Best TV character mistakes of all time

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JAG (1995)

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Walker, Texas Ranger picture

In Harm's Way: Part 2 - S8-E1

Character mistake: Trivette hands the man in yellow a bullet recovered from the plane Walker and Alex were traveling on, which was shot down by an assassin flying a P-51 Mustang. This man, and later Trivette, mistakenly refer to the round as a "50mm," when in reality, Mustangs were equipped with M2 Browning .50 Caliber (12.7 mm) machine guns. (00:30:25)

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The Mentalist picture

Green Thumb - S6-E10

Character mistake: When Kim is trying to convince Lisbon to help the FBI on their case, she says Jane stopped the ten-year reign of a mass murderer. Red John was a serial killer, which, by the FBI's definition, is a criminal behavior distinctly different from mass murder; he may have had a large number of victims, but he killed them either one or a couple at a time, with a cooling-off period in between, not all at once.

Cubs Fan

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American Horror Story picture

Continuum - S2-E12

Character mistake: When Lana and Kit are speaking in the cafe, the window behind them contains a spelling mistake. The window reads "Bolyston Cafe" when it should say "Boylston Cafe." (00:31:45)

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The Last Ship picture

SOS - S1-E7

Character mistake: The Captain yells to Tex to man the "Fifty cal" but Tex goes to a mounted M240 7.62mm weapon.

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles picture

Show generally

Character mistake: Throughout the entire series, the Turtles are referred to, by others and by themselves, as amphibians. But turtles are reptiles, not amphibians. However they are amphibious, amphibious reptiles.

Quantom X

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Quantico picture

Answer - S1-E14

Character mistake: The diploma on the wall in Connor's office for the University of Kentucky, "university" is misspelled "universisty".

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Downton Abbey picture

Episode #4.4 - S4-E4

Character mistake: When everyone is preparing to go in to dinner, Robert is wearing an adjustable bow tie. It's bad enough he's wearing black tie to dinner when he has guests, as his mother points out, but Robert, the Earl of Grantham, absolutely would not be seen wearing an adjustable tie with a stand up shirt collar, even among only his immediate family. (00:35:15)

Phixius

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Pride and Prejudice picture

Show generally

Character mistake: Mrs. Reynolds, the housekeeper at Pemberley, refers to Mr. Darcy's late mother as Mrs. Darcy while showing Elizabeth and her aunt and uncle the house. This is a grave mistake on the part of the filmmakers as she should have been referred to as Lady Anne, the way her sister is known as Lady Catherine. Their father was an Earl, making them Ladies by birth, not by marriage. Hence, they must be called Lady followed by their first name.

ployp

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Manifest picture

Hard Landing - S1-E15

Character mistake: The Captain mentions that the guards were killed in the robbery, but the guards were tazed and hit (with the door and the other was punched), not killed. The companion thieves were killed by Griffin though. "Perp steals 75million, kills 2 guards..." No he didn't. (00:16:01)

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Star Trek: The Next Generation picture

Datalore - S1-E13

Character mistake: At the end of the episode, after Lore has been defeated, Picard asks Data if he is O.K. Data replies, "I'm fine." One of the plot points of this episode is that Data cannot use contractions.

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: That characteristic was not added to the character until season two. In the first season, Data uses contractions on a number of occasions.

It's still a possible mistake, even if it wasn't part of season 1 scripting. Just because we only learn later that Data doesn't use contractions, doesn't make this mistake invalid. We learn Data was specifically constructed that way and hadn't been able to use contraction since being created, which means all of season 1 he shouldn't be using contractions. Although it would probably be best to submit it as a mistake in season 2 when it's mentioned that it contradicts what was established.

Bishop73

It would only be a mistake if he used the contraction after the trait was established for the character.

Possibly, but that's not how mistakes on this site work seem to work. It could still be a valid mistake in the context of the entire show since the character trait had in fact been established. It's the same way for when shows do something like establish a character's birth-date in later seasons, but when episodes from earlier season have the character at the wrong age. Although it would probably be best to submit it as a mistake in season 2 when it's mentioned that it contradicts what was established.

Bishop73

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Suggested correction: With Zack's kids, Hodgins was referring to the 40 cousins and nephews that Zack has, and sees every Christmas.

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Doctor Who picture

100,000 BC - S1-E1

Character mistake: When Ian is trying to escape from the TARDIS in episode 1, he says, "He closed the door from over there, I saw him." It was in fact Susan who closed the door.

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Star Trek: Voyager picture

Gravity - S5-E13

Character mistake: Captain Janeway states the temporal differential ratio is .4744 seconds per minute (meaning for every minute on the surface, only .4744 seconds pass on Voyager). Tuvok calculates that 30 minutes on Voyager would be 2 days 11 hours and 47 seconds. However, at that ratio, 30 minutes would be 2 days 15 hours 14 minutes and 15.9 seconds. Later Tom (who was on the surface) says the last two months for them was only 2 days for B'Elanna (who was on Voyager). But with the temporal differential, 2 months on the surface would be less than 12 hours on Voyager. 2 days on Voyager would be almost 253 days (almost 8.5 months) on the surface.

Bishop73

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