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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Finally! Someone who understands me! Over the years, I thought I was the only one who picked up on that stuff. It drives me crazy.
And how about in the action movies when 10 bad guys with Uzis surprise our hero and open fire but he just happens to duck behind a wall as the bullets whizz past. Of course the first 200 bullets have missed him. Then as he peers around the wall he casually picks off 9 guys with his revolver, with one shot each. Then when the guy that escapes reports back to “the boss” what happens? You guessed it. The boss shoots him for being an incompetent. Can you say stale plot?
With the advent of streaming and DVR I started driving my wife crazy going back to previous scenes and saying “see I told you that scar was on the other side of his face before!” Ruined movies for her. Duh! Now I only do that if I’m watching alone.
By the way, I think you have coined a really cool new word (albeit hyphenated). Over-noticer. I love it!
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Oh my gosh – YES!!!! The shoot-outs are insane. Bad guys NEVER hit their targets and good guys kill on the very first shot fired whilst jumping off a bridge and aiming over their shoulder. Every. Single. Time. It’s insane. I can’t hit a really large target at close range standing absolutely still and holding the gun with both hands. Or, maybe that’s just what I want people to think hmmm?
Thanks for also being an over-noticer. Funny how we continue to watch even though these things drive us nuts. People are weird like that.
Have a wonderful week, Al.
Patricia
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I’m totally with you and Al. For years, I’ve noticed all the things you both mentioned, plus a few more. In Hallmark movies, no one ever closes the front door with escaping a snowstorm or going out to watch a frigid moon.
From what I hear and read, the average Manhattan apartment is a 400 SF box, but on TV unemployed – or menially employed – people live in 2 story houses or apartments of maybe 1500 or 2000 SF. Right!
My personal pet peeve is the total lack of attention to geography. I can remember Matt Dillon riding into the mountain range just west of Dodge City or a plane flying over the mountains between Fort Worth and Dallas. Give me a while, and I could probably think up 1000 examples ignorance of geography. Are all movie and TV directors and screenwriters really that ignorant?
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Absolutely, David! Or movies supposedly taking place in the east, but showing snow-capped peaks from out west.
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Oh Dave – the front doors. That also drives me crazy. Usually – in almost every instance – the front door opens OUT. NOOOOOO. Front doors NEVER open out. They open in. My husband and I both scream at the TV when we see that. I guess set designers aren’t really house builders are they? Drives us both crazy. Leaving the door open is another thing we notice.
And, I also notice geography being inconsistent. And, in one instance I noticed that the main attraction leading into this one small town was a gigantic waterfall. In one scene when a new person arrived – no waterfall. What the heck?
Maybe it’s because we’re writers or maybe it’s because we’re super smart. I’m guessing it because we’re both, but it does take one out of the story doesn’t it?
Thank for being part of the conversation. Have a wonderful week.
Patricia
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Maybe that’s why I like my fantasy shows, where it’s easier to overlook all these little normal day factors and accept the unlikely? They’re probably hoping most viewers are so invested in the story that they won’t notice these little details…an obvious fail. 🙂 But it’s true about paying attention to what you know – Jack always counts the bullets shot!
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I think it is easier to “miss” those things in sci fi or fantasy because our eyes are basically untrained in those worlds. We’re not sure that what we’re seeing is out of place or unusual in a completely made up world. Although I did notice a costume fail during one of the Star Wars movies. A sash changed colors.
I can see Jack yelling at the TV if the weapons are inaccurate. We notice more what we’re most familiar with.
Enjoy the rest of your week.
Patricia
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Haha, I call these “yeah, right” moments. Too many and I’m out! My faves are the shootouts discussed above. And the women involved in something like that, or running for their lives, or who’ve just escaped a fire, or were in a big fight, etc. whose clothes, makeup and hair are still perfect afterward. Also, perfect makeup and hair right after they wake up in the morning. I know those are a fantasy, but come on!
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(Furiously nodding) Yup. I always notice that too. No woman in TV Land who goes to sleep still wearing mascara ever wakes up with raccoon eyes. At least Disney got it right in the movie Frozen when Anna woke up the morning of Coronation Day, drooling, hair sticking everywhere, clothes all bunched up around her neck. In fact, I remember thinking how life like that scene really was. I may have even laughed out loud.
I also notice a lot of weird stuff through car windows when characters are supposed to be driving. In one scene I remember, the same homeless person pushing a grocery cart went by the window three times. (Groaning) Yeah, people notice that stuff.
Anyway, I’m glad I’m not the only one. Thanks for sharing. Have a fantastic rest of the week.
Patricia
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