Things I've learned from watching TV and films...

[Wynterhawk]

You can open a locked door with a hair pin. Doesn't matter the type of lock.

 

[trekkiedane]

When someone enters a room hitting the light switch, but the light doesn't come on, they're going to be knocked out or meet an untimely death.

 

[Wynterhawk]

When you open the closet or refrigerator door, lean in to get something, there will be someone standing *right there* to scare you once you close the door.

 

[Star Wolf]

GPS units are so good, they even when using local slang, that Federal Agents can fly in from anywhere and know a city like they were a native

 

[danellis]

You can find anything on the internet with a few mouse clicks.

And you can find the most amazing things! On The Gates recently,

Spoiler: I guess it counts as a spoiler even if nobody is watching

a guy found out that his neighbor was a vampire. So he Googles "how to kill a vampire"

like Google is going to have the right answer!

To be fair, a real Google search gives me the same answer it gave him, whether either is right, is, of course, an entirely different matter.

Whenever you're sneaking around somewhere, another major character is is sneaking around the same place.

dJE

 

[ToddPence]

Nobody ever watches television, or if they do, it's for a 5 second burst before it gets turned off.

Television shows are always interrupted by "special news breaks".

And people will always turn on the TV or the radio just in time to catch a "special news break" relevant to the plot.

 

[Warped9]

Parents are also stupid and the kids always smart mouthed and smart.

I've actually seen my niece talk to my sister and her husband that way. If my niece had grown up with my parents she never would have gotten away with it. I can tease my parents now as an adult, but I'd have caught holy hell if I'd been mouthy with my parents while growing up.

In romantic comedies the boy and girl always hate each other first.

 

[Captain Shaw]

You can smash a city to pieces catching the bad guy, yet you will not lose your Job or get sued.
Also uniformed offices will forget how to drive during a chase and smash into each other while you will just keep on going like the energizer bunny.

 

[Star Wolf]

I really learned on Lou Grant that Pit Bulls are not just dogs but the UFC champ of dogs. After the episode aired I started noticing that Pits were the breed of choice as gangster's pets.

 

[Orac Zen]

* a torch (of either the battery-operated or burning variety), cigarette lighter or match can completely illuminate an area of any size for as long as necessary.

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

* a torch (of either the battery-operated or burning variety), cigarette lighter or match can completely illuminate an area of any size for as long as necessary.

And yet, even though the whole room is illuminated the characters will only notice the elephant in the room when the camera shows it after a few seconds/ minutes.

 

[Wynterhawk]

Non-smokers carry cigarette lighters and can pull them out at a crucial moment.

 

[Orac Zen]

^
Yep. And people routinely carry a supply of matches, too. You never know when you'll have to fully illuminate an entire room, after all.

 

[danellis]

GPS units are so good, they even when using local slang, that Federal Agents can fly in from anywhere and know a city like they were a native

I thought that was just a case of Feds being *that* good?

dJE

 

[Tom Hendricks]

While trying to escape a large creature trying to eat you, a larger creature will come out of no where to eat them.

 

[Wynterhawk]

^^

Along with that, the best way to run from a large creature trying to eat you, as well as a car chasing you down the street with someone shooting at you, is to run straight and ahead of the assailant because you know, making quick turns, zig-zagging, or turning and trying to run in the opposite direction is well... (enter your own adjective).

 

[Tom Hendricks]

When ever someone is going to be tortured, the camera backs out of the room and the door closes so you can't see anything but you can hear the person howling in pain.

 

[Deckerd]

^^

Along with that, the best way to run from a large creature trying to eat you, as well as a car chasing you down the street with someone shooting at you, is to run straight and ahead of the assailant because you know, making quick turns, zig-zagging, or turning and trying to run in the opposite direction is well... (enter your own adjective).

"Serpentine, man, serpentine"

 

[trekkiedane]

When you die you seemingly hover above your corpse for 90-odd minutes in which you narrate a 'Readers Digest'-version of your life...

 

[captcalhoun]

if aliens invade, don't go near LA.

a disruption in communications can mean only one thing: invasion!

don't answer distress signals from strange uncharted worlds

aliens who turn up over major cities in huge flying saucers are NEVER friendly.

never, EVER, fuck with DNA, ESPECIALLY if you just got a message from aliens.