Ridiculous moments in TV shows? (warning: will contain spoilers)

[folivier]

Here’s a new one for fun. Post when you watch a show and see something that is absolutely ridiculous. Here’s mine:
Watching “Fire Country” where they had an abandoned well that was spewing natural gas and had caught fire. The 2 main character FD guys ended up using explosives to put out the fire. Which works quite well. Except that after the explosion put out the fire the gas was miraculously shut off. Doesn’t quite happen that way. Sure the explosion will put out the fire but won’t shut off the gas flow.
Now what’s yours?

 

[RunningBum]

The tech guy in Tracker hacking into any camera, phone, laptop, you have it within a matter of seconds of Shaw calling him and giving him a vague location of the device near him.

Jack Bauer never having to use a bathroom in 24 hours.

I like both shows, btw so these don't ruin it.

 

[Aerides]

Updated title since by default this is going to have some...

 

[Andre1969]

This is going back some, and every cop/detective show is probably guilty of this to some degree, but Barnaby Jones: Just about every episode ends with the bad guy taking a shot at Barnaby and missing. Then Barnaby returns fire and takes out the bad guy with one shot.

Usually Barnaby would shoot them in the arm or shoulder, making them drop their gun. But every once in a blue moon, it looks like he shoots them dead. But, those episodes usually end somewhat abruptly, so I wonder if in reruns they cut out an ending scene of those people being loaded into an ambulance or police car, or someone mentioning that they'll recover, and they confessed to the whole thing.

In contrast, I think Cannon would usually shoot 'em dead at the end, but I haven't seen that many episodes of that show. Still, same premise...bad guy shoots and misses, then Cannon takes 'em out.

One exception to the rule though, seems to be when the "bad guy" is a woman. They'd end up getting apprehended some other way, without harm.

 

[folivier]

Thanks Aerides! Should have thought of that.

 

[Qs Laptop]

I'm sure I'll chime in with some specific examples, but the single most ridiculous thing that happens in almost any network produced television show is the "plot recap", when a character will give an awkward couple of lines of dialogue to summarize the situation to another character that has been involved in the story since the beginning. This is for the benefit of those lazy viewers that aren't paying attention or don't understand the plot.

"So you're saying that if the bus were to get below the speed of 50 mph, a bomb would be triggered and we'd all be blown up?"

"Yes, that's correct."

 

[audreyh1]

Fonzi jumping the shark - who can forget that!

 

[Lorenzo]

Fonzi jumping the shark - who can forget that!

As I bet you know, the phrase "jumped the shark" has come to mean something that reached the pinnacle of ridiculousness and went downhill from there.

 

[Aerides]

I'm sure I'll chime in with some specific examples, but the single most ridiculous thing that happens in almost any network produced television show is the "plot recap", when a character will give an awkward couple of lines of dialogue to summarize the situation to another character that has been involved in the story since the beginning. This is for the benefit of those lazy viewers that aren't paying attention or don't understand the plot.

"So you're saying that if the bus were to get below the speed of 50 mph, a bomb would be triggered and we'd all be blown up?"

"Yes, that's correct."

That is actually by design these days, especially in shows created for streaming. They know their viewers are multi-tasking and half paying attention, so the scripts are dumbed down in this unnatural way.

 

[Qs Laptop]

That is actually by design these days, especially in shows created for streaming. They know their viewers are multi-tasking and half paying attention, so the scripts are dumbed down in this unnatural way.

I don't think so. I watch Apple TV productions and I don't see this plot recap. Most Amazon Prime productions don't have it either. I don't have HBO but I imagine they don't do it either. But network TV? It's a given. And has been for as long as I've been watching TV.

 

[disneysteve]

The tech guy in Tracker hacking into any camera, phone, laptop, you have it within a matter of seconds of Shaw calling him and giving him a vague location of the device near him.

Yep. We enjoy Tracker but that always stands out to me, too. "Hey, can you access the security footage from the camera across the street from my current location?" and there it is, 5 seconds later. No address or business name given. Just a vague "over there" instruction.

Really any cop or crime show where they get lab results in minutes that normally take days or weeks in real life. You can't send in a DNA sample and have a report in an hour.

Another is the way main characters are never injured in serious accidents or explosions, unless their injury is part of the story line. Their car could be hit by a grenade launcher, blowing up and sending the car rolling down a cliff and crashing upside down in the water at the bottom, but the star just busts out the window and swims to safety.

 

[GrayHare]

And all those crime labs are staffed with gorgeous looking people, just like real labs. Echoes of Raquel Welch in Fantastic Voyage.

 

[stepford]

I like Tracker too, but the ridiculousness of the instantaneous hacking is overshadowed by the ridiculousness of the main character not being in prison for the rest of his life for mass murder - committed in almost every episode.

 

[audreyh1]

As I bet you know, the phrase "jumped the shark" has come to mean something that reached the pinnacle of ridiculousness and went downhill from there.

Exactly!

 

[Golden Mean]

Pretty much any show where a character walks outside or ends a sidewalk discussion, raises their arm and immediately gets a cab.

Movies or shows where a ton of crazy stuff has happened (shooting, explosions, etc) and the hero just chats with the police for a second and heads home. The original Die Hard is a perfect example. He (and everyone else alive) would be getting interviewed for hours (or days) afterwards.

This is more movie trope I guess; everyone sits down to breakfast, talks for about a minute and gets up without having eaten anything.

 

[disneysteve]

I like Tracker too, but the ridiculousness of the instantaneous hacking is overshadowed by the ridiculousness of the main character not being in prison for the rest of his life for mass murder - committed in almost every episode.

Not to mention all of the breaking and entering offenses he commits.

 

[RunningBum]

Another favorite show of mine was Criminal Minds, FBI profilers who go around the country solving crimes. They show up and start investigating, gather info, etc, so they can make a profile of the killer and find them. But what almost always happens is another murder victim is found, and one of the agents will look at the other and say "We have to give the profile" and the other nods in agreement.

Why is that the impetus for telling local police what kind of person they are looking for? Wouldn't they do it when they had enough to go on, irrespective of whether and when another crime happens? I don't ever recall them digging into the new crime scene and finding something that leads them to having a good profile. They just immediately say it, like, another murder just happened so even if we don't have a good picture we'll just wing it because the locals are getting impatient and the show is only 42 minutes long.

Then when they give the profile, each agent pitches in with a line or two about what/who to look for, rather than one agent taking the lead. It's not that bad, just kind of funny like they must agree that one person gives a general description, the next says something what their childhood must have been like, another talks about the type of job, and other what color eyes they have or something like that.

 

[RunningBum]

Fonzi jumping the shark - who can forget that!

That episode did have a funny thing were Ralph and Potsie show up with a surfboard that is actually an ironing board.

 

[jollystomper]

Not any show specifically, but I always find it amusing that there is *always* a place to park on the street in downtown, dense cities whenever the main characters have to go to a location there. Even if they spot the "bad person", or someone they need to talk to when driving by, they always find a spot to pull over to meet or pursue that person. I know it is likely to keep the pace of the show moving, but I still smile and shake my head at that.

In addition, they are always experts at parking. The only show I recall a main character having parking problems was "The Sopranos", and it may have saved that character's life .

 

[MichaelB]

Well, like any good show, we do have to suspend disbelief.

If it comes to the most egregious examples, I can think of two. Just driving up to any destination in NYC (or any other major city) and finding open space to park on the street.

The second is going back and forth beteeen the office and crime scenes in major cities multiple times per day as is there were no traffic. Not even possible in the “suspend disbelief” world.

 

[Aerides]

I don't think so. I watch Apple TV productions and I don't see this plot recap. Most Amazon Prime productions don't have it either. I don't have HBO but I imagine they don't do it either. But network TV? It's a given. And has been for as long as I've been watching TV.

I listened to an NPR piece recently describing the process. It focused on Netflix, so I can't say if network shows do it since I don't watch hardly any of those. But it's a "thing" even if it's not everyone yet. Plenty of low quality content out there.

 

[razztazz]

Adam-12. They start their shift by talking down a jumper from a high business district building.... then investigate a robbery or meet with their informant in a slummy looking inner-city neighborhood.... then "see the lady" who's a typical suburban housewife in an upscale McMansion neighborhood.... and finish by recovering a runaway horse in a "rural" section Los Angeles. How big is their sector?

 

[rk911]

As a self-confessed 'radio geek' (ham radio for close to 50-years and CB before that) and after nearly 30-years working in a multi-agency 9-1-1 call center I cringe at Hollywood's depiction of police and fire radio comms. Especially egregious are the use of CB radios and scanners depicted as public safety two-way radios. I chuckle when the hero upon discovering something or someone shouts into his mic requests for help, fire or medics without mentioning a location or first getting the attention of the dispatcher. But I just keep reminding myself that the program is not a documentary. Entertaining, sure but not realistic.

 

[Birdie Num Nums]

In the long-running Gunsmoke series (1955-75), the cells in Marshal Dillon's jail usually had open windows that any inmate's accomplice could reach through the bars with a revolver or rifle to effectuate an escape.

 

[Cassius King]

How about the old Superman TV shows. Superman would take bullets off the chest, then proceed to duck when the gun was thrown at him, lol.