Best TV character mistakes of all time

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Hogan's Heroes picture

Show generally

Character mistake: In several scenes all over the show (though not always!), characters use the command "Raus!" to send somebody away from somewhere. Raus, short for "heraus" literally means "out" in the sense of "out of a building", which would be "aus einem Gebäude heraus" in German. Used as a command, it always means "get out", never "get away from there" or "get lost", in other words, the addressee must be inside of somewhere to be ordered "Raus." One example would be Schultz sending the prisoners away from general Burkhalter's car in S05E13.

Doc

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

Suggested correction: It doesn't take much research to debunk this claim. Also, John Banner, the actor that most often used the term in the show, was German-born and raised. I'm sure he would have spoken up if it were wrong.

Sorry, what is the "not much" it takes to debunk that claim? By the way John Banner was not born and raised in Germany but in what was then Hungary-Austria. I, on the other hand, AM German born and raised, so if you think you know more about my native tongue than me, by all means, educate me. As for why it wasn't corrected, my guess is this: Words like raus, schnell, was ist los, bitte or danke are rather well known even in the US, so the audience would be able to follow the dialog.

Doc

Sorry, John Banner was born in Poland. He was not German.

Kevin l Habershaw

He was born in 1910 in the city once known as Stanislau, prior to being annexed by Poland in 1919. At the time of his birth, it was part of Austria-Hungary, and one of the official languages was German.

Bishop73

You're correct. I didn't read the IMDb page enough.

Kevin l Habershaw

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Community picture

Custody Law and Eastern European Diplomacy - S2-E18

Character mistake: Annie when giving her gifts is holding two little mini flags to cover the possible ethnicity of Shirley's baby. One is a Chinese flag and the other is Zimbabwe. Annie makes reference to the fact that the ethnic food she made is one from Ghana. She makes Ghana ethnic food but does not get the right flag for Ghana. She decorates the table with numerous flags which are also Zimbabwe.

Lummie

More Community character mistakes
Recess picture

One Stayed Clean - S3-E1

Character mistake: When Mikey looks at the Picture Day schedule, he points out that 4th grade is going last. However, the schedule says they are after 3rd grade and before 5th grade, actually making them fifth. The faculty is actually listed last on the schedule.

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The Conners picture

Slappy Holidays - S2-E7

Character mistake: Dan makes a reference to the movie "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles" (the movie he's planning on the family to watch). He starts a sentence saying "by the time John Candy says 'those aren't pillows'." John Candy did not say that line in the movie - Steve Martin did.

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Hawaii Five-O picture

The Clock Struck Twelve - S5-E12

Character mistake: After distracting the guards, Danno tosses a grappling hook onto a ledge and climbs the side of the building. He then goes about his business, carelessly leaving the hook and rope dangling from the ledge for all to see. For a seasoned 5-0 team member, that's pretty sloppy covert operations. (00:22:40)

Jean G

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Iron Man picture

Origin of Iron Man: Part 1 - S1-E11

Character mistake: When young Tony Stark is telling his father that their helicopter's anti-flak chip didn't kick in, he acknowledges that it was his fault by saying he blew it. When his father corrects him and says "No Tony, we blew it. Stark and Son," Tony defensively says "The anti-flak chip failed, it's not my fault," completely contradicting what he said seconds earlier. (00:14:00)

Phaneron

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Family Ties picture

Ready or Not - S2-E16

Character mistake: When Alex mentions to Mallory that he's had sex before, he tells her he was 17 and that it was leap year. Not correct, this event occurred in 1982 (during one of the first episodes when Alex was 17), which was not a leap year.

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Thunderbirds picture

Sun Probe - S1-E11

Character mistake: During the television report about the Sun Probe, a diagram shows the solarnauts' control cabin within the Probe Module. But we later see that the control cabin is within the body of the Probe Rocket when the Module is fired into the solar prominence.

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The Sweeney picture

On the Run - S3-E13

Character mistake: When Mrs Haldane is giving her statement to Regan she tells him that Cook was wearing dark glasses when she saw him outside her neighbour's house, but Cook wasn't wearing any glasses.

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Tracy Beaker Returns picture

Firestarter - S3-E2

Character mistake: In the beginning of the episode, the new social worker says "it's been raining all night, what do you expect?" whereas later in the 'flashbacks' he says, "what do you expect, it's been raining all night".

NikkiB

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Stargate: Atlantis picture

Epiphany - S2-E12

Character mistake: Rodney says that one hour in real time would give them months inside the field. This is incorrect because if the ratio of time were 1:250 as stated before, one hour would only convert to 250 hours, which is 10 days and 10 hours.

Tanngrisnir

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ALF (1986)

ALF picture

For Your Eyes Only - S1-E6

Character mistake: During the radio show, the radio host gives the radio station's phone number as 555-4455, Alf then softly repeats the number back before he gets to the phone. He then picks up the headset and dials a number, but the numbers he presses on the phone don't match up to the number given by the radio station. (00:04:10)

Justin Davis

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Inspector George Gently picture

Gently with the Women - S7-E1

Character mistake: The registration number of Alan Salt's car is HUA222B, but when Rachel is on the phone asking an officer to look up the car's registered owner she gives the registration number as B222HUA.

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The West Wing picture

Red Haven's on Fire - S4-E17

Character mistake: Will's tax demonstration to his volunteer staffers is incorrect. He applies the various tax rates to the entirety of each salary range. The person who makes $150K and is in the 36% rate...in his example he has them paying 36% on their entire salary, not just the portion of it that puts them ahead of the next lower tax rate. If the tax rate jumped to 70% at income of $1M, and a person earned $1,050,000, they wouldn't be paying the 70% rate on all $1,050,000 of their income, only the last $50,000 of it. Will's example makes it look like they would be.

marathon69

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Limitless picture

Stop Me Before I Hug Again - S1-E13

Character mistake: In Brian's "Laws I Have Broken Since Joining FBI" list, item #30 misspells the word "recorded" - "30) Recoreded NFL Game Without Consent." He'd only have that knowledge if he was using NZT, and if he was, he wouldn't make a mistake like that.

THGhost

More Limitless character mistakes
Doctor Who picture

Rose - S1-E1

Character mistake: When Rose thinks Mickey is dead, she says she'll have to tell his mother. But in Rise of the Cybermen in Series 2, she says that Mickey's mother has been dead since he was a child. (00:30:17)

TheIrishMovieBuff

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