Best TV factual errors of all time

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Bates Motel picture

Visiting Hours - S5-E9

Factual error: In Oregon and New Jersey, state law requires that a gas station attendant pump the gas. Romero pulls into an Oregon gas station and encounters a nosey person. They are both pumping their own gas.

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Manifest picture

Hard Landing - S1-E15

Factual error: A thief has stolen 75 million dollars. He runs out with two large duffel bags. All US bills weigh a single gram. This means that $1,000,000 in $100 bills - the largest bills in circulation - weigh around 10 kilograms, or a little over 22 pounds. $75 million would be 1,650 pounds. No way this could be carried in two duffel bags.

toroscan

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Little House on the Prairie picture

Meet Me At The Fair - S4-E11

Factual error: When the hot air balloon comes down with Carrie in it you can see N410AA printed on it. This is commonly called a tail number on planes and is issued through the FAA, which of course did not exist during the time period of the episode.

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Suggested correction: Wasn't Mary the one in the balloon?

Mary was in the balloon earlier in the episode with the man who runs it but near the end, Carrie wondered off into it and it took off with her inside ALONE.

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Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. picture

PFC Gomer Pyle - S2-E1

Factual error: Sgt. Carter is wearing a plain belt buckle with his dress blues uniform. Since Sgt. Carter is Gunnery Sgt, he is a staff NCO so his buckle should have the USMC emblem on the buckle. (00:24:00)

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Foyle's War picture

Show generally

Factual error: Foyle is subordinate to an Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, but Hastings had its own force (merged with other Sussex forces 1943-47) and the Met had no jurisdiction outside London.

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Friends picture

The One With The Hypnosis Tape - S3-E18

Factual error: When Pete takes Monica to Rome for the date, this would have been impossible as Rome is 6 hours ahead of New York and at least 4-5 hours travel time, assuming they went by Concorde (double that otherwise). They would have had to have left New York early in the morning to make dinner for 8-9 pm in Rome.

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Hogan's Heroes picture

The Gypsy - S6-E13

Factual error: In this episode, LeBeau pretends to be a psychic gypsy to fool Klink. Gypsies generally didn't fare too well in the Third Reich. Admitting to being of Gypsy origin would probably have earned LeBeau a ride to the concentration camp.

Doc

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That '70s Show picture

Thanksgiving - S1-E9

Factual error: The scene where Kitty is making peanut butter celery for Thanksgiving appetizers; she is using Skippy brand peanut butter and the packaging is not from the 70's, it's the current packaging. (00:05:10 - 00:06:05)

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The Blacklist picture

Pilot - S1-E1

Factual error: The bomb is supposed to go off at the "DC Zoo", but the scene takes place at the National Botanical Garden, on the complete opposite side of DC from where the Smithsonian National Zoo actually is.

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The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. picture

Riverboat - S1-E6

Factual error: A character in the episode has invented denim, but denim was invented in 1873 and was being used widely up to the time period of the series, which is set in 1893.

Scott215

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Suggested correction: The entire series was set in an alternate history of sorts, so most, if not all, historical "inaccuracies" cannot be regarded as mistakes.

zendaddy621

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Mad Men picture

The Suitcase - S4-E7

Factual error: At the beginning of the episode, the male employees are all discussing James Bond. It is mentioned that 'James Bond goes underwater, he met a girl underwater'. This refers to the plot of the movie 'Thunderball' (it does not occur in the Thunderball novel, nor any novel or film prior to this). The main plot of this episode centres around the Sonny Liston VS Cassius Clay fight in May 1965, and 'Thunderball' was not released until December of that year.

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The Last Ship picture

Valkyrie - S2-E11

Factual error: In scenes from the oil rig there are shots that show the shore line. This oil rig is supposed to be offshore of Louisiana. However, mountains can be seen in the shots of the shoreline. There are no mountains in Louisiana.

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Better Call Saul picture

Fall - S3-E9

Factual error: In the mall where Jimmy meets Irene there is the Pandora logo in the background when Jimmy is going up the escalator. Pandora didn't open its first store in New Mexico until 2013. (00:27:00 - 00:28:00)

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CSI: Miami picture

Show generally

Factual error: Calleigh Duquesne frequently wears completely inappropriate clothing throughout the whole series. She often wears blouses that are so low cut that the neckline is below the lower curve of her breasts. No officer of the court in the US would be allowed to dress this way. There is no grey area here, and this is not a character mistake - first time a CSI turned up at work dressed like that, she'd be sent home to change. Second time, she'd be on suspension until she agreed to change her dress standards. Also (and this regularly happens in CSI: NY as well) she is regularly wearing high heels - also a certain no-no for as CSI. Incidentally, male CSIs have equally strict dress standards.

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Star Trek: The Next Generation picture

The Royale - S2-E12

Factual error: 30 seconds in Geordi says: 'surface temperature -291 degrees Celsius'. (The scale only goes down to -273.15 which is absolute zero). (00:00:30)

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