Realities that don't exist in TV land

[QueSyrahSyrah]

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?).

still being able to get up and function with glowing skin and looking perfect,

This is always true on apocalypse survival types shows as well. No one looks ill or stressed or has really bad skin. In fact there was one I watched where the heroine, despite all her flatmates dying of a mystery virus and having to escape to the wilderness and sleep rough with a bunch of gunslinging strangers, always seemed to have a full face of make-up including quite nice lilac eyeshadow that inspired me to buy some

@QueSyrahSyrah I used to be bothered by the sudden falling of darkness and wondered how they could get it so wrong, was the continuity person pissed most of the film?

Then I lived in the Middle East for a couple of years. Being closer to the equator sunset was about 6pm all year and it got dark really really quickly.

Now I assume most of these films are just filmed in the southern United States or somewhere where it gets dark early and quickly.

I still have that dissonance when I watch something. In the uk we are so used to the early dark evenings in winter that if it’s dark early evening in a film, I still expect it to get much colder and in my subconscious I want them to all start wearing woolly parkas!

I still miss those long hot dark evenings.

I'm not an astronaut but apparently all the science bits in The Martian with Matt Damon make sense. NASA said so

It's also funny and suspenseful and the music's good. It's on 9pm on Friday (21 April) on E4.

People not wearing hats when it's freezing cold. I know it's so we viewers can identify the characters easily, but it bugs me. Noticed it a lot in Game of Thrones, the Night's Watch would be bundled up in layers of furs but nothing on their heads.

People who never ever wash their hands when they arrive home. They're straight into the fridge, handling food,when they've had their hands on goodness-knows- what on public transport etc. I thought the pandemic with it's emphasis on hand- washing might promote a shift in attitude,but no,it's as bad as ever!

Families don't just sit there all on their own screens not speaking like they do in real life these days. or is that just in my house 🤔

What’s the curtains thread? Is it about how nobody closes the curtains at night on TV? Because that drives me insane.

neither are they 'due on', hangry or farting.

@VirginiaQ you should do an 'I'm an ex police officer AMA!!'

Spy/action/thriller type stuff. No one ever runs out of money or uses a cashpoint. Or needs to eat. Or shit. Or wash.

Sorry if it's already been mentioned, I'm catching up now, but:
Nobody washes their hands when they come home.

We don't always but most of the time, especially if we've been, say, on public transport or shopping. Or is that really pedantic?

Matthew Crawley proposed to Lady Mary in the snow.
She had a thin, sleeveless dress on.
They were outside for ages but did not get cold.
I would've had a coat, scarf and hat on. Oh, and furry boots.

Nobody ever blows their nose.
People are constantly drinking from disposable cups but are never seen throwing them away (or hunting for a bin).
People pay for things by handing over cash without counting it then immediately walking away.
Nobody grabs a box of tissues after sex, cleans themselves up and then goes off to the bathroom for a post-sex pee.

If more than three people are having dinner or a meal they all sit crammed on one side of the table - presumably leaving the other side clear for filming - but in real life people always spread themselves equally around a dining table

And they never seem to eat anything either

The Enterprise has a single toilet, just off the bridge. I read this on a fan wiki (don't ask). I suspect that later versions don't have any at all, but you'd have to ask a hard-core fan for confirmation!

Symmetrical facial cuts and bruises and stiches that don't 'pull'.

I have arthritis so I have had many a fall, particularly when I was still refusing to use a walking stick.

The only time my face was bruised symmetrically was when I did a full on face plant on to concrete, but even then the bruises left by my glasses were worse on one side.

If you have ever had stiches in your face, depending where they are it can be difficult to talk without the stich pulling but no one ever has a problem talking to police or doctors or anyone else even with a stitched lip.

YES! This!!

And it's always one ideally sized suitcase which they might swing nochantly as they saunter off screen.

Also going away for, like, 3 weeks and opening a small case that only contains the few items allowed for students at Mallory Towers

Don't get me started.

It starts with the 'declined' stamp being stamped on a parole file. Using Helvetica font, 10 years before it existed.

Using Helvetica font, 10 years before it existed.

Some of these complaints are beautiful...The 'infamous' upside down Pelham whatever in Poldark too

oh and in shawshank, doesn't he continually get new posters to replace the tatty ones?

I love The Holiday but it highly irritates me that she's freaking out driving down narrow country lanes on the wrong side of the road, in the snow, but doesn't think to ease off the accelerator at all...

The coffee / tea drinking. They only take a tiny sip or pretend to, clearly not hot.

I worked in cardiology for years and I can still identify a rhythm on an ECG at a glance, I don't watch many medical dramas because I can't help myself shouting at the TV.

No that's not left bundle branch block, it's a left anterior hemi block.

As I seem to have got started:

Zips on costumes in Victorian dramas or even worse Tudor dramas - OK I know it is a costume but if you are going to use a zip hide it.

Clean streets in Victorian dramas. And beautiful yellow sandstone when the buildings would be black with pollution. If you look up George VI's coronation picture Buckingham palace is quite grimy.

Shawshank, if he only refastened the poster on the top then he could have crawled in and just let it fall behind him. I used to watch that film A LOT!

He could, but when he finally escaped, it's fastened at all four corners - because the rock the governor throws at it goes cleanly through, leaving a hole. If it was loose at the bottom, the thrown rock would push the poster inside the hole (which wouldn't be as dramatic as seeing it go through and then echo hollowly down the tunnel).