Monk (2002) - 248 mistakes in entire show

Continuity: Season 8, "Happy Birthday Mr. Monk": When Monk pulls all his drapes shut, there's a wide gap in the right hand set that's letting at least five inches of bright sunlight through. No one has touched them again, but when Natalie goes to open the drapes a few moments later, the gap has completely closed itself.

Plot hole: It makes no sense why the police haven't done the most obvious thing and checked for fingerprints on the murder weapon (the knife). It would not only back up the detective's claim that he did not stab the victim (he never touched the knife) but would have given the police a major clue to finding and prosecuting the murderer.

Other: Kitty, the killer, is seen running to Gitomer after Lt. Kirk leaves him. She is supposedly running to stab him, but you can see that both of her hands are empty as she dashes to his side.

Factual error: The woman who accuses Monk of stealing her necklace shouldn't have the necklace inside the asylum in the first place. For both safety and insurance reasons, patients in mental facilities aren't permitted to keep any potentially harmful jewelry, including pins, broaches, earrings, belts, beads and necklaces.

Continuity: It's Spring in San Fransisco in this episode: warm with light rain and people outside in shirtsleeves. That is, until Monk goes to visit Kelly, when it suddenly becomes Winter. Everyone's bundled in heavy coats and it's sleeting. After Monk leaves Kelly's house, it becomes Spring again.

Continuity: In the opening scene, the man with the date pulls the gun on the mugger with his right hand and fires one shot. The camera angle changes as the remaining shots are fired and he now has the gun in his left hand and is standing in a completely different stance. During the recap of the crime at the end of the episode, it shows him firing all the shots with his right hand.

Continuity: When Sharona is having dinner at the restaurant and asks her date, "Have you ever been married?", she puts down her drink and lets go of it. When the shot changes she is putting the glass down again and holding on. In the third shot her arms are folded.

Continuity: After the quake, all but one of the art pieces have fallen out of the Rutherford's display case and lie shattered on the floor. But seconds later, when Christine pushes the cabinet over, most of the broken items have vanished from the floor.

Audio problem: Sharona and Benjy are forbidden access to their damaged apartment building. The policeman tells them to call a certain emergency number, but when he says this, his lips aren't moving.

Continuity: Sharona tells her sister that Monk needs the guest room because he "doesn't sleep on couches," but in "Mr. Monk and the Marathon Man," she had to stop him from taking a nap on the victim's couch.

Continuity: When Sharona and her sister are talking on the couch, her sister is playing with her hair when she asks "Are you in love with anybody?" The shot changes to Sharona answering from over her sister's shoulder and her sister's hand is in a fist and pressed against her head.

Continuity: Before meeting Willie Nelson on his tour bus, Monk is outside the radio station. When a car comes past the shot shows from inside the car and we see Monk putting his right hand up to his forehead and touching it. In the next shot his hand is now further down his face and is not touching it anymore.

Continuity: In the scene where Willie Nelson is rehearsing, his pigtails change position depending on the shot.

Revealing: In the scene where a man is streaking, he is carefully made to look naked. But when he is running through the park, there is one shot where you can see some black underwear.

Continuity: In the closing scene with Willie Nelson, there are a few times when the clarinet music changes notes, yet Monk's fingers do not move. There is also one point where Monk takes a breath mid-note.

Continuity: At the school tower murder scene, Randy's coat is buttoned up over his tie, but changes suddenly when Stottlemeyer says, "OK, bring him up." The coat is immediately unbuttoned and open all the way in the very next shot.

Deliberate "mistake": When Monk is first teaching his class, the class goes for less than 10 minutes.

Other: When Monk is leaving Derek Philby's classroom, he dots the "I" in "REMINDER" on the blackboard. However, the word was in capital letters, so the "I" needn't have been dotted. Monk wouldn't make this mistake. (And the word is written in plain block sans-serif letters, so he's not adding a missing line: he's definitely dotting the capital I.)

Continuity: When Monk is leaving Derek Philby's classroom, he is quite content to just pick up a piece of chalk (with his bare hands) to write on the blackboard, but earlier, he makes sure to use a chalk holder to do this and nearly has a panic attack when he gets chalk dust on himself.

Plot hole: Monk and Sharona drive to San Marcos, a Spring Break resort town in Mexico. At the border, they're pulled over by Mexican authorities for a Customs inspection. Such inspections are performed on the US side of the border, but during the search, it's made clear that not only are they already in Mexico - they're also, conveniently, already in San Marcos. Spring Break resorts like this one, with pools, hotels, etc., aren't located at the border.