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Okay so I have a guilty pleasure of watching Crime Dramas with their bad science and uber technology that doesn't actually exist. The fact that they can magically improve photos from nothing etc etc I'm willing to just roll with that but when they're working on more solid scientific concepts and they get lazy to make a plot point it pisses me off.
So I was watching a show I won't name any names to protect the guilty. Two protagonists are buried alive in a car and the perp has an MO of always giving them 10 hours of air. According to the way that Crime Dramas work without seeing the episode you KNOW they will run out of air with about 15 minutes left. This is to increase the suspense I -know- this going in, but the writers had to figure out a way to extend the time frame of the air. So they're breaking into the trunk and popping tires and setting off carbon dioxide reactions being scientists while their partners try to find them etc etc.
THE PROBLEM IS, the two protagonists were unconscious at the start and one of them falls asleep at one point. All they had to do instead of stretching some bullshit about setting off a reaction in a lab dish to somehow magically get 10 more minutes of air all they had to do was realize that you breathe slower when you're asleep. THATS IT instead of using a simple fact that's easy to use to buy the protagonists more time on the "clock" they had to use more and more bad science to figure out how to survive. And this is where my Willful Suspension of Disbelief dies.
When there is a simple way to get the plot device that you want why go for the bad science over the simple facts? I deal with the fact that they're able to analyze the dirt with a flash light and a camera to figure out where they're buried, I deal with the fact that they magically sent a text message by feeding power from the car into the phone. But why does my disbelief start at them magically extending air by poking the air out of tires? I don't know but it annoyed me to no end. What ever happened to KISS?
[/rant]
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i think there's a difference between willful suspension of disbelief and inaccuracy.
WSOD is like "no im not in a theatre, I'm in new york with the rest of the cast" and i think applies more to a live theatrical setting than watching a movie/show
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Australia3550 Posts
You should watch The Wire. No suspension required.
![[image loading]](http://dutchprditch.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/blogwire.jpg)
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ALLEYCAT BLUES51730 Posts
you were watching bones weren't you?
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.....That was a episode of Bones....Grave Digger Episode, hahah. From what I remember they said it was "laser pointer" Its a fake show in the sense that most of it is pure hot air. I believe Jason Statham did the same thing in Trasporter 3 where he used the air in the tires to breath a little bit longer.
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On May 03 2010 15:17 snotboogie wrote:
You should watch The Wire. No suspension required.
Watching HBO shows spoils you. The production value, writing, acting, etc... is all so high that when you try to watch other series they just don't stand up. The Wire, Rome, Deadwood, Sopranos, and other great shows have condemned me to a life of reruns while waiting for new HBO shows instead of watching anything on cable or networks.
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On May 03 2010 15:17 snotboogie wrote:You should watch The Wire. No suspension required.
Problem solved. Elegantly, too.
The depth and realism that went into the wire puts it on a level completely apart from most crime tv shows.
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Australia3550 Posts
On May 03 2010 15:33 I_Love_Bacon wrote:Show nested quote +On May 03 2010 15:17 snotboogie wrote:
You should watch The Wire. No suspension required. Watching HBO shows spoils you. The production value, writing, acting, etc... is all so high that when you try to watch other series they just don't stand up. The Wire, Rome, Deadwood, Sopranos, and other great shows have condemned me to a life of reruns while waiting for new HBO shows instead of watching anything on cable or networks.
This is so true. You shouldn't watch The Wire unless you're ready to see through just about every TV show out there.
Now, instead of watching crime shows (except for Breaking Bad, which is the exception that proves the rule), I just rewatch The Wire. It's a blessing and a curse, I'm afraid.
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if you are having trouble with crap TV then i suggest:
the wire or twin peaks.. maybe deadwood, six feet under, or carnivale
i bought "the pacific" dvd here a couple days ago and was just like "wtf is this crap war drama... recycled themes and characters, no perspective from the jap side, just the typical "war is hell but we gotta do it. america fuck yea" propaganda.
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Bones is an OK show but I stopped watching it because of that. It always trys to over dramatize simple facts. Plus it's easier to figure out the killer Compared to other CSI shows 
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To me this show has posed a problem,
For anthropology I've studied,
And plumbed the depths of those doldrums,
By which the field seems accompanied
Yet not for me those thrilling chases,
The screech of tires and gunshot's crack,
Apply social theory in strange new places,
Then write it all up when I get back
A sorry affair for us indeed,
Pity then the anthropologist,
For never has it been decreed,
That we require an apologist
Allow me then to wholly decry,
The pseudoscience that you descry
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EPT
