ER

ER (1994)

282 mistakes

(7 votes)

If Not Now - S12-E11

Factual error: The male patient tells ER doc that "Six years ago, l find out l inherited the Philadelphia chromosome. Ran on my mother's side of the family. L never knew. Screwed by genetics." The Philadelphia Chromosome, the cause of CML Leukemia, is not inherited. It occurs spontaneously in an individual, usually due to chromosome damage caused by radiation, and cannot be passed on to a person's children.

Rescue Me - S7-E7

Continuity mistake: When the man who was hit by a driver while on his bike, was being taken to the trauma room he is bumped by someone and blood starts spurting everywhere, including on Maggie, who is wearing Abby's coat. In the very next frame, the coat is clean with no blood on it at all, with no time for Maggie to have changed the coat.

The Miracle Worker - S5-E10

Continuity mistake: Peter and Dr. Romano are in the operating room arguing about Romano's lack of sobriety. Over the course of less than a minute, the clock on the wall goes from 8:15 to 5:15.

The Long Way Around - S3-E15

Continuity mistake: Carol is working on James' injury and Duncan goes to answer the phone. James has his arm wrapped around the phone but the shot changes to focus on Robert - we can still see James but his arm is now at his waist, even though he had no time to change positions.

The Long Way Around - S3-E15

Continuity mistake: While Carol is trying to save Mr. Novotny's life, Mrs. Novotny's hair alternates from being loose and hanging over her cheeks to being neatly tucked back into her bun. In fact, a few minutes later when Carol asks for her keys, her hair looks just-brushed shiny and newly coiffed - it's unlikely she would have fussed over her hair at this stressful time.

Homeless for the Holidays - S3-E10

Revealing mistake: When Mark goes to treat his cut, he leaves the lounge with a couple of tissues held to his head. He gets some supplies and puts a supposedly fresh piece of gauze to his forehead - however the gauze already has some "blood" on it - a feature the camera obviously wasn't supposed to catch. When Jeanie comes over to check it out, he pulls the gauze away from himself and - voila - there's the bloodstain.

The Letter - S8-E20

Continuity mistake: When Carter and Abby are kind of fighting outside, when Carter is carrying Abby back to the car,from the front shot he threw her over his left shoulder, but a second later, from the rear view when he drops her she is on his right shoulder.

Missing (a.k.a. Mistaken Identity, a.k.a. Identity Crisis) - S10-E9

Factual error: The kid from the car accident has had an orthopedic device called a halo put onto his head in order to immobilize his head and injured spine. This item is screwed directly into the skull and is very secure. However, when the doctors are giving the boy CPR, the halo stays stationary but the child's head moves back and forth inside of it. The halo should have kept his head still, or his head would have moved only if the halo moved.

Under Control - S6-E16

Continuity mistake: When Carter picks up his crutches from the floor of the lounge, his hand is near the crossbars. When he hoists himself up, the shot shows his hand near the top of the crutches.

Good Luck, Ruth Johnson - S5-E9

Continuity mistake: Carol is in Wilson's room writing on the center of his chart. When the shot shows her turn to answer Wilson, her pen is writing near the edge of the chart. She didn't have time to change the pen's position so quickly.

The Good Fight (a.k.a. A Perfect Match) - S5-E8

Factual error: At the beginning of the show, Doug states that even though it's November, it's never too late to golf. A lot of this episode's scenes are outside as Lucy and Carter run around looking for a patient's father - the flowers are still blooming and the trees are full of green leaves, with only the slightest of autumn foliage, and few dead leaves on the ground. Considering the locale of Chicago, it looks like mid-September, certainly nothing like November.

Obstruction of Justice - S4-E9

Continuity mistake: Near the start of the show, Carter gets a can of soft drink from the machine and just then his cousin Chase shows up in the ER - they hug and somehow the can, which should be in Carter's hand, has disappeared.

Whose Appy Now? - S3-E14

Continuity mistake: When Peter signs the consent form for his surgery, his head is raised off his pillow a few inches. The shot changes and he continues to sign - but now his head is lying on the pillow even though he didn't have time to move.

And Baby Makes Two - S2-E5

Continuity mistake: In this episode Susan is thinking about giving little Susie up for adoption, throughout the episode the baby playing little Susie switches from a brown eyed baby to a blue eyed baby.

Be Still My Heart - S6-E13

Continuity mistake: Near the beginning of the show, when Elizabeth and her mother are having tea before they both go off to work, for a couple of shots from in front of her, Elizabeth is holding the mug with both hands, but the shots from behind her show her holding it with one hand only.

Greene with Envy (a.k.a. Lawrence of Northwestern) - S6-E3

Continuity mistake: When Dr. Lawrence is working on the ER with Mark, he gets frustrated because the tag Kerry's issued to everyone gets in his way. He asks someone to get it out of his way, and as he moves around to the other side of the table, we can see it has been pulled up around the back of his neck. As he reaches the other side, it is suddenly hanging straight down again. A short time later it is tucked up around his neck again. At no time did he adjust it.

Masquerade - S5-E5

Continuity mistake: When the med students throw the burning armchair over the balcony it tumbles down the steps, crosses the landing and continues to roll down the second set of steps to within a foot or so of Carter and Bernie. The next shot shows it on the landing again, and then tumbling down the last few steps again.

Robert Romano: They're going to be looking for a sacrificial lamb, and I have to tell you, right now you're looking pretty wooly.

More quotes from ER

Trivia: Every episode has the patient list by the nurse's station. On the patient list, different names are mentioned, like Marguiles or Tierney. They put these names there as a spoof of the show.

More trivia for ER

Show generally

Question: Does anybody know what the episode was called where that helicopter severed Romano's arm? I'm pretty sure it was season 8.

Answer: It was in "Chaos Theory", the first episode of season 9 (time code 00:13:55).

Super Grover

More questions & answers from ER

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.