Best drama TV character mistakes of all time

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The Man in the High Castle picture

The New World - S1-E1

Character mistake: When Juliana puts the film on the projector she loads the reel backwards.The film is supposed to drop from the front of the reel, not the back.

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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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Cross picture

Ride the White Horsey - S1-E2

Character mistake: When Samson is playing trivia with Cross' kids right at the beginning of the episode, he asks, "First black mayor of D.C.?" and the son answers, "Marion Barry." John awards him the point while his daughter asks, "Who?" Not the first black mayor of D.C., for sure, since that was his predecessor, Walter Washington. (00:03:30)

Sammo

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Cheers picture

Ill-Gotten Gaines - S11-E8

Character mistake: Cliff tests Norm's memory by asking him who the bad guy in 'Herbie The Love Bug' was (presumably meaning the first movie, which was just 'The Love Bug, ' no Herbie in the title, and not the TV series that actually had the 'Herbie, the Love Bug' title). Norm answers Keenan Wynn, and is told by Cliff that is correct and that his memory is OK. Wynn was the antagonist in the second movie, 'Herbie Rides Again' (reprising his role from the 'Absent-Minded Professor'). The bad guy in 'The Love Bug' was played by David Tomlinson of 'Mary Poppins' fame.

Vader47000

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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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Mission: Impossible picture

The Bank - S2-E4

Character mistake: The 'perfect' German postcard Rollin has written is full of mistakes: 1) The 'sie' must have a capital 'S' because it's a personal pronoun; 2) The only sentence stops in the middle and makes no sense; 3) The word 'Besten' has to be written without a capital because it's not a noun; 4) In Germany the house number stands after the street name, not before; 5) The streetname makes no sense. Too many mistakes for a so-called 'perfect' card. (00:04:40)

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Murdoch Mysteries picture

24 Hours Til Doomsday - S9-E5

Character mistake: When first discussing the projectile Murdoch has written on his board that 2 (sin45) =1. This is obviously incorrect to anyone who's studied even basic trigonometry. (00:05:54)

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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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The Waltons 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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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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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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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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