Did They Think No One Would Notice?

Are you observant when you watch TV? I think most writers probably pay closer attention to things than the average person. Like a lawyer notices things about courtroom shows and cops notice things about police procedure and nurses notice things about medical shows, writers notice discrepancies in storylines, characterization, etc.

For instance, have you ever noticed during flashback scenes that younger versions of the character experiencing the flashback oft times have different colored eyes? Lead character, adult version of, let’s call him Steve, has blue eyes, but in his flashback(s) his eyes are brown? How did that happen? Did he have eye transplants?

Here are some other things I notice. I’m going to change the names of the characters to protect the innocent. Pam is sent on a 2-day business trip to try to convince Bob to sell his failing B & B to Pam’s boss. Pam arrives with one small overnight bag. During the course of the show, Pam wears 57 outfits with matching shoes and jewelry and dons at least 6 different coats. She must have one of those Mary Poppins magic carpet bags because there is no way all that stuff came out of that one small bag.

And, in that bag is almost always an evening gown or a little black dress. And at the formal event that Pam must attend if she wants to seal the deal, her hair is all made up in an elaborate updo that would take a team of 6 stylists and an architect to master. Yet, Pam travels alone. Hmmm. Maybe Pam is a shapeshifter who turns into an octopus and thus has extra hands to manage that amazing hairdo.

I also find it interesting that Sue is a spy with wicked ninja skills and looks to kill. During Sue’s mission she encounters not 1, not 2, not 3, but 12 evil terrorists whose only goal is to kill Sue. Now, of course Sue is going to defeat all 12, but during the hand-to-hand up-close combat she is punched in the face several times, spits out a couple of teeth, kicked in the ribs, and slashed with a knife across her shoulder. Several hours later, after Sue bravely defeats these skilled assassins, she does not go to the hospital, but rather attends a formal gala where the super-secret spy password is hidden in a wall safe in the gala organizer’s home office. Sue arrives in a strapless, super short, gown with no gaping bleeding wounds, bruises or missing teeth. She’s not walking funny or holding her side. Wow, I wanna be Sue. She must be one of those X-Men mutants who heals really, really fast.

Quite often in shows and movies, I notice that the lead characters “buy” things but don’t pay for them. Annie and Max go to the coffee house, order coffee, take their cups and walk away. How does that work? George goes to the hot chocolate stand at the Christmas carnival and gets hot chocolate for his new love Mary, but never reaches for any money. Lulu gets called away from a meal at the diner, where she’s having breakfast alone and she grabs her purse and coat and just – leaves. Really? I want to know where this magical diner is because I love free food.

Which brings up another oddity: if characters do actually buy something, they often leave without it. John goes into the bakery, orders a donut and a cup of coffee, gets a phone call then turns to leave. Betty goes into the dry cleaners with her receipt, has a conversation with the owner, because we all know the owner is the real killer and she’s trying to get information by being a friendly customer, then Betty leaves without her dry cleaning. Good ruse there, Betty. Nothing suspicious about that at all.

And, let’s go back to spies and other covert mission people. Sometimes these people do get kicked around and knocked down. Sometimes their cover is blown and they have to lay low for a bit. So, they go off the grid. They disappear. Well, they have to. They go deep, deep into the woods where a lovely little cabin awaits. They climb high into the mountains where a gorgeous little brick house is nestled in a valley near a lake. They go to a deserted island and take up living in a grass tiki hut. No one around for miles. No civilization. Yet in these cabins, cottages and huts is an endless supply of food, toilet paper, bottled water and other whatnot. There is electricity and running water. Every off-grid location also has top of the line surveillance equipment, super-fast internet and uninterrupted cell service. Really? How is that possible? I can’t get cable if I move 5 miles outside the city limits.

And speaking of top of the line stuff, where do they get the money to pay for all of this stuff? If they are living off the grid, there can’t be any monthly bills. They can’t use credit or ATM cards. If they go into the bank to access their safe deposit box for their millions of dollars in small unmarked bills, wouldn’t the cameras at the bank see them? Or does everybody but me have a double identity? Just in case.

I mean, I know spies and top-secret government people would have all of this stuff, but the average Joe? Susie homemaker is suddenly a widow and finds out that people who killed her family are after her to, for information they believe she has. So she must disappear. She does. The story continues with her living for the past year in a house in the backwoods swamp somewhere. She’s watching Fox News while listening to surveillance tapes of phone calls being exchanged amongst her enemies about her whereabouts. Outside her door, snakes and alligators hide just beneath the murky water under the creaking, rotting deck supporting her little hidey-hole. Spanish moss drips from the low-hanging cypress trees blocking out the full moon. How does she end up with all of these things way back in the swamp?

Am I an over-noticer or do you guys notice these things too? It’s not just crime dramas either. It’s Hallmark movies, half-hour sitcoms, sci fi movies. I notice stuff all the time. Tell me what things you notice when you watch television or movies? I’d like to know it’s not just me.

Word of the Day: Yoicks

Fun fact about me: I’m really starting to like smooth jazz music. Maybe I’m just getting old.

Original post by Jansen Schmidt, February 2020. Images by Pexels and Google Images.

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