Best drama TV character mistakes of all time

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The Wire picture

Unto Others - S4-E7

Character mistake: When Cutty quits the truant officer job and walks out of the office, he runs into his old girl from way back. She calls him David instead of Dennis. (00:51:00)

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Law & Order picture

Remand - S6-E10

Character mistake: McCoy asks his witness, an expert geneticist, what the odds are that a DNA sample presented in evidence does not match that of the defendant. He answers "About one in two hundred." That is idiotic. If the DNA samples are identical the chances that the the sample presented in evidence does not come from the defendant is about one in two billion, not one in two hundred! A bright high school senior would know that, never mind an expert geneticist.

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

Suggested correction: If the odds are 1 in 200, that means the accuracy of the DNA is 99.5%. If the odds are 1 in 2 billion, that means the accuracy of the DNA is 99.9999999995%, which simply isn't true.

Bishop73

In fact as any geneticist (i.e, anyone like me) will tell you the chances of two identical DNA "fingerprints" coming from two different and unrelated individuals are around one in two thousand million. Two billion. In fact the odds are much higher than that but we scientists don't like to make claims that sound unlikely or fantastic. The accuracy of DNA fingerprinting is, as you point out, 99.9999999995%. You correction is wrong and the posting is correct.

Except that's not what happened in the scene or what happens in real life. You simply don't understand what you're arguing. You're not a geneticist.

Bishop73

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Star Trek: Picard picture

Remembrance - S1-E1

Character mistake: Picard and Data are playing poker at the beginning of the episode. Before the actual faces of the players are revealed, we are shown close-ups of their hands as they put down the chips for the bet. When Picard says his first line in the series it's "See", and it is literally true, because in the previous shot, Data put his 5 cards down on the table and face up. (00:00:50)

Sammo

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The Waltons picture The Waltons mistake picture

The Threshold - S9-E17

Character mistake: When John-Boy reads the nursery rhyme "Simple Simon" to his nephew, John-Boy points to the colorful illustrations in this book and tells John Curtis, "See, that's Simple Simon, he's a bear." This is incorrect. In the illustrations, Simple Simon is a donkey, and it's the pieman who is a bear (he's wearing a chef's hat and apron). (00:40:50)

Super Grover

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Law & Order: UK picture

Vice - S1-E3

Character mistake: When Brooks and Devlin talk to Teddy, the forensic scientist, Teddy puts his rubber glove on incorrectly, with the thumb hanging off the pinkie side of his hand. (00:09:45)

Cubs Fan

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Titans picture

Troubled Water - S3-E10

Character mistake: One character says a concentration of 0.09 parts per million in the water is bad: "if it were salt it'd taste like you were drowning in the ocean." Rubbish. The concentration of salt in seawater is about 35,000 parts per million.

Jon Sandys

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Blindspot picture

This Profound Legacy - S3-E5

Character mistake: Congressman Weitz tells the FBI task force that Kazahrus is an "absolute monarchy." Director Hirst interrupts him to state that this means "the order of succession is based solely on heredity," which she implies is well-known to students of civics. An absolute monarchy is one where the monarch's powers are unrestricted (such as by legislative or judicial branches of government). Hirst is describing a hereditary monarchy, but not all hereditary monarchies are absolute (for example, England's constitutional monarchy is hereditary), nor are all absolute monarchies hereditary (the Vatican's elective monarchy is absolute). What Hirst says is true of Kazahrus, but not of absolute monarchies, the term Weitz was defining. Weitz is presented as an expert on the topic, but doesn't correct her.

DavidK93

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The Dead Zone picture

Collision - S3-E3

Character mistake: When Johnny is at the hospital, having a vision of his mother, Gene Purdy and Sarah is waiting for news of him following his accident, he states that a vision earlier was related to his accident 'Nine years ago'. Later, when he is in the ambulance on the way to where his accident occurred, he asks the paramedic if it was the same ambulance. The paramedic replies, 'Yeah, I've been driving the same rig for nearly eight years'.

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Charlie's Angels picture

Waikiki Angels - S5-E6

Character mistake: At the Life Guard Trials, Kelly is the first Angel to arrive. She finishes 20th. Then, four other competitors arrive (21st / 22nd / 23rd / 24th). Then, Kris arrives. The judge says to her "You're 23." (00:11:15)

Great_Captain

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The Borgias picture

The Moor - S1-E3

Character mistake: In the tent Djem reaches for food with his left hand. Totally a big no-no in the Arab and many other cultures! He would never lean on his right and leave his left arm - his unclean hand free.

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FBI: Most Wanted picture

Predators - S1-E8

Character mistake: The FBI team responds to a murder crime scene. The victim is lying face down in the bed with blood everywhere. The team leader takes the victim's wrist with his bare ungloved hand. A trained FBI agent would never touch a murder victim without gloves - one to protect himself and two not to contaminate the crime scene. (00:10:00)

Snag.1

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ER (1994)

ER picture

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished - S9-E13

Character mistake: Dr. Corday finishes assessing a gun shot victim, then goes to the next trauma room to assess another. The steady cam follows her. She makes sure not to contaminate her gloves on the door, opening it with her elbows, but then goes straight to touching the next victim. Of course, in real life, she'd change gloves first. The shot never changes, so there's no chance of her changing gloves off camera. (00:12:30)

MLawfer79

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Eastenders picture

Show generally

Character mistake: 27/1/15 Max tells his two daughters to get in his car to go to Emma's funeral. Max's car is a Mercedes SLK which is only a two seater, and therefore wouldn't seat three people.

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The Triangle picture

Show generally

Character mistake: Patterson - the oceanographer - at one point claims that Lithuania is land-locked. She should know better; in fact, Lithuania has a coastline of close to 100 km on the Baltic Sea.

Andrew Perry

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