Best mystery TV deliberate mistakes of all time

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

Lost picture

Tabula Rasa - S1-E3

Deliberate mistake: As Ray drives the pickup truck, an oncoming vehicle beeps and the marshal heads behind Ray's pickup. In the shot through the cab's rear window facing the bed, as the marshal pulls behind, the bed's side wall interior is seen (note the metal loop tie down on top) and the entire tailgate is gone; yet the tailgate is intact later, when the pickup flips over. The tailgate was removed for the shot to allow visibility of the marshal's vehicle.

Super Grover

More Lost deliberate mistakes
Monk picture

Mr. Monk Meets His Dad - S5-E9

Deliberate mistake: In the opening scene, Wood's tie is grabbed by an exposed fan belt located above the side of the engine. However, this belt/pulley assembly doesn't exist in a real truck's engine compartment - the fan belts are all in front of the engine, where the camera can't see them easily. The prop master must have added this dangerous device to the truck to allow the camera to see the strangulation.

nixiebunny

More Monk deliberate mistakes
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation picture

Show generally

Deliberate mistake: Every time the investigators deal with IP-addresses, the addresses on display are impossible. Each of the four parts of an IP-address has to be between 0 and 255. As they do have to use IP-addresses some time, they could use addresses starting with 10. Those would be real addresses although not used as an official IP-address. This isn't the same as phone numbers using 555 - any IP address over 255 just wouldn't work. It would be like mentioning a phone number which uses the symbol for pi.

Christoph Galuschka

More CSI: Crime Scene Investigation deliberate mistakes
The X-Files picture

One Breath - S2-E8

Deliberate mistake: When Scully is shown on her hospital bed, it's obvious she's wearing a bra under her hospital gown. It's doubtful that a patient in a coma would be wearing a bra as it could restrict her circulation.

Grumpy Scot

More The X-Files deliberate mistakes
South Park picture

Volcano - S1-E3

Deliberate mistake: When the boys are hunting in the forest, then they start to crawl after the rabbit, however, the background behind them is static as if they were crawling in place.

Moose

More South Park deliberate mistakes

24 (2001)

24 picture

Day 2: 6:00 P.M.-7:00 P.M. - S2-E11

Deliberate mistake: When Jack and that FBI team are looking for Sied Ali in the mosque, Jack finds a burning body in another room. He is led to believe that it is Ali, because the body's clothes matched the description that Kate Warner had given him. It is obvious that the skin is badly burnt, yet the clothes are barely scorched.

More 24 deliberate mistakes
The Prisoner picture

Once Upon A Time - S1-E16

Deliberate mistake: The credits list "Number 86" as played by John Maxim. But no such character appears in the episode. Apparently, 86 was left on the cutting room floor, but the titles weren't altered accordingly.

Jean G

More The Prisoner deliberate mistakes
The Twilight Zone picture

Mr. Garrity and the Graves - S5-E32

Deliberate mistake: Garrity blackmails the town citizens into paying him not to resurrect their unlamented "loved ones." Amazingly, every man in the saloon just happens to have hundreds of dollars ($500 - $1200 each) in his pocket to pay up with. In 1890 money, that's roughly equivalent to a group of modern-day bar patrons all carrying ten to thirty thousand dollars around in their pockets. The scenario was apparently used in spite of its incredibility just to more quickly advance the plot.

Jean G

More The Twilight Zone deliberate mistakes
More NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service deliberate mistakes
The Dresden Files picture

Second City - S1-E12

Deliberate mistake: Kermani finds a nitroglycerin tablet in the suspect's apartment. Because we need to see it when he holds it for the close-up, the tablet he has is much too large to be nitro. That drug is dispensed as an extremely tiny pill designed to dissolve instantly under the tongue. (00:22:30)

Jean G

More The Dresden Files deliberate mistakes
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit picture

Inconceivable - S9-E14

Deliberate mistake: When James is shot on the courthouse steps, the crowd of reporters that has gathered quickly scatters to escape the gunfire. One of them is a woman in a black windbreaker holding a camera. The camera cuts away briefly and then back to the crowd - you see the exact same people, including the woman in black running in the exact opposite direction as before. The footage was apparently mirrored and repeated for the second shot of the fleeing crowd.

More Law & Order: Special Victims Unit deliberate mistakes
Sapphire & Steel picture

Show generally

Deliberate mistake: "The Creature's Revenge" (Adventure 3, Part 5): The 2-inch heels on Sapphire's bright blue boots disappear and reappear repeatedly. They're most often missing in the scenes she appears in with Steel, presumably so that her height won't exceed his. (00:15:15)

Jean G

More Sapphire & Steel deliberate mistakes
More Charmed deliberate mistakes
The Mentalist picture

Red Scare - S2-E5

Deliberate mistake: When the investigators are in the basement wine cellar, they turn on their flashlights to illuminate the pitch black area as they walk around. However there is a light source moving with the camera shining on them as they are casting a shadow behind them.

jerimiah

More The Mentalist deliberate mistakes
House, M.D. picture

Show generally

Deliberate mistake: When a patient who is given CPR is seen in the shot, the person giving the CPR does so with bent arms (the correct way to do it is with straight arms). This is deliberate, as straight-arm CPR puts in an amount of strength that frequently breaks ribs. Many films do CPR with bent arms rather than straight to avoid harming the actor.

More House, M.D. deliberate mistakes
Columbo picture

Lady in Waiting - S1-E6

Deliberate mistake: Beth shoots Bryce three times in the chest, and he falls face down on the floor. She then drags his body across the floor, also face down, to in front of the sliding door, but there is no sign of blood anywhere.

mdwalker

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

Suggested correction: In the early Seventies, no television show used blood effects. They were too expensive and would severely restrict potential audiences as television channels were notoriously conservative in those days. This is a creative and technical decision, not a mistake.

More Columbo deliberate mistakes
Arrow picture

Crisis on Earth-X, Part 2 - S6-E8

Deliberate mistake: During the big battle, Arrow is knocked down and when he opens his eyes, the reflection in his eyes is tilted over to give the sense he's seeing things sideways. But the reflection should still have shown the proper orientation no matter what orientation his eye was at. Think of looking into a mirror and then rotating the mirror to the side, the reflection wouldn't rotate.

Bishop73

More Arrow deliberate mistakes
Criminal Minds picture Criminal Minds mistake picture

Perennials - S8-E11

Deliberate mistake: In the outside shot of the unsub's motel in Pensacola, Florida, the sky is black as if someone behind the scenes tried to digitally remove part of the background in post, but did a really bad job.

THGhost

More Criminal Minds deliberate mistakes
More Sherlock deliberate mistakes
American Horror Story picture

Edward Mordrake: Part 1 - S4-E3

Deliberate mistake: After Elsa kicks Bette and Dot off the stage, Elsa looks at the sheet of music on the stand and you see the name of the song 'Criminal' and it also states it's by Fiona Apple which is true, but this season is set in 1952, and Criminal wasn't released until 1996.

Trystan Abbott

More American Horror Story deliberate mistakes

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.