Cable Forum - View Single Post - What do TV and films get wrong about shows?

Stuart · 15-01-2015, 12:42

The BBC has an interesting article where they talk to people in various jobs about what the media get wrong when they feature jobs..

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-maga...nitor-30817309

So, what jobs have you noticed that the media just gets wrong?

I've noticed they frequently get the job of System Admin wrong. System Admins (on TV at least) seem to be experts on everything to do with computing from the basics to the real low level stuff. They are also frequently hackers and can be experts on anything from system backdoors through to bomb disposal.

Now, I know a few, as well as being one myself, and while we are often experts on our own field, and may also be good hackers, we are not experts on everything. I dare say show one of us a bomb, and we'd be running, not googling how to diffuse it. Of course, googling to diffuse it probably wouldn't help anyway as bombs are not exactly mass produced consumer items.

Another bug bear is TV pathologists. They seem to be routinely experts on every aspect of medicine, and have access to state of the art equipment. I cite "Bones" as an example of this. I've read a few of the books "Bones" is based on. They are about a middle-aged single woman, who is slightly awkward around people, who just happens to be a top pathologist and works in a tiny, cramped lab in the basement of a University with equipment that can optimistically be described as old. Kathy Reichs was a top pathologist when she wrote the books, so I'd be inclined to believe they are at least slightly accurate.

In the TV series, she is middle aged, single (for a while) and slightly awkward around people, but she's been given a team, and works in a state of the art FBI lab with holographic displays (which do not even exist yet).

Don't get me wrong, I can understand with some jobs why they change aspects, because some jobs are complicated and to show them perfectly accurately may well bore the audience, but I do like them to at least try and get things right.

15-01-2015, 12:42	#1
Stuart - Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Somewhere Services: Virgin for TV and Internet, BT for phone Posts: 26,546	What do TV and films get wrong about shows? The BBC has an interesting article where they talk to people in various jobs about what the media get wrong when they feature jobs.. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-maga...nitor-30817309 So, what jobs have you noticed that the media just gets wrong? I've noticed they frequently get the job of System Admin wrong. System Admins (on TV at least) seem to be experts on everything to do with computing from the basics to the real low level stuff. They are also frequently hackers and can be experts on anything from system backdoors through to bomb disposal. Now, I know a few, as well as being one myself, and while we are often experts on our own field, and may also be good hackers, we are not experts on everything. I dare say show one of us a bomb, and we'd be running, not googling how to diffuse it. Of course, googling to diffuse it probably wouldn't help anyway as bombs are not exactly mass produced consumer items. Another bug bear is TV pathologists. They seem to be routinely experts on every aspect of medicine, and have access to state of the art equipment. I cite "Bones" as an example of this. I've read a few of the books "Bones" is based on. They are about a middle-aged single woman, who is slightly awkward around people, who just happens to be a top pathologist and works in a tiny, cramped lab in the basement of a University with equipment that can optimistically be described as old. Kathy Reichs was a top pathologist when she wrote the books, so I'd be inclined to believe they are at least slightly accurate. In the TV series, she is middle aged, single (for a while) and slightly awkward around people, but she's been given a team, and works in a state of the art FBI lab with holographic displays (which do not even exist yet). Don't get me wrong, I can understand with some jobs why they change aspects, because some jobs are complicated and to show them perfectly accurately may well bore the audience, but I do like them to at least try and get things right.