Desperate Housewives (2004) - 75 mistakes in entire show

Plot hole: It says on Mary-Alice's tomb stone that she died on September 26th 2004, which was a Sunday, yet in the first episode, she says that she died on a Thursday.

Continuity: Season 4, Episode "Mother Said": When Orson is on the phone with his lawyer, he sets down the notepad with a page half filled with writing at the front. However, later in the scene Edie walks into the room and the front page of the notepad is full of writing, plus there's an extra line in the first paragraph. No one was around to move the page as Orson was in the shower.

Continuity: In season 4 episode 10 (Welcome to Kanagawa): Adam hands Katherine the note he found on the floor written by her aunt in a previous episode. Katherine is holding the paper up. When Adam walks around her in the next shot, the paper is gone and Katherine is only holding her keys/purse. The close up of Katherine (the very next shot) shows her holding the paper again.

Revealing: In episode "A Weekend in the Country," when Orson and Andrew are sitting in the diner, the same man in the green shirt keeps passing the window.

Plot hole: Episode: 1:23. Rex is in the hospital for having a minor heart attack and is awaiting surgery to receive a pacemaker. 1) He isn't connected to an ECG or any other heart monitor so no one is aware of his heart attack. 2) They ran blood tests and checked his potassium levels. They would have also checked the concentration of his medication in his blood. (This should have been done earlier in the season too when they first discovered his medications were not working.) Zero concentration of medication in his blood could throw suspicions on his wife just as easily intentionally giving him potassium.

Other: Season 04, Episode 14: In the scene where Lynette and Tom are fighting about Lynette having taken Kayla to see a therapist, and Kayla walks away, you can hear Tom yelling about Lynette having a distorted reality and that she can't pull crap like that. In the scene where Kayla comes back into the house after conning the twins into jumping off the roof, Tom and Lynette repeat the same dialogue again.

Factual error: Season 2, episode 20: Gabrielle visits Dale, her adopted child's natural father, at his high school and interrupts a pep rally for the football team's upcoming game. Dale, the team's Quarterback, even says that in the last game, he threw for 260 yards. The problem is that it is spring. Dale has just returned from a week in Florida for Spring Break. Football season is over. Basketball season should be over or ending soon. There couldn't have been a pep rally if the season is over.

Continuity: Episode 2:20 - While Susan and Edie are at the Hooters style restaurant, the amount of beer, and amount of head, in Edie's glass changes from shot to shot; It's not because she is drinking it.

Deliberate "mistake": In the episode where Mary-Alice Young's house is open for buyer's inspection, the phone number on the "For Sale" sign has been digitally blurred.

Plot hole: In season one, Helen said that John turned eighteen last week. And Zach said in season three that he is two months older than John. But in another episode in season three, Lynette said that Zach turned eighteen a month ago. So Zach is two months older than John, and John turned eighteen in season one, but Zach turned eighteen in season three. Season one quote: "Last week he turned eighteen"(they're talking about John in episode "Your Fault.") Season three, quote one: "I'm two months older than John Rowland"(Zach says it in episode "Not While I'm Around.") Season three, quote two: "Until he turned 18, a month ago"(they talk about Zach in episode "Come Play Wiz Me.")

Other: Season 5, episode 20, "Rose's Turn": Carlos carries Lynette to bed when she passes out after falling in the shower. She was obviously very wet all over when it happened, and is still wet afterward, however, his suit is completely dry.

Continuity: In episode "Like it was" when Gabby and Carlos are driving in the car, Gabby's hair keeps switching from behind her ear when the shot changes.

Continuity: Episode "If there's anything I can't stand" - The amount of cream on Victors chest during his rubdown changes between shots.

Continuity: Episode 2-23: Caleb hits Melanie with a piece of lumber and she falls to the ground. She falls with her feet towards Caleb, but in the close up (and each scene after) her head is now towards Caleb.

Audio problem: Season 2, episode 13 "Silly People"; When Eva Longorea drives home her husband is talking to a man. Their lips move, but no sound comes out.

Continuity: In "Getting Married Today," Gabby's hair in the beginning has her bun high on her head and her tiara is visible from the front. When Bree walks in, and when she overhears Victor and his father talking, her tiara is farther back on her head and no longer visible from the front.

Continuity: When Betty is shown the crime scene photo of Melanie's body, Melanie is inches away from a pallet and the jacket covers most of her torso leaving only the right arm exposed. In the flashback scene, Melanie is feet away from the pallet and the jacket mainly covers her chest and face, leaving both arms uncovered.

Continuity: In episode "The Gun Song, Free Part 2," when Gabby runs upstairs to confront Ellie, her headband is further on her head than when she runs into the bedroom.

Factual error: In the ep in season four where Victor drifts ashore, someone calls the police officer at Gabrielle's home and informs him that Victor has been found. The officer answers the call, listens for about one second and then hangs up. In that one second he's gotten four sentences of information to pass on to Gabrielle about her husbands whereabouts. There wouldn't have been time to tell him so much in so little time.

Continuity: In episode Now I know, Don't be Scared. When Carlos walks in to talk to Gabby about staying with Victor, she is drinking a glass of wine. She drains the glass except for a small sip, when she puts the glass down it's half full.

Continuity: Season 2, Episode 20: When Gabrielle goes over to Dale to get him to sign the custody form for the baby; the sheet of paper is all creased and folded up. But when she shows it to Carlos it is not creased at all.

Continuity: Season 2, "One More Kiss": When Lynette sits with Gabrielle in the kitchen discussing the kiss, they're drinking shakes. Gabrielle is either holding her shake or it sits on the counter in front of her, repeatedly, depending on camera angle.

Continuity: Episode 2-20 At the Hooters style restaurant, Edie intentionally trips the waitress. When the waitress falls, there is a lettuce leaf in the small of her back. When she starts to jump up, the lettuce is now at the base of her neck.

Continuity: Episode 2-23: After Caleb thinks he has killed Melanie, he wipes his right hand across his T-shirt several times and leaves one bloody handprint. When he gets home, there are now several bloody prints from his right hand on the T-shirt.

Visible crew/equipment: In one of the episodes, Gabby has her Maserati car taken from her by the repo guy. When he pulls off, the car is towed behind him. Clearly reflected in the metallic paint of the Maserati is the crew, with boom, camera and everything else.

Continuity: When Lynette is feeding her baby, we see from behind there is a backpack on her chair then when the shot changes it is not there.

Continuity: In the restaurant, Bree makes a salad for Rex at the salad bar. It is fairly tall with lots of tomatoes. The salad she gives him is flatter and missing many of the tomatoes.

Continuity: When Bree Van De Kamp is talking to Susan Mayer, when Bree is drinking from her cup we see that her fingers and thumb are both about the rim, yet when the shot changes to behind they're both much lower.

Continuity: When Lynette comes out of the pool, after getting her boys, she is wearing high heels, but when the shot changes to a distance, she isn't wearing anything on her feet.

Continuity: When Bree Van De Kamp is first shown with her muffins, we see that the hand towel on the right basket is not in her hand, then when the shot changes it is.

Continuity: When Rex Van De Kamp is at the restaurant, his fork is half way over his napkin then in a later shot it's completely on the napkin.

Continuity: When Mike comes home with the shopping bag, we see that the items in his shopping bag change positions in between the shots when he goes to see Eddie arrive.

Continuity: When we see Lynette driving her kids, in the first shot we see some red, blue and white decoration in the front of the car to the right, then when the shot changes it's in the centre.

Continuity: When Mike is taking his dog to the vet, we see that Susan's hair is covering her ear in all the shots except the last one when her hair is behind her ear to show that the earring is gone.

Continuity: When Lynette gives her husband his photo, the position of the photo changes in between shots.

Continuity: When Gabrielle and Carlos are saying hello to Ashley, the position of her hands change on the ball, from the front to the side to the front again.

Continuity: When Julie is leaving we see that she leaves the door open and then it closes with a slight open gap, yet just for one shot the door is completely closed, then it's open again.

Continuity: When Karl is speaking to Susan whilst she's in the towel, we see in one shot his chin is resting on his palm, then when the shot changes he tilts his head and then moves his fingers to his chin then when the shot changes his chin is resting on his palm again.

Continuity: When Lynette and Gabrielle are talking to Paul, the boxes Gabrielle are holding change position between shots under her arms.

Continuity: When Andrew is talking to his mum, Bree, on his bed, we see him put the magazine down, yet in a later shot it is no longer there.

Continuity: When Susan and Mrs.Huber are together in the Supermarket the position of the egg box keeps changing in between shots on the conveyor belt.

Continuity: When Bree goes to see Zak, in one shot her hands are intercrossed, then in the next her arms are crossed.

Visible crew/equipment: When Susan is following Paul in the car she borrowed, we can see the reflection of a crew member on the right hand side of the window.

Continuity: When Lynette is talking to Jordana the items on the table keep changing position in between shots.

Continuity: In one shot during the poker scene the baby moniter changes position to the other side of Lynette then back again.

Continuity: When Bree sees the presents that Rex has bought for the children, she walks up to the car. As she stops walking you can see her hair particularly on her left side is being blown gently by the wind and continues to be blown through most of the shot. In the following shot her hair is now sitting perfectly without any wind blowing it.

Deliberate "mistake": When Susan falls through the floorboards of Mike's house she uses the nearby towel to try and get the dog Bongo to help her. If you watch at the different angles the position of the dog keeps changing. When it shows Susan from behind the dog is almost right next to her face and stepping on the towel. In the shots from in front of Susan the dog is nowhere near the towel or even in the shot. This mistake looks more deliberate as the front on shots of Susan, the dog would likely have blocked her face from the camera.

Continuity: As Susan tries to get the dog to help the second time you can see the towel Susan tried to use to get the dog to help her. The shot then shows Susan and the towel has disappeared. After a quick shot of the dog it cuts back to Susan and the towel has reappeared.

Plot hole: Mrs. Huber died at the end of the previous episode, "Guilty", so why is she signed up (with dress reserved and everything) for a fundraising idea Gabrielle only had in the teaser of this episode?

Plot hole: Several days must have passed between the teaser of this episode and the rest of it, since Gabrielle has had time to make up (very professional-looking) cards and posters, gotten several dozen volunteers and reserved dresses for many of them, yet Paul has only just gotten around to disposing of Mrs. Huber's body and trying to wash the blood out of his shirt. Even if we assume the teaser takes place right after the end of the last episode (when Paul murdered her), that's still several days of keeping a rotting corpse and enough evidence to put him away for life around his house.

Audio problem: When Susan suspects someone might be in the house, the seduction music she has put on for Mike is drowned out by the score. When she accidentally hits Mike across the face, the score stops, but the music that was playing in the background has gone. The song in the background before now was music within the show, and it was loud enough to be heard around the house, so we should still be able to hear it.

Continuity: When Bree is about to leave the hospital she picks her bag up with her left hand to put it on her right shoulder but when the camera angle changes she's put the bag on her left shoulder with her right arm.

Continuity: Bree arrives home and is carrying a big package with her right hand and just one second later the package switched to the left and her mobile rings.

Audio problem: At the school dance, the students are all dancing at a rapid pace when the music playing is a slow song, indicative that the music was dubbed in later.

Continuity: When Bree Van De Kamp is sitting on the couch talking to her marriage counselor, as she is doing so she picks up her purse and puts it on her lap, crossing her hands over it. When the camera switches back to her a second later the purse is back on the couch beside her in the exact position it was in before she picked it up.

Factual error: Lynette's neighbor tells her that the pot Lynette's sons gave her is really hers, the neighbor's, and she bought it in Costa Rica. She turns the pot over to show Lynette that the price is marked on the bottom, with a number followed by the letter p. One supposes that the p might stand for peso, except that the currency of Costa Rica is the colon, which consists of 100 centavos. No p in sight.

Continuity: Season 1, episode 14 "Love Is In The Air", Bree Van De Kamp is sitting in a chair talking to her husband Rex while knitting. In one shot, after the camera goes back to her, the object that she is knitting disappears, then re-appears when the camera comes back to her later in the scene.

Continuity: When Susan's reading her Valentine's card, in the shot over her shoulder she closes it. The angle then changes so we can see one of the other housewives approaching - her card's now open and she shuts it again.

Continuity: When Lynette is chasing her neighbor out of her boys' bedroom and has a pillow in each hand, one is spotted and one is light blue. She raises the light blue pillow to throw at the neighbor. When the camera switches to the bedroom door, its the spotted pillow that hits the door behind the fleeing neighbor.

Continuity: Episode 15- When the housewives are sitting on the porch discussing Mike Delfino, Teri Hatcher's green shirt keeps changing positions in the shot. It goes from down around shoulders to close to her neck and back.

Audio problem: Episode 1-20 - Fear No More. As Carlos is giving his speech at the barbecue, Julie sees Zach and says to Susan "Oh God". After cutting to a shot of Zach and his father it shows Julie and Susan again. If you look to the right of the shot you will see Carlos' face is just looking in front of him and not speaking, but you can still hear him giving his speech whilst he is in shot.

Factual error: This is for one episode 1-23. In the beginning, there is a shot of a calendar for March 1990. It shows March 1st being a Wednesday. March 1, 1990 was a Thursday.

Continuity: In the episode where Gabby kisses Tom Scavo and, in return, Lynette kisses Carlos, Gabby is making a smoothie. When she's drinking it (as Lynette and Carlos are making out), it keeps switching from her left hand to her right hand, depending on which angle the camera is facing her.

Continuity: When Gabby first goes to visit Carlos in prison, they sit down at a table. Watch Gabby's arms. At one point, she folds her arms, yet in the next shot they are on the table. In the next shot they are folded, and in the one after that they are back on the table.

Continuity: Gabrielle sits down with some letters in his hands then places them to his right side while she is talking to John, first the letters are mixed up and then in order.

Factual error: Season 2, episode 3, "You'll Never Get Away From Me." The polygraph scene was completely fictitious. There is a very good reason why polygraph results are not admissible as evidence in court: Whether you are lying or not is the opinion of the examiner. There is no clear indicator, like the huge spike shown, that the individual is lying. Also, the one being examined is instructed to lie to certain known questions; e.g., age, address, etc. The examiner needs to see how the body reacts when the person is lying.

Continuity: When Carlos is about to be vaccinated, him and Gabby sit in the waiting room. Throughout their conversation watch Gabby's arms. At one point she has them down beside her, then in the next she has them folded. In the following shot they are down again, and in the next one they are folded.

Factual error: When Susan has an MRI scan she walks into the scanning room with the radiographer wearing jeans and an underwire bra, both of which are not to be worn in the scanning room due to the power of the magnet which would pull her towards the scanner. She also is carrying her handbag which also would be pulled against the scanner. She is left fully clothed as she enters the scanner, wearing the under-wire bra would pin her down to the scanner. A coil must also be wrapped around the area being looked at so that images can be obtained, she did not have anywhere near her body. The radiographer also had pens in his pocket which would easily fly out and towards the scanner.

Continuity: When Lynette and Tom are talking, Tom says "Really I got the job?" and puts down the newspaper he was just reading. In the next shot we see Lynette and you can see Tom is still holding the paper and puts it down again.

Continuity: As the nurse is talking to Susan about the operation, the folding of the paper the nurse is holding on the clipboard changes between shots. First it is half folded over, the next shot it has been folded right over and is being held right down. After this shot it changes again and is now folded back without her moving the paper.

Factual error: In episode 2:14, Thank you So Much, it is the weekend and Valentine's Day. We see in the following episode that it's 2006 and their calendar matches the real one, but Valentine's Day was on Tuesday this year.

Continuity: When Gabrielle and Carlos go out of the house to investigate what is happening when the Chinese maid starts shouting, they close the door behind them. In the following shots the door is open again.

Continuity: In "Thank You So Much" Valentine's day was on a Saturday or Sunday. In this episode, They are showing Bree marking her chores off a calendar for February and March 2006. The calendar matches the real calendar and Valentine's day was a Tuesday this year. The calendar doesn't match their previous episode. And they do state that "today is Valentine's day." not that they are celebrating it on the weekend.

Revealing: Baby Lily is supposed to be a newborn, but she must be like 4 or 5 months old. When she is supposed to be tucked in a blanket, it's very obvious that they're using a doll that is much smaller than the actual baby.

Continuity: When Bree is talking to Lynette about what Lynette would say to Andrew's lawyer, in the shots facing Bree her right hand is on top of her arm, but from behind, her hand is under her arm. This happens again in the next shots.