The West Wing (1999) - 76 mistakes in entire show

Other: The actress who plays Nancy McNally, Anna Deavere Smith, sometimes has her name spelt Anna Deveare Smith in the credits. It's happened in quite a few episodes. Not sure which is the correct way.

Factual error: During the face-off about religion/politics, they get into a shouting match about commandments, both groups being equally convinced that "honour your father and mother" is the 1st or 3rd commandment, respectively. In actual fact it's the 4th or 5th, depending on which version (Catholic or Protestant) of the 10 commandments you go by. See http://www.positiveatheism.org/crt/whichcom.htm.

Factual error: When Leo is reminding the Congressional Aides about their bosses' drug scandals, he states that Vicodin is a Schedule II Controlled Substance. It is actually a Schedule III Controlled Substance. Given his experience in this area he'd know better.

Continuity: When Toby is walking back to his office from the press room with his ex-wife, the ex-wife's tag and chain keeps changing through the entire sequence. Sometimes it's over her jacket and the tag's just hanging or it's under the jacket and the tag is sitting just inside her jacket.

Other: I call this one an "Escher Mistake". As Donna and Josh near the end of their chat about the chair that needs repairs, they pass an office door on their left (Nancy McNally's office) just before going through another doorway. The camera that follows them passes "through" a solid wall and emerges in an office, facing a hall and stairwell as Josh and Donna enter from our left as if this has all been a continuous shot. But the camera-through-the-wall moment is actually a cut so that the actors can be on a totally different part of the set. This would be fine, except the staircase they are about to turn left to and climb only rises up about 3 feet, then the user turns left again and heads to our left - but that sends the user into McNally's office, and does so 3 feet off the floor, yet they are seen entering the press room instead.

Revealing: When the Secret Service drags Hoynes out of the White House lobby, they exit through the main entrance, doors that are shown in episodes before and after as leading directly outside. But instead of seeing a convincing night exterior this time, the flashing cameras reveal nothing but a blue studio backdrop is out there.

Factual error: Sam says the "state-of-the-art" oil tanker he recommends can carry 2.2 million gallons of oil and weighs 308,000 tons. The Exxon Valdez could carry over 60 million gallons (1.48 million barrels) and weighed only 211,500 tons. The writers mistakenly swapped 'gallons' for 'barrels' so that this enormous tanker carries very little oil. It would actually carry 2.2 million "barrels", which equals 92 million gallons.

Other: When Toby tells Sam to "Go back to the office", the subtitles add "Let's", suggesting both are going, but only Sam leaves.

Continuity: When Ainsley Hayes and Lionel Tribbey are talking in her office, the bottled water moves from being to the right of the framed picture on her desk in the shots over her shoulder to being behind the picture in the shots of her desk from the front.

Plot hole: In order to allow time for a lengthy scene conversing while walking, actor John Spencer is sent on a ridiculous course through the West Wing. See the floor plan at http://www.whitehousemuseum.org/west-wing/west-wing-TV.jpg to follow along. He's first spotted leaving Margaret's area (blank space located just up and left of his "Chief of Staff" office on the plan). The handheld camera is in the Roosevelt room at this point. He turns right, traveling between his office and the Roosevelt room, meeting Donna along this hall. They make two slight left turns, then a hard left, entering the Roosevelt room (at the top/right corner's diagonal door). They walk the length of the room, turn left (down) and Leo drops some of the paperwork he carries onto the end of the table. They then exit the room (bottom left door) which is right outside the doorway where Leo started the scene. Leo isn't wandering. He's quite deliberate in his choices, yet if he'd simply walked straight ahead 6 or so steps from where he started, he'd have been where he dropped the papers.

Continuity: As Margaret enters Leo's office, the bottom corner of her ID tag is tucked into the sweater's button area. It remains this way when she stops walking. The camera reverses angle for a moment, yet we can still see she isn't moving. But the angle changes back and suddenly the ID hangs freely, dead center, over the buttons. Moments later, as she turns to leave, it's again tucked in.

Factual error: In the situation room, Colonel Chase informs Leo that a CH-47 Seahawk helicopter was dispatched from the USS Monterey. Problem is, the CH-47 is called "Chinook" while the SH-60 is the Seahawk (of which the USS Monterey carries two). See: http://picasaweb.google.com/agbeko.Dzamesi/Aircraft/photo5029495094968996146 for photo of an SH-60B Seahawk landing on the USS Monterey.

Continuity: During the beginning before the opening credits, C.J. is briefing the press corps on the bus. In the outside shot of the bus, C.J. has her left arm resting on a rail, towards the door. When the shot changes to inside, C.J. has her right arm on a rail towards the driver.

Audio problem: As Charlie leaves the Oval Office, he pulls the door behind him. When it stops moving, the audio suggests it has been closed fully ("ka-chunk"), yet it's obvious it has not been closed as we can still see the outer office's curtains at the right of the screen, confirmed further when C.J. steps forward and the camera pans right to show the entire door frame area, and the door open quite a bit.

Factual error: Leo asks how long it will be before the missile system being tested will hit the target, and is told "two minutes, ten seconds". He decides the President should see it, and leaves to fetch him. But doing so results in them both arriving back in the room exactly 3 minutes later. 7 seconds after that, they are told there are still 50 seconds to impact (but it should have occurred 57 seconds ago). After the 50 seconds pass, Leo states the impact will occur in 20 more seconds, and the moment of expected impact does pass at that time. In all, 4 minutes, 16 seconds pass from when "2 minutes, 10 seconds" to impact was announced.

Audio problem: During the blackout, Donna and Josh sit together. The scene begins with the camera looking out the window, panning right to reveal Donna as we hear her finish saying, "You know what I'm surprised about?". But her mouth isn't moving at all until she begins her next sentence, and it's visible when we're hearing "about".

Continuity: The President is watching Dial M for Murder with the staff and his daughter Ellie. In the beginning of the scene, the President is sitting behind Ellie and there is no empty chair next to her. Then he leaves the room. When he returns, his chair is suddenly placed next to Ellie.

Other: In a scene with Leo and the President, Toby confronts them about the fact that there was no clear person in charge while the President was in hospital after being shot. He references the shooting as taking place 'last May'. However, in an earlier episode, 'The Midterms', there is a title card that states the date as August 14th and in the scene that follows there is discussion about the staff job approval in which CJ states, 'A week ago the job approval is at 51, we got shot at and its at 81.' This would mean that the shooting took place in August not May.

Revealing: Oliver Babish's office has windows in a location it can not possibly have them. Jed and Leo are in continuous conversation as they leave the 'normal' West Wing set at the end of a hall (See http://www.whitehousemuseum.org/special/wwtv.htm where the words 'Press Briefing Room' are - that's where they turn to their right). They walk a few steps then turn right again and ahead of them is Babish's office, with windows straight ahead. If this had been a single continuous set, Babish's office would be located in the stair area to the left of the press briefing room, and the windows would offer a view of the hallway that runs between the lower corners of Leo and C.J.'s offices (seen at 3:36), not the outside world.

Deliberate "mistake": This show is famous / infamous for having many long conversations between characters that are walking the corridors of the West Wing of the White House. In this episode, the chat was long enough that more space was needed to complete the walk, so the actors were instantaneously teleported to a different spot to lengthen the walk. Using http://www.whitehousemuseum.org/special/wwtv.htm as a guide, Pres. Bartlet and Leo leave the Oval Office, pass through the Presidential Secretary's office, turn left, passing between the Roosevelt Room and the Chief of Staff's office. At the end of the Roosevelt room, they turn left through dark wooden doors that are open. Instantly, the actors are at the next junction higher on the map (no wood doors), as if they'd just passed between the Roosevelt room and the Communications Bullpen, and they continue (downward on the map) thru the intersection where they original turned (watch for the doors after Leo says "You wouldn't understand").

Visible crew/equipment: As Bartlet enters the Oval Office, Babish stands waiting inside. The shadow of the panning camera darkens Babish's face considerably as it moves right to left.

Continuity: As Jed and Leo pass through a doorway, the left door is open toward the camera while the right door is opened away. But as the camera angle shifts, the left is opened the same as the right.

Factual error: When the NSA, Dr. McNally, lists the Haitian order of battle, she indicates that their troops have 2 Bradleys with 120mm cannon. The only gun the Bradley is equipped with is a 25mm chain gun.

Continuity: When Jed yells for the late Mrs. Landingham, and she arrives, shots from behind her show her hair blowing significantly due to the outside door being open to the storm, but shots of her from the front show her hair relatively calm.

Factual error: A secret service agent goes to Leo McGarry and tells him Sharif has crossed the border from Canada into the US - he says "from Ontario into Vermont". It is about 50 miles from Ontario to the Vermont border - the only province that borders on Vermont is Quebec. At this high level of intelligence, this could not be a character error - just the West Wing writers not checking a map.

Continuity: Pres. Bartlet is at his farm in New Hampshire, talking to Leo. In one shot he has an arm on the rail fence and the other hand on his hip. The next shot shows him with both arms on the rail fence even though he had no time to shift position.

Continuity: Donna and the gang are in a restaurant/bar in New Hampshire and she has her hand up by her head as she eats. As Josh asks "are you eating the rest of the sandwich?" her hand is suddenly at her mouth.

Continuity: Sam and Doug are talking about the President's speech and Doug is holding his notepad, which he shifts to his right hand and starts to put to his side - but the next shot shows it back in his left hand.

Continuity: When Margaret goes into Leo's office to announce the arrival of Gianelli, he puts his glasses down on a bare portion of the desk. The next shot from behind him shows the glasses lying on top of books/papers. He'd had no time to move them.

Factual error: Hal Holbrook's character is called in to assist in solving an incident where a US sub has gone missing in hostile waters. Despite being elderly, he is considered an expert in such matters, and is advising the President in that capacity. Yet while relating similar historical submarine incidents, he makes two significant errors. First, he describes the "Glomar Explorer" and the K-129 Russian sub as "two subs", but the Glomar was a surface ship, not a sub (See http://www.espionageinfo.com/images/eeis_02_img0482.jpg). Then he states the USS Gudgeon was trapped by Russian ships for four days, but the entire incident took 30 hours. He is never challenged on these facts, and his advice is unquestioned. Rather than character mistakes, as the character's meant to be an expert, this is more likely bad research and embellishment by the writers.

Factual error: Leo tells Bartlet that Jackson's censure was expunged in 1836, but it was actually January, 1837.

Audio problem: Toby enters the Oval Office at the end of a meeting the President is holding with about a half-dozen people. The meeting breaks up and Toby follows Bartlet toward the desk as the others meander toward the door. A few seconds after the camera pans away from the others, we hear the door close and the room is now silent as Toby and Bartlet begin to converse. But the door closing happens way too soon for all those people to have gotten out of the room. Two men are especially just standing there, looking as if they aren't planning to leave at all. The other doors aren't used nor heard.

Plot hole: Joey and Kenny are led to the Oval Office by Charlie thru the Presidential Secretary's (and his own) office. Charlie ends the scene saying, "Okay, you're in the Oval Office" as he sends Joey and Kenny that way. Charlie always knows the President's whereabouts and schedule. Yet moments later, Josh arrives in Leo's office where others have gathered to await the start of the same meeting- and Joey and Kenny are also here. Then everyone goes into the Oval Office to await the arrival of the President. It is as if the makers forgot Charlie led Joey and Kenny here moments earlier.

Other: At the beginning of the show, the TV news program on the president's jet shows the time of 5:16 and that it is a "Live" broadcast. However, the time on the bottom of the screen, setting the context for the viewers, is 5:40.

Factual error: When the British Ambassador, Lord Marbury, greets Abbey at her party, he tenders best wishes from "Her Royal Majesty", his Monarch. However, as Her official representative, Lord John should have been cognizant that the reigning British monarch is referred to strictly as "His/Her Majesty".

Continuity: When Josh is walking down the White House hallway in the office area, he is talking to someone, and at first there is nothing in his shirt pocket, but as the scene progresses, we can see his glasses in the pocket. He did not put them there during the scene.

Continuity: Josh is getting coffee and talking to another guy about a Shakespeare production Bartlet is supposed to attend. When he goes to the coffee machine, his backpack is over his shoulder and the strap is near his collar but not covering it. When he walks away from the coffee machine, most of his collar is covered and quite dishevelled from the backpack strap. At no time did Josh adjust the backpack.

Continuity: Josh and Amy are in a restaurant having breakfast and talking about the vote - the sugar dispenser can be seen next to some yellow flowers. In subsequent shots the flowers are still there but the dispenser has disappeared, even though no one touched it.

Factual error: This show is supposed to take place in September, but the height of the corn and the complete lack of foliage change (even in early September there would be a little red or orange in the trees) make it look much more like June.

Factual error: The President is campaigning in Indiana and Josh, Toby, and Donna get stranded there around noon - but the shadows are quite long and it is obviously not noon in real time, but perhaps mid to late afternoon.

Continuity: Bruno and C.J. sit down in a meeting and are talking about women voters. When the shot is on Bruno, we can see C.J. is holding a black folder that is partially open. When the shot goes to her, though, she has her hands on the folder, which is opened on the table.

Continuity: Near the beginning of the show, Josh is talking about baseball while looking at some stapled political papers - the top one is folded back over the second one. As Donna asks "what is it?", the first page is falling free and Josh is only holding the second one, but he had no time to adjust them.

Continuity: In season one, CJ's office was right next to Josh's office, but from season two on, it was at the opposite end of a long walkway that runs between several glass cubicles (one of which Donna uses). The later location for CJ was the press room for season one. The differences are not furniture, etc, but wall and door locations have been revised. This season four episode features a flashback where Donna visits the White House prior to Bartlet's inauguration, and she is led to her future cubicle. In this scene, we see the floorplan is not the earlier version, but the newer version. While the between-season changes can be excused as 'remodeling' that took place off-screen, this episode's arrangement can't make sense.

Continuity: Sam is at the bar with Will Bailey. Will picks up his glass and tips it up to his mouth. The next shot from the other side shows him tipping it up to his mouth again.

Continuity: Early in the show, Toby, Sam, and C.J. are at a conference table, talking about a concession speech. C.J. is holding a mug and scratching her hand, but as she turns and says "ooh, Mr. Lyman", her mug is suddenly sitting on the table. In the next shot, as she is talking to Josh, her hand is around the mug. None of these changes happen in natural time.

Continuity: While Amy is talking to Toby, the piece of shrimp in her hand gets larger and the level of champagne in her glass does down, even though she never drinks from it.

Continuity: While Sam and Donna are listening to a TV report that Sam may be heading for Congress, the woman behind him has a phone receiver to her ear, with both hands on the phone. The shot changes and suddenly her right arm is down by her side, but in the next shot it is back in the first position.

Continuity: Josh is wishing Donna a Happy Thanksgiving - he is eating something out of his hand and has a blue book tucked under his arm, which flips from front to back from one shot to the next. When he starts talking to the Trekkie, it flips back again.

Factual error: Toby's father is mentioned as having worked for Murder, Inc; however, the opening scene with him on assignment is set in 1954, while Murder, Inc ceased operations in the mid-forties.

Continuity: When Donna is in Josh's office, picking up folders, she puts a blue one on top of the pile; the next split-second shot from behind her shows a brown folder on top of the pile - then she places a blue one on top of that.

Continuity: Bartlet agrees to have a photo op with a goat and says "let's do it right now" - as C.J. turns to her assistant, we can see the Pres is already half way down the hall, even though this would be impossible in real time.

Other: CJ is in Dayton, Ohio visiting her father. She is in the middle of her high school reunion speech when Toby calls from the West Wing. It is light in D.C. outside Toby's office window, but CJ is giving her speech at night when it's dark out.

Factual error: In this episode, it is Inauguration Day in January. In the previous episode, when CJ is visiting her father in Dayton, Ohio, it is February, according to CJ (when she complains that it will be too cold to go fishing with her father).

Factual error: In the first shot after the recap, the overlay text reads "United States Capitol/Sunday/Inauguration Day". During this episode and the one that follows there is an inauguration day celebration and President Bartlet makes his inauguration speech. Historically, however, when inauguration day falls on a Sunday the celebrations and speeches are scheduled for the next day, a Monday. The president is still sworn in on inauguration day (March 4th until 1933, January 20th after that), but all other activities are moved back one day. The inauguration date has only fallen on a Sunday 6 times since 1798, and only twice since the current inauguration date was set, so it is understandable that this arcane but important bit of scheduling tradition was missed by the show's researchers.

Continuity: Bartlett is in the executive office in the residence watching four TVs at once. He hears a line in the black and white movie, a second later he rewinds it to hear the line again - he rewinds way too much and for too long, but once he stops the tape, it plays the line he wanted to hear again right away. He went too far back (for visual effect) than what in reality it would have taken.

Continuity: When the guys arrive outside Donna's building, Josh wears a tux and a long black coat with a white scarf. After Josh says, "The buzzer's not working", a few quick camera cuts occur, and as he says "Nah, I know when-" and turns, the scarf is missing. It is back as the cameras cut again and he says, "I know what they like".

Continuity: Toby, Sam, and Amy are sitting at a table talking - Amy's eyeglasses are on the table in front of her - when Toby asks Charlie what's on the TV, the shot shows her glasses have rotated 180 degrees and her arms have noticeably changed position.

Continuity: In the Sunday Morning segment, at a White House meeting, a grey-haired woman is sitting at the table with her hand on her bottle of water - the next shot shows her hand several inches away, with no time for the change.

Factual error: Will Bailey (son of the Supreme Commander, NATO Allied Forces, Europe, and an Air Force officer himself) states the fighter jet alongside Air Force One is an "F-16 Falcon", but it is actually an F-15 Eagle.

Factual error: The "NY" tail markings on the fighter jet denote an F-16 model based in Syracuse, NY. Yet the plane is an F-15, of which Syracuse has had none.

Continuity: Toby and Leo are in Leo's office talking about the friendly fire incident - Leo's glasses are sitting on his desk in front of him. He then picks them up and moves them to the far left. A couple of shots later, he picks them up from the right and puts them on.

Plot hole: The fighter jet alongside Air Force One has "NY" tail markings which designate it's with the 174th fighter wing, with a home base of Syracuse, New York. Surely, in this emergency over Washington, DC, jets from a more local base (like the 113th's F-16s at Andrews AFB) would have been dispatched to aid the President's plane.

Continuity: Newly hired Assistant White House Counsel Joe Quincy is looking over his new "office". He's told it is the office traditionally given to newly hired lawyers, and is known as the "Steampipe Trunk Distribution Venue". In prior episodes, Ainsley Hayes, the previous Assistant White House Counsel, was also given this office, but this space is significantly altered in size from the earlier appearances. Essentially, the length of the space has been cut in half and the intervening wall with door is gone. Yet the room is not newly remodeled. It's a basement space with old pipes and walls, etc. The makers simply shrank the set without explanation.

Factual error: There are two errors toward the end of the episode. First, the way the 25th Amendment is handled is incorrect. It only covers the manner in which the President may either temporarily turn over powers of the office, or, as spelled out by law, he may be declared unable to continue in that office. In the case of the 25th Amendment, the Vice President becomes Acting President. As to the Speaker of the House taking over, that's not from the 25th, but rather from the 1947 Presidential Succession Act. The second problem concerns the oath that the Speaker took. While it's a little hazy as to whether he has to take the oath of President, as he is NOT, but rather just Acting President (and under 25 the Vice President would not take an oath as he assumes the duties immediately upon proper declaration), if it did happen he would not have put his right hand on the bible and raised his left hand. The tradition and standard is to put the left hand on the bible and raise the right hand toward God.

Other: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Fitzwallace tells Bartlet that he wants to attack targets in Qumar. The first he mentions is "the Bahji C3I" which he explains is "Communications, Command, Control and Intelligence". The explanation shows the actor John Amos flubbed his line and should have said "the Bahji 3CI", as in "C.C.C.I" or "Triple-C I". This is common governmental and military abbreviation jargon, much as the show often uses "D-triple-C" to mean the D.C.C.C. (Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee).

Continuity: Will, Josh, Donna and Toby are in Josh's office talking about Toby's twins; Josh leaves the office with his arms by his side, but when the shot switches to show him coming through the doorway, he is clutching his books to his chest. There was no time for the change.

Continuity: Josh is in his office with Donna and Pierce and as Pierce says "you're the 101st senator", he's holding some papers that are stapled, and one is hanging apart from the rest. Josh says, "I'm impressed", and the shot now shows the papers are all together in Pierce's hands.

Factual error: At 00:04:34 a four-star US army general notifies President Bartlett that a US Navy E2 "Hawkeye" was shot down over the Sea of Japan. The footage at 00:01:43 shows the operators of said aircraft sitting in single file. E2 operators sit side by side. The pilot is controlling the aircraft with a control stick. E2's have a steering yoke. The footage shows the operators ejecting. E2's don't have ejection seats. Finally, the sound of the plane at 00:01:43 is that of a turbojet. E2's are turboprop powered aircraft, and are, in fact, known for the distinctive humming sound that they make.

Plot hole: As Josh arrives at the security gate of the White House, protestors are gathered, chanting and otherwise talking loudly. He enters the gate, makes his way to the north entrance of the West Wing, and as he enters the lobby, the crowd is still heard quite plainly, just as loudly as at the gate, as if they were right outside the door, yet the protestors are much too far away to be heard so loudly, if at all.

Other: As Donna and the photo-journalist are about to leave the checkpoint, they each shake the soldier's hand. Just before the journalist passes in front of the soldier, the soldier goofs and looks directly into the camera, then catches himself and instantly tries for a 'thoughtful gaze' at the ground.

Continuity: When Kate is in Leo's office with the red folder on her lap, the position of her hands changes depending on the camera angle. Viewed from in front both hands are gripping either end of the folder, from behind her hands are clasped together and rested on top of the folder.

Continuity: Leo enters the situation room and is told the "planes are on the deck". He watches a video feed as a plane is launched from the USS Lincoln. The S3-B Viking is seen approaching one camera (single vertical tail fin, wing-mounted engines), then from another angle, we see an F-14 Tomcat lifting off (dual tails and fuselage-mounted engines) and moving away from camera. This is supposed to be live video, and it isn't possible two different jets are launching from the same carrier at the same exact moment, so it can only be a bad choice of stock footage by the show's makers.

Continuity: When Donna is writing on a pad to Josh when awaiting surgery, she first writes "Nice hat!!!" A few seconds later we see the pad again, and the exclamation marks have disappeared. Shortly after, they are back.

Deliberate "mistake": While a nice approximation, the helicopter used as 'Marine One' is significantly different (and much smaller) than the real ones used by the real White House (http://www.minihelicopter.net/Marine1/MarineOne.jpg).

Continuity: As the President leads the staff out of the Oval Office, the rear angle shot shows Kate Harper is ahead of Annabeth Schott. But the angle reverses to show them emerging from the office as Kate is coming around Annabeth's right side to pass her.

Continuity: Season 7, episode 2, "The Mommy Problem." At the end of the episode, when Matt Santos is approaching his fighter jet, the number "15" is on the left part of the jet's nose. Later, when the jet is taxiing towards take-off, the number changes to "01".