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.
ctown28
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.
26th Apr 2021
Family Guy (1999)
And Then There Were Fewer - S9-E1
Question: Near the end, Angela, Peter's boss, states that she killed Muriel after she noticed Angela place Priscilla in Tom's room, which still doesn't explain what happen when Muriel disappeared during a blackout. What happened to her? Because before she casually walks by when she notices Angela.
Answer: Because she pretended to be the killer, in order for her and Stewie to find out who the real killer was, who turns out to be Peter's boss, Angela.
This is incorrect. Angela was not even in the episode. The killer was originally thought to be Tom Tucker until Lois discovered it was Diane at the end of the episode.
7th Sep 2022
Back to the Future Part II (1989)
12th May 2022
Speed (1994)
Question: Why did Jack think the only option available with the gap in the freeway was to jump it? Wouldn't it have made more sense for him to at least try to ring Payne and explain what was happening? A simple "We've ran out of road, could you disable the bomb whilst we turn round" - Payne could still detonate it remotely so it's not like they could use that opportunity to unload the passengers.
Answer: I'm curious why you think Payne would do anything to make it easier for Jack? He's set a bomb with the express intention of killing people if his demands aren't met...why would he give Jack even the slightest chance of escaping that? And even if he was willing to, just because Payne can detonate the bomb remotely doesn't mean he can disarm it temporarily, then turn it back on.
Because the odds of the bus making that jump intact were incredibly small - if the bus blows up because of an infrastructure issue, Payne gets nothing.
Answer: Payne is a raging psychopath. As long as he's alive, he can make more bombs.
25th Feb 2022
The Simpsons (1989)
Question: I, like Marge, don't know much about football. Why is Homer disappointed to own the Denver Broncos team? I know his first choice was owning the Dallas Cowboys, but he seems to especially dislike the Broncos.
Answer: I don't think the writers had anything particular in mind when choosing the Denver Broncos to be the butt of the joke. But I wonder if it's meant to be a clue where Springfield is. But, while this episode did air late 1996 when the Broncos had a winning season, given the amount of time needed to produce the episode, it was written when the Broncos were a mediocre team at best. From '92-'95 they had a 32-32 record and never finished higher than 3rd in their division. And the Cowboys and Broncos are in separate conferences, so they're not particularly rivals. But as Phaneron points out, the Broncos ended up winning back-to-back Super Bowls in the following 2 season after this episode aired, so Homer is a very lucky guy.
Probably also worth mentioning that by the time this episode had aired, the Broncos had an 0-4 record in the Super Bowl, and to this day I believe they hold the record for most Super Bowl losses.
The Buffalo Bills also had an 0-4 record at the time of airing having lost 4 straight years.
The Vikings are also 0-4 in the Super Bowl. The Patriots have 5 losses (although only had 1 at the time this episode aired).
True, and they would have been a funnier pick for Homer to end up owning, given that two consecutive of those four Super Bowl losses were to the Cowboys. Although Homer fantasizing about being John Elway in the episode Cape Feare makes his disdain for the Broncos rather funny.
5th Sep 2021
Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
Question: Who is the actor sitting with Sean Penn and Eric Stoltz at the diner early on when they take their shirts off?
Answer: Nicolas Cage or as he's credited in the cast, Nicholas Coppola.
This is incorrect. Nicolas Cage plays one of Brad's friends and co-worker. The third stoner buddy was played by Anthony Edwards.
23rd Mar 2021
Captain Marvel (2019)
16th Mar 2021
Superman III (1983)
21st Sep 2020
Joker (2019)
Question: Why was this movie so controversial?
Answer: In a nutshell, it's because the film's protagonist is a mentally disturbed killer, and certain groups in America thought the film's violence would lead to copycat behavior.
I never got this aspect of the controversy, if anything, it goes to show what can happen when mental illness goes untreated.
I agree with you on that, but unfortunately, there's so many people, at least in the United States, that have no sense of nuance and are prone to knee-jerk reactions. They would rather condemn and blame different kinds of media for society's ills, rather than stop and look at the message something is trying to tell.
I read about the concern over possible copycat behavior in an on-line article; Phaneron's answer is correct.
Answer: Because the left thought it would encourage violence and mocked liberal run cities.The right thought the same on violence, it seemingly justified a mentally ill guy's actions, that it made white businessmen bad guys. Both sides in general only complained about Joker for attention.
22nd Feb 2017
Psycho II (1983)
Question: Who was doing the killings before Norman finally snapped?
Chosen answer: The murderer is Emma Spool, Norman's biological mother. She was killing people because she didn't want anybody harming Norman.
Emma was not Norman's biological mother. She was the sister of Norma (and Norman's aunt) and jealous that Mr. Bates chose Norma over her and thought Norman should have been the son she and Mr. Bates were suppose to have. Later, while still mentally ill, she believed Norman was her son and told Norman this.
Emma Spool was, in fact, Norman's biological mother. It was revealed at the end of the movie that she is his real mother and Norma Bates is her sister who adopted Norman and raised him While Emma was institutionalized.
Again, that was just Emma being delusional and/or lying. Tracy Venable tells Norman the truth in Psycho III. Emma was never his mother.
I never knew Emma Spool was Norman's biological mother. In fact, I never heard of Emma Spool. Thanks.
11th Jul 2020
The Sopranos (1999)
Question: What was with that series finale ending scene? Did Tony die or not? Did they do this to be open for interpretation?
Answer: The ending is purposely ambiguous and open to interpretation. The series creator once said: "There's more than one way of looking at the ending. That's all I'll say." He's also refused to outright explain what the ending meant.
7th May 2020
Back to the Future (1985)
Question: I have a question and this has bothered me for years. How did Doc know the exact date and time to wear a bulletproof vest by reading Marty's letter? We see what Marty wrote and it says "The night I go back in time" before he puts it in Doc's pocket but it never said the exact date or time of when the terrorists would attack Doc after Marty came back in 1985?
Answer: The answer is right in your question. The letter states "The night I go back in time." Doc helped Marty get back to 1985 at the exact date and time that he left. He set this date and time in the Delorean. We know that Doc has a penchant for remembering dates as one of the ways Marty proves he's from the future is that Doc told him the exact date and events of when he got the idea for the flux capacitor.
Answer: Doc sees the video tape recording of the first part or the test so would know it was after that time, so he took precautions to protect himself from that point forward. Knowing it could be at any time from the test till later, he wore the vest to the test, and presumably would have continued wearing it after the test if that wasn't when it happened.
6th Jan 2005
Gremlins (1984)
Question: Why does the video cover say "We're back"? It's the first film.
Answer: I have the VHS from the 80's. 100% it says we're back.
Answer: I just looked at the cover on cdcovers.cc and it actually says "We're Here", not "We're Back". On Gremlins 2 - The New Batch it says "Here they grow again".
13th Feb 2017
Goodfellas (1990)
Question: Why were the names of Paul Vario and Jimmy Burke changed for the movie to Paul Cicero and Jimmy Conway when no other names were changed? It's not as if someone's identity was being protected. I never understood that.
Answer: Not sure why they changed Paul's, but Jimmy's was changed to Conway because his sister refused to allow it, Conway being his mother's maiden name.
Answer: Tommy's name was changed as well. In the movie it is Tommy DeVito, in real life it was Tommy DeSimone.
23rd Aug 2018
Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)
Question: Why did the writers decide to have Snoke killed just like that? Fans have spent the last two years wondering about so many theories about who he is, so was it really wise to kill him that early on without even the slightest hint as to who he really is?
Answer: According to reports, JJ Abrams had different ideas for each characters' story arcs while he was directing "The Force Awakens"; when Rian Johnson signed on as director for "Last Jedi", he basically decided to ignore Abrams' ideas and create his own direction for every major character, including Snoke. Since there is still one more film left in the current trilogy, though, we may learn more about Snoke's true nature in Episode IX; the possibility also exists that he may return as a Force ghost or in a cloned body, at least according to fan theories.
Answer: I know this caused quite the uproar with a lot of the fans, but looking back at the original trilogy, how much information was known about Emperor Palpatine when he was killed off? None of this was addressed until the prequel trilogy many years later.
Exactly. I have made this same argument so many times. Back when the original trilogy came out, none of us were running around complaining that we never found out the Emperor's backstory.
I was merely asking why they decided to kill off Snoke this early.
To be more to the point of your question, it seems that Rian Johnson believed (in my opinion, correctly) that the Snoke character added very little to the story and his death would be shocking to the audience. As a virtual copy of Palpatine in almost every way, the audience expected Snoke to fill a similar role in this story and last well into the third film. By killing Snoke so early, you get rid of a pretty useless character and also shock your audience, leaving them with no idea what direction the story will take going forward.
24th Apr 2018
Liar Liar (1997)
Question: How come Samantha can't have her ex husband Richard take custody of her kids?
16th Apr 2018
Grease (1978)
Question: When Danny is talking to the coach about sports, the coach asks if he likes the rings. After that Danny says something snide about installing rings or something with a hidden meaning. What is he talking about?
Answer: Danny says "yeah I installed a set of rings a couple of weeks ago", rings are a piece on the piston to an engine, something a mechanic would install or fix on your car, Danny was trying to be funny when the coach meant the gymnastics rings.
In this case, would not the "hidden meaning" be an innuendo, such as penis rings? Either he used two rings at once or had sex two times a couple weeks ago (in the back seat of his car)? (This is in a high school setting when norms about pre-marital sex were much stricter and people didn't openly talk about sex toys and the like).
Answer: Coach Calhoun is actually not talking about Olympic Rings. He is talking about the men's gymnastics apparatus.
22nd Dec 2017
Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)
Question: This an odd question, but why are there no smartphones or smartphone-like devices in the SW universe? These are reasonably advanced pieces of technology that would be appropriate for such a time period. A few situations would also have been easier with phone communication. Smartphones were still very new when "Revenge of the Sith" was being filmed, so I understand why the original trilogy and prequels don't show them - the creators were not thinking about them.
Answer: You basically answered your own question. The Star Wars universe is in the future and its a future without any smart phones. It would be kind of weird if out of nowhere smart phones would pop up everywhere in the universe as if its a new invention, whilst its supposed to be an old invention. They simply have different ways to communicate with each other, more advanced ways are needed. For example distances between people is a lot larger, across the galaxy, so you'd need a lot more that just a smartphone to communicate with people, they use other devices on board starships and bases so the smartphone disappears as having both feels like overdoing it.
It is not set in the future, hence the very first words on the screen of each movie. A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away. Now as far as the cell phones go, they do just fine with their communication. Making interplanetary calls on cell phones is not needed.
You're right, I always forget that part.
26th May 2017
Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)
Question: Is it true that in the original version of this that Yoda says the reason Obi-Wan didn't tell Luke the truth about Anakin turning to the dark side is because Yoda wouldn't let him?
Chosen answer: Technically no. While this was never in the original version, there is however a deleted scene where this happens.
There are script drafts where Yoda tells Luke not to judge Obi-Wan too harshly because it was his suggestion to keep Luke in the dark about his father. However, Obi-Wan himself still seems to own his decision, citing the same belief in the film that he was right "from a certain point of view."
5th Mar 2010
BASEketball (1998)
Question: When Cain and Coop are talking about changing the rules, Cain says that every owner has to vote yes in order for the rules to change. But as Coop does not want the rules to change, if every owner, but Coop, voted yes to change the rules, wouldn't the rules stay the same since Coop has the controlling vote because he is in charge of the league?
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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 ★