Best comedy TV plot holes of all time

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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

M-Corp - S12-E5

Plot hole: Cat wasn't manufactured by the Jupiter Mining Corporation and had no connection with them, being born three million years or so after they lost control of Red Dwarf. The takeover by M-Corp would mean nothing to him. Why, then, does he become invisible to Lister?

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Suggested correction: Lister can only see M-Corp products and M-Corp employees. Cat is not an employee of JMC or M-Corp, so he disappears. Lister is the only member of the crew who is employed by M-Corp at this point.

Suggested correction: Cat was a descendant of the cat Lister brought aboard Red Dwarf. Would it be possible that the new owners might have stricter security controls, and Lister was sent to Stasis for a different reason?

Andy Benham

Inventing Deux ex machina explanations for a plot hole doesn't make it any less of a plot hole. M-Corp erases all of the Jupiter Mining Corporation's equipment, personnel and infrastructure from Lister's life. In no way is Cat a part of that. He has no connection at all to the Jupiter Mining Corporation, and until he meets him in Episode 1 no connection to Lister, either.

If M-Corp only erased JMC equipment from Lister's life, then Kryten, who belongs to DivaDroid and not the JMC, wouldn't have disappeared either. He disappears as he doesn't belong to M-Corp, not because he belongs to the JMC. Cat has no connection to M-Corp, as he wasn't a part of the JMC (as you pointed out), and is therefore erased for Lister.

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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 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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The Big Bang Theory picture

The Excelsior Acquisition - S3-E16

Plot hole: In Series 1, Episode 7, "The Dumpling Paradox, " Sheldon makes an oblique reference to his financial status: "Frankly, if I could afford the rent, I'd ask you [Leonard] to leave, " meaning he cannot pay the rent on his two bedroom apartment by himself - not that he doesn't want to, he can't. However, in "The Execlsior Acquisition, " we find that he does not even cash his pay cheques. He doesn't even deposit them into a bank account - he leaves them in a drawer in his desk. In Series 2 Episode 14 "The Financial Permeability", he lends Penny a large amount of money from a huge bankroll he just happens to have lying about - again, without cashing his pay cheques! He is obviously independently wealthy. Either he doesn't have enough money to afford the rent or he has enough to work without being paid while practically giving large amounts of cash away. Can't be both.

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Suggested correction: Not being able to afford doesn't necessarily mean he doesn't have the money, especially a man like Sheldon. He works with a budget and he sticks to it. In his budget he has a certain amount set aside for rent, anything more than that and he can't afford it alone.

Nonsense. If he was sticking to a "rigid budget" he wouldn't have even thought of lending a hopeless credit risk like Penny a single cent. Instead he throws a huge bankroll at her without even discussing a repayment plan.

Rubbish, I stick to a strict budget but still have the money to lend to close friends. Like Penny is to him.

He might have different budgets for different things. People could get a higher margin because they could be of more use to the scientific mind of Sheldon.

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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?

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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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Monk picture

Mr. Monk and the Astronaut - S4-E14

Plot hole: There is no drug in the world that could render a healthy adult unconscious for two days with a single dose, but let's go with the dramatic licence and allow that there is. Any such drug would be instantly detectable in any one of a dozen toxin screens carried out during an autopsy, and isn't someone going to wonder how a comatose woman hanged herself?

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Desperate Housewives picture

Show generally

Plot hole: When Zach Young's grandfather died, Zach was said to be the sole heir of the fortune. However, Noah Taylor (the grandfather) had a daughter that appeared several times while Mike Delfino was looking for Deirdre. Where was Kendra Taylor while Zachary Young was spending Noah's fortune on dresses for Gabrielle Solis? Why didn't she claim her share? She simply disappeared.

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Family Guy picture

Underage Peter - S14-E14

Plot hole: They're in the Clam complaining that they can't drink when they make the revelation that Brian can because he's technically 56. But Quagmire should be able to drink, as in a much earlier episode, he's revealed to be over 60.

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Suggested correction: Quagmire considers the rest of them to be his best friends. He isn't drinking because they can't drink. He is complaining because since his friends can't drink - he won't drink, so he is still pissed.

It's still a plot hole considering Quagmire's age. I think the writers messed up big time.

You make a good point, but it's awkward to be that one person who is drinking while surrounded by people who can't. So, I understand the correction that was submitted above. Because his friends are not drinking, he now feels that he can't.

It's 100% a mistake. Quagmire simply would buy them alcohol the same way Brian did when they realized he could.

ctown28

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Gilligan's Island picture

The Friendly Physician - S2-E29

Plot hole: The scientist yells for Igor to capture the escaping Castaways, to which Igor responds "capture them yourself" in Ginger's voice. The scientist appears surprised to find out Igor is not Igor, but how can this be? He had to be the one to pull the lever to switch everyone's personalities and bodies around, so he should have already known.

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Married... with Children picture

Shoeway to Heaven - S9-E1

Plot hole: When Dominique is on TV, she says she got the shoes from Al's store. Then the Amish guy comes out to confirm she broke her leg from the shoe he made. Al says yes. She got the shoes way before Al knew he had no more shoes and before they even hired the Amish guy. How can she break her leg from his shoe if he wasn't hired and making them yet?

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Suggested correction: Al was passing the blame.

MasterOfAll

The correction above is correct.

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The King of Queens picture

Two Thirty - S4-E24

Plot hole: In this episode Arthur scams Deacon and several other parents for phony piano lessons because he doesn't actually know how to play the piano. However, earlier in the series (Art House episode, S1 - E24) we learn that Arthur can play the piano when he temporarily moves out and after his house warming party Doug says to Carrie, "Who knew Arthur could play the piano like that?"

The Minister

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Sex and the City picture

To market, to market - S6-E1

Plot hole: In this episode Carrie runs into Aidan, who now has what looks to be about a 6 month old baby (Tate). This doesn't seem possible, as Carrie and Aidan would have only broken up about a year ago, and Miranda was around 6 months pregnant when they broke up. Brady is only about 5 months old at this point in the series, leaving Aidan only roughly 8 months to have this baby - but Aidan lay in bed for about a month and then dated Nina Katz for awhile. Timeline just doesn't seem to fit.

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Victorious picture

Prom Wrecker - S2-E5

Plot hole: In this episode all the students say Hollywood Arts has never had a prom before. But in the first episode, 'Pilot', Rex says to Cat after she runs out to tell Tori, Robbie, Andre and him that Sikowitz wants them to come back into the classroom, "Just like you wanted a date to the prom last year."

danmcgahan

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Seinfeld picture

The Hot Tub - S7-E5

Plot hole: When Elaine is searching for Jean Paul in the streets, one of her verbal flashbacks is of Jean Paul saying, "I trust Elaine, she is my friend." However, Jean Paul made this remark to Jerry, and Elaine was not there to hear it. How could she have a flashback of it?

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The Amazing World of Gumball picture

The Mothers - S3-E17

Plot hole: When the "refrigerator" falls on Tobias's mom, the boys are watching from a side view. It is later revealed that the fridge was just a cardboard cutout. The boys were watching from the side, so how did they not notice it?

bobthedancingdonut

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The Dick Van Dyke Show picture

Dear Sally Rogers - S5-E21

Plot hole: Sally Rogers appears on the Stevie Parsons show which is a late night talk show, the next morning she receives letters from as far away as Hawaii... the US mail isn't that fast.

Pam-I-am

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