12:00 Midnight-1:00 A.M. - S1-E1
Continuity mistake: We see Palmer at the start make the decision not to use the word occasion. When he does, the woman who is writing his speech has her hand off the pad or much further up the pad depending on the angle. (00:03:05)
12:00 Midnight-1:00 A.M. - S1-E1
Continuity mistake: When we first see Jack he has his hand up by his mouth and then by his chest. When the camera changes to show Kim, his hand is now lowered. (00:03:30)
12:00 Midnight-1:00 A.M. - S1-E1
Visible crew/equipment: When Terri stands up to go and talk to Kim with Jack at the start the camera pans too far to the left and part of the filming equipment is visible in the shot. (00:05:35)
12:00 Midnight-1:00 A.M. - S1-E1
Visible crew/equipment: When Jack drives off in his car to go to CTU, as the car drives off a stage light is reflected in the cars paintwork. (00:08:05)
12:00 Midnight-1:00 A.M. - S1-E1
Continuity mistake: When Jack is on the phone with his wife as he is entering the CTU building, when you can see him in two different shots, he is holding the phone differently in each shot. (00:09:10)
12:00 Midnight-1:00 A.M. - S1-E1
Visible crew/equipment: Jack pulls up next to a bus on his way to CTU. As he drives off the camera reflection can be seen in the window of the car. (00:09:10)
12:00 Midnight-1:00 A.M. - S1-E1
Continuity mistake: When Kim introduces herself to Rick, she has two hands on her bag. When the shot changes, she has just one hand on her bag. (00:11:05)
12:00 Midnight-1:00 A.M. - S1-E1
Visible crew/equipment: When Kim is going into the furniture store, whilst the door is closing you can see the lighting equipment reflected off the door. (00:11:20)
12:00 Midnight-1:00 A.M. - S1-E1
Visible crew/equipment: When Rick leads Kim into the store, as the door closes so a large white stage light or light screen is reflected in the door. (00:12:05)
12:00 Midnight-1:00 A.M. - S1-E1
Continuity mistake: Janet jumps up on a table at the furniture store and is joined by a bloke who proceeds to have a drink from a can of beer. The camera does a quick cut and the drinker's position has completely changed. (00:12:30)
12:00 Midnight-1:00 A.M. - S1-E1
Continuity mistake: When Kim is sitting on the roof of the furniture store she is looking straight ahead. However the camera changes and now she is looking down. (00:18:05)
12:00 Midnight-1:00 A.M. - S1-E1
Character mistake: When Jack subdues Mason he proceeds to check his pulse to check Mason is still alive. When taking the pulse however Jack uses his thumb. This is not how a pulse is checked, as the thumb has it's own pulse and would therefore give Jack's pulse instead of Mason's. Being ex-Delta Jack would know this and not make the simple mistake. (00:22:10)
12:00 Midnight-1:00 A.M. - S1-E1
Audio problem: When we see the timer for the bomb on the plane, you hear the beep to indicate each second it clicks down. However, we see the timer say 24 seconds. We hear several beeps and 7 seconds later the timer says 20 seconds. The key point of the program being real time, so the timer should be on 17 at least. (00:37:30)
12:00 Midnight-1:00 A.M. - S1-E1
Continuity mistake: Kim Bauer has a full set of glittery pink disco nails on episode one (midnight) but then these are not visible at all in most episodes. In the 2pm episode her nails look clean/natural in nearly all the shots, apart from during the phone call with Rick where traces of pink glitter can be seen. I know she's had a very rough night but it doesn't explain the amount of damage her nails have sustained.
Chosen answer: Nobody knew, not even the writers, until at least halfway through the season when they were writing the end. They wanted to keep all options open.
Nick N.