tinsmith

30th Jun 2020

The West Wing (1999)

H. Con-172 - S3-E11

Factual error: When Leo is talking with Jordan about why he doesn't want the President to be censured, he states that this would be the first time a President was censured. This is untrue. Both Andrew Jackson and James Buchanan were censured by Congress (although Jackson's censure was later expunged). (00:11:25)

tinsmith

30th Jun 2020

The West Wing (1999)

The Women of Qumar - S3-E9

Factual error: When Sam is telling Leo about the couple who crashed their car after the fundraiser where the President talked about seat belts, he states, "Now she's suing him for contributory negligence!" Contributory Negligence is not something you can sue for, it is a defense to a lawsuit and is based on the plaintiff's own negligent conduct - the woman would be suing the president for just "negligence." Sam repeats the phrase at 7:45, when he claims "Contributory negligence in wrongful death is the tort equivalent of murder." This makes no sense from a legal perspective. As an attorney, Sam would know the difference - this a writing mistake. (00:01:52)

tinsmith

14th Mar 2020

Marriage Story (2019)

Factual error: In the courtroom scene, the seal behind the judge reads, "United States District Court for the Southern District of California." This is a mistake - the US District courts are federal courts, they have no jurisdiction to hear divorce cases. The proper venue for this case would be the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, which is the state court with jurisdiction to hear family law cases in Los Angeles, California. The seal should have the state court name, not the federal one. (01:30:34)

tinsmith

13th Oct 2013

Bones (2005)

The Girl in the Mask - S4-E23

Question: When Doctor Brennan is examining the victim's skull, she states that a "straight suture across the palatine bone" indicates that the victim was a native Japanese speaker. I've studied linguistics, but I've never heard of a person's native language actually affecting their anatomy. So, for example: would a person of Japanese heritage who was born and raised in the US and spoke only English be distinguishable from a person who grew up in Japan and spoke only Japanese, purely by their palatine bones? (00:06:10)

tinsmith

Answer: Since the palatine bone is a bone that helps form the mouth it has a lot to do with speaking. The shape of it differs a lot depending on your ethnic background. I would guess that they, in the show, meant that the person's bone tells that they were Japanese and that it was "made for the purpose of speaking Japanese." That's what I'd assume anyway. I've studied molecular biology though, so I'm not an expert on bones.

18th Mar 2012

A Few Good Men (1992)

Question: Since the link on the answer to the original question is now broken, I will ask it again; What does Jessup mean when he says he wants Santiago to make 4-6-4-6 on his next proficiency report?

tinsmith

Chosen answer: The Marine proficiency and conduct report is scored from 0.0 to 5.0. Above 4.5 is classified as "Excellent", which is why Jessup wanted him at 4.6.

15th Oct 2011

JAG (1995)

Act of Terror - S4-E6

Character mistake: When Harm is questioning agent Novack about whether there was an "angry demeanor" amongst the Marines on the day of the shooting, Mac objects that he is "leading the witness." However, Novack was her witness to begin with, and Harm was cross-examining her. Leading questions are permitted during cross-examination; as an experienced trial lawyer, Mac should know this.

tinsmith

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.