Day 4: 10:00 P.M.-11:00 P.M. - S4-E16
Character mistake: 23rd minute. Jack meets the female assassin in Anderson's apartment. She demands that he show his credentials. Jack says he's with CTU on a provisional basis and therefore he has no badge. The agent that came with Jack confirms that. Yet, in the 13th episode (minute 14) when he enters the sports shop with Audrey's husband, he shows his CTU badge to the owners in order to prove that he in fact is a federal agent.
Day 7: 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM - S7-E2
Character mistake: Larry Moss says that there are three dead bodies at Gabriel Schector's office, but there are only two: Schector and his bodyguard Ari.
Day 3: 12:00 P.M.-1:00 P.M. - S3-E24
Character mistake: Michelle tells the director that the target car is light blue. However, Chloe informs Jack that it is light green, which is the color of the car shown in the chase scene.
11:00 A.M.-12:00 Noon - S1-E12
Character mistake: Eli asks Rick, "Who was that guy I talked to? It was her father, wasn't it?" In the previous episode, Jack says, "I'm the last thing you will ever see if anything happens to my wife or my daughter." You'd think Eli would have registered what Jack said.
Day 4: 7:00 P.M.-8:00 P.M. - S4-E13
Character mistake: Near the start of the episode, Curtis asks how many square miles are affected by the blackout, and is told "approximately 8." A few minutes later, Sarah states that the blackout area is "everything within an 8 mile radius." These are vastly different amounts. An 8 mile radius would cover approximately 201 square miles. (00:02:25 - 00:06:55)
Day 7: 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM - S7-E1
Character mistake: When Ethan Kanin tells president Taylor that Henry has managed to convince Kevin Aldridge to hold off on his report about the Sangalan invasion, he accidentally refers to the reporter as "Henry Aldridge."
Day 8: 7:00 A.M. - 8:00 A.M. - S8-E16
Character mistake: When the exit guard puts Dana Walsh's ID card in the computer it comes up with "apprenhend on site", which should obviously be "apprehend on sight". (00:09:45)
Day 4: 8:00 P.M.-9:00 P.M. - S4-E14
Character mistake: In the scene where Chloe uses traffic video to get the license plate number off the van that takes Jack and Dina Araz to Habib Marwan, Tony is seen calling the field teams with the plate number, saying that it's "Charlie-Victor Alpha-Three-Two-Two." But the plate reads "6CVA322" so he should've said, "Six-Charlie-Victor-Alpha-Three-Two-Two."
Day 3: 7:00 P.M.-8:00 P.M. - S3-E7
Character mistake: At 07:03:05 PM the man pointing the gun at Jack is right-handed, but he aims with his left eye, which is his weak one. He keeps his right eye closed as he walks away and no longer needs to aim, which is a dead giveaway he has never used a gun before.
12:00 Midnight-1:00 A.M. - S1-E1
Character mistake: When Jack subdues Mason he proceeds to check his pulse to check Mason is still alive. When taking the pulse however Jack uses his thumb. This is not how a pulse is checked, as the thumb has it's own pulse and would therefore give Jack's pulse instead of Mason's. Being ex-Delta Jack would know this and not make the simple mistake. (00:22:10)
11:00 A.M.-12:00 Noon - S1-E12
Character mistake: When Jack mentions the siege at Waco, he implies that the ATF's raid failed because an agent on-site screwed up. Their plan had actually been shot before the assault team even reached the compound; a reporter inadvertently compromised their advantage of surprise when he got lost and asked David Koresh's brother-in-law for directions, providing the Branch Davidians ample time to arm themselves in anticipation of self-defense.
Day 8: 12:00 P.M. - 1:00 P.M. - S8-E21
Character mistake: When Chloe is talking to Arlo about the call Jack made to Meredith Reed, Chloe says that the call was made to Meredith's cell phone. But at Meredith's office, a coworker tells her the call is waiting (implying Jack called the office instead of Meredith directly), and once in her private office, she picks up the receiver of her land line. With all the phone tracing technology CTU has at its disposal, Chloe should be able to distinguish between the two.
Chosen answer: Nobody knew, not even the writers, until at least halfway through the season when they were writing the end. They wanted to keep all options open.
Nick N.