Best TV questions of all time

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Mission: Impossible picture

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Question: At the start of each episode of Mission Impossible Briggs or Phelps received details of the mission from a tape recording that was 'hidden in plain sight', say a telephone booth displaying a poster saying 'Telephone Out Of Order. Do Not Use'. So, what would happen if somebody went into the kiosk before Briggs or Phelps, picked up the telephone and got the secret message ahead of the Mission Impossible team?

Rob Halliday

Answer: We don't know what would happen because the show never addressed this issue. Any answer would be speculation. This is a TV show, and the plot is structured so that only IMF team will retrieve the secret message.

raywest

Answer: This is not really a serious question. When I posted this question I was fully aware that Mission Impossible is only a television programme. Like many espionage thrillers (Man From Uncle, The Avengers, James Bond) it is meant to entertain, it is never meant to be taken literally seriously. It was essential to the story that Briggs or Phelps received a secret message, which would give them a mission to accomplish. If they did not receive the message you would not have had the story. When I used to watch Mission Impossible it just used to amuse me to wonder what might have happened had somebody picked up the phone containing the secret message ahead of Briggs or Phelps. I even considered writing to a comedian and suggesting that they devise a comedy sketch in which this happened. My question was only meant to be a joke, that I posted to amuse people.

Rob Halliday

The Lucy Show or Here's Lucy did an episode of exactly this scenario.

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Answer: In the show, he was already a Lieutenant. A promotion would put him in the next rank up, which for the L.A.P.D. would be Captain. However, some of a Captain's duties would be overseeing other officers and ensuring they're compliant with policies, regulations, and standards. It would also most likely take him out of the field. This is something Columbo has no desire for as he rarely goes to police HQ's. Nor does he show interest in compliance and standards (for example, not going to his semi-annual evaluation at the firing range). However, he could still be assigned to a higher pay grade based on expertise, which is a form of promotion that does not include rank advancement. This would be going from Lieutenant I to Lieutenant II. I don't believe in the show it's ever started what his pay grade is. Although, in s02e01 (I believe) he mentions making $11K a year. Whether or not this was a true statement on his part, if you could find pay scale information for an LAPD Lieutenant in the 70's, it could give you an idea of his pay grade.

Bishop73

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Manifest picture

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Question: Does it seem like this show took from LOST in the sense that a phenomenal event starting with a plane crash changed people's lives?

Rob245

Answer: Only superficially. Manifest doesn't even begin with a plane crash, but rather a plane disappearing for 5 years with the assumption that it crashed, which turns out not to be true.

BaconIsMyBFF

In the particulars it seems different, but the overall plot is the same. A seemingly random group on an airplane experience a weird event and spend years trying to figure out what happened. Let's hope the reveal in the final episode is not as disappointing as "LOST" - they're actually all dead.

Answer: Yes, I see the larger connection. There are a lot of movies and shows where people come back from somewhere like car, train, and bus crashes, or even space, war, or who knows where, then try to figure out why. We probably should consider a new genre for plots where the departed or missing return and try to figure out why. Needs a name though. Maybe "Come-back Conundrums" or "Put-back Puzzlers"?

Answer: "The major" is a major general, no major general would go by a title implying a lower rank. Her official DOD photo shows her (and a bunch of other women in uniform) with long loose hair below their collar. Women's hair has to be above the collar or put up, until VERY recently, and if this show is set in 2018 the hair is out of regulations. No major general would have an official photo with hair out of regs.

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Criminal Minds picture

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Question: The crew takes a private jet to most locations but always have the same black S.U.V.s. How do the vehicles get there as fast as the crew?

RGW

Chosen answer: Black SUVs are common police, military and dignitary vehicles around the world. It is not too much to assume they could be rented or owned by the police forces in the areas.

kristenlouise3

Other people have explained it but fore more information, federal cars would most likely be brought to the airport from the nearest agency, so they can drive out to their locations especially in rural situations.

Answer: There is only one BAU (or that's the impression the show gives, in reality there's 5 teams within the BAU), and they're based out of Quantico. However, the FBI has 56 field offices, each with their own vehicles leased from the over 200,000 vehicles that make up the Federal motor fleet. There are long term leases to federal agencies on these cars, in addition to there always being vehicles being made available to lease on an ad hoc basis for assignments. Plus, local and state police likely also have their own unmarked fleets, but due to the vehicles being mostly the same make/model/color in most episodes, they'd likely be borrowed from the nearest field office or other local federal office or ad hoc leased from the fleet for the assignment.

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Battlestar Galactica picture

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Question: In the first main movie, Baltaar the traitor (as a human) is executed before the Cylon's supreme ruler; yet in the later movies (and probably the TV series, which I did not get to watch) he reappears. How can this be possible?

Answer: The original BSG has something of a complex version history. Several versions exist, but the rationale behind what you're referring to is as follows. BSG, before anything else, was a TV series - the 'pilot episode' was a three-part tale called "Saga of a Star World". In that three-parter, a last-minute alteration to the script meant that Baltar was ultimately spared execution, because Glen A. Larson, the series producer, decided that he liked the Baltar character enough to keep him around for the rest of the series. The theatrical version, which was edited down from the three-parter and was shown in some countries before the US TV broadcast, lost quite a number of scenes, including the one where Baltar is spared. The real continuity of the series can only be found in the TV version - the movies, all of which were created by editing together existing episodes, miss out scenes leading to such apparent continuity errors.

Tailkinker

Answer: Baltar wasn't executed... the supreme leader decided to spare him to send him on a peace mission with the humans. I have every episode... just watched it again.

Answer: Strange... given I saw Battlestar Galactica at the movies when I was a kid. Aka the 'pilot' you refer to (which WAS a movie shown at the cinema).

Yes, there was a theatrical release of the film, which was released after the original 1978 series ended. This 1979 film is the edited compilation of the 1978 series "Saga of a Star World" episode.

Bishop73

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Answer: Window tool.

Answer: This hardly seem to be an automatic center punch. Standard tool for technical rescue from car accidents.

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Answer: Some people just have a dislike for someone that can't be explained. Could be as simple as the way he's dressed.

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Answer: Yes it is PK - the characters he plays are Brian, Max, Keith Lard and indeed the voice of the radio. you can hear him on the radio a few times throughout the series.

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Six Feet Under picture

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Question: At the end of the last ever episode, when Claire is taking the family photo, Nate whispers in her ear 'You can't take a picture unless it's already gone.' What does he mean by that?

Answer: Nate actually say "You can't take a picture of this, it's already gone." It's kinda hard to explain, but he's referring to the fact that the moment Claire wants to take a picture of is over already, and she can't take a photo of it, just a different, lesser moment.

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Answer: Because he is a great cop and gets the job done better than anyone.

Answer: Also, if you watch Season 1 of Chicago Fire it gives a little history of Voight before he goes to jail when he was actually a "dirty cop" and Antonio Dawson is actually the one who takes him down. I found it interesting and was surprised by his character back then.

Answer: And cuz he's only dirty to the bad guys. He takes care of the victims.

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Chosen answer: This is Dick Grayson who will later become Nightwing.

Greenman37

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Downton Abbey picture

A Moorland Holiday - S5-E9

Question: Lord Sinderby has a painting of Jesus in his library. Would a Jewish leader decorate his rooms with a crucified Jesus? I really don't know, so thanks for an answer from wiser ones.

Answer: Lord Sinderby purchased the house, furnished and appointed, from someone else, complete with staff that come with the home (some of whom aren't happy to be working for a Jewish family). He bought the title, as well. If the artwork featuring Jesus is valuable, he might keep it. Also interesting, his ancestors Anglicized their name, though he is proudly Jewish.

Michael Albert

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Eureka picture

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Question: I've been re-watching this show, and have noticed this in nearly every episode. In scenes inside GD, there's always one person, a background extra, who seems to have clear plastic wrap over their clothes. Do you know what that is all about?

Holly Halfman

Chosen answer: It's basically just a type of suit that's made for whatever special project they're working on. No different than a lab coat, hazmat suit, fire coat, etc.

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Answer: Carl did die of lung cancer, that's why she returned to her family.

Answer: Florida's husband, James Evans, Sr., appeared in a total of 61 episodes during Seasons 1-3 of the series. After creative differences with the show's creator, Norman Lear, mainly over the increasingly buffoonish characterization of oldest son, James "J.J." Evans, Jr., actor John Amos did not have his contract renewed. His character was killed off in an automobile accident in his home state of Mississippi while he was securing steady work in the hope of relocating his family there. Florida learned of his death via a phone call at the family's going away party. We don't know if her second husband, Carl, died or just stayed in Arizona, and it's debateable whether someone who remarries is still called a widow.

Michael Albert

Florida did not learn of James' death through a phone call. It was through a telegram sent in the mail that Florida read during the party.

Norman Lear didn't create Good Times. Eric Monte and Michael Evans did. Norman Lear simply developed it.

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The Mandalorian picture

Chapter 13: The Jedi - S2-E5

Question: Ahsoka's "head-tails" (called Lekku, technically) seem to have creases in them. Are these meant to be scars from battles, or are they just folds in whatever material was used to make the prosthetics? With all the high production values elsewhere, this would seem to be a fairly ropey oversight if so.

Jon Sandys

Chosen answer: They could be just like wrinkles from age, like the elderly Togruta in the Zygerrian slaver arc in The Clone Wars series, as Ahsoka is considerably older than her animated appearances. I think there is probably a character design/stylisation aspect to it as well - the other Togruta we've seen in live action, Shaak Ti, has four segments or folds in her lekku that were not visible in her Clone Wars appearances, so it would seem the character design in Clone Wars and Rebels reduces such features.

Sierra1

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Answer: Coach Sylvester is generally bullying to most staff and students but she particularly dislikes the glee club because they compete with her cheerleading squad for limited school funds.

raywest

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Chosen answer: Bruce has always been the character's middle name. In the comics he is Robert Bruce Banner, here he is David Bruce Banner. Apparently the executives behind the show preferred the name David.

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The Orville picture

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Question: Now that season 3 is out, has there been any updates about why Alara was written off, or why Halston Sage left the show, near the beginning of season 2? In 2019, she seemed to indicated her leaving wasn't her choice and it was what was best for the show. But, the fact that they replaced her character with another female Xelayan makes it seem like they weren't really making any changes. And with a 4th season unlikely, are there any rumors Sage will return in season 3?

Bishop73

Answer: No official reason has been given. Halston Sage has only stated in an interview that leaving the show was not her choice. It is considered that her possible return is "open ended", and while there has been no official announcement, she did make a reappearance at the end of Season 2.

raywest

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Rick and Morty picture

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Question: On the IMDB, the credits for each episode in season 1 (except for episode 8) list "Unity" as playing "Themselves" or "Themself", sometimes listed as uncredited and some times not. However I never saw Unity listed in any credits on the show itself. (It should be noted, I'm not talking about the character Unity from season 2 which was voiced by Christina Hendricks). Looking further on IMDB, Unity has appeared on a dance show where it appears Unity is a dance crew and not an individual with a weird name. So whom is Unity playing in a cartoon if they're just dancers and not voice actors? Did the dance crew actually do any voice work or help with any dance scenes, even though they're just drawings and not motion captured?

Bishop73

Chosen answer: It was just an error on IMDB, it seems to have been fixed now.

Sierra1

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Chosen answer: Even if one can see the future, it can be somewhat vague and left open to interpretation.

raywest

He can sees the future all jumbled up. It is like a puzzle, it is hard to put together, but even when he does put it together it is not set in stone the future can change.

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