Of the cases I was primary investigator,

I solved all of them.

- [Narrator] Today Rod is going to break down

what's right and wrong in Hollywood crime scenes.

[coffee rippling]

[fan whirring]

[TV clicking]

- Crime scenes can be very tricky.

There are a lot of different details

that can be easily missed,

so what we're going to be doing

is looking for things that are telltale,

things that actually happen versus things that don't.

[static buzzing]

First clip, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.

In this scene, Ace arrives at a crime scene uninvited.

- I heard a scream, so I called the manager.

- [Manager] The place was empty except for that dang dog

in the other room.

I opened the balcony door, looked over the railing.

- This scene is highly inaccurate in the fact

that there are a million people at this crime scene

and that would never happen.

Crime scenes are really controlled and the number of people

to contaminate a crime scene is closely monitored.

- Animals can sense evil.

- Who let Dr. Dolittle in?

- Lieutenant, he came with Miss Robinson.

- This is official police business.

We'll let you know if the coroner finds a tick.

[laughing]

- Crime scenes are often guarded by a patrol officer

and when people enter crime scenes,

their names are taken and they're screened

and they're scrutinized, so the fact of Ace

just popping up in a crime scene and nobody knowing it

would probably never happen.

- So you don't think this is an obvious suicide,

Mr. Pet Detective?

- Well, I wouldn't say that.

Lord knows there's plenty of evidence here

to support your theory, except of course

for that spot of blood on the railing over there.

- A person collecting blood has to collect the blood

from the state it's in.

It has to be photographed and swabbed and preserved.

The other thing is it's an incredible biohazard.

No one would ever put their hand or finger in blood

to see if it is blood.

If anything, they'd run away from it.

- Roger Podacter went out after work.

He had a few drinks and he came home, but he wasn't alone.

Someone else was with him in this apartment,

there was a struggle and he was thrown over that balcony.

Roger Podacter didn't commit suicide.

He was murdered.

- Well, that's a very entertaining story,

but unfortunately real detectives have to worry

about that little thing called evidence.

- What's cool about this scene is Ace is sort of

the renegade guy who was not supposed to be there

and everyone else there has the same theory

or thought process going on and actually that happens a lot.

There's always a bunch of people that know so much

and one person who's always discounted,

but that person actually thinks clearly.

[rhythmic yelling]

- This is double-pane soundproof glass.

There's no way that neighbor could have heard Podacter

scream on the way down with that door shut.

The scream she heard came from inside this apartment

before he was thrown over the balcony

and the murderer closed the door before he left, yes!

- There's a theory that someone screamed

or someone heard someone scream and there's something

that physically prevents that from being possible.

Then that theory has to go out the window

and that's clearly what's happened in this case.

It's pretty accurate as far as the way detectives think

and the way detectives investigate.

Sometimes the simplest things are often lost

and when we hear them it's almost as if,

wow, why didn't I think of that?

And that's probably what makes this a little bit

more realistic than just mere comedy.

[static buzzing]

Next up, Breaking Bad.

- Saul Goodman sent me.

Come on, inside.

- So what's happening in this scene is someone's called in

a cleaner and someone to clean up a crime scene.

So what this cleaner does is, is they come and they

try to get rid of evidence or key evidence

that can link somebody or tie somebody to a crime.

Obviously the person that called the cleaner is

of more importance than the person

that's actually at the crime scene.

So it's one of those things where you

save them to save the bigger guy,

but you really don't care about that person

- Once you call it in, the people who show up

will be with the Office of Medical Investigations.

That's primarily who you'll talk to.

Police officers may arrive, they may not.

Depends on how busy a morning they're having.

Typically, ODs are not a high priority call.

- When he said you call in to the coroner's office

and it's going to take them awhile

and they're not concerned with ODs,

that's, that's really farfetched.

Any death, it's going to be treated as a homicide.

There's almost never a case, in fact,

there's never a case where someone's going

to report a death and investigators don't show up.

- There's nothing here to incriminate you,

so I'd be amazed if you got placed under arrest.

However, if you do, you say nothing.

You tell them you just want your lawyer,

then you call Saul Goodman.

- I think the advice given here to ask to speak

to a lawyer and say nothing

is probably going to frustrate the investigators

as much as a cleaned down crime scene,

but it's clearly effective for what it's intended to do

and that's to throw law enforcement off.

[static buzzing]

Next up, Sherlock.

- Just moved in.

- In this scene,

Sherlock is going to a crime scene

that he's clearly not allowed to be at.

- I love when it does that.

- [Security Guard] Hello?

- Clearly Sherlock's not a detective authorized

to be here because he has to buzz himself in

or get someone to give him access to it

so he's not supposed to be at the crime scene.

Doing so is actually against the law.

[curious music]

- Sneaking into an apartment complex, a crime scene,

and climbing through a window, breaking and entering,

is felonious behavior so it's not going to happen.

The part especially where he's kicking in the door

is really unrealistic.

That alters a crime scene way too much

and it's just not going to happen.

- What about this morning?

Those lessons you were looking at.

[squishing]

Yes.

He was being threatened.

- [Officer] Bag this up, will you.

- Don't worry.

- [Officer] And see if we can get prints off this glass.

- Yeah, once he goes inside the apartment

and reaches down the throat of the dead person,

that would never happen.

I mean, the bodies are always jurisdiction of the coroner.

The fact that an investigator or detective,

private investigator would do something like that

is actually against the law.

- Coffee table on the left hand side.

Coffee mug handle pointing to the left,

power sockets, habitually use the ones on the left,

pen and paper on the left hand side of the phone

because he picked it up with his right

and took their messages with his left.

You want me to go on?

- When a detective goes to a crime scene,

it works in milliseconds.

You scan a room, you come up with all sorts of things

that you don't realize you're even processing

like you, you'll come up with the fact

that someone's left or right handed by the way

things are placed in an apartment,

so that's pretty accurate.

[static buzzing]

Next up, CSI.

This scene of CSI involves a murder victim

and the suspect who's got himself stuck in cement.

- Found him, figured he had a free pass

and picked his pocket. [chuckling]

- This is pretty unrealistic.

She's clearly laughing quite a bit.

That probably wouldn't happen.

I mean, police officers and detectives,

we make jokes sometimes, but this is kinda over the top.

- Who's your lady friend?

- Never saw that woman before in my life.

- Look, you're not going anywhere.

It'll be a lot better for you if you just

cooperate and tell us what happened.

- Yeah, not real realistic that someone

would question somebody while they're stuck in the cement.

Interrogations are really serious deals,

not only to gather information but to

preserve rights and you know, one of the biggest things

is someone not feeling forced

or coerced into making a statement, and I think

being stuck in the cement is probably qualifying of that.

- Do you want to know what happened?

- Mmhmm.

- Figure it out yourself.

- That's the fun part.

- So I've never seen anything like this before,

but I have seen people that committed crimes

and then got caught red-handed because they got stuck.

In one case, a guy trying to crawl out

of a window got hung up on the glass.

So things like that are always really, really cool to see.

It's like God delivers them to you.

[static buzzing]

Next up, The Fugitive.

In this scene a U.S. deputy marshal

arrives at the scene of a crash.

- The bus rolled over several times

before settling at the bottom of the hill here.

I don't know if I passed out, but when I looked up

the train was bearing down on us fast.

I don't know how, it's still kind of hazy,

but somehow I grabbed him and I pushed him out of the bus.

- Questioning a suspect or who you may think is a suspect

outside and open in front of everyone

is probably something that's never gonna happen.

- Excuse me, sheriff.

I'm deputy United States marshal Samuel Gerard.

I'd like to talk to.

- I'll be with you in just a minute.

- Locals are not really crazy about federal agents coming in

and taking over their crime scenes.

This is pretty accurate because sometimes there's a lot

of tension between the two different agencies

or two different jurisdictions.

- I'd like to recommend checkpoints on a 15 mile radius

at I-57, I-24 and over here on Route 13.

- Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute.

The prisoners are all dead and the only thing

checkpoints are going to do is get a lot of good people

frantic around here and flood my office with calls.

- Well, shit sheriff, I'd hate to see that happen.

So I guess I'll take over your investigation.

- Overall, this is completely inaccurate.

The fact is is that U.S. marshals recovery or

a fugitive task force usually respond

after they're called in by local law enforcement.

In this scene, it's obvious that it's coming off

as if though they have a higher jurisdiction

and they can go to a scene and kind of take over.

In actuality, that doesn't happen or will never happen.

[static buzzing]

Next up, The Mentalist.