Best drama TV factual errors of all time

Please vote as you browse around to help the best rise to the top.

White Collar picture

Point Blank - S2-E9

Factual error: In the scene where Mozzy is using a synthesizer to try and figure out the musical code, he starts playing random chords in frustration. Since the synthesizer is a Minimoog (a monophonic instrument) this is impossible. (00:12:45)

More White Collar factual errors
More Rosemary & Thyme factual errors
Scorpion picture

White Out - S2-E13

Factual error: They repeatedly say how equipment will freeze in moments, but they leave their faces exposed and coats open, hoods off at times. In such cold temps, the skin would freeze in minutes.

PappyBlade

More Scorpion factual errors
The 100 picture

Unity Day - S1-E9

Factual error: Bellamy tries to fire his assault rifle twice, but because of a dud round, it fails both times. There is an audible click each time he tries. The first attempt there would be a click, because the firing pin was charged when the last round was ejected. However, without that charge either automatically when a round is ejected or manually pulling the charging handle, the second attempt would have been silent since the firing pin was not engaged. (00:35:45)

djm

More The 100 factual errors

Zoo (2015)

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

Suggested correction: The power drops out but later on in the episode they have backup power. The problem is that the bat that gets into the base then takes out the backup power.

More Zoo factual errors
iZombie picture

Dead Beat - S2-E18

Factual error: They used an EpiPen to bring Liv back but they're holding it backwards. The way it's being held, Ravi would have injected himself instead of Liv and she wouldn't be revived.

More iZombie factual errors
Houdini and Doyle picture

Show generally

Factual error: The show starts in 1901 with a woman constable working for the Metropolitan Police Service (Scotland Yard). However women didn't join the Metropolitan Police until 1919 (which is also when the first woman's police uniform was created). Prior to that, women volunteered in the Women's Police Service, but that wasn't formed until 1914.

Bishop73

More Houdini and Doyle factual errors
Imposters picture

Maybe/Definitely - S2-E5

Factual error: In the opening sequence when Maddie is supposedly driving from Michigan through Ohio and back to Pennsylvania, you can very briefly spot the reflection of a "TD Canada Trust" in the car window. This is because the show is actually shot in Vancouver. In the United States the company is simply known as "TD Bank", which doesn't operate any branches in either Michigan or Ohio. (00:01:55)

More Imposters factual errors
Selena: The Series picture

Opening Act - S1-E4

Factual error: At the beginning, the screen shows that the year is 1988 in Corpus Christi, TX, then the camera pans into Selena and her sister eating tacos when their friend Jake arrives wearing an Arizona Diamondbacks shirt. The Diamondbacks did not exist in 1988. Phoenix was awarded a Major League Baseball expansion team in 1995 and the Diamondbacks made their debut in 1998, 10 years after this scene takes place. (00:00:30)

More Selena: The Series factual errors
Passions picture

Show generally

Factual error: Dr. Eve Russell seems to be a "jack of all trades" in the medical profession, but it's impossible for her to know everything about every medical condition. When Theresa is going to marry Ethan, she goes and gets birth control pills and takes her first pill the day before the wedding. That night they make love. The next day, the wedding never takes place and Theresa flies off to find Julian. She forgets her second pill and sleeps with Julian. Eve tells her that since she didn't take a pill before sleeping with Julian then the baby is his. Any doctor would know that (and also suggest that) birth control pills are not completely effective until a person has been taking them for at least seven days, and a secondary form of birth control should be used. There's no way that Theresa's just taking 1 pill would protect her from being pregnant by Ethan, and this would still warrant a paternity test.

More Passions factual errors
More Downton Abbey factual errors
Wagon Train picture

The Mark Miner Story - S5-E8

Factual error: At an 1868 church service, Mark sings "How Great Thou Art." While the tune of this hymn is 19th Century, the English lyrics he's singing weren't composed until the 1920s.

Jean G

More Wagon Train factual errors
Vigil picture

Show generally

Factual error: As the Royal Navy has its own police (including detectives), there would be no need for a civilian detective to be airlifted onto a submarine, especially to investigate a sudden death that was not originally believed to be a murder.

Necrothesp

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

Suggested correction: The Royal Navy police are not equipped to handle murder; local police are usually used for more serious offences so no claim of a cover up. There are no MoD police attached to a submarine either, so in theory somebody would have to go to the boat. (However they still wouldn't risk surfacing).

Initially there is no suspicion of murder, only an unexplained sudden death. There would be absolutely no need to airlift a civilian detective aboard a top-secret submarine. It wouldn't be the first time a sudden death had occurred aboard a Royal Navy vessel.

Necrothesp

More Vigil factual errors
Smallville picture

Pilot - S1-E1

Factual error: Lex crashes and his car lands on its roof, but in the span of a few seconds it has sunk straight to the bottom, and turned the right way up. Cars don't sink that quickly. (00:17:25)

More Smallville factual errors
Numb3rs picture

Noisy Edge - S1-E12

Factual error: In the beginning of the episode, Charlie is stating that "there is always a solution" and "if there's any limitation it's got to be in the mathematician, not the math". Unfortunately, according to Kurt Godel's incompleteness theorems, this is not true. Simply put, there are mathematical problems that cannot be proven/solved.

More Numb3rs factual errors
Stargate: Atlantis picture

Show generally

Factual error: Anytime a character fires a missile at an airborne target, it's invariably from an M136 antitank launcher. The M136 is designed to hit relatively slow moving ground vehicles and is useless against fast moving airborne targets. (This is because used M136 tubes can't be reloaded and are very cheap to use as props).

Grumpy Scot

More Stargate: Atlantis factual errors
Attila picture

Show generally

Factual error: Aetius' troops don't look anything like 5th century Roman soldiers. They are carrying a large rectangular shield, a pilum (a spear which was used for throwing) and a sword (gladius) on their right. This was typical for the Roman army until about the 3rd century A.D. In Aetius' time, the soldiers would have had smaller oval shields, a hasta (a lance used for stabbing and for fending off cavalry attacks) and a sword (spatha) on their left. Also, there would be an enormous amount of "barbarian" mercenaries in the Roman army (Goths, Vandals, even Huns.), so it was hardly a Roman army anymore. And where's Aetius' cavalry?

More Attila factual errors
Winds of War picture

Show generally

Factual error: Part 4: The cord on the telephone Pug uses to call Pam should be a straight wire. Instead, it's coiled: a design not yet in use in the 1940s. (00:13:30)

Jean G

More Winds of War factual errors
Xena: Warrior Princess picture

Show generally

Factual error: Aphrodite's son and Psyche's husband is Eros, not Cupid. Venus's son is Cupid. (Eros is Greek and Cupid is Roman).

More Xena: Warrior Princess factual errors
CSI: NY picture

Not What It Looks Like - S3-E2

Factual error: Season 3, episode 49 (Not What It Looks Like). Breaking glass with sound is possible, but would not work as depicted in the episode. First, in order to break the glass, you have to force the glass to vibrate at its natural frequency - that is, the frequency at which it would vibrate if it were tapped. Each piece of glass has its own natural frequency, depending on a range of factors including size, chemical makeup, shape, hardness, and manufacturing methods. No single frequency would shatter all the glass in the store at the same time. Finally, in order to break the glass the piece has to be closed-ended. You can't shatter a plate of glass with sound (nowhere for the sound waves to resonate). Please see http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/feb98/887203231.Ph.r.html.

Kevin Hall

More CSI: NY factual errors