Page 4 | Things you notice aren't right on TV shows

graceallen · 12/03/2026 02:20

One thing I always notice is when characters hang up the phone without saying goodbye. It happens in so many shows and it always feels a bit unnatural because no one really ends a call like that in real life. Another funny one is when someone orders food at a restaurant and then leaves after taking like two bites.

MarxistMags · 12/03/2026 02:35

Unrealistic sex scenes. We've tried the shower one and both of us fell over.....
Watch out folks, it's very slidey in there !
And the against the wall, where the woman puts her legs around the man's waist. I got cramp 😉

CrochetBug · 12/03/2026 02:35

graceallen · 12/03/2026 02:20

One thing I always notice is when characters hang up the phone without saying goodbye. It happens in so many shows and it always feels a bit unnatural because no one really ends a call like that in real life. Another funny one is when someone orders food at a restaurant and then leaves after taking like two bites.

My step dad doesn't say goodbye on the phone. He tells you what he needs to then sort of mumbles OK and hangs up
I've known him for over 20 years and still find it odd.

Sbmpp · 12/03/2026 05:38

@Marooney YES!!!! This drives me absolutely batty.

PollyBell · 12/03/2026 05:42

graceallen · 12/03/2026 02:20

One thing I always notice is when characters hang up the phone without saying goodbye. It happens in so many shows and it always feels a bit unnatural because no one really ends a call like that in real life. Another funny one is when someone orders food at a restaurant and then leaves after taking like two bites.

I read recently the film malers do it deliberley, to us it takes less than a second so personally to me it makes no sense not to do it, it made sense when I read it but now forgot the details

it is to do with fiml time

muddyford · 12/03/2026 05:51

Dramas set pre-1950s with collared doves calling in the countryside. They didn't get here till then!

AxolotlEars · 12/03/2026 06:39

eyespartyparty · 11/03/2026 21:44

Coffee cups being waved around with obviously nothing in! So annoying! Just put water in or something!!!!

Oh yes! It just needs something with a little weight and it would be som much better

Lilactimes · 12/03/2026 06:44

AxolotlEars · 12/03/2026 06:39

Oh yes! It just needs something with a little weight and it would be som much better

Show quote history

I was literally just going to write this too. Gilmore Girls is particularly bad at this!

Snarchipelago · 12/03/2026 06:48

When somebody’s supposed to be from Birmingham but they have a broad, often exaggerated, Black Country accent.

Classroom scenes when the bell for the end of the lesson goes just as the teacher starts a (probably plot-relevant) introductory explanation of whatever topic the entire lesson was supposed to have been about. What were they doing for the past hour!?

Thesnailonthewhale · 12/03/2026 06:50

begonefoulclutter · 11/03/2026 21:51

Modern saddlery on the horses being ridden in period dramas.

Id let this pass because the animal's comfort is more important than having them in an ill fitting uncomfortable saddle.

BarbieShrimp · 12/03/2026 06:53

Amiacoolorwarmcolour · 11/03/2026 22:07

The breakfast one gets me too. Mum ( and it’s always mum) makes a full on cooked breakfast and all anyone does is grab a slice of toast and say they are late and have to go.
All houses have bi folding doors which lead to immaculate gardens. Yet the couple living there both have to work in quite ordinary jobs. The houses all have beautiful expensive kitchens. Again, how do they afford it?

I haven't seen the breakfast trope actually played out in modern media for decades though - is this a thing that still gets written, or just something that shows up half-remembered in discussions like these and passed around?

Would be interested to see when the last iteration of this aired - probably the 80s.

Romeiswheretheheartis · 12/03/2026 06:59

BitterTits · 11/03/2026 22:13

I'm watching Gone. Mr Polly has just said in assembly that it's a difficult end of term, with exams, university interviews and rugby. The uni interviews imply winter but the weather is clearly spring/summer. Annoying.

Also in Gone, the plain clothes detective was wandering round the school on her own like she'd just walked in off the street, sayng she was 'looking for the staffroom'. No school would allow anyone, police or not, to be able to get in and walk round unaccompanied, for safeguarding reasons.

Thesnailonthewhale · 12/03/2026 07:01

AgeingDoc · 11/03/2026 23:28

There are so many things wrong in medical scenes that I could go on about it all night. Not just technical errors but the way people in different roles interact. And I know most shows can't actually represent an entire hospital's staff but the number of times characters take on tasks that would never be within their remit is ridiculous. Or they flit between different departments at will. Soaps are particularly bad for that - they all seem to have one of two token medical characters who know everything. On one episode they are delivering babies, the next looking after someone on ICU and they never seem to come up against a situation they need help with! In fact the very hospitals they work in can cope with anything too. Neurosurgery or paediatric oncology in the local district general hospital? No problem! Nobody ever needs to be transferred to a specialist centre.
Then there's the very dubious employment practices that seem to be a specialty of shows like Casualty and Holby City. Someone announces they are leaving, takes a few things out of their locker and disappears at the end of their shift. Never mind the 3 months notice thing because another member of staff will bump into someone in the pub that night and offer them the Clinical Director's post to start next morning so it doesn't really matter!
As an anaesthetist I have a few particular bug bears. One is tv surgery which seems to have only one of two outcomes - either an instant and full recovery or death on the table. Another is the frequency with which unconscious patients are shown lying flat on their backs with unprotected airways. But the most annoying of all is surgeons who tell anaesthetists what to do and who take charge of the cardiac arrest or other disaster that is the precursor to the almost inevitable death on the table, barking orders to the anaesthetist and theatre staff about what drugs to give etc. Whoever writes this stuff has clearly never witnessed an emergency in a real operating theatre! 😂😂

Who does take charge? What does actually happen in theatre? I'm intrigued

Thesnailonthewhale · 12/03/2026 07:04

Therescathairinmybath · 11/03/2026 23:04

When anyone gives birth unexpectedly in a confined space there is never any mess left behind. No blood, wee, poo, vomit or amniotic fluid to be seen anywhere!

Similarly, when people are kidnapped in a car or held hostage there is no evidence of anyone going to the toilet even if it’s been a few days. I wee if I’m nervous or scared so the car boot or upholstery would get damp very quickly 😊

And no delivery of the placenta!

firstofallimadelight · 12/03/2026 07:05

When people got to someone else’s house for an important chat and then leave immediately after. Who’s bothering to travel to someone else’s house for 2 mins?
when people sit down to food, say their relevant lines and then one or both immediately leave leaving all their food!

greyweek · 12/03/2026 07:08

I think it was in The Proposal movie where the woman (Sandra Bullock) is proposing to the man in yhe street and the pedestrians are the same few people going backwards and forwards a number of times.

Dollymylove · 12/03/2026 07:12

No steam coming out of a newly boiled kettle

Pricelessadvice · 12/03/2026 07:19

graceallen · 12/03/2026 02:20

One thing I always notice is when characters hang up the phone without saying goodbye. It happens in so many shows and it always feels a bit unnatural because no one really ends a call like that in real life. Another funny one is when someone orders food at a restaurant and then leaves after taking like two bites.

Yes! Whenever I hang up the phone to one of my friends, or leave their house, we do a weird sort of “bye!” “Bye!” “Bye!” back and forth in a high pitched tone 😂
I don’t suppose that would look very cool on TV though!

daffodilandtulip · 12/03/2026 07:19

In things like casualty, where their wife/son/mother can just pop into the staff room to visit. Or they haven’t got childcare so they bring their kid to work and it gets passed around whoever is free for five minutes.

GeorgeMichaelsCat · 12/03/2026 07:21

Where there clearly is no liquid in a mug and they pretend to drink from it.

Hotcrossed · 12/03/2026 07:21

in casualty where they spend so much time talking to the patients and each other
also watching Gone and she is openly discussing the case with her ex in a restaurant.

when someone has a dog that is rarely seen

ladyamy · 12/03/2026 07:23

Believeitwhenyouseeit · 11/03/2026 22:04

I always notice background actors. They walk at odd speeds in several directions throughout the central characters' one conversation. One recently entered the same door three times.

😂😂😂😂

andHelenknowsimmiserablenow · 12/03/2026 07:27

In Corrie they are forever having get togethers in the bistro or rovers and then they go outside and its still daylight.
How can they have so many parties in the middle of the day when most people are meant to be at work?

twilightcafe · 12/03/2026 07:28

MoonshineSally · 11/03/2026 21:26

I'm just starting to watch the TV drama The Lady. After the police are in the flat it switched to a scene with Charles and Diana's wedding accompanied by I Just Can't Get Enough by Depeche Mode - that hadn't been released.

I clocked that immediately!

Amiacoolorwarmcolour · 12/03/2026 07:32

Yes lots of films where the child actor has different coloured eyes to the adult character they are playing.