Best comedy TV character mistakes of all time

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That '70s Show picture

Halloween - S2-E5

Character mistake: At the burnt out school when they fight between themselves, Jackie says "Donna kissed Hyde last year" referring to the episode 'Ski Trip' in season 1 which was in the same year according to the licence plate - '77.

The Synj

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The Brady Bunch picture

Amateur Nite - S4-E16

Character mistake: When the Brady kids are practicing for the talent show, instead of saying, "Come on, Pete," Marcia says, "Come on Chris," which is the actor playing Peter's real name (Christopher Knight). (00:14:30)

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Suggested correction: Butters is always shown as being a bit dim and slow. As a kid it's easy for him to make a mistake in thinking that there was only 132 episodes.

Ssiscool

That's why it's called a "character mistake"; also, Butters is certainly naive, but he's hardly what I would call "dim and slow."

zendaddy621

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Only Fools and Horses picture

Time on Our Hands - S8-E3

Character mistake: During the scene of the dinner, James (Raquel's father) states that he was in the Royal Navy and was "First Officer" (1/O). The Navy does not have this rank since it is a Merchant Navy rank. The rough equivalent of this is Lieutenant in the RN and Albert would've known this but didn't mention anything. It is also extremely unlikely that an officer the RN would still be Lieutenant after doing his full quota of 12 years service.

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Desperate Housewives picture

Suspicion Song - S8-E8

Character mistake: When Bree calls the police when she hears a noise downstairs, she says she lives at 4355 Wisteria Lane when her address is in fact 4354 Wisteria Lane. 4355 is the Scavo residence, not the Van De Kamp residence.

THGhost

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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

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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

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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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King of the Hill picture

Uh-Oh Canada - S13-E18

Character mistake: Hank talks about watching the Broncos vs the Cowboys in Super Bowl XIII. This is incorrect. They played in Super Bowl XII. Super Bowl XIII was the Cowboys vs the Steelers.

Rob245

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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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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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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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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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