Best comedy TV character mistakes of all time

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Will & Grace picture

No Sex 'N' The City - S6-E19

Character mistake: When talking to Will on the phone, Grace misuses the term "pied-à-terre" (which means "apartment" in French) instead of "pas de deux" (a dance for two) while describing the delicate and complex nature of a relationship between two gay men. When Will points out her error, she says she knows what pied-à-terre means because she took Spanish in high school. However, in season 1, episode 20 ("Saving Grace"), Grace correctly and easily used the term pied-à-terre while showing her sample book to a potential client.

Michael Albert

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Family Matters picture

Brown Bombshell - S3-E16

Character mistake: When Estelle gives her guest speech about the Tuskegee airmen she shows a slideshow. There is a photo of an airplane that she incorrectly labels as "a single engine P-47." This is not correct. The plane in the photo is a P-39 Airacobra. (00:19:45)

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Gossip Girl picture

The Undergraduates - S4-E3

Character mistake: Rufus says "That was before I found out you raped my 14 year old daughter." referring to Jenny. Jenny, in previous seasons is 15. Jenny was born in 1993, and season 4 was filmed in 2010, making Jenny 16 at least. (00:25:35)

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Suggested correction: In this scene, Rufus saying, "my 14 year old daughter..." was referring to Jenny's age at the time Chuck tired to force himself onto her (beginning of the first season), not her current age in season 4. Jenny was 14 in the beginning of season 1.

HappyAccidents

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My Name Is Earl picture

We've Got Spirit - S4-E6

Character mistake: While filming the cheerleader performance, Jasper refers to his inability of using computers ("We're gonna put this on YouTube as soon as one of us figures out how to use a computer!"). Earlier in the series, however, Jasper ordered himself a Russian wife online, so this statement is definitely off-character.

Dangar

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Phineas and Ferb picture

Invasion of the Ferb Snatcher/Ain't No Kiddie Ride - S2-E28

Character mistake: In 'Ain't No Kiddie Ride' Carl reminds Major Monogram that he has no sense of smell and that he was born without nostrils noting it on his resume. But in 'Brain Dead' when Major Monogram sees Perry wearing a face mask he points out that Carl is also a germaphobe. Carl corrects him saying "It's not the germs sir, it's the garlic smell." He wouldn't be able to smell anything since he has no nostrils. (01:10:00 - 01:35:00)

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Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman picture

Pilot - S1-E1

Character mistake: When Clark flies to see his parents for the first time, he is wearing a maroon shirt and jacket. When he lands at his parents farm he is still wearing his jacket and maroon shirt. In the next shot, he has taken his jacket off which now has a rip in the shoulder, as he enters the house his shirt is blue, and then in the following shot at the table having dinner his shirt is again maroon. (00:30:00 - 00:30:50)

Mike Paul Wilson-Barrett

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Archer picture

Bank Run at Mr. Bank's Bank - S13-E6

Character mistake: When Archer and Ray are being shown the security controls by the bank employee, there is a corkboard on the wall behind them. On the corkboard, there is a paper with the caption with the "Missing - My Favotire Mug." Clearly it is meant to say "favorite", but the R and T were misplaced, resulting in a typo. (00:11:40)

Casual Person

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The Baby-Sitters Club picture

Stacey Takes a Stand - S1-E12

Character mistake: At the end of the dance routine, all of the girls strike a pose with one hand on their hip and the other behind their head, except for Stacey who just stands there.

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Suggested correction: Stacey was in New York with her father for most of this episode, so perhaps she didn't learn the entire routine before performing it.

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Suggested correction: This is explained in the final episode, as he took somebody else's medal ribbon bar in order to get into an event only open to "decorated" officers and hurriedly put it on the wrong way round. However, this is also a mistake. Although the Captain never left Britain, he would still be entitled to the War Medal and Defence Medal, so would legitimately have two of the ribbons he wears. And having campaign medals does not make one "decorated" in any case.

Necrothesp

More Ghosts character mistakes
Are You Being Served? picture

Are You Being Served? - S1-E1

Character mistake: Mr. Lucas got himself in an embarrassing situation 'straightening the seams' of Mrs. Slocombe. Humphries passes by saving him by telling him that Mr. Granger wanted to talk to him, but he does it by saying "Griffin wants you." Wrong name. (00:07:45)

Sammo

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Cobra Kai picture

The Fall - S4-E9

Character mistake: Considering she was wearing heeled boots, Ms. Underwood should have either taken her shoes off or at least have had a carpet provided to her if she was going to sing on the competition mat, as her shoes could have torn it. Other than emergency medical professionals, anyone who is going to step on the mat should remove their footwear.

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Chucklevision picture

Hobbies - S2-E5

Character mistake: In the Armchair Theatre story, Billy mentions that the grandma puts a tray of chocolate brownies into the oven. In the next scene the grandma (played by Billy Butler) has a tray of cookies, not brownies.

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Spin City picture

The Kidney's All Right - S3-E9

Character mistake: Arthur wants to donate his kidney to Derek. It is claimed that he must be a match since he has O negative blood, but blood type is not the only thing required for a kidney donor, there are several other factors that could very well disqualify his kidney for Derek.

Knever

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Boston Legal picture

Oral Contracts - S4-E8

Character mistake: Lorraine mistakenly tells Denny to "call 999" instead of 911, and when asked about it by Katie, denies having ever spent time in the UK (later revealed to be a lie). But this isn't some high-pressure slip of the tongue, she's highly intelligent and has been in America for a decent length of time, is working hard to maintain her facade of being born and bred American, so there's no way she'd slip up over such an obvious thing.

Jon Sandys

More Boston Legal character mistakes

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