Best family TV character mistakes of all time

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Little House on the Prairie picture

Times Are Changing (1) - S9-E1

Character mistake: Almanzo says he hasn't seen his brother Royal in 10 years, but in fact he saw him not long ago as he looked after his 2 sons who were terrors, and at that time Royal didn't even have a daughter.

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Suggested correction: Royal's wife was pregnant when he visited years before Laura had the baby.

What happened to Pearly Day? Almonzo's younger brother?

Not sure if this varied in the show, but in real life Pearly Day had six children and died in 1934 just a month prior to his 65th birthday.

Almanzo had 2 brothers. Royal and Jenny's dad, the one that was dying.

That may not work, unless Laura and Almonzo were not married yet at the time of Royal's first visit, but it is a good suggestion.

In the TV series, the episode that they were taking care of the boys was only six episodes before Laura found out she was pregnant, and Nellie's babies were still babies throughout that time so it wasn't that long. And Rose wasn't that big When they came to visit, so it was probably only 1 1/2-2 years of a time gap. Also, when Royal and Jenny came to visit, Almanzo introduced Royal to Laura as if they had never met before.

It was NOT years! Royal, his wife and 2 sons visited Almanzo in Season 7. His wife did announce she was pregnant in the end. However, when Royal comes back to visit with Jenny, at the beginning of Season 9. If Jenny is supposed to be the baby Royal's wife was pregnant with then she would have still been a year old or 2 at most. They do explain that his wife died, but what about those boys? They would have been early teens by then. Nothing is ever said about them or why they aren't with Royal.

But Laura says "glad to finally meet you Royal", when he came with Jenny. But she met him when he came with the boys.

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Full House picture

Just One of the Guys - S1-E18

Character mistake: In the scene where Steve is changing the diaper on the toy, DJ asks if he would like to go ice skating tomorrow. When he says he can't she then says "well we can go tomorrow." (00:11:43)

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The Dick Van Dyke Show picture

It May Look Like a Walnut! - S2-E20

Character mistake: Rob is having a nightmare, part of which involves the disappearance of his thumbs. When he finds Laura at home, the script calls for him to say, "I want you to help me get my thumbs back," but he actually says, "I want you to help me get my thumb backs." His thumbs are also still there but hidden (you can see a portion of them in one frame of the episode).

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SpongeBob SquarePants picture

Tenacle-vision/I Heart Dancing - S7-E8

Character mistake: In "I Heart Dancing", the lady at the Krusty Krab tells Spongebob the dancing audition is the next day. Later, Spongebob is practicing at Squidward's house for a whole night, and the next morning Squidward says they have one more day to practice, even though the audition should have been that day.

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Suggested correction: The audition could have been during the afternoon.

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The Suite Life on Deck picture

Can You Dig It? - S2-E18

Character mistake: Bailey says that Princess Xaria perished before she ever got to see her crown; but when Xaria possess Bailey later, the spirit says she wore the crown to prom.

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The Brady Bunch picture

Amateur Nite - S4-E16

Character mistake: When the Brady kids are practicing for the talent show, instead of saying, "Come on, Pete," Marcia says, "Come on Chris," which is the actor playing Peter's real name (Christopher Knight). (00:14:30)

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Avatar: The Last Airbender picture

Jet - S1-E10

Character mistake: When Jet tells Katara and Aang to waterbend the water from underground in the geysers, Katara states that she has never waterbent on water she couldn't see before. However, six episodes prior to this, in 'The Warriors of Kyoshi', she waterbends the water out from Aang's lungs to save his life.

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Suggested correction: That was a moment of desperation on her part, and she probably doesn't think of it/think she can do it again without the same desperate impetus, Furthermore, the water in Aang was only a small amount and very close anyway.

dizzyd

Regardless of if she did it in desperation or not, she did use bending on water she didn't see. The mistake isn't suggesting anything about Katara's ability to waterbend unseen water, the mistake is only in regards to the statement Katara made about never using bending on water she can't see. And for Katara to forget the one time she used bending on water she didn't see would qualify as a character mistake as well. Now if she made the statement "I don't think I can do this" or "I've never used bending on underground water", etc, that would not be a character mistake.

Bishop73

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Family Ties picture

Ready or Not - S2-E16

Character mistake: When Alex mentions to Mallory that he's had sex before, he tells her he was 17 and that it was leap year. Not correct, this event occurred in 1982 (during one of the first episodes when Alex was 17), which was not a leap year.

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Recess picture

One Stayed Clean - S3-E1

Character mistake: When Mikey looks at the Picture Day schedule, he points out that 4th grade is going last. However, the schedule says they are after 3rd grade and before 5th grade, actually making them fifth. The faculty is actually listed last on the schedule.

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Goosebumps picture

Night of the Living Dummy III (1) - S2-E24

Character mistake: When Zane sees Rocky with the hockey mask, he seems legitimately terrified when he notices him. However, he was responsible for putting him there and no-one else was around. There is no reason for him to express real fear when he planned for his appearance the whole time. (00:11:44 - 00:12:08)

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Suggested correction: He only pretended to be scared in order to fool his cousins, uncle and aunt.

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Thunderbirds picture

Sun Probe - S1-E11

Character mistake: During the television report about the Sun Probe, a diagram shows the solarnauts' control cabin within the Probe Module. But we later see that the control cabin is within the body of the Probe Rocket when the Module is fired into the solar prominence.

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Quantum Leap picture

Catch A Falling Star - May 21, 1979 - S2-E10

Character mistake: In the preview for this episode, Charlie has trouble getting his countdown straight. He shouts that Sam is on in 50 seconds, then 47, then 48. In the episode itself, the mistake is corrected with a rather obvious overdub, changing the final number to 43. (00:02:05)

Jean G

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