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

[OldGuy]

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.

Or, Colter Shaw in “Tracker” carrying concealed in beaucoup states (including NYS) with an unknown type of carry permit…

 

[samcat]

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.

I've noticed how each person says a line of the profile. It's so funny!

 

[indiajust]

My worst was the Newlywed Game. Watched in laundromat, while unfortunate guest answered question: What's the most uncomfortable place you have ever made whoopie? He said: Well Bob, definitely up the butt Bob. It was all commercials and a very angry wife after that.

Explosive sound effects in space probably count up there too.

 

[FedRetired50]

Especially egregious are the use of CB radios and scanners depicted as public safety two-way radios.

Doubly egregious when they plop them on a counter or dashboard, and the antenna is obviously not hooked up. I see it all the time. Or when they use a Baofung HT as a public safety radio.

 

[folivier]

What about dried blood that stays bright red during the entire episode?

 

[GrayHare]

A corpse has been lying at the murder scene for several days, yet no investigator is showing any nasal distress.

 

[JoeWras]

A corpse has been lying at the murder scene for several days, yet no investigator is showing any nasal distress.

This is what was so good about the movie "Silence of the Lambs." Vicks Vapo Rub under the nose to help mask the stench.

 

[Andre1969]

This is what was so good about the movie "Silence of the Lambs." Vicks Vapo Rub under the nose to help mask the stench.

My uncle taught me that trick. Back in 2009, we found a dead deer in an open-ended lean-to addition we had built on the back of the garage. I have no idea how it got in there, unless it got hit by a car and dragged itself in there and died. But, before getting it out of there, he got some Vick's Vapo Rub and we dabbed some under our noses. It definitely helped.

I wonder if he already knew that trick, or if he had learned it from "Silence of the Lambs"?

This isn't quite the same thing, but similar...I remember an episode of "The Rockford Files, where they're tipped off to a body in the trunk of a car by the smell. I remember seeing it first-run, and for whatever reason it must have left an impression on me, because I always remember it as a Chrysler LeBaron in a supermarket parking lot. And, sure enough...

 

[folivier]

When we visited the leather factory in Fez, Morocco they handed us each a large bunch of fresh mint to carry around and smell when the aroma got too oppressive. Me having spent a lot of time on grandpa's farm as a kid had no problem. Others did.
BTW a fascinating place watching the guys barefoot in the different pits processing the skins by walking on them.

 

[Momcpa]

How about babies aging at remarkable speed? Newborn in the first episode. 4 or 5 episodes later the child is sitting in a highchair banging a spoon on the tray.

 

[folivier]

I'm amazed at how easy it is to break a Master high security padlock. Just snap it open with a short prybar. Or cut off those plastic handcuffs with a quick snip of your super duty extra sharp pocket knife.
Yeah right....Marshals I'm looking at you!

 

[Andre1969]

One thing that bugs me more and more, is how in just about every movie or tv show, whenever there's a thunderstorm, you hear the thunder at almost the same instant as the lightning flash. I don't know how things are in other parts of the country, but in my neck of the woods, when it happens that fast, it usually means it's practically on top of you, and the sound is so loud that you instinctively duck a bit, or at least flinch.

 

[disneysteve]

One thing that bugs me more and more, is how in just about every movie or tv show, whenever there's a thunderstorm, you hear the thunder at almost the same instant as the lightning flash. I don't know how things are in other parts of the country, but in my neck of the woods, when it happens that fast, it usually means it's practically on top of you, and the sound is so loud that you instinctively duck a bit, or at least flinch.

Me too. That has always bothered me. It is a standard dramatic license thing despite being scientifically incorrect.

 

[Texas Proud]

Or how they can pick any lock like they have the key... no fumble, no looking... just put your thing in and turn like it was the key..

 

[scrabbler1]

Or how they can pick any lock like they have the key... no fumble, no looking... just put your thing in and turn like it was the key..

They do that all the time in the old Mission: Impossible series. Same for opening locked safes no matter how complex the lock is.

 

[disneysteve]

Or how they can pick any lock like they have the key... no fumble, no looking... just put your thing in and turn like it was the key..

On a recent Tracker episode, he had something in one hand (gun? flashlight? I don't remember) but still pulled out his lock picks and got in in seconds even though that's a 2-handed operation.

If picking locks was half as easy as they make it look on TV, locks would be worthless.

 

[folivier]

Yeah, Tracker is unreal. I'm waiting for him to break into the wrong house waving his gun around. Guess he's not worried since he makes friends with the local cops so easily.
It's become more like a comedy for DW and I laughing at his antics. Marshals is getting that way also.

 

[Texas Proud]

OK... just watched the first Dutton Ranch... wow... lots of them in this one...

But, the one I will put down is the truck... they were running away from the fire and chilling at a motel... the truck was covered totally with ash and stuff, including the front windshield... it was COVERED.. so you probably could not see...

Next you see her on the road and the windshield looked like it was brand new... clean as someone putting it in an auto show... if they had just used the wipers and had part of it clean then OK... but the whole thing?

 

[sdawson]

Was watching an episode of 'The Goldbergs' at a friends house years ago. This show is set in the 1980s. There was a seen where they had to run to the airport for some reason to catch someone before boarding a plane. They were delayed due to the metal detector and the security lines at the airport entrance! That scene immediately jumped out as ridiculous, and I curmudgeonly complained about it.

We all know that until 9/11 in the year 2001, anyone could simply go directly to the gate to meet someone. The writers must have been young enought to assume that todays airport protocol has been in place since the dawn of aviation.

 

[Andre1969]

This is more of an anachronism than a ridiculous moment, but I was watching an episode of the John Waynce Gacy tv series last night. At one point they showed him being driven around in a police car. A 1986-87 Crown Vic. Umm, wasn't he arrested late '78?

And, with the interior shots, a common goof that pops up in the movies and tv. They're driving, but why is the gearshift lever in park?

 

[JoeWras]

And, with the interior shots, a common goof that pops up in the movies and tv. They're driving, but why is the gearshift lever in park?

You asked "why?" Answer: because the car is on a push or pull dolly! That's why. (Sorry)

Real answer: assistant director or tech person didn't do their job properly. Nice catch.

 

[CaptTom]

I always got a chuckle out of the old movies and TV shows where they just played a movie of a winding road outside the windshield or (more often) the back window of the stationary car. Of course everyone knew it was fake, like the sets for a play on a stage, so it didn't detract too much from the plot.

 

[Qs Laptop]

And, with the interior shots, a common goof that pops up in the movies and tv. They're driving, but why is the gearshift lever in park?

Along the same lines, I will point out the practice of removing the rear view mirror and the head rests from interior shots showing people inside cars.

 

[JoeWras]

Along the same lines, I will point out the practice of removing the rear view mirror and the head rests from interior shots showing people inside cars.

WHAT is up with that?! It seems to be some standard that the Hollywood Vehicle Film Crews do. I presume it is for visibility or ease of equipment transport or something.

It drove me crazy in Twin Peaks: The Return. One moment Jade is driving a Jeep without a head rest, the next moment the headrest appears. What? Of course, Twin Peaks fans defend it saying David Lynch is giving hints about multiple time lines or multiverse or some other nonsense. Nope. Just a mistake.

BTW, her headrest appears in a shot where she clearly is actually driving, so I guess they prepped the Jeep for road use and threw continuity out the window.

 

[Andre1969]

Another thing that bugs me about car shots, is when the interior doesn't match up with the exterior. One of the worst mis-matches I can recall, in recent memory, was watching an episode of "Barnaby Jones." It was the final season (1979-80).

The bad guy was driving a 1977-79 Mercury Cougar XR-7, which is a coupe. It has a frameless door window, and then a small, fixed window right behind that, giving it a faux hardtop (no B-pillar) look. I call it "faux" because that little window is stationary, in a "real" hardtop, it would roll down. And then, in the thick C-pillar, there's a slanted opera window.

On the interior shots, they aimed the camera a little high so you didn't see any giveaway details like the dashboard or door trim, but could see the windows. It looked like a 4-door car, with a really formal, squared-off C-pillar, and a quarter window in the rear door to allow the main window more room to roll down. The only car I'm thinking it could have been would be a 1980 Buick Electra, Olds Ninety Eight, or Cadillac DeVille/Fleetwood.

It really is a "blink and you'll miss it" kind of moment, that most normal people wouldn't pay attention to. I just think this particular example is interesting, because Quinn-Martin productions (Barnaby Jones, Cannon, and even going back to "The Fugitive" and "The Invaders" etc) always used Ford products. So it seems odd to me that they'd use a brand-new GM car, and an upscale one at that (presuming I really am correct in identifying it) in one of their productions.