Best comedy TV deliberate mistakes of all time

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The Bob Newhart Show picture

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Deliberate mistake: The circular desk where Carol sits should be rotated 180 degrees so she is facing the elevators. How many times have you gotten off an elevator in a fancy office building only to see the back of the receptionist's head?

William Bergquist

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Monty Python's Flying Circus picture

Njorl's Saga - S3-E1

Deliberate mistake: Eric Idle's 'Stock Exchange Report' (in Series 3, Show 1) has a very obvious edit in the middle. This is a monologue delivered without cutaways, so the jump in the video tape is very easy to spot. Whether this edit indicates material removed or a simple joining together of two takes is unclear. However, since Idle gets drenched with water at the close of the routine (and given that, under BBC constraints, there was no time for drying out), we can assume that he must have made his fluff quite early on in the piece.

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Family Guy picture

Yug Ylimaf - S11-E4

Deliberate mistake: The time machine reverting causes everything in life to go backwards. However, although the characters' actions are reversed, their dialogue is always spoken forwards and not backwards. (00:08:00)

Casual Person

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Glee picture

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Deliberate mistake: Many times throughout the show, a large bandage or makeup blot is visible on Lea Michele's right wrist, which is used to cover up her "I Believe" tattoo. This is most visible during "Don't Rain On My Parade" and her "Poker Face" and "For Good" duets.

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Yes, Minister picture

The Official Visit - S1-E2

Deliberate mistake: In the scene where the ministers are all crammed into the train carriage if you look over Jim's shoulder there is a sign ("Notice" "In case of Fire" etc), while the headers are in English the actually paragraphs are written in gibberish.

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My Name Is Earl picture

Y2K - S1-E19

Deliberate mistake: The gang is able to get into the bargain bag store without any security system going off or police investigating the break-in at the store. Even the following day, no one bothers them while they're sleeping in the beds in the store.

Lummie

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The Big Bang Theory picture

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Deliberate mistake: Very often, during Skype or other video chat conversations, the people on the computer screen look left or right when talking to someone who is not directly in front of the screen. Although it certainly helps the viewers understand who's talking to whom (which is why I assume it's a 'deliberate mistake'), it isn't realistic, since it implies that the people on the screen are actually constantly looking away from their computer instead of at their screen or webcam.

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Mad About You picture

Season 5 generally

Deliberate mistake: The first 10 episodes of Season 5 were shot in a totally different order than they were aired. As a result, Jamie's size during her pregnancy is very inconsistent at the beginning of the season. In particular, she gets much smaller between episode 8 and episode 9 because episode 9 was originally supposed to air earlier in the season.

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Last Man Standing picture

Dual Time - S9-E2

Deliberate mistake: When Tim Taylor is telling Mike about his show "Tool Time," he mentions that it lasted for 8 years. Later in the episode when Mike is asking Tim why he stopped doing the show, Tim says it's because he found it challenging to keep the show great and not run out of ideas. Firstly, while Home Improvement ran for 8 years, the show within the show of "Tool Time" was already a couple years old when Home Improvement started, as evidenced by the fact that its season 3 episode "Fifth Anniversary" was about "Tool Time" celebrating its 5th anniversary, as the title suggests. Additionally, Tim didn't quit "Tool Time" for the reasons he stated here. He spontaneously quit over creative differences with Binford's new president, who was turning the show into a sensationalist Jerry Springer type of format, and because his wife Jill had just been given a job in Indiana, and he decided the family would move there to support her.

Phaneron

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Big Wolf on Campus picture

Time And Again - S1-E16

Deliberate mistake: At the very end, Tommy And Merton discover the video tape which contain pictures of Merton that had been film by her sister Beckie, but the movie was filmed and the time ''rewind'' because of the spell. So in reality, the movie was never filmed.

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Some Mothers do 'Ave 'Em picture

Jessica's First Christmas - S2-E7

Deliberate mistake: Just before father O'Hara explains to Frank why he isn't in the nativity play he says to Betty "Perhaps I will have that cup of tea after all Mrs. Spencer" Betty goes to the kitchen but father O'Hara never gets his cup of tea.

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

Suggested correction: Perhaps Betty just forgot.

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The King of Queens picture

Meet By-Product - S2-E17

Deliberate mistake: At the beginning of the episode, when Doug and Carrie are in the shower, you see their silhouettes. The first mistake is that for the silhouettes to show like that they have to be evenly backlit which wouldn't make sense in the shower. The second mistake is a little more subtle; you can see the outline where the actor's bathing suits are (inevitably) slightly larger than the bodies. There is also a slight darkening in the areas where the bathing suits cover skin. (both of these things are much easier to see on Carrie than Doug because of her smoother figure and skin tone).

zephalis

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