I was reading "The Lucy Book" by Geoffrey Fidelman earlier today and he brings up the scene in I Love Lucy where Lucy hires a helicopter to take her to the Constituton as she missed the boat. He brings up the point that this scene could never happen in real life because , well its illegal.

Got me thinking of other scenes/situations that took place in sitcoms, even dramas that could never happen in reality. Also had me thinking of scenes/sitcoms that would be difficult to do today.

For example in Alice, I can think of at least 2 ep. when Vera brought pets into Mel's Diner. Dont know about Arizona but where I live if one brings an animal into a restaurant ( besides seeing eye dogs for the blind ) then the restaurant could very well lose its license. Just recently a local diner here got closed down by the local board of health when it was discovered the owner kept 4 cats in the kitchen area ( his pets ).


WKRP in Cincinatti: This show couldn't be done today. Well in a way it could but without the djs. AS Most radio stations now have canned the local dj in favor of the internet, for example I was reading about a woman who works for Clear Channel Communications ( who owns thousands of radio stations ) who "supplies voices" by e-mail to over 25 jazz stations from Washington state to Virginia Beach to Denver, to Texas. Same thing goes for other music as well. I myself live in a small town and out local oldies station is full of "djs" out of Philadelphia ( 200 miles away ). They e-mail their voices to the station and its then downloaded into the system for playback over the air. Hard to picture venus Flytrap of Dr. Johnny Fever doing this.

Back in the 60s I remember a show called "Occasional Wife". The show was about a single man working for a company that hires only married men. To pretend he is married he hooks up with a neighbor who poses as his wife around his boss. I could be wrong about isnt illegal for a company to practice this ( hiring only married men )? In this day and age of lawsuits and discrimation such a show would be imposible to do today.

In Emergency! the paramedics wear hats/uniform that say clearly " LA County" on them but yet they are called to help out people in downtown LA! In some states this could never happen. In Virginia for example I believe its illegal for a "county" fire department to venture inside "city limits".

any other scenes/sitcoms/drams that could never happen in real life and/or could never be done today?

Originally posted by joan davis fan
Back in the 60s I remember a show called "Occasional Wife". The show was about a single man working for a company that hires only married men. To pretend he is married he hooks up with a neighbor who poses as his wife around his boss. I could be wrong about isnt illegal for a company to practice this ( hiring only married men )? In this day and age of lawsuits and discrimation such a show would be imposible to do today.


Same with Ned and Stacy!

Something that never, ever happens in reality, but only on sitcoms...

A couple has a messy breakup (Ross And Rachel, Sam and Diane, etc.) and they STILL REMAIN FRIENDS!

It cannot, will not, never ever happen in reality. Ever!

Every sitcom at one time or another has had a situation that wouldn't happen in real life. Especially those fantastic fantasy sitcoms from the '60's (i.e. Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, Gilligan's Island, The Munsters, The Addams Family, Mister Ed, My Favorite Martian, My Mother the Car)

Also those from the 80's (i.e. ALF, Out of This World, Small Wonder)

Although I've never seen it, Amos 'n' Andy couldn't be done today due to it stereotyping.

Of course the biggest thing that doesn't happen in reality, solving major problems in only 30 minutes.

Originally posted by TJL

A couple has a messy breakup (Ross And Rachel, Sam and Diane, etc.) and they STILL REMAIN FRIENDS!


No that's not true!

My ex and I had a VERY messy breakup and we're still friends!

Sorry, don't believe you.

There are six billion people in the world and out of all them two of them have had a messy breakup and became friends.

Okay, I came up with a real example. Ignore my previous posts.

On sitcoms, anything can be run by only four or five people.

Spin City - Apparently New York City is run by Michael J Fox and a few of his wacky cohorts.
Newsradio - A 24 hour news station with only six employees.
Just Shoot Me - A swanky fashion mag only needs five people to attend their daily meetings, one of them being David Spade!
Oh yeah, and on Just Shoot me, Maya and Elliot had a passionate love affair, broke up and STILL REMAINED FRIENDS!
I'm sorry, but that just doesn't happen folks!!!

:p :p :p

Originally posted by joan davis fan
In Emergency! the paramedics wear hats/uniform that say clearly " LA County" on them but yet they are called to help out people in downtown LA! In some states this could never happen. In Virginia for example I believe its illegal for a "county" fire department to venture inside "city limits".


LOL! I always used to wonder why Adam-12 and Emergency didn't cross more often, but that wouldn't have worked, seeing as one is city, the other county.

And many of my local radio stations still use local DJs.

I agree with all of them but couples CAN break up and become friends if they were close in the first place!

Originally posted by TJL
Okay, I came up with a real example. Ignore my previous posts.

On sitcoms, anything can be run by only four or five people.

Spin City - Apparently New York City is run by Michael J Fox and a few of his wacky cohorts.
Newsradio - A 24 hour news station with only six employees.
Just Shoot Me - A swanky fashion mag only needs five people to attend their daily meetings, one of them being David Spade!
Oh yeah, and on Just Shoot me, Maya and Elliot had a passionate love affair, broke up and STILL REMAINED FRIENDS!
I'm sorry, but that just doesn't happen folks!!!

:p :p :p


I can see a 24 hour news station with only 6 employees. Here we have an AM news station and they only have two !!!. All you need is a satellite for the shows and two local people to do the news AND sale spots and there you go. Many shows to choose from ,from Dr. Laura, Rush, and Larry King to Sam Donaldson ( ABC News ) to even Joan Rivers who I believe still does a daily radio show.

Many radio stations now are so fully automated , outside of my town we have 6 stations ( 2 country, 1 Christian Rock, 1 oldies, 1 big band, 1 classic/new rock ) and combined they only have 11 employees total !!!, and none of them works weekends and after 5pm weekdays. And many other stations are like that too.
Its gotten so bad here with radio cutting back that many of them no longer do school closings since they dont want to pay for someone to be there at 3-4 AM.

Originally posted by TJL
Something that never, ever happens in reality, but only on sitcoms...

A couple has a messy breakup (Ross And Rachel, Sam and Diane, etc.) and they STILL REMAIN FRIENDS!

It cannot, will not, never ever happen in reality. Ever! Wait a minute TJL...... Not so!!!!! This happens in real life because I'm proof it it. Happily married now and friends with an ex. :D

I also know people who have broken up and still remain civil to each other, if not friends. I have a couple of friends whose parents are divorced, yet they remain on good terms with each other for the sake of their children.

Other things that will probably never happen in real life:

People can be legally married for 3 years and not realize it at all. (Happened on Wings.)

Related to the radio station thing: it only takes a few people to run an airport. (Also on Wings.)

People can sit around and drink beer all day and they usually don't get drunk. (Cheers)

Originally posted by WingsFan

People can sit around and drink beer all day and they usually don't get drunk. (Cheers)

You've obviously never met my friends.

Originally posted by Sitcomwriter


Same with Ned and Stacy!


A company that hires only "marrieds", though it has been said that married men/women make better workers ( not always true however ) and I am sure some businesses do suscribe to that theory. But The practice IS illegal and can result in a discrimation lawsuit. And there have been actually cases of this happening.

About WKRP in Cincinatti, I believe it would be difficult to do this show today. Back in the 70s radio was fun ( go to reelradio.com and check out the broadcasts from before 1984 and compare them to todays radio and you can see a differerce ) and WKRP captured what radio was like at that time. Today in many parts of the country radio doesnt use djs on a local level but "voices" piped in thanks to the internet and/or satellite. The local station gets the voices and transfers them into a master computer ( the one that goes out over the air ) its called fancy automation. With the way computers are its hard for the average joe to know. Next time you hear a dj on the radio and he/she fails to give the current temp when doing the weather or even a time check- call up the station. If no one answers, chances are no one is there.

One thing about WKRP, I am surprised that Tim Reed and Howard Hessman doesnt supply their voices to radio stations and create a Dr. Johnny Fever or a Venus Flytrap for real local radio. If Wink Martindale, Peter Marshall , Dick Clark and I heard even Marlo Thomas,if they can do it why not the two most famous djs in sitcom history?

I Love Lucy: its been said if you go to New York and try to actually find 623 East 68th Street, its in the middle of a river.

Originally posted by bb
I Love Lucy: its been said if you go to New York and try to actually find 623 East 68th Street, its in the middle of a river.

The East River to be exact. :)

Originally posted by Jen1982
Additions of babies that age years, in one summer. This can't happen in real life.

Finding out your pregnant and a week later, looking like you are seven months pregnant-happened on Family Ties. The episode right after Elyse announces she's pregnant, is the weekend episode where Elyse and Steven want to spend time with the kids, and she looks very pregnant. This could not happen in real life.

I'm pretty sure Meredith Baxter Birney was pregnant in real life and they wrote it into the storyline though.

Originally posted by joan davis fan
In Emergency! the paramedics wear hats/uniform that say clearly " LA County" on them but yet they are called to help out people in downtown LA! In some states this could never happen. In Virginia for example I believe its illegal for a "county" fire department to venture inside "city limits".



That's a surprise, since the City of Los Angeles is in LA County, not to mention the frequency of such events as wildfires, earthquake-related fires, and the like, would prompt the two agencies into being mutually assistive to one another.

Even though I like Green Acres, there is NO WAY anyone would ever live in such a dump of a house unless they were destitute (Oliver was supposed to be a lawyer)....that place should have been condemned by the Board of Health. And who the heck would climb 50 feet in the air up just to answer the phone? Not to mention everytime they opened the sliding closet door, it fell out and splatted onto the ground. Hotcakes for roof shingles? The list is endless.

Friends....they drink so much coffee it's a wonder their teeth haven't all turned black. Maybe they go to the dentist once a week for professional cleaning. They're so d@mn perky and cheery it makes me gag sometimes. Phoebe --- nobody could be that stupid unless they were brain damaged in someway or born that way for whatever reasons. That goes double for Joey, too.


Melrose Place....Amanda marries Peter after he tried to kill her during an unnecessary operation, just to keep her quiet about something (I think that's how it went).


Soaps.....just about everything.

Going back to the animals-in-restaurants topic, I remember a specific episode of "Kenan and Kel", where the family goes out to eat at a western-themed restaurant called "Pizza Farm". The place has hay all over the floor, and various barnyard animals are milling around for patrons to pet and / or ride. Right as I first saw that, I thought - "That's a serious health code violation!"

I just have to say that many people end a relationship without ending a friendship. It may not happen overnight but it does happen. First of all it takes 2 MATURE people to resolve their differences and maintain a friendship and also just cause you cannot make it together in a relationship does not mean that you cannot make it with a friendship. I have been best friends with my ex now for 15 years it took 3 years to get to where we are now but it does happen TJL

Originally posted by TJL
Okay, I came up with a real example. Ignore my previous posts.

On sitcoms, anything can be run by only four or five people.

Spin City - Apparently New York City is run by Michael J Fox and a few of his wacky cohorts.
Newsradio - A 24 hour news station with only six employees.
Just Shoot Me - A swanky fashion mag only needs five people to attend their daily meetings, one of them being David Spade!
Oh yeah, and on Just Shoot me, Maya and Elliot had a passionate love affair, broke up and STILL REMAINED FRIENDS!
I'm sorry, but that just doesn't happen folks!!!

:p :p :p

Just remember, TJL - sitcoms can't show everyone in a workplace. The set would be too crowded, there'd be little room for the cameraman, and the dialogue would be incomprehensible with everyone talking at once! :lol: So a lot of workplace "characters" exist in the form of offstage characters, extras, and walk-ons. And in real life, many things in an office are run by four or five people; the rest of the office workers simply have to obey them! (I'm getting into Dilbert territory here. . . . :rolleyes: )

on an episode of "Taxi" once, Latca* was going to be deported, then someone remembered that if a foreigner marrys an american, the foreiggner can stay in the country. SSo, they aranged for him to "marry" a prostitute, and get divorced right after. In real life, that wouldn't work, because imigration would keep checking to make sure the marrage was real.

On "MASH" what did they do when all the doctors were smashed, and the wounded would pour in without warning, and they never knew how many?-which really did happen in MASH units. That's one thing that was realistic about it.




*yiddish for "potato pancake":lol: