In a lot of TV shows, a friend or family member will often just walk into a character's home without knocking on the door or ringing the doorbell first. Is there a reason why this is done for TV? Or is it common in real life and I just haven't met people who do this? I've always lived in one area of the United States, so maybe it's a regional difference.
Phaneron
27th Feb 2024
General questions
Answer: This was a common practice in comedy shows in the 1970s (such as Good Times and Laverne and Shirley). Viewers were already familiar with the characters and their practices of just walking in, so the show left it in as something nobody really thought twice about.
15th Feb 2024
General questions
Why do so many actors use pseudonyms instead of their real names?
Answer: Along with the Phaneron's answer, using a pseudonym might make it easier for a celebrity to do some things with their real name, such as buying a property or checking into a hotel room alone if they want.
Answer: One of the reasons can be for making a simpler and easier-to-remember name. For example, Andrew Lincoln's real surname is Clutterbuck. Sean Bean changed the spelling of his first name from "Shaun" to look similar to his surname. Another reason is that the Screen Actors Guild does not allow two actors with the exact same stage name, likely to avoid confusion. Michael Keaton's real name is Michael Douglas, which is a name already being used. Michael B. Jordan uses his middle initial because Michael Jordan is technically a member of the Screen Actors Guild for having appeared in Space Jam.
Answer: Agree with the other answers, but would add that in Hollywood's earlier days, movie studios typically remade their new talent. Actors were under years-long contracts, and the studios trained them, controlled their publicity and public image, crafted their appearance and style, chose their movie roles, influenced who they publicly dated, and so on. This redo often included changing actors' real names that were considered too long, unsophisticated, difficult to pronounce, too "ethnic," and so on. A good example is Archibald Leach who became "Cary Grant" or Norma Jean Baker who was remade into "Marilyn Monroe." Most actors today use their birth names.
Answer: But these days, the vast majority of actors use their real birth names.
22nd Nov 2023
General questions
I know companies pay a lot of money to advertise during events such as the Superbowl, but what about "regular" TV? Did they choose to have their ads run during particular shows? I am mostly thinking of broadcast TV, before streaming was popular.
Answer: Companies typically pay to run their ads during times when their target audience will be watching TV, such as toy companies running ads during Saturday morning cartoons, and in particular, a popular company like McDonald's would run their Happy Meal commercials during that time as well.
Answer: To add to the other fine answer, TV advertising costs are determined by how many viewers watch a particular program. TV networks set advertising rates based on different programs' ratings. Those with the highest viewership are the most expensive to advertise on. TV ratings were (and still are) determined by the Nielsen Media Research Company, who measure who and how many people watch each TV show. Companies naturally want to advertise their products and services when the largest number of viewers are watching and also to their target market.
6th May 2023
General questions
When movies or TV shows are filmed on location, how do they manage to film a scene without interference from the local public?
Answer: They will typically have areas closed off. If it is filmed in an area with heavy pedestrian traffic, there will be notices displayed that anyone in the area could end up on camera and is giving consent to be filmed by being in the area. The film crew will have security measures in place to prevent people from disrupting the production.
Your description is accurate, though I once wandered into a scene of the TV show, "Northern Exposure," that was filming in Seattle. I didn't realise I was in the shot. The film crew didn't notice me. When the director yelled, "Action", I just walked away. I've also driven by several movies filming on the street with traffic passing through, such as "Sleepless in Seattle." I drove by Meg Ryan who was in a car. Tom Hanks was on the beach. Was commuting to work as "Fifty Shades Freed" filmed a car chase on the now-gone Alaskan Way Viaduct. Traffic was temporarily stopped during filming.
Answer: Some big budget shows like the Law and Order franchise have recorded outside scenes with green screens to block out the public but keep natural lighting, building exteriors, sidewalks etc. They add a nondescript city background later.
9th Jan 2023
General questions
Are there any notable examples of a TV character being written out/killed off because viewers hated them?
Answer: Roseanne Barr was killed off from the second version of "Roseanne" when she became too controversial.
Answer: Nicolette Sheridan, who portrayed Edie Britt in the TV series Desperate Housewives was considered a diva and didn't get along with the shows creator Marc Cherry. Her character was killed off when she swerved to avoid hitting Orson. Unaware that there was water under the car and that a powerline had snapped, Edie gets out of the car, is electrocuted and killed.
Answer: During the season 4 run of "Moonlighting," Cybil Shepherd was pregnant in real life, so it was written into the show. During her paternity leave, her character, Maddie, was having mixed emotions about the baby and her relationship with David. She goes home to do some soul searching. She's still unsure, when on the train ride back to L.A, she meets a man. Walter Bishop, actor turned director Dennis Dugan, on impulse she marries him. Viewers thought this was the dumbest mistake, since the "Dallas" it was all a dream season. Everyone waited with baited breath on how they were going to fix this. Finally the character, Walter, realised the whole thing was a mistake and got an annulment. He says goodbye to everyone and as he walks out the office door, he turns toward the camera and says, "Are you happy now."
Answer: I would include Jennifer Love Hewitt, who replaced Jeanne Tripplehorn in "Criminal Minds" after season 9. Love Hewitt wasn't well received by viewers. The official reason given for Love Hewitt's departure after one season was that she was pregnant. Despite the show's claim that viewers had "warmed" to her character, she was permanently written out.
Answer: I think the character Seven was written out of "Married with Children" because viewers disliked him so much. He was an example of "Cousin Oliver Syndrome" - an annoying younger child character who is added to a show after a few seasons. He basically disappears. The neighbors mention that he is staying at their house, but eventually, he is never mentioned again.
17th Sep 2022
General questions
I need help with the title of a book my teacher read to my class in 5th grade, circa 1995. The only details I remember were it taking place in either the North or South Pole, and the main character killed a polar bear by shooting it in the head.
Answer: It may or may not help, but polar bears don't live in Antarctica (the South Pole).
Answer: If you aren't recalling the details, the only movie (and book) around this time period that I can think of is "Alaska" (1996), starring Vincent Kartheiser and Thora Birch. But Vincent did not shoot a polar bear - a poacher shot a mother polar bear and the baby followed the kids while they searched for their father who had wrecked his plane.
I've never seen the movie Alaska, but the book in question feels like it was probably more of a survival story rather than an adventure. The only additional detail I can give is that the teacher assigned us to draw a scene from the book, and since the protagonist shot the polar bear in the head, many of the boys in the class, myself included, decided to draw that scene, complete with exaggerated gore.
"Alaska" was about survival.
I wonder if your teacher may have deliberately altered some information (e.g, the boy shooting the bear) to make the story more relevant and provocative to the grade level and whatever discussion questions that were given?
I've only seen the Nostalgia Critic's review of it, but wasn't it about the father's survival while his children were on an adventure of sorts to rescue him? Again, I'm not familiar with the "Alaska" book, but it seems like the protagonist for my book was an adult male and it was told from his point of view.
3rd Mar 2022
General questions
Are there any TV shows that had such bad ratings/view numbers, they were taken off the air rather quickly? After just one, two, three episodes?
Answer: "The Mike O'Malley Show" from 1999 was canceled after two episodes.
Answer: Tons. One random example which comes to mind is 2007's Drive, starring Nathan Fillion: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drive_ (2007_TV_series). Only 4 episodes aired before it was pulled off air. It was actually quite a promising show, but the ratings just didn't hold up. "Heil Honey I'm Home!" is one of the more notorious examples: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heil_Honey_I%27m_Home!, a sitcom about Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun living next door to a Jewish couple, cancelled after one episode. More here: https://tvovermind.com/six-short-lived-tv-shows/ and here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_television_series_canceled_after_one_episode.
18th Jan 2022
General questions
I saw a movie or TV show back in the early 90's when I was a kid. I only remember one scene because it scared the crap out of me. I believe in the scene, an older man (probably 60's?) was fed feet-first into a shredding machine or large wood-chipper and killed. It was outside. The camera was inside it looking up. And I think there was a woman behind him who either pushed him in, or was trying to get him out. He was awake, shouting and struggling. Ring anyone's bell? (And it was not "Fargo.").
Answer: This might be from the TV series Friday the 13th. The episode is called "Root Of All Evil." The plot of the episode deals with a cursed mulcher. Anybody that gets thrown into it is killed and money is expelled from the other side. The richer the person is, the more money that comes out. Https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AD9XnWh5Mx4.
Holy crap! I think that's it! Quickly scanned through the episode, and it seems to (mostly) match up with what I remember. Not exactly, but considering how young I was, I could just be misremembering it. Additionally, since I was born in '88 and probably saw it when I was 3-4 years old (so '91-'92ish), it would also line up because the show ran until 1990 and was likely still on the air in re-runs.
In fact, I'm 90% sure the death at 31:13 in the video is the exact scene I'm remembering. The only difference is that it's a man and not a woman who pushed him in, but that just could be my memory being dodgy since I only saw it once about 30 years ago. Thank you! I think you got it.
You're welcome.
Answer: I know there're several films where someone has died in a wood-chipper or similar device. License to Kill (1989), Bond is dangling over a shredder and Dario is standing over him. Pam shoots Dario and Bond pulls him into the shredder.
That's a good example, but it's not the scene I'm looking for. It's hard to give details due to the 500 character limit. But the scene seemed to be outside during the daytime (I think there were trees in the background), I think the old man who died was wearing a flannel shirt (that could be wrong), and I seem to recall him having like gray or white hair. I think the woman was trying to save him.
I don't know the film you're talking about, but have you tried looking up "woodchipper" or "body in a woodchipper" in IMDB's plot keywords? The latter has 13 movies listed.
Yeah, I've scoured IMDB for it, but the problem is almost everything I run into is either from the year 2000 or after (like I said, I saw this in the early 90's on TV), or just not the movie/show I'm looking for. I'm assuming it might have been like an obscure episode of a TV show or movie that might not necessarily have a plot keyword attached.
25th Jun 2021
General questions
I once saw part of a movie I think from the 1980's that featured Christopher McDonald, and I believe he was in a club looking for his son, and I think there was also a man in the club that had a really tall mohawk. Anyone know the name of the movie?
Chosen answer: Maybe "Conflict of Interest"? That came out in 1993.
That's the one. I looked up the movie on YouTube, and luckily the entire thing was uploaded, and I was able to find the scene I was describing, though it appears the guy with the mohawk didn't have it styled straight up, but was parted. Interesting that it came out in 1993, because the hairstyles and wardrobe for the film definitely have an 80's vibe to them.
6th Oct 2020
General questions
I've noticed that, on a few sitcom TV shows, a mother character will become pregnant again - and the show is cancelled that season or the following season. A few examples are "Boy Meets World" (Cory's mother), "Grounded For Life", "Dharma and Greg" (Dharma's mother), "The Jeff Foxworthy Show", and the original run of "Roseanne." Is there some reason for this?
Answer: It could just be coincidental. It could also be a way of changing things up for the show without having to commit to it long term. TV shows often introduce drastic changes in their narrative when nearing the end of their run, such as characters moving away, dying, or getting married in order to help provide a sense of closure, or tug on the viewers' heartstrings.
3rd Aug 2020
General questions
I saw this movie trailer in the late 1990s or early 2000s. A man has become, or can choose to be, invisible. At one point in the trailer, he asks a woman if she has ever made love to an invisible man before. I am certain that she had long brown or black hair.
Answer: There's another film, The Man Who Wasn't There, (1983), Steve Guttenberg (Police Academy) plays a man who becomes the target of American and enemy agents after stumbling upon an invisibility serum. After using it to escape, he hides out at a girlfriend's apartment. I don't remember the exact dialogue, but they do have a love scene. It's funny seeing her going through sex motions with no-one there.
Answer: I believe you are referring to Hollow Man, with Kevin Bacon and Elizabeth Shue.
Thank you.
Answer: This could also be the 1992 film, "Memoirs Of An Invisible Man," starring Chevy Chase and Darryl Hannah.
Thank you.
27th Jan 2020
General questions
When I was a little kid I checked out a Batman graphic novel from the library. It had a lot of his rogues gallery in it, most if not all of whom were killed in it. I specifically remember Catwoman being shot and her dying words were along the lines of "Batman, I'm so cold." Batman then kissed her before she died. Does anyone know what the name of this graphic novel/storyline is?
Answer: All Stars #17?
Based on my Google search results, "All-Star Batman" is a more recent publication. The year I read the book in question was probably 1993, so it was probably published in the late 80s or early 90s.
I believe the answer should have been DC Super-Stars #17. That issue features the death of the Earth Two Selina Kyle as part of the origin story of her daughter, Helena Kyle (The Huntress).
That's not it either, unfortunately. I specifically remember Killer Croc being in this, because it was the first time I ever heard of him, and he didn't debut until 1983, six years after DC Superstars #17. I think Batman killed Joker at the end out of revenge for Catwoman. With so many other characters being killed in it, I'm pretty certain it was an Elseworld story and not connected to whatever the main DC universe is or was at the time.
10th Jan 2020
General questions
Which movie has the least amount of mistakes on this site?
Answer: Trouble is the database here has a LOT of films which have 0 mistakes (over 2000). But that of course doesn't mean they don't have any mistakes, just that nobody's submitted any yet. :-) And plenty of those are somewhat obscure titles which someone might have submitted a quote for or asked a question for. That said, a few mainstream titles leap out, based on the number of people who've visited the pages recently but the film *still* has no mistakes: Early Man, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, Sleuth (2007), Rashomon, I Love You Man, Super Troopers 2, Black Water, Logan Lucky, The Lighthouse, Margin Call, Ghost in the Shell (2017), Hard Candy, The Babadook, Detective Pikachu, Six Degrees of Separation. And many others! But if anyone wants to start mistake hunting in those movies, go for it.
Answer: Just to expand on my answer, not counting short films and documentaries, it is estimated that there are over 500,000 feature-length movies in existence. For it to be determined which film has the least amount of mistakes, every film would have to be closely analyzed. Continuity mistakes are the most common and unavoidable type of mistake, and even older and extremely popular movies such as "Star Wars" still have newer continuity mistakes being discovered even to this day.
Answer: The movie with the least amount of mistakes? Easy, any movie with 0 mistakes! Can't have less than that. So, any movie not yet on this website is automatically 'the movie with the least amount of mistakes', until proven differently! I am kinda being facetious of course. This question is generally posed as "is there a perfect movie / a movie with no mistakes?" I think it's safe to say that the more complex a movie is, the more likely it is to have mistakes. Especially in term of editing, as the so called continuity mistakes are almost inevitable. I remember in particular a movie from Greek cinematographer Theo Angelopoulos, "The Suspended Step of the Stork." Angelopulous had a filming style based on long continuous shots, and he was extremely precise. Plus the movie was mostly shot in landscapes.The only mistake I ever found in that movie was simply a translation error in hard captions, so not really the cinematographer's fault. Hope you can find a 'perfect' movie too.
26th Mar 2019
General questions
I need help identifying the title of a book. My brother was reading it in the mid-90s, and the only thing I remember him telling me about it was two gruesome deaths: one of a character getting hit in the face with a spiked baseball bat, and the other being a character I think was named Eddie who is decapitated by a wire while he is riding a motorbike. I could have swore that it was "The In Crowd" by Christopher Pike, but no such book appears in his bibliography, nor does there seem to be any adult fiction novel with that name. I seem to recall that the cover of the book depicted a teen girl sitting at a computer with a distressed look on her face.
18th Sep 2019
General questions
I'm looking for the title of the movie where the lead character has a string of partners who after they break up then go on to meet the person they marry, and it really bums him/her (can't remember) out. It's like they're the person everyone has to date to figure out what they really want in life.
Answer: Sounds like it could be "Good Luck Chuck" with Dane Cook and Jessica Alba.
26th Jun 2019
General questions
How come in many movies that are based on true events, many of these events are false? Ex. In the movie "The Blindside", Leigh taught Michael how to play football but, in real life, he already knew how to play it. If movies are going to be made about true events about a person's life, then why aren't they ever a hundred percent true?
Answer: There are a variety of reasons, but it boils down to telling a compelling story. In the example you give, although I haven't seen the movie, I'd imagine it lends itself to better character development as well as possibly adding to the narrative. In the movie "Argo" which is also based on true events, the movie ends (spoiler) with the characters narrowly escaping the Iranian Hostage Crisis as the authorities at the airport become aware that they are on a departing plane and attempt to chase down the plane on the tarmac before it takes off. In real life, one of the people on the plane said their flight departed without any hiccups. This alteration was made to add tension to the movie, whereas the characters escaping with no resistance might feel anticlimactic.
17th Dec 2018
General questions
I saw a TV movie in the early 90s. The plot centered around a man abducting a young boy under the guise that he was a co-worker of the boy's father and that he was looking after the kid while the dad was tied up in a meeting. At one point in the movie, the kid is keeping his distance from the man in an attic and manages to break his nose with a canoe paddle. Later in the movie, someone else tries to claim the kid. The kidnapper says the kid got away and the other man says "What did he do, punch you in the nose?" The two get into a scuffle that ends with the kidnapper killing the other man by stabbing a screwdriver into his neck. At the end of the film when the boy is rescued, rather than face the consequences, the kidnapper commits suicide by jumping out of the window. Anyone have any idea what the title of this movie is?
Chosen answer: The kid taking refuge in the attic and the kidnapper jumping out of the window, is from a 1990 TV movie, Bump in the Night. Christopher Reeve takes a little boy to his N.Y. townhouse. The boy evades him long enough to call his mother, Meredith Baxter, for help.
28th Jun 2018
General questions
Looking for a movie about a boy named Toby who is being bullied in his neighborhood. They make fun of him by calling him Toby Smoby. He fights one of the bullies and the bully falls down an embankment and gets hurt. Toby then befriends this boy and teaches him how to play chess. Does anyone remember the name of this move? Made before the 1980's.
Answer: I Googled "Toby Smoby" and the results page asked if I meant "Toby Schmoby." I clicked on that result and a page came up called "The CBS Children's Film Festival - A Bravenet.com Forum." The comments in the forum were similar to your question and one comment identified the movie as "Toby."
5th Jun 2018
General questions
A few years ago I was scrolling through titles on Netflix and came across a horror movie (an anthology one if I remember correctly). The artwork depicted a man holding a knife in one hand and his own severed head in the other. The poster was evocative of movie posters from the 1980s, which leads me to believe the movie came out in that decade. Does anyone know what movie this is?
12th Apr 2018
General questions
I caught the tail end of a presumably made-for-television movie some time in the early to mid 90s. It featured a man who had himself altered to look exactly like another man whose life and family he wanted. The two ended up fighting with one of them falling to his death. We are led to believe the evil man died, but it is shortly thereafter revealed that he was the one who survived when he is shown shuffling a coin on his knuckles, which my brother told me is something he was shown doing earlier in the movie. Does anyone have any idea what the title of this movie is?
Chosen answer: I believe this is the 1994 TV movie 'Natural Selection' starring C. Thomas Howell.
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Answer: Since a lot of TV shows usually only have around 22 minutes to tell a story, it helps save screen time by having a friend or neighbor walk directly into the home rather than knocking and having to wait for the occupant to walk over and answer the door.
Phaneron ★