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Original poster

Realities that don't exist in TV land

306 replies

QueSyrahSyrah · 16/04/2023 08:12

Inspired by the ongoing curtains thread, what realities of the world do you consistently see ignored in TV and Film?

I'll start; Car Insurance. We've been watching a show recently where the characters are forever borrowing or swapping cars with family and friends. Vanishingly unlikely that everyone has open all-driver insurance (unless that's a more common thing in America maybe?).

OP posts:
VeronicaBeccabunga · 16/04/2023 08:26

Parking.
Everyone drives straight to their destination and there is empty parking space right outside. Doesn't matter if it's a house, a shop, the police station, wherever.
They just pull up, never have to jiggle about parallel parking or waiting for someone to move.

Xiaoxiong · 16/04/2023 08:30

Yeah most car insurance policies in the US will cover "permissive use" so if you give someone permission to use your car, they are covered by the insurance. Some also say that the car is insured to you and any relatives residing at the same address.

My bugbear is people who supposedly don't stop whatever it is they're doing to talk to the police. If the police showed up at my workplace to interview me I'd be talking to my manager and then sitting down somewhere quiet to talk face to face. Instead we have people continuing to wait tables or cook in a restaurant kitchen while the police trail around after them asking questions! Or continue painting, or cleaning, or making a pot on a potters wheel or whatever.

Cakencookieobsessed · 16/04/2023 08:31

They never pay for drinks at the bar. And they never need childcare. If there's a storyline not including their child, the child just won't exist for a while.

icanneverthinkofnc · 16/04/2023 08:33

Chase scenes, where they chase up stairwells..what's the point, you will get caught ..

GCAcademic · 16/04/2023 08:33

Planned pregnancies never seem to happen, unless as part of an infertility storyline.

NashvilleQueen · 16/04/2023 08:34

Drink driving. It's never mentioned. No one ever says 'I can't drive as I've had a drink' even though you've just seen them drinking.

LunaNorth · 16/04/2023 08:34

Drink driving.

Drives me nuts. The worst offender is Cameron Diaz in The Holiday.

MagpiePi · 16/04/2023 08:34

Women who have perfect hair and make up all the time.

The most implausible was on Top Gun Maverick. The woman sailed a boat to the boatyard , got a lift back to her house on the back of a motorbike, without a helmet, and looked like she’d just left the hairdresser’s. Unless she had a comb in her pocket? But seeing as she didn’t have keys to unlock her front door, she just walked in, then I doubt it.

PuttingDownRoots · 16/04/2023 08:34

Doctors, police, lawyers etc having more than one client/case to deal with. Or indeed having days off or their shifts ending while stuff is still happening.

Plus moving house. They only ever seem to have 10 boxes and it takes half an hour to unpack.

LunaNorth · 16/04/2023 08:36

The onset of labour.

Women go from going about their business to crowning in thirty seconds flat, screaming all the while.

No ‘is this it?’ niggles in TV land!

LunaNorth · 16/04/2023 08:37

Putting underwear on after sex.

It’d be more realistic if they just woke up in a t-shirt, but no. Always knickers and bra, and boxers for the bloke.

Who does that?

tootiredtobother · 16/04/2023 08:38

action packed day for the characters, but no one needs to eat, find a loo, get a blister from all the running, go get kids from school.

PriamFarrl · 16/04/2023 08:38

No TV detective ever has a successful relationship. They are always in the middle of a divorce or heading that way.

No one ever needs a shit.

tootiredtobother · 16/04/2023 08:39

oh and instant orgasim after one minute of sex

zombiecupcakes · 16/04/2023 08:39

What’s the curtains thread, any chance of a link?

Wishimaywishimight · 16/04/2023 08:40

If there is a teenage girl in a soap she will almost certainly get pregnant.

MrsMoastyToasty · 16/04/2023 08:40

People never work their notice when they decide to leave a job or have to hand back technology and equipment.

AmniMajus · 16/04/2023 08:41

Women are never on their periods. Ever.

notsayingmuch · 16/04/2023 08:41

Visas don't exist. If a character decides to move abroad they leave that afternoon with one suitcase.

Expo23 · 16/04/2023 08:41

This! They can go days racing round trying to save the world/city/a person and not shower or change then jump into bed together! I'd cringe at a kiss after 12 hours of no hygiene ops.

Noorandapples · 16/04/2023 08:42

No morning breath, always a heavy kiss first thing.
People putting the phone down without saying bye, nobody calling back to say hey we got disconnected.
Leaving the door open when leaving the house, my personal pet peeve of TV land.

DustyLee123 · 16/04/2023 08:42

In Corrie you can have a baby/child but it magically disappears so you can go to the pub.

Crochetedtractor · 16/04/2023 08:43

Saying goodbye on the phone: they just seem to hang up randomly. In the same vein, agreeing on a time or place to meet the person they're arranging to see.

LunaNorth · 16/04/2023 08:43

I’ll tell you what reality is no longer ignored, and I wish it would be - pissing.

Every fucking thing I watch seems to show somebody having a piss these days. It seems to be shorthand for ‘gritty quality drama.’

I could do without it. It’s gross. I even had to put up with the woman in ‘Colin from Accounts’ having a shit the other night. It put me right off my yoghurt.

drspouse · 16/04/2023 08:45

School has concerns about child. Parents say "oh yes, maybe it's ASD". Next day child has diagnosis.