Best TV factual errors of all time

Please vote as you browse around to help the best rise to the top.

Tru Calling picture

Haunted - S1-E5

Factual error: Tru arrives "more than three hours late" for the MCAT and then begins the test. Firstly, it would be pointless for her to even bother going at that time, since she'd have already missed the entire Verbal Reasoning section and possibly the Physical Sciences as well (depending on how much more than three hours she was late). Secondly, that's really a moot point since late arrivals to MCAT testing centers are not permitted to take the test.

DavidK93

More Tru Calling factual errors
The 4400 picture

Show generally

Factual error: In episode 17 there are some scenes showing sick 4400s all around the world. One of them is being carried into an ambulance car in Frankfurt, Germany. The ambulance car's number plate begins with the letters FM meaning Frankfurt am Main. The correct abbreviation for Frankfurt am Main on German number plates is F - not FM.

More The 4400 factual errors
Over There picture

Show generally

Factual error: In episode 7, we see a toilet in the improvised jail. In fact, most "toilets" in Iraq are specially built holes in the floor.

More Over There factual errors
Criminal Minds picture

Derailed - S1-E9

Factual error: The train car in which Elle and the other passengers are held hostage is supposed to be an Amtrak type long distance railroad car traveling from El Paso to Dallas, yet on the inside of the car we can see a large poster showing the Washington, DC Metro system map.

More Criminal Minds factual errors
MacGyver picture

Pirates - S2-E15

Factual error: A 250-year-old sea chest recovered from the ocean floor is opened, and all its paper items are perfectly dry: the log book can be opened and read, and the letters can easily be unrolled. Highly unlikely. The chest's wood and pitch would deteriorate (salt water is extremely corrosive), and the paper should be damp and crumbly, at the very least. Even more likely, it would have become a lump of unreadable sludge.

Jean G

More MacGyver factual errors
Hawaii Five-O picture

A Thousand Pardons -- You're Dead! - S2-E1

Factual error: Danno, who's posing as a Marine, has hair that's far too long to be permitted in the Corps. In fact, all of the Marines in this episode have non-regulation (too long) haircuts. 'T'was the same then as it is now: US Marines are given "buzz jobs," and hair longer than an inch is not allowed.

Jean G

More Hawaii Five-O factual errors
That's So Raven picture

Mind Your Business - S3-E18

Factual error: The saboteur sabotages Raven's business by pouring lots of kernels in the popcorn machine. However, the saboteur pours the kernels into the glass holding box instead of the pot, so the kernels would not have heated up enough to cause the popcorn mountain.

More That's So Raven factual errors
Gilmore Girls picture

Double Date - S1-E12

Factual error: Lane wants Rory to talk to Dean about setting up Lane with his friend Todd. While asking Rory to do this, Lane asks for the date to be planned for the following Sunday, after church; however, Lane is Seventh-day Adventist and they believe the Sabbath is Saturday and therefore attend church on Saturday, not Sunday. (00:04:45)

ryane517

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

Suggested correction: Many Seventh-Day Adventist churches do actually hold church on Sunday.

More Gilmore Girls factual errors
New Amsterdam picture

Show generally

Factual error: This series uses a beautifully-rendered CGI sequence of New Amsterdam C. 1650 morphing into New York City of the present day. The Native American tribe we see at the start of the sequence, however, never inhabited the New England area. They look more like the Lakota plains tribes seen in Dances With Wolves. The North-Eastern tribes didn't build teepees as seen here, either. The dwellings should be longhouse wigwams made of wood.

Jean G

More New Amsterdam factual errors
Sherlock picture

His Last Vow - S3-E4

Factual error: Sherlock takes pains to explain in detail that he will deliberately corrupt the magnetic code stripe on an access control card he intends to use to enter the elevator to the villain's penthouse, by carrying it next to an operational cell phone. (This is possible due to the low frequency magnetic field from a phone's vibration motor.) But when he actually goes to access the elevator, he simply touches his access card to the reader instead of swiping or inserting the card through a slot, which is how a magnetic stripe reader would operate. The elevator uses an RFID proximity reader, not a magnetic stripe reader - a phone wouldn't corrupt an embedded RFID tag.

Stringman

More Sherlock factual errors
Battlestar Galactica picture

Epiphanies - S2-E13

Factual error: Early in the episode a damaged Viper makes its way back to Galactica with its port-side gun trailing smoke as if in an atmosphere. But in a vacuum, the smoke wouldn't trail. It would build upon itself much the way shaving foam does when slowly leaking from a damaged can, unless the ship changed course and/or speed and then the smoke would appear to do the opposite - ship turns right, smoke moves off to the left because it remains on its original course regardless of what the ship does. The gun is not propelling the smoke rearward. The ammo inside is simply burning. (00:05:15)

johnrosa

More Battlestar Galactica factual errors
The Office picture

Traveling Salesmen - S3-E12

Factual error: While the sales team break up the huddle in the parking lot to do sales calls, the camera zooms out and you see a palm tree in the background, but this show takes place in cold weather Pennsylvania. (00:16:25)

More The Office factual errors
Saved by the Bell picture

Save the Max - S2-E3

Factual error: When Zack is given the old newspaper with Mr. Belding's article, the headline reads, "Picture on pages 3 and 4." When he looks at the picture, he looks at the middle of the paper, with quite a few pages at both sides of the newspaper. Pages 3 and 4 would be near the front and would be on opposite sides of the same page.

More Saved by the Bell factual errors
More My Family factual errors

ER (1994)

ER picture

The Show Must Go On - S11-E22

Factual error: When the woman is giving birth, they show the baby just after they finally got her out. The baby is clean, no blood and other signs of a recent birth are visible. This is especially unlikely since the doctors had to "cut her open" to liberate the baby from the birth channel.

Ronnie Bischof

More ER factual errors
More Quincy M.E. factual errors
The Sopranos picture

Isabella - S1-E12

Factual error: During Tony's assassination attempt he struggles with one of the "hit men" for control of a pistol. One can see that the pistol does not contain a magazine.This would limit the shooter to 1 shot, providing the pistol is not equipped with a "magazine disconnect" if it is than it can not be fired at all. It seems unlikely that a "hit man" would be so ill prepared.

More The Sopranos factual errors
The Dresden Files picture

Birds of a Feather - S1-E1

Factual error: Talking to Dresden, Bob refers to his first grimoire (a book of spells & magic). But the closed captioner, apparently unfamiliar with the term, has rendered the line, "My first Renoir," which, though amusing, makes no sense at all in the context of the conversation. (Refers to the aired version: the error was corrected on the DVD release.) (00:24:00)

Jean G

More The Dresden Files factual errors
The L Word picture

LGB Tease - S5-E1

Factual error: The show takes place in L.A, and in this episode (SPOILER ALERT) Tim and Jenny rush off to hastily and ill-advisedly get married. Los Angeles is three-four hours away from Vegas, where most quickie weddings are done, but a road sign shows them heading to Lake Tahoe/Reno, which is another four hours further away than that. It's just not plausible that they would skip Vegas, where everyone in Los Angeles goes for this purpose, to drive hours further along when they're in such a hurry. It does, however, make sense if you're either ignorant of California/Nevada geography, or if your show is filmed in woodsy British Columbia, where no location can be easily found that looks like the approach to Vegas. Also, the road sign reads, "Tahoe" - an obvious fake. Actual road signs read "Lake Tahoe" and they always show how many miles away it is.

More The L Word factual errors
More The Umbrella Academy factual errors

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.