The West Wing

Manchester: Part I - S3-E2

Continuity mistake: Pres. Bartlet is at his farm in New Hampshire, talking to Leo. In one shot he has an arm on the rail fence and the other hand on his hip. The next shot shows him with both arms on the rail fence even though he had no time to shift position. (00:41:25)

Manchester: Part II - S3-E3

Continuity mistake: Sam and Doug are talking about the President's speech and Doug is holding his notepad, which he shifts to his right hand and starts to put to his side - but the next shot shows it back in his left hand. (00:14:00)

Posse Comitatus - S3-E22

Continuity mistake: Josh and Amy are in a restaurant having breakfast and talking about the vote - the sugar dispenser can be seen next to some yellow flowers. In subsequent shots the flowers are still there but the dispenser has disappeared, even though no one touched it.

Ways and Means - S3-E4

Continuity mistake: When Doug, Toby, and Sam are talking to the President about how to handle the attempted repeal of the estate tax, they mention several times that it will be the President's first veto, and that it is something that he has never done before. However, in episode four of season two, "In This White House", in the scene where Sam is debating Ainsley Hayes on Capital Beat, the moderator asks why the President's education bill is different from the Republican proposed bill "which the President vetoed." So, the veto of the estate tax repeal was not the president's first.

Manchester: Part II - S3-E3

Continuity mistake: When Margaret goes into Leo's office to announce the arrival of Gianelli, he puts his glasses down on a bare portion of the desk. The next shot from behind him shows the glasses lying on top of books/papers. He'd had no time to move them. (00:15:40)

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.

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.

Manchester: Part I - S3-E2

Continuity mistake: Donna and the gang are in a restaurant/bar in New Hampshire and she has her hand up by her head as she eats. As Josh asks "are you eating the rest of the sandwich?" her hand is suddenly at her mouth. (00:32:10)

The Indians in the Lobby - S3-E8

Continuity mistake: When Josh is drinking water from a bottle he starts screwing the lid back on as he moves it down towards his desk. In the very next shot, however, not only is the bottle suddenly on the desk without Josh's hands anywhere near it, it also doesn't have its lid on. (00:10:05)

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

More mistakes in The West Wing

Pilot - S1-E1

Laurie: Tell your friend POTUS he's got a funny name, and he should learn how to ride a bicycle.
Sam Seaborn: I would, but he's not my friend, he's my boss. And it's not his name, it's his title.
Laurie: POTUS?
Sam Seaborn: President of the United States.

More quotes from The West Wing
More trivia for The West Wing

In Excelsis Deo - S1-E10

Question: This is as good a place to ask as any. In various US TV shows (including this one, and this episode), someone says "I could care less", when they always seem to mean "I couldn't care less", ie. they have no interest in what's going on. Surely if they COULD care less that means they actually care a reasonable amount? Is there any logic to this, or is it just a really annoying innate lack of sense?

Jon Sandys

Chosen answer: A really annoying innate lack of sense. My friends and family say the same thing all the time, and I'm endlessly trying to correct them. I think people just don't know any better and (ironically) couldn't care less that they're speaking incorrectly.

Answer: It's an endlessly annoying dropped negative, and it's been a common colloquialism for far too long. I believe it comes from an original (and now omitted and merely implied) "As if" preceding the statement. "As if I could care less." (Meaning "As if it were possible that I could care even less than I do.") But there's really no way to know.

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