The West Wing

Bad Moon Rising - S2-E19

Continuity mistake: As Jed and Leo pass through a doorway, the left door is open toward the camera while the right door is opened away. But as the camera angle shifts, the left is opened the same as the right. (00:03:25)

johnrosa

Guns Not Butter - S4-E12

Continuity mistake: When Donna is in Josh's office, picking up folders, she puts a blue one on top of the pile; the next split-second shot from behind her shows a brown folder on top of the pile - then she places a blue one on top of that.

NSF Thurmont - S6-E1

Continuity mistake: Leo enters the situation room and is told the "planes are on the deck". He watches a video feed as a plane is launched from the USS Lincoln. The S3-B Viking is seen approaching one camera (single vertical tail fin, wing-mounted engines), then from another angle, we see an F-14 Tomcat lifting off (dual tails and fuselage-mounted engines) and moving away from camera. This is supposed to be live video, and it isn't possible two different jets are launching from the same carrier at the same exact moment, so it can only be a bad choice of stock footage by the show's makers. (00:38:55)

johnrosa

Two Cathedrals - S2-E22

Continuity mistake: When Jed yells for the late Mrs. Landingham, and she arrives, shots from behind her show her hair blowing significantly due to the outside door being open to the storm, but shots of her from the front show her hair relatively calm. (00:35:25)

johnrosa

We Killed Yamamoto - S3-E21

Continuity mistake: Josh is getting coffee and talking to another guy about a Shakespeare production Bartlet is supposed to attend. When he goes to the coffee machine, his backpack is over his shoulder and the strap is near his collar but not covering it. When he walks away from the coffee machine, most of his collar is covered and quite dishevelled from the backpack strap. At no time did Josh adjust the backpack.

Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc - S1-E2

Continuity mistake: After President Bartlett sits down (while speaking to CJ and the staff) he removes his glasses. The shot then changes to one from his back where he's wearing glasses. When the angle changes to the original, he's not wearing his glasses again. (00:06:30)

admsteiner

Red Haven's on Fire - S4-E17

Continuity mistake: In the Sunday Morning segment, at a White House meeting, a grey-haired woman is sitting at the table with her hand on her bottle of water - the next shot shows her hand several inches away, with no time for the change.

Inauguration: Over There - S4-E15

Continuity mistake: When the guys arrive outside Donna's building, Josh wears a tux and a long black coat with a white scarf. After Josh says, "The buzzer's not working", a few quick camera cuts occur, and as he says "Nah, I know women-" and turns, the scarf is missing. It is back as the cameras cut again and he says, "I know what they like." (00:33:30)

johnrosa

We Killed Yamamoto - S3-E21

Continuity mistake: When Josh is walking down the White House hallway in the office area, he is talking to someone, and at first there is nothing in his shirt pocket, but as the scene progresses, we can see his glasses in the pocket. He did not put them there during the scene.

The Red Mass - S4-E4

Continuity mistake: Near the beginning of the show, Josh is talking about baseball while looking at some stapled political papers - the top one is folded back over the second one. As Donna asks "what is it?", the first page is falling free and Josh is only holding the second one, but he had no time to adjust them.

Game On - S4-E6

Continuity mistake: Sam is at the bar with Will Bailey. Will picks up his glass and tips it up to his mouth. The next shot from the other side shows him tipping it up to his mouth again.

20 Hours in America: Part I - S4-E1

Continuity mistake: Bruno and C.J. sit down in a meeting and are talking about women voters. When the shot is on Bruno, we can see C.J. is holding a black folder that is partially open. When the shot goes to her, though, she has her hands on the folder, which is opened on the table.

Life On Mars - S4-E21

Continuity mistake: Newly hired Assistant White House Counsel Joe Quincy is looking over his new "office". He's told it is the office traditionally given to newly hired lawyers, and is known as the "Steampipe Trunk Distribution Venue". In prior episodes, Ainsley Hayes, the previous Assistant White House Counsel, was also given this office, but this space is significantly altered in size from the earlier appearances. Essentially, the length of the space has been cut in half and the intervening wall with door is gone. Yet the room is not newly remodeled. It's a basement space with old pipes and walls, etc. The makers simply shrank the set without explanation. (00:06:30)

johnrosa

Election Night - S4-E7

Continuity mistake: Early in the show, Toby, Sam, and C.J. are at a conference table, talking about a concession speech. C.J. is holding a mug and scratching her hand, but as she turns and says "ooh, Mr. Lyman", her mug is suddenly sitting on the table. In the next shot, as she is talking to Josh, her hand is around the mug. None of these changes happen in natural time.

Tomorrow - S7-E22

Continuity mistake: During the entire first half of the episode President Bartlet is using a cane and is walking with a very pronounced limp due the effects of his MS. However after changing from street clothes into a suit to meet the President Elect he is walking fine with no symptoms whatsoever.

Life On Mars - S4-E21

Continuity mistake: When Josh, Joe, and Donna are in Josh's office talking about the NASA report, Josh's pen is in his left side of the shirt pocket. When the camera cuts to them walking out of his office the pen is on the right side.

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A Proportional Response - S1-E3

Continuity mistake: When Leo asks Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Admiral Fitzwallace about the optics of hiring Charlie, a black man, to carry the president's bags, Fitzwallace's ribbons on his Navy uniform are upside-down. This mistake is very visible because he has two ribbons on the bottom when there should always be three. On his way out the door, there is one shot where Fitzwallace's ribbons have been fixed, but then as he walks out the door his ribbons are upside-down again. (00:25:50 - 00:27:10)

Evidence of Things Not Seen - S4-E20

Continuity mistake: In the closing minute, when C.J. Is trying to stand the egg on its end, the camera pans to the clock for DC, and it reads 12:00. But as she sits at the table, her watch reads 7:15. Then, in the next camera shot, zooming in onto the egg, you can see that C.J.'s watch reads 7:25.

BrianR

Duck and Cover - S7-E12

Continuity mistake: About 18:59. Right after Josh hugs Annabeth, she gives him a cell phone to talk to the White House. In the shot from behind, you can see that he is holding the phone backwards with the screen facing out. When they go back to this shot (after a shot from the front), he is holding it properly. (00:18:55)

seanford

Election Day (Part 1) - S7-E16

Continuity mistake: When Bruno and Bob are poring over exit polls, they mention that Santos seems to be leading in North Dakota, and comment that it is a state that hasn't gone Democratic in forty years. While that is true in the real world, in the fictional West Wing world, it is stated in Season 4 that Bartlet won the Dakotas in his landslide reelection.

marathon69

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Trivia: Martin Sheen also played the President in the mini series "Kennedy" and in another character's vision in 1983's The Dead Zone.

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Pilot - S1-E1

Question: I don't really understand Josh's comment to Mary Marsh on TV ("Lady, the god you pray to is too busy being indicted for tax fraud."). Could someone please explain it to me?

Answer: It's in reference to the many televangelists and revival ministers usually associated with the right-wing that have been convicted of tax fraud (Jim Bakker and Tamy Faye being a more famous set). Occasionally, the more unscrupulous ministers have bilked millions from believers all in the name of God.

Nikki

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