with baby wipes. Except for Carrie Mathison on the 'Homeland' pilot. Or unless it's a plot point--a married man washes off his junk in the bathroom sink after a tryst with his mistress, or he takes a shower before going home, only to have his suspicious wife question why he came home smelling like soap.

[ToxicUnicorn]

And if it does, is it fairly easy to stop the fleeing car by blowing out a tire or two with a bullet? Because on TV, sometimes it is easy, and sometimes it seems like the good guys just aren't doing it right.

 

Both on tv and on movies, I have never understood why the good guys shoot at the car body or the people in it, instead of at the tires, but ...

 

I mean 1.) moving target 2.) different weather 3.) different levels of shooter experience 4.) different distances 5.) different angles/exposures of the tires

 

this helps.  Maybe the tires aren't as easy to hit as the rest of the car?  On the other hand, what good does it do to hit the car (with a hand gun, typically)?  I'm usually thinking, "don't just stand there, find a vehicle and pursue it, dummy!".

 

In other words, I completely agree.

 

Also, only on tv do fleeing criminals run down escalators to the subway, pushing people all over the place, and no one (the pushees) really reacts.  At least in NYC, I can imagine people yelling and swearing their heads off.

Edited July 14, 2015 by ToxicUnicorn

[shapeshifter]

Well that "sometimes/sometimes not" probably is the one realistic aspect.  I mean 1.) moving target 2.) different weather 3.) different levels of shooter experience 4.) different distances 5.) different angles/exposures of the tires 

 

It's got to actually vary quite a bit. People CONSISTENTLY being able to shoot out tires would seem to be the "only on TV" thing, but it being tough sometimes and not at others?  Not as much.

 

Maybe we can pin it down to types of situations where it's conveniently too easy or too hard?  I mean if it was always too easy to shoot out the tires whenever it's the bad guys shooting at the good guys, for example, but always too hard for the good guys to shoot out the tires of the bad guys?  Then we'd have something!

Thanks for nailing down the physics, but now, what about the statistics on it actually occurring anywhere but On TV? Like I mentioned above, "drive by" shootings are commonplace--someone(s) driving by in a car shoots at someone(s) standing on the street or in front of a home. But do real life cops (or robbers) ever shoot at the tires of a moving car?

[DittyDotDot]

I would guess it rarely happens in real life. Shooting at a moving vehicle would be very risky and dangerous--accidently shooting a bystander and once the tires are shot out that vehicle could be dangerously out of control and end up hitting a bystander too. I'd think it would be a last resort sort of situation, but I don't have any data to back that up.

Edited July 14, 2015 by DittyDotDot

[Snow Apple]

Only on TV do people make passionate whoopee then get dressed and go about their usual business at work, home, or school without taking a shower or at least washing up with baby wipes. Except for Carrie Mathison on the 'Homeland' pilot. Or unless it's a plot point--a married man washes off his junk in the bathroom sink after a tryst with his mistress, or he takes a shower before going home, only to have his suspicious wife question why he came home smelling like soap.

Only on TV does a couple also wake up ready for action and without brushing their teeth or needing to pee first. Oh, and they always wake up artistically mussed. I don't know about you, but I can scare children with my face and breath right after I wake up.

[Kel Varnsen]

I would guess it rarely happens in real life. Shooting at a moving vehicle would be very risky and dangerous--accidently shooting a bystander and once the tires are shot out that vehicle could be dangerously out of control and end up hitting a bystander too. I'd think it would be a last resort sort of situation, but I don't have any data to back that up.

My understanding from what I have read about real life cops, is that if you draw your gun it is supposed to be because you need to use deadly force for a life and death situation (because of the amount of risk involved). So if you are going to be shooting at a car, aiming for the driver makes sense. Shooting at the tires is probably like how on TV shooting someone in the arm to injure them happens a lot more often than it probably does in real life.

[kili]

Also, only on tv do fleeing criminals run down escalators to the subway, pushing people all over the place, and no one (the pushees) really reacts.  At least in NYC, I can imagine people yelling and swearing their heads off.

 

There was some video footage of a motorcycle chase in Vancouver (Surrey) which ended up entering a mall. They had footage from inside the mall of the guy riding the motorcycle down the escalator and into one a store with a security guard in hot pursuit. People simply stepped out of his way and a few of them kind of looked curiously after him like "Don't see that every day".

 

I remember listening to the the producer's commentary for one of the Burn Notice finales. In it, a car near the water blows up in a massive fire-ball - 30 to 40 feet in the air (practical effect not CGI or post). When the producer first saw the dailies, he was upset because they had not closed the freeway that ran past the stunt and you can see cars driving by with nary a reaction. He thought that normal people would react to a huge fireball and stop or slow their cars down. But then, he realized, he was seeing exactly how normal people reacted because those people in the cars driving by were normal people.

 

New Yorkers can be a feisty bunch so they may react differently, but after seeing real life reactions to such events from other regions, I kind of believe the non-reactions on TV.  Plus, they don't usually stay on the people pushed out of the way for them to get into the reaction mode.

Edited July 14, 2015 by kili

[andromeda331]

I've always wondered about the cops chasing the suspect and he takes the stairs,

in a building in New York or really any tall building. Wouldn't that take a long time?

Also wouldn't both get tired and be out of breathe by the time they made it the

roof or lobby? Or even after a few flights of stairs? Also why not put some cops

at the bottom and at the top. Unless their Michael Weston, Parker or Spiderman

there are really only two ways off the building. 

Edited July 14, 2015 by andromeda331

[Raja]

My understanding from what I have read about real life cops, is that if you draw your gun it is supposed to be because you need to use deadly force for a life and death situation (because of the amount of risk involved). So if you are going to be shooting at a car, aiming for the driver makes sense. Shooting at the tires is probably like how on TV shooting someone in the arm to injure them happens a lot more often than it probably does in real life.

This, plus shooting at tires instead of center of mass means you probably will miss and with modern tires should you get a hit its not going to blow up and flip the car like on CHiPS but the bad guy will roll on the blown tires and then the rims

[Sandman87]

Regarding the shooting at fleeing cars:

- Yes, it does happen in real life. I was awakened a number of years ago when a firefight broke out after police tried to arrest a drug dealer in a van in the parking area behind my (at the time) apartment. The driver tried to run over two of the police officers, and one of them emptied his clip at the van as it was driving away, hitting the driver once.

- Police don't shoot at tires for the same reasons that they don't shoot at the legs of criminals. Not only are they much, much less likely to hit the small moving target presented, there would be a greater danger of ricochets in unpredictable directions from missed shots.

[Kromm]

Only on TV/in Movies do people accept deliveries of strange boxes/packages, seemingly without concern, which wind up containing body parts of their loved ones.