Friends

The One With The Embryos - S4-E12

Character mistake: When they are about to start the game, Ross declares that "the first team to answer the most questions wins." This is a nonsensical statement. By that logic, the first team to answer a question correctly would be the winner. It should be either the team that has correctly answered the most questions at the end of the game wins, or the first team to correctly answer an X number of questions.

Phaneron

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

Suggested correction: While it's a weird way for him to say it, he starts by saying "each team will answer ten questions", so no, the first team to answer a question wouldn't win.

Bishop73

Yes, he qualified that it was a 10-question game, and we as the audience understand going in how the winner is decided. It's just the way he declared how the winner would be decided didn't make sense. It would be like watching an NBA game, and before tipoff, the crew chief tells both teams that the first team to score the most baskets wins. We know what the rules of an NBA game are, but the referee makes a nonsensical statement all the same.

Phaneron

Except there's so many variations of how a team can win a game; best 3 out of 5, win by 2, or a game can even end in a tie. Since this isn't a professional sport where all the players know how a game ends, Ross is basically saying after 10 rounds, if there is a tie, it will go to sudden death with the team with the first correct answer winning, just not in so many words.

Bishop73

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

Suggested correction: The crack comes and goes as he breathes.

The One With The Embryos - S4-E12

Other mistake: Phoebe takes a positive pregnancy test right after she gets implanted with the embryos. There's no test in the world that can tell that fast if someone is pregnant - even the best tests take at least a week after conception.

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

Suggested correction: Phoebe explains before she takes the first pregnancy test that her body's "always been a little faster than Western medicine". It's a deliberate joke.

A deliberate joke it may be, but we all know Phoebe believes a lot of silly things, and this is one of them. It really didn't make sense for her to get a positive result that fast.

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

Suggested correction: Just because it's not shown on screen doesn't mean it's not there still. If it had been shown prior to this episode, and suddenly stopped, that could be considered a mistake. But it's never shown.

Ssiscool

Show generally

Factual error: This is a mistake for two of Ross' three marriages. Ross wasn't even actually "married" either time. With Emily, he goes through the ceremony of the marriage and then Emily immediately disappears. You're not actually married until the certificate is signed and sent in, with the signatures of the witnesses. Which was not happening after that disaster of a wedding. Nor were there any witnesses filling out and sending in certificates after the drunk Vegas wedding either.

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

Suggested correction: The certificate of marriage is signed and sent in by the person performing the ceremony, and he asked if they wanted to continue with the marriage and it was completed. Secondly the marriage to Rachel they discuss how they paid witnesses to the wedding. I believe they mention Elvis?

Suggested correction: At the Vegas wedding, the chapel likely provided witnesses who took care of the paperwork.

The One At The Beach - S3-E25

Factual error: When Bonnie shaves her head, Rachel is supposed to have given her the razors (according to Bonnie.) Nope - the kind of razors needed to do that kind of close shave are a very particular kind, and Rachel isn't going to have them unless she also shaves her own head. It also wouldn't make any sense for Bonnie to have used her own razors; she's not going to carry them around with her unless she's planning to use them.

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

Suggested correction: Considering Bonnie always used to shave her head, it's not beyond the bounds of possibility that she just kept a razor on her in case she wanted to do it again. She's an impulsive type of person, after all.

So, if she had razors on her, why would Rachel have to give her razors?

Bishop73

The One Where Ross Dates a Student - S6-E18

Other mistake: Ross' semester supposedly just ended, and he's handing in his grades. But the episode just before this one was about Valentine's Day, and the one immediately after this one is about spring break, so this episode is happening sometime between mid - February and March/April. It doesn't matter when the show was aired or produced; Valentine's day is still in February. There's no semester that ends at that time of the year, and NYU wasn't on the quarter system then.

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

Suggested correction: This episode (production code 225567) was produced before episode 17, "The One With Unagi", (production code 225568) and just aired out of order. So this episode happens before Valentine's Day.

Bishop73

That's an explanation, but it doesn't make it not a mistake.

It does indeed not make it a mistake, as episodes airing out of order is done by the studio and is no fault of the show's writers.

Phaneron

That doesn't change the fact that semesters end in December.

The One After 'I do' - S8-E1

Other mistake: In "TOW the cheap wedding dress" the whole episode is about how Chandler wants "The Swing Kings" to play at the wedding, because, at their concert, that is where he realised that Monica was the woman he wanted to dance all his dances with, and Monica goes to great lengths to secure the band. In this episode, the band at the wedding is actually called "Jungle Swing".

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

Suggested correction: So the band changed their name in the interim. It happens.

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

Suggested correction: You don't see Joey sit back. You see him blow the candle out and the screen just goes completely black. The audio is in sync too.

Ssiscool

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

Suggested correction: The shot is continuous. There is no continuity mistake.

The One with the Blackout - S1-E7

Other mistake: Phoebe says she was last to know Monica had a crush on Joey when he moved in and Joey acts as though he never knew this. However, when we see him moving in a later episode, he knows Monica has a crush on him, and he is under the impression that Monica wants sex and so strips off in the living room while Monica is preparing some drinks for the pair. (00:13:10)

Ssiscool

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

Suggested correction: I may understand the situation but please do correct me if I'm wrong. Basically in the flashback episode they saw each other in the hallway and smiled at each other. They would've both got the impression that the other one liked them. However, after the lemonade incident he would have then got the impression that he was wrong and Monica didn't actually like him. Finally, Joey heard that she did like him and got a bit confused and a bit happy at the same time.

The One With The Fake Party - S4-E16

Factual error: Phoebe says in the show that she's three months pregnant. Not only is she way too big for that, but the fetus also kicks for the first time. Women don't feel fetal movement until 16 weeks at the earliest, and for a first pregnancy it may not be until 25 weeks or so.

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

Suggested correction: Phoebe's size could partially be explained in that she was carrying triplets, though Lisa Kudrow was pregnant in real life, and was further along than her character. Her pregnancy had to be written into the show and the gestation timelines did not match up. Phoebe feeling "movement" could just be her imagination, as her character is supposedly somewhat psychic and often perceives things that are not necessarily discernible to others or isn't even real.

raywest

More mistakes in Friends

The One With Chandler In A Box - S4-E8

Monica: Fine, judge all you want to, but [to Ross.] married a lesbian, [to Rachel.] left a man at the altar, [to Phoebe.] fell in love with a gay ice dancer, [to Joey.] threw a girl's wooden leg in a fire, [to Chandler.] LIVE IN A BOX!

More quotes from Friends

Trivia: The Magna-doodle on the door in the boys apartment has a different picture on it every episode. There is usually some tenuous connection between the picture and the plot of the episode.

More trivia for Friends

The One With The Jellyfish - S4-E1

Question: When Ross and Rachel are fighting, Chandler hides behind the door and bursts out saying, "I knew it!" When Rachel says, "It's not that common, it doesn't happen to every guy, and it is a big deal!" is this just a Chandler moment or is there another joke I have missed?

Answer: The statements that she's contradicting (that it is common, it happens to every guy, and it's not a big deal), are the things that a woman commonly says to a man who is suffering from erectile difficulty, typically to assuage his bruised ego. However, most men do not believe that these statements are true, as evidenced by Chandler's outburst. He's so caught up in the proof that women are lying about it that he gives himself away.

Rooster of Doom

More questions & answers from Friends

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.