Best drama TV deliberate mistakes of all time

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Jonathan Creek picture

The Grinning Man - S4-E7

Deliberate mistake: When Joey and Jonathan get in Joey's car at Metropolis (just before heading to the police station), the car has headrests. When they get to the police station, see Lance Gessler leaving and then follow him, the car no longer has headrests. Obviously removed so as not to obstruct the actors.

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Agents of SHIELD picture

Season 6 generally

Deliberate mistake: The last season touched on Infinity War happening - this season jumps forwards a year, meaning that we should be one year into the "blip" (or snap), with half the universe missing. But The Team is all together, and the world/universe is utterly unaffected. Largely a byproduct of disagreement between the film and TV sides of Marvel, plus scheduling vagueness meaning they couldn't risk spoiling Endgame if they came back on the air before that was released. But considering the show is 100% part of the MCU, that's a pretty massive contradiction.

Jon Sandys

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Prisoner: Cell Block H picture

Episode #1.57 - S1-E57

Deliberate mistake: After MacNelly enters the ladies room to confront the red haired lady, she shoots the woman in the chest, but there's no gunshot or bullet hole or blood anywhere. But the red haired lady dramatically collapses to the floor. Then during a closeup, glances upward at MacNelly, and then her head droops downward.

eaglegrad16

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The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel picture

Thank You and Good Night - S1-E8

Deliberate mistake: In the Maisels' 1954 wedding reception flashback, Midge hired professional dancers who perform the "Bottle Dance" (where they slide on their knees). This famous dance, often performed at Jewish weddings and social events, was choreographed by Jerome Robbins for "Fiddler on the Roof," which debuted on Broadway in 1964. It did not exist in 1954 but, as an inside joke, while Midge watches, she says, "That's really good. They should do something with that."

raywest

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Black Summer picture

The Stadium - S1-E8

Deliberate mistake: The Korean lady's Mini-Uzi never runs out of ammunition, and she's spraying it at full-auto. A Min-Uzi's cyclic rate is 950 rounds/min. One long squeeze of the trigger and the weapon's dry. Same goes for all the other weapons like the M4 carbines being fired on full-auto, they have the infinity ammo cheat code going here.

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Hustle picture

Cops and Robbers - S1-E4

Deliberate mistake: When Sam first meets Mickey (who is posing as a bank robber), Mickey says he needs Sam to state that he needs Mickey's help in robbing a bank, so if Sam turns out to be an undercover cop, Mickey can plead entrapment. This is a classic error. Entrapment only exists where a cop actively persuades a criminal to do something he otherwise wouldn't have done - which is not the case here. If Mickey as a con artist knows this (which is likely), it's a deliberate mistake, otherwise it's a factual error. (00:30:09)

swordfish

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Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story picture

Please Don't Go - S1-E2

Deliberate mistake: When the young kid breaks out of Jeff's apartment, the ladies freak out that he's naked, when he's wearing black underwear. And then shortly after they shriek to police that he was buck naked when he wasn't.

eaglegrad16

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Black Spot picture

In Another Life - S2-E3

Deliberate mistake: The police force in the town is the Gendarmerie, the standard issued firearm is the Sig Sauer P2022 in 9mm. The police officers on this show carry a Beretta and not the 9x19mm one which is the model 92fs, they carry a never issued Beretta 84 chambered in .32 acp or 9mm short. Plus they use some weird holster where the gun arches out and hangs low like a cowboy holster and dangles around. Easy for a suspect to gain control of the officers gun and this happened in this episode.

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The Outer Limits picture

The Invisible Enemy - S2-E7

Deliberate mistake: Though by 1964 it was already suspected (and later confirmed by Mariner IV) that Mars has an atmosphere humans can't breathe and temperatures too low for humans to tolerate, Merritt and his crew are here exploring the planet sans spacesuits. This was "fudged" because space helmets A)are expensive, B)reflect cameras, and most importantly, C)obscure the actors' faces. (00:24:00)

Jean G

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The Waltons picture

The Carousel - S9-E11

Deliberate mistake: After Elizabeth goes upstairs with the pillowcases for Cindy, in the following shots there are a few long shots of Colonel Brunson's car on the road, and a couple of those shots are flipped - noticeable due to identical trees shown the opposite way. (00:03:55)

Super Grover

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SEAL Team picture

Boarding Party - S1-E3

Deliberate mistake: The Seal takes a shot with his suppressed pistol through a circular window in the hull of the ship at a hostage taker holding a hostage. When he fires through the glass it never breaks or shatters. Makes no sense how the bullet even passed through. In addition, windows in ships are really thick; it would've taken a few shots to get through and to neutralize the hostage taker. (00:33:30 - 00:34:30)

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Death in Paradise picture

The Impossible Murder - S6-E3

Deliberate mistake: Florence and Humphrey set up the scene using a printer that is nothing short of magical; the photos, in color, come out from the machine the instant that Florence displays the profile on screen. It is obviously done to speed up the scene - however, Florence could have printed the pictures beforehand and hand them to Humphrey one by one as she reviews on screen the profiles, there was no need to have them come out fresh from the printer with that kind of impossibly fast timing. (00:15:00)

Sammo

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Sharp Objects picture

Ripe - S1-E4

Deliberate mistake: As Chief Vickery, in present time, patrols Wind Gap in his car he passes by the barbershop. From his POV, through the car window, we see four men sitting outside. The same men were also seen in Episode 01, but from young Camille's POV as she and her sister pass by the barbershop in 1992. The show hid a load of easter eggs and signs throughout all episodes. They would hardly make such a mistake. More likely, the repeat was to underline Vickery's backward, stepfordian attitude.

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Shameless picture

Swipe, Fuck, Leave - S7-E2

Deliberate mistake: When Dominique is creating a Tinder profile for Fiona (an app Fiona admits she doesn't use), she manages to use Fiona's phone to take a picture of her, create a profile, and quickly get three matches, all within a span of 25 seconds. Downloading the app itself would take longer than 25 seconds, much less agreeing to its terms of service, and verifying the email or phone number associated with the account. (00:45:15 - 00:45:39)

Phaneron

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Another Life picture

Across the Universe - S1-E1

Deliberate mistake: In the restaurant after their daughter finishes talking to Niko, Erik turns the tablet device around and sets it on the table to talk to Niko. From his perspective, he is looking down at the screen. But in the other shots from Niko's perspective, where he is a life sized hologram, his figure is shown looking up and meeting her eyes. But from her perspective it should look like he's looking down at the table.

Quantom X

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