Best TV questions of all time

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Chosen answer: Because he's an idiot. From the story point of view, they needed the vault to actually be physically open so that the release of the virus would be a credible threat. Unfortunately, this required that Peter conveniently forget that he could simply walk through The Wall and use his telekinesis to tear the door open instead. Peter's increasingly large arsenal of abilities, where he ended up having pretty much any ability required for any situation, led to a situation where it became necessary to either have Peter apparently forget that he had a given power, as with the vault door scene, or become naively trusting, as with his refusal to scan Adam's mind to confirm his good intent. This problem, which simply made Peter look increasingly dumb as the show progressed, may well have been a key factor in the decision to severely reduce his ability during season three.

Tailkinker

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Answer: The smoke floats a few feet away from Twilight and close to the camera so you might think that the smoke is right in her face.

Lily Harrison

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

Greenman37

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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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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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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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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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Question: Is it true that this show was originally supposed to have only two seasons but its popularity was so big that they created a third season?

Answer: That is true.

raywest

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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: 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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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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Question: I'm trying to find out in which episode this happens. Reed and Malloy are driving when they get a call to be on the lookout for a red convertible. In the rear window of their squad car you see the exact car described in the radio call. It passes them, then is seen in front, but neither of them comment on it and it's not referenced later. Not sure if it was a poor choice of stock footage or a gag, but what episode does it happen in?

Answer: This is from Season 1, "The Long Walk." After Malloy and Reed responded to a "211 in progress", the partners later search the area and question a man walking his dogs, and it's this man who tells them the young guy they're looking for drove off in a red convertible, so Reed radios in the added information and clears them. Later, when the partners are driving along, Reed brings up the topic of the criminal's convertible, and while they're discussing it we can see through the squad car's rear window that a red convertible with its black top up changes lanes, and in Malloy's closeup just as they're talking about how the criminal's convertible was likely stolen, we see the red convertible passing Malloy to his left. That's all we see of this red convertible.

Super Grover

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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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Answer: Inspector Grim later told Inspector Fowler that "a credit card belonging to you has been used to hire a car which was subsequently deployed in a drug deal", which implies the cards were taken prior to the morning briefing. As Fowler had been out before work to buy a present for the Queen, it's plausible he lost his card (s) then.

Neil Jones

Inspector Fowler stated that his wallet was stolen from him at the morning briefing.

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Question: I wasn't a regular viewer of the show, but there's a question that I really need answered: What does the chant "Donna Martin Graduates" mean? Did Donna do something that threatened her graduation from high school?

Answer: The students were told by the faculty that anyone found to be intoxicated at the Senior Prom would not be allowed to participate in graduation activities. Donna had a little too much champagne at Mel's house and in the limo and got drunk. At the Prom she spent most of the time in the bathroom, being sick. As the gang tried to discreetly usher her to the car, Donna fell and Mrs. Teasly questioned her and realized that she was drunk. "Donna Martin graduates" is what her classmates chanted after a walk-out on their final exams, in protest to the fact that the board was meeting inside to make the final decision of Donna's fate. Big surprise: Donna Martin graduated.

elleemann

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Answer: Eustace is a rather two-dimensional antagonist character. He is just a mean-spirited man who takes out his hostilities on a vulnerable dog and resents his wife having adopted him.

raywest

I thought the reason had to do with the attention Courage receives from Muriel.

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Answer: It was cancelled. Originally, the show was supposed to have five seasons, with the fifth season having Jack discovering a spell that would remove the curses on all of the items that were collected during the show's run.

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Strength - S1-E10

Question: The gorilla is said to possibly be able to lift two family cars, which weighs over 2090kg. If it can, then why is it only number 8 in the countdown while the rhinoceros beetle is number 1?

Answer: They based it on how much they can lift in relation to their body weight. A Rhinoceros Beetle can lift 850 times its own body weight, which would be equivalent to a Gorilla lifting 255 tons (over 100 times more than 2,090 kg).

Bishop73

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