Best comedy TV mistakes of all time

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The Golden Girls picture

Miles to Go - S6-E15

Continuity mistake: In this episode Rose's boyfriend Miles is revealed to be in the witness protection program and has not had any contact with people from his past including family. However, in season 5, episode 15 his daughter visited and didn't approve of Rose.

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Porridge picture

A Test of Character - S3-E5

Plot hole: Fletcher and Warren steal what they think is the right paper, so Godber can study it before he sits the exam. They are adamant that he has a very short time to go through it as they have to put it back before anyone misses it. After Godber refuses to cheat by reading it, Fletcher berates him, throws the paper on the cell floor, and storms out. What happened to replacing the stolen exam paper?

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Red Dwarf picture

Back To Reality - S5-E6

Factual error: While it is true that lithium carbonate can be used to treat depression and other psychiatric disorders, it cannot be administered in gaseous form. It is a very stable salt and only starts to form vapour at 1,310 degress Celcius. Spraying it about as a 'mood stabliser' at that temperature, as Kryten does, is going to kill everyone on the spot.

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Monk picture

Mr. Monk Goes to Jail - S2-E16

Factual error: When Monk visits the prison for the first time, he is searched, passed, and has a mini-panic attack because people have touched him. Sharona steps forward to comfort him, and she puts her arms around him. This is a very serious breach of procedure and it is not possible for the guards to miss it, because Sharona has not been searched. It's a common technique for trying to pass contraband called 'a touch through' - a person with an item to be smuggled into the prison (drugs, usually), passes them on to a person who has been searched and is therefore 'clean'. Monk would be taken back to the guard's station to be searched again. He would not be allowed leniency because the guards happen to know or to like him - visitor ingress and egress is always done under CCTV and the guard would know he was being watched - quite possibly by someone who doesn't know who Monk and Sharona are.

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Suggested correction: Sharona was searched first by the female guard.

In fact Sharona breaks away from the female guard to go to Monk. She has NOT been searched.

The correction is correct. The female guard already finished patting Sharona down before the male guard even had a chance to start his pat down of Monk.

Bishop73

Yeah, the correction is correct. I went back six times through that clip: Sharona and Monk both get searched, and then Sharona touches Monk.

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Rules of Engagement picture

100th - S7-E13

Continuity mistake: Timmy agrees to marry Russell because Timmy's work visa has expired and he will have to leave the country. However, in the season 5 episode "Double Down" Timmy states that he has been a US citizen for many years.

bixxell

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Home Improvement picture

Tanks For The Memories - S5-E15

Continuity mistake: The boys had different haircuts in the previous episode. Randy had just gotten a haircut, and in this episode, the kids are younger and have their longer hair right back. (00:05:50)

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Wizards of Waverly Place picture

Pop Me and We Both Go Down - S1-E10

Continuity mistake: In the episode "First Kiss," Justin has a girlfriend, Miranda. But in this episode Justin starts dating this new girl from his class, who's actually the same Miranda. This doesn't make any sense. How is she a new student and how could they just meet if they were dating eight episodes ago?

p2ikee

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2 Broke Girls picture

And the First Degree - S3-E24

Plot hole: Caroline helps Max get her degree, since Max didn't graduate high school. However, in episode 5 of season 1, Caroline and Max are raising money to pay off Max's student loans.

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The Big Bang Theory picture

The Countdown Reflection - S5-E24

Factual error: There is not a snowball's chance of Howard becoming an astronaut. He suffers from cardiac arrhythmia, something about which he is completely open. "Transient" or not this is easily detectable by a simple electrocardiogram, which is a fundamental part of the many medical examinations a potential astronaut will have to pass. He wouldn't even be allowed to start basic training. Note also that during his basic training he shows signs of severe stress and trauma which would inevitably trigger a cardiac episode. Even if it didn't the fact that he was falling apart at the seams would have him removed from the programme for his own good.

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The Office picture

Christmas Special: Part 2 - S3-E2

Plot hole: Lee and Dawn overstay their tourist visa in the US, then fly back to the UK for the Office Christmas party. They then get into a taxi to go out to the airport in order to return to the US. They're kidding themselves. As I know (to my cost) when you overstay a tourist visa, the US Immigration Service finds out when you check in at the airport on departure. They'll be refused reentry, and probably barred from entering the US for up to six years. (I got a three year ban.) Neither Lee nor Dawn could possibly be unaware of this nor think they could beat the system as they would have been arrested when they checked in in Florida on departure (as I was), and they would have remained in small holding cells until the paperwork banning their return had been processed and their passports stamped 'Invalid for U.S. Entry', as mine was. (All this takes about seventy two hours, so they'd have missed the Christmas party anyway.) The mistake is NOT that they were able to leave the USA - that is explained (it's still not possible, but in the context of the show and the suspension of disbelief we are meant to believe it) the mistake is that they are on the way back to the airport to return. That's absurd. They would have been under no illusions as to their banned status re reentry to the USA.

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Alexa & Katie picture

Wigs - S1-E2

Character mistake: Lori said "Lori, let me. It's no big deal." to Jennifer instead of saying "Jennifer, let me. It's not big deal." (00:13:20)

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Good Omens picture

Hard Times - S1-E3

Other mistake: Crowley shows acute discomfort while inside the church with Aziraphale and the Nazi spies as he is on consecrated ground. However, (spoiler alert) once the bomb destroys the church he is perfectly comfortable. The key word here is "ground" - it is the land upon which the church stands that is consecrated, not the building itself. (This allows churches to be rebuilt if they are demolished or destroyed.) Crowley should still be in considerable discomfort after the church has been blown up.

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Chuck picture Chuck mistake picture

Chuck Versus the Wookie - S1-E4

Continuity mistake: When the DEA agent Carina is running on the beach, she is wearing a white undergarment under her short black dress. Moments later she pulls off the dress and we see that she is now wearing a black bikini. (00:25:59 - 00:26:25)

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Charmed picture

Be Careful What You Witch For - S2-E22

Plot hole: When teenage Prue has run away with the demon, and Phoebe and Piper find her in the park, teenage Prue is 'killed'. Her sisters drive her home to get Leo to heal her, but shouldn't they have just been able to call to Leo to orb to them when Prue was first hurt, and heal her in the park, and save driving back to the Manor, risking Prue dying?

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

Suggested correction: I see orbing to the park but he didn't heal her, she was already dead and he can't heal the dead, that's why the genie brought her back - that's what Phoebe wished for.

But if they would have called for him right away - he would have been able to heal her before she died. However at this point in time I don't think they knew how to call for him.

Yes, they did know how to call him. At least Phoebe did, because when Piper got sick in the hospital from the disease she inherited from the illegal fruit, Prue and Phoebe screamed out Leo's name until he appeared in the attic.

They did, they first tried it in the episode when Piper was sick with an exotic disease and dying in the hospital.

It bothers me that they never used it again until Season 4. When Prue was held by Abby, Leo could have helped if she called, and so many other times... so annoying.

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Grey's Anatomy picture

Throwing It All Away - S10-E15

Factual error: In the opening scenes, Arizona mistakenly says a child suffering from imminent liver failure is at risk for psoriasis, when the script called for the word cirrhosis. Psoriasis is a skin disease. Cirrhosis is the medical term for end stage liver disease.

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