TV Myths

[Ress76]

Today, we were talking about that overused storyline where someone's kid drives the car through a garage and into the kitchen. Lol! Who does that?! And it happens on any TV sitcom. Lol.

My mother came close several years ago. A wall of Rubbermaid totes kept her car in the garage, but she did crack the kitchen drywall.

 

[bcla]

Ok, my tv "myth" happens on almost any tv court show. Discussing almost any objection that deals with whether evidence is admissible or not in the presence of a jury is a big no-no.

They also never show jury selection, which can be one of the most important parts of a trial. Of course, I realize it would make horrible tv.

I've been there and served on two juries. It's never as polished as TV shows make it out to be. A lot of personal questions get asked, and quite often potential jury members get defensive. I remember a friend said he try to say something offensive when asked a question, but in real life doing that is transparent to a judge, and might end up with a contempt of court violation.

 

[sam_gordon]

Not necessarily a myth unless you're talking 40 years ago. Wireless transmission has been around for decades. I've been to plenty of sporting events where someone is carrying a pro video camcorder with a transmitter, and sending live video to the jumbo screen. Occasionally there might be a blip when the signal is bad.

http://broadcastrf.com/wireless-cameras-2/

But we're talking two different things... an arena/stadium that has a dedicated antenna layout/infrastructure vs a 'news' live shot. Wireless devices are susceptible to outside interference and things like walls can easily block the signal.

News crews use these all the time now. If it's a huge crowd scene, having cables all around doesn't seem very practical.

It might not seem practical, but it's being done. And no, news crews are not using wireless "all the time now". Transmission devices (that rely on cellular technology) are just now getting small enough to fit in a backpack or even on top of the camera, but that's only come about in the last 5 years or so. I'm willing to wager 80-90%+ of live shots are 'tethered' to something.

 

[tvguy]

http://www.tvtechnology.com/BE_files/uploads/2013/02/TVU%20Networks_TVUPack%20TM8200_0313-300.jpg

But we're talking two different things... an arena/stadium that has a dedicated antenna layout/infrastructure vs a 'news' live shot. Wireless devices are susceptible to outside interference and things like walls can easily block the signal.

It might not seem practical, but it's being done. And no, news crews are not using wireless "all the time now". Transmission devices (that rely on cellular technology) are just now getting small enough to fit in a backpack or even on top of the camera, but that's only come about in the last 5 years or so. I'm willing to wager 80-90%+ of live shots are 'tethered' to something.

Agreed, most live shots are hooked up to a microwave or satellite truck. Backpacks, such as TVU , LiveU and Dejero are more common, but aren't very reliable where there are large crowds of people......people when you have 15,000 people in one place, many using their SmartPhones, there isn't enough bandwidth to support the backpacks.

 

[NCRedding]

The quote didn't show up for some reason: I always thought the rooms on Raymond wee huge too. That always bothered me as did the fact that the parents lived across the street, yet they always came in through the back door. Why would you cross all the way around and go behind the house?

Really dating myself: the Brady Bunch house was nowhere near the same outside either, plus, one bathroom for 6 kids??

I also get a huge chuckle watching reruns of Love Boat (which are coming on TV regularly now) and see the huge cabins.

 

[phorsenuf]

The quote didn't show up for some reason: I always thought the rooms on Raymond wee huge too. That always bothered me as did the fact that the parents lived across the street, yet they always came in through the back door. Why would you cross all the way around and go behind the house?

Really dating myself: the Brady Bunch house was nowhere near the same outside either, plus, one bathroom for 6 kids??

I also get a huge chuckle watching reruns of Love Boat (which are coming on TV regularly now) and see the huge cabins.

Or their hair and clothes are not blowing wild in the wind.

 

[Jaya]

I've never driven through a garage door, but I did get my dad's car wedged at an angle in the door trying to back out of the garage when I was 16. The more I tried to extract the car, the more damage I did. He was not a happy camper.

One of the things I love is when you see people on TV or in movies in an airplane. I want to fly on the airline that gives you that much legroom in coach.

 

[fly girl]

Any birth on any sitcom EVER!

The wife is casually doing whatever not even planning on labor and then BAM!, instant massive contractions or the water breaks and they are needing to push immediately. Ensue yelling and screaming and blaming husband for "doing this to her."

Then ... to make the situation more unrealistic the dopey Dad is all frazzled and so nervous he can't do anything. He doesn't know his name, can't drive a car, etc.

Usually, when they make it to the hospital it is one or two pushes and ta-dah! A magically clean 3 month old looking baby appears. Mom is perfectly coiffed and refreshed.

Ugh! I have never seen one realistic birth on a sitcom.

 

[barkley]

the slamming down of laptop screens drives me nuts-it's done in anger, in frustration, sometimes just when someone's happy they've finished working on a paper. either the people in tv land have uber tough laptops or they have an endless supply of money to replace or repair.

I also hate it when someone is supposedly taking something "hot" out of the oven and they reach in bare handed/without pot holders (bad enuf on scripted shows but on the morning shows w/the celeb chefs doing a demo then saying "and we've got this one piping hot and ready to take out of the oven right now" then they reach in bare handed

 

[chartle]

Whenever someone gets a present, it’s in a wrapped box with a separately wrapped top so it can be opened without ripping the paper or cutting or untying ribbons. In real life, who wraps like that?

But there are times that it will be wrapped correctly, its usually to make a joke of ripping open the present like like a hunger dog going for a steak or one of those people that saved the paper.

Oh and the people that wrap like that is the prop person that doesn't want to wrap 30 identical presents.

 

[Rhombus]

How about when they show them going to WDW and there are wide open spaces everywhere - no crowds at all. Now that's a myth!

Why not? It's the same wide open spaces in Disney commercials, so it must be true.

Also, there is always a couch and chairs in the middle of the room, so people can walk around them; never against a wall. Who arranges their furniture that way?

Plenty of people do. Putting furniture in the middle of the room isn't uncommon at all in real life.

 

[Minnesota!]

One more....hospital rooms. Every time a patient is in a hospital room (old shows, new shows, it doesn't matter) they are always in a private room in the hospital, and the room is always HUGE. The only time I've ever visited someone in a private room in the hospital is in the maternity ward and ICU. And those rooms weren't huge, and they never had art hanging on the wall and all the posh furnishings that you commonly see on tv shows.

I have never seen a shared hospital room! I have been hospitalized quite a few times, as have many others in my circle, and all were private, good sized rooms...

TV myths. Hmm. Rarely in bumper to bumper traffic...always cruising along.

 

[Lilliputian]

That always bothered me as did the fact that the parents lived across the street, yet they always came in through the back door. Why would you cross all the way around and go behind the house?

Yes! That bugged me, too. When Frank drove into their house, he drove into the front of it, so they must live across from the front. Of course, that still doesn't make sense because their houses have the garages in the back. It just doesn't make sense at all.

 

[NewRVLady]

Whenever someone gets a present, it’s in a wrapped box with a separately wrapped top so it can be opened without ripping the paper or cutting or untying ribbons. In real life, who wraps like that?

?

ME!!!

LOL

It was only once for a large super nice present_i went all out

 

[bcla]

But we're talking two different things... an arena/stadium that has a dedicated antenna layout/infrastructure vs a 'news' live shot. Wireless devices are susceptible to outside interference and things like walls can easily block the signal.

It might not seem practical, but it's being done. And no, news crews are not using wireless "all the time now". Transmission devices (that rely on cellular technology) are just now getting small enough to fit in a backpack or even on top of the camera, but that's only come about in the last 5 years or so. I'm willing to wager 80-90%+ of live shots are 'tethered' to something.

Here's a photo of a bunch of news cameras. I don't see any cables, although it might not be a live shot. The one on the left has the antennas visible. I realize that wired is preferred, but I'm pretty sure that more news vans than you cite have wireless equipment to receive camera signals. At the very least, it's not something that would be considered improbable to see in real life, since the technology is available.

 

[sam_gordon]

Here's a photo of a bunch of news cameras. I don't see any cables, although it might not be a live shot. The one on the left has the antennas visible. I realize that wired is preferred, but I'm pretty sure that more news vans than you cite have wireless equipment to receive camera signals. At the very least, it's not something that would be considered improbable to see in real life, since the technology is available.

I'm willing to wager a Dole Whip none of those cameras are providing a live signal back to the studio. The two little 'stick' antennas on the left hand camera are to receive a signal from a wireless microphone.

Here's a picture of one of the smaller pieces of technology that allow an untethered live shot...

Notice the two antennas... those are to send the signal over a cellular connection.

Yes, the technology is here, but it is still being developed. It is by no means in use by news crews "all the time" now. Here's what most are using when they're not using a truck:

or

or

All of the above use bonded cellular to send the signal from the camera back to the station (as does the larger picture I posted). But that still requires an umbilical cable between the camera and the transmitter.

The technology is getting there, but hasn't fully arrived yet, which means the 'untethered' live shot (as shown in most TV shows & movies) is a Myth.

 

[grandmateri]

How about when someone goes to the store and buy a quart of milk or pulls a quart out of the fridge -and they have 2 - 5 kids in the house.

 

[tvguy]

I'm willing to wager a Dole Whip none of those cameras are providing a live signal back to the studio. The two little 'stick' antennas on the left hand camera are to receive a signal from a wireless microphone.

Yup. Wireless mike antenna.

 

[DeaverTex]

The quote didn't show up for some reason: I always thought the rooms on Raymond wee huge too. That always bothered me as did the fact that the parents lived across the street, yet they always came in through the back door. Why would you cross all the way around and go behind the house?

Really dating myself: the Brady Bunch house was nowhere near the same outside either, plus, one bathroom for 6 kids??

I also get a huge chuckle watching reruns of Love Boat (which are coming on TV regularly now) and see the huge cabins.

Mrs. Tex was one of eight children. They had one bathroom. I was always amazed that there wasn't any old damage to the bathroom door frame.

Any birth on any sitcom EVER!

The wife is casually doing whatever not even planning on labor and then BAM!, instant massive contractions or the water breaks and they are needing to push immediately. Ensue yelling and screaming and blaming husband for "doing this to her."

Then ... to make the situation more unrealistic the dopey Dad is all frazzled and so nervous he can't do anything. He doesn't know his name, can't drive a car, etc.

Usually, when they make it to the hospital it is one or two pushes and ta-dah! A magically clean 3 month old looking baby appears. Mom is perfectly coiffed and refreshed.

Ugh! I have never seen one realistic birth on a sitcom.

I've heard the yelling and screaming and blaming the husband for "doing this to her" more than once, usually accompanied by rude remarks regarding the husband's parentage. This seems to be more common in some cultures than others.

If they showed realistic births on a sitcom, the birth rate would plummet.

 

[karensi]

On King Of Queens, in the beginning of each show , when they show the house, there is no porch. But there were many episodes that showed people on the porch.
That's something that always bothered me.