Best TV mistakes of all time

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24 (2001)

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7:00 A.M.-8:00 A.M. - S1-E8

Visible crew/equipment: When Nina's just been shot, and makes it to the barn to call CTU (around 7.10am), while she's speaking on the phone there's a cameraman visible on the right hand side (DVD). (00:12:40)

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Drone - S5-E2

Deliberate mistake: When the Doctor begins to "fade" in the transporter room his mobile emitter fades with him. Since it's made of solid matter and is not a hologram, this shouldn't be possible.

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Doubled Pawns - S1-E3

Character mistake: When Beth and her mother discuss the agent's fee of 15%, Beth says it is $49.54. However the prize money was $500, the expenses were $172.30, which leaves them $327.70. 15% of $327.70 equals $49.16. (00:10:00)

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India Special - S18-E1

Revealing mistake: Watch the opening sequence of this episode very carefully - Clarkson, May and Hammond are not in Downing Street (they are on a set that stands on the BBC backlot) and library footage of the Prime Minister is cleverly edited in to make it look as if they were there at the same time. Even taking into account the fact that the Prime Minister's security service would never allow such an intrusion onto Downing Street, the line up of the shots does not quite match - our three intrepid heroes should be visible in shot when the Prime Minister is shown exiting number 10, but they are nowhere to be seen. It is all sleight of hand and clever editing, but detectable if you watch carefully enough.

PEDAUNT

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While You Were Sleeping - S1-E2

Other mistake: When Sherlock was slapped, he later says he was surprised because the girl who slapped him was a "lefty." Then he rubs his right cheek and says it's leathery from all the slaps he's gotten, while the left is soft. This is backwards - anyone hitting him with their right hand would hit his left cheek.

Cathrine R

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The Mysterious Affair at Styles - S3-E1

Plot hole: Can't fault this massive plot hole to the adaptation, but to the source material; the culprit (forgetting the stupidity of writing an incriminating letter detailing the plan to murder someone, and put it in a desk he shares with her) since there are people outside the room that are about to enter, tears the letter in 3 neat vertical strips, rolls them, puts them in the vase on the mantlepiece, and then opens the side door to slip away...instead of simply pocketing the letter and going through that same door. Nobody was going to search him or anything and could have burned it, torn it into confetti, anything, later. It takes way way longer to do what he did, which needed him to stay there in the room increasing the chances of being found out. And of course he and his accomplice do not retrieve the letter after.

Sammo

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Rebirth - S6-E1

Continuity mistake: As the power builds up in Bender, his left eye pops out, making him a cyclops, subsequently being eaten by the Cyclops eater. After the monster dies, Bender comes out, and has two eyes in the long shot, but puts his left eye back in the close up.

Movie Nut

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Pilot - S1-E1

Plot hole: Brian calls Rebecca after he has been shot. She asks him "Where is the bullet? Is it in your leg still?" Brian never mentioned he was shot in the leg. (00:30:20)

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Goodbye Iowa - S4-E14

Continuity mistake: When Buffy is talking to Riley, she puts the scarf on her head, on his hand. He talks to her and says "Maybe I am the bad guy," and in the next frame her scarf is back on her head again, then off again in the next frame. (00:24:20)

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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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Saved by the Bell picture

House Party - S2-E5

Continuity mistake: Kelly said her youngest brother can burp his whole name Kenneth Leonard Kapowski in one burp. However in the previous year, Kelly had an infant brother named Billy. According to this info, unlikely Kenneth would be younger than Billy.

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

Suggested correction: Kelly can have more than one brother because in the episode where Kelly gets her job at the Max she said "I cook every night for my 11 siblings". So he could be younger or just have a nickname.

The mistake is valid because she says her "youngest" brother, not "younger." In the episode "The Babysitters" (which was meant to air in season 1 and produced before "House Party"), her brother Billy is an infant and says his first words. Kelly has 6 siblings and she never said she cooked for 11 siblings when getting a job at The Max. She says she sets the dinner table for 9 people three times a night.

Bishop73

Ironically, the show only reveals 5 siblings each in their own individual episode. (#6 is unknown). Bennett (mentioned), Nicki (seen), Kyle (voice heard only), Kenneth (mentioned), Billy (seen) are the 5 of 6 siblings revealed.

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The Séance - S1-E7

Continuity mistake: After Lucy tells Mr. Merriweather that he's invited to the seance, when it cuts to Lucy unfolding the card table legs, note the couch behind her with one normal seat cushion on the left, but in the next wideshot there's an additional shorter cushion under the normal cushion. The small towel also repositions itself neatly on the couch. (00:11:55)

Super Grover

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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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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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Show generally

Revealing mistake: Any time any character is driving a Suburban, or any other vehicle with a column mounted shift lever, the shifter is in park while they appear to be driving.

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Touch - S1-E3

Other mistake: When Theo is thinking back to when Steve offers to share the royalties from his book, Shirley is heavily pregnant with her daughter. However, on the table next to Theo, is a photo of Shirley's son and daughter, as they are in the present.

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