Best TV factual errors of all time

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iZombie picture

Dead Beat - S2-E18

Factual error: They used an EpiPen to bring Liv back but they're holding it backwards. The way it's being held, Ravi would have injected himself instead of Liv and she wouldn't be revived.

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White Collar picture

Point Blank - S2-E9

Factual error: In the scene where Mozzy is using a synthesizer to try and figure out the musical code, he starts playing random chords in frustration. Since the synthesizer is a Minimoog (a monophonic instrument) this is impossible. (00:12:45)

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The Wonder Years picture

Odd Man Out - S3-E6

Factual error: Near the end of the episode when Kevin and Paul are riding their bikes toward each other before they stop for a brief hello of sorts, Kevin rides past a couple cars parked on the street that were built in the early 1980's. A red Pontiac LeMans and a black Pontiac Grand Prix-both were parked in front of the 1969 Ford Thunderbird.

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The Waltons picture

The Heartbreaker - S5-E21

Factual error: When Elizabeth asks Zeb how Vanessa can be happy, Zeb has his old catalog with a bunch of flower seed packets on his lap, and as they both hold up the packets, particularly Elizabeth, the modern Universal Product Codes are at the back of the packets. The UPC did not exist until many years later. (00:10:05)

Super Grover

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Chuck picture

Chuck Versus the Fake Name - S3-E8

Factual error: When they first bring Grueber into Castle, Sara states that "he is one of five people who can hit a target from half a mile away." Half a mile is 880 yards. Basically every person who has graduated from (or likely everyone who has been selected for) sniper school in any military in the world should be able to do this. (00:05:20)

Prince Ly Squisher

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Houdini and Doyle picture

Show generally

Factual error: The show starts in 1901 with a woman constable working for the Metropolitan Police Service (Scotland Yard). However women didn't join the Metropolitan Police until 1919 (which is also when the first woman's police uniform was created). Prior to that, women volunteered in the Women's Police Service, but that wasn't formed until 1914.

Bishop73

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Falling Skies picture

Live and Learn - S1-E1

Factual error: When Tom has decided his scout group will have to go for the food and then his look for his son later, they are stood on a green. There is a war memorial dedicated to both World Wars, 1914 - 1918 and 1939 - 1945. That's got to be in Canada, as the USA didn't enter either war until later than those dates. (00:28:00)

Dominic Ceraldi

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The 100 picture

Unity Day - S1-E9

Factual error: Bellamy tries to fire his assault rifle twice, but because of a dud round, it fails both times. There is an audible click each time he tries. The first attempt there would be a click, because the firing pin was charged when the last round was ejected. However, without that charge either automatically when a round is ejected or manually pulling the charging handle, the second attempt would have been silent since the firing pin was not engaged. (00:35:45)

djm

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The Fall picture

Strangler - S2-E4

Factual error: When printing the image of the painting, Stella uses the printer driver "Microsoft XPS Document Writer" - which would save the output to a file. However, she still gets a printout from the printer in the office. (00:02:30)

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Suggested correction: Microsoft XPS Document Writer creates a document in XPS format then prints said document. I use it at work. It works in the same way as "print to PDF".

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24 (2001)

24 picture

Day 4: 2:00 P.M.-3:00 P.M. - S4-E8

Factual error: When Edgar proves that Mary-Ann Taylor framed Sarah to be the rat in CTU, he claims that she remotely took control of her computer by sending the signal over "a plain old AC power line." This is not possible, unless the computers were equipped with special hardware to separate the AC from the signal. If they were, this traffic would have been observed by James Heller's assistant.

ronin692k

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The Queen's Gambit picture

Openings - S1-E1

Factual error: The car accident scene takes place in Kentucky but the state troopers are wearing the uniforms of Pennsylvania state troopers evident by the distinctive keystone arm badge.

Turissini

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Legends of Tomorrow picture

Left Behind - S1-E9

Factual error: Ray, Sara, and Kendra are Left Behind in 1958. However, 10 weeks later Sara and Kendra are playing the board game "The Game of Life." The modern version, as seen, didn't come out until 1960 (previously it was called The Checkered Game of Life and doesn't resemble the modern version).

Bishop73

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Star Trek: Voyager picture

Blink of an Eye - S6-E12

Factual error: Chakotay says "if our orbit starts to decay, Voyager will begin to feel the effects of the differential, and we'll begin aging hundreds of times faster than we would in normal space". Whilst it is true that they would be aging faster relative to normal space, they would not instantly become old. Time would simply slow around them, so whilst they would be aging faster relative to normal space, they would not all of a sudden become really old - which is how it is made out to be. They would all age the same amount whether in a standard orbit or in a more decayed orbit. (00:06:37)

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

Suggested correction: There is nothing incorrect about what he said. They will start ageing hundreds of times faster than in normal space.

Aging implies getting/feeling older. They'd only be "aging" relative to normal space. What would happen would be more akin to time travel, with the universe getting older around them.

But the point is, they wouldn't age faster just because "normal" time slows down. If they spent a year on the planet, they'd age 1 year, not 100 years.

Bishop73

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Brimstone picture

Heat - S1-E2

Factual error: The Los Angeles police car pulls up to John's loft, which has the address number 923 on the wall. The building across the street is numbered 929. In California (in fact, in the vast majority of the US) address numbers are odd on one side of the street and even on the other. 923 and 929 wouldn't be on opposite sides. (00:29:30)

Jean G

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Passions picture

Show generally

Factual error: Dr. Eve Russell seems to be a "jack of all trades" in the medical profession, but it's impossible for her to know everything about every medical condition. When Theresa is going to marry Ethan, she goes and gets birth control pills and takes her first pill the day before the wedding. That night they make love. The next day, the wedding never takes place and Theresa flies off to find Julian. She forgets her second pill and sleeps with Julian. Eve tells her that since she didn't take a pill before sleeping with Julian then the baby is his. Any doctor would know that (and also suggest that) birth control pills are not completely effective until a person has been taking them for at least seven days, and a secondary form of birth control should be used. There's no way that Theresa's just taking 1 pill would protect her from being pregnant by Ethan, and this would still warrant a paternity test.

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Vigil picture

Show generally

Factual error: As the Royal Navy has its own police (including detectives), there would be no need for a civilian detective to be airlifted onto a submarine, especially to investigate a sudden death that was not originally believed to be a murder.

Necrothesp

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Suggested correction: The Royal Navy police are not equipped to handle murder; local police are usually used for more serious offences so no claim of a cover up. There are no MoD police attached to a submarine either, so in theory somebody would have to go to the boat. (However they still wouldn't risk surfacing).

Initially there is no suspicion of murder, only an unexplained sudden death. There would be absolutely no need to airlift a civilian detective aboard a top-secret submarine. It wouldn't be the first time a sudden death had occurred aboard a Royal Navy vessel.

Necrothesp

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Wagon Train picture

The Mark Miner Story - S5-E8

Factual error: At an 1868 church service, Mark sings "How Great Thou Art." While the tune of this hymn is 19th Century, the English lyrics he's singing weren't composed until the 1920s.

Jean G

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