Factual error: Phoebe's greatest love David leaves her to go to Minsk and comes and goes throughout the whole show, telling stories of Minsk on the way i.e. of the long months when the sun does not rise and the constant freezing cold. Minsk, being the capital of Belarus (although claimed to be in Russia for reasons explained in Corrections), is approximately as high up north as i.e. Wales and northern coast of Germany, and even during the winter months there is always daylight for several hours. Although winters in Eastern Europe are cold, the kind of coldness described by David would more believably happen in Siberia than Minsk, and the summers are just as nice and hot as everywhere in Europe.
Factual error: This is a mistake for two of Ross' three marriages. Ross wasn't even actually "married" either time. With Emily, he goes through the ceremony of the marriage and then Emily immediately disappears. You're not actually married until the certificate is signed and sent in, with the signatures of the witnesses. Which was not happening after that disaster of a wedding. Nor were there any witnesses filling out and sending in certificates after the drunk Vegas wedding either.
Suggested correction: The certificate of marriage is signed and sent in by the person performing the ceremony, and he asked if they wanted to continue with the marriage and it was completed. Secondly the marriage to Rachel they discuss how they paid witnesses to the wedding. I believe they mention Elvis?
Suggested correction: At the Vegas wedding, the chapel likely provided witnesses who took care of the paperwork.
The One with the Sonogram at the End - S1-E2
Factual error: The sonogram shows a fetus that's much too far-developed for Carol's pregnancy. That fetus is at least 20 weeks along. (00:22:00)
The One with the Thumb - S1-E3
Factual error: The show is set in New York. Joey was a cast member on Days of Our Lives, which is filmed in Los Angeles, but is still always around.
The One with the Fake Monica - S1-E21
Factual error: The monkey is allowed outside his cage at an airport gate. Animals, with the exception of assistance dogs, cannot be transported in the cabin with passengers, and this rule applied in the 1990s as well. There is no way a monkey would be brought through a security checkpoint into a terminal concourse of a NYC airport and allowed aboard a regular commercial airliner.
The One With the Baby on the Bus - S2-E6
Factual error: In the one where Joey and Chandler lose baby Ben on a transit city bus, they later have to pick him up at the transit city headquarters. The man working there assumes that one of them is the father. There is no way that a city official would just give away a baby without checking for ID or a birth certificate or proof of fathership of the child. (00:14:30)
The One With The Chicken Pox - S2-E23
Factual error: The symptoms (spots, fever, etc) of chicken pox only develop 2 - 3 weeks after exposure to the virus. Therefore, when Ross knew that Ben had chicken pox, Phoebe shouldn't have developed the condition until at least two weeks later, and Ryan certainly shouldn't have developed the disease until the end of his stay (as Phoebe was his only contact with the virus). (00:09:30)
The One With The Chicken Pox - S2-E23
Factual error: Ryan is a LCDR submariner, who had been on a sub deployment for the last two years. but at no time does he wear his dolphins pin. A true submariner would sooner forget his skivvies than his pin.
The One With The Giant Poking Device - S3-E8
Factual error: The "very long poking device" that the friends fashion out of chopsticks would never actually work. It has vulnerable points every half-foot or so (the length of the chopsticks) and after a certain point would just break or sag under its own weight at one of the vulnerable points.
The One Where Monica and Richard Are Just Friends - S3-E13
Factual error: Joey refers to several of his favorite parts of The Shining in 'code', including "all blank and no blank makes blank a blank blank, " which obviously refers to the "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" scene from the movie. However, that scene (and the one where Danny sees the two "blanks" in the hallway) is not found in the book; only in the movie. (00:13:55)
Suggested correction: I know they're talking about the book, but doesn't it actually make sense for Joey to be referencing the movie, even though the conversation is about the book? Considering the character, I don't think that's off at all. He's read the book, but he's obviously seen the movie, too.
Later in that scene, Ross references The Shining as a book Joey loves that stars Jack Nicholson. Therefore, it's safe to assume that Joey has seen the movie and the audience could infer that he may confuse the two often enough for Ross to reference it that way. This might just be another Joey mistake (which he has many) vs a factual error of the show.
The One With The Hypnosis Tape - S3-E18
Factual error: When Pete takes Monica to Rome for the date this would have been impossible as Rome is 6 hours ahead of New York and at least 4/5 hours travel time, assuming they went by Concorde (double that otherwise). They would have had to have left New York early in the morning to make dinner for 8/9 pm in Rome.
The One With The Screamer - S3-E22
Factual error: Rachel's date yells at the theater patrons who are in the gang's seats; one of them has D13, and he screams "you're surrounded by even numbers, does that give you some clue?" However, the establishing shot shows they're at the Lucille Lortel Theater, which has odd-numbered seats on the left - the side they're sitting on. It is also a relatively small house and doesn't have a D13; the outermost seat in that row is D9. (00:04:50 - 00:05:30)
Factual error: When the gang all see the beach house for the first time, it's covered in a layer of sand, which is supposedly left over from a recent flood. Well, if there really had been a flood, there would have been mold on the walls and debris or junk from the outside, and the sand wouldn't have been nice and clean and dry; it would have been moldy. And there would've been a pattern, likely on the walls, of where the water rose up to and where it receded. Not only that, but how did it get in? All of the doors and windows are intact. (00:04:40)
Factual error: When Bonnie shaves her head, Rachel is supposed to have given her the razors (according to Bonnie.) Nope - the kind of razors needed to do that kind of close shave are a very particular kind, and Rachel isn't going to have them unless she also shaves her own head. It also wouldn't make any sense for Bonnie to have used her own razors; she's not going to carry them around with her unless she's planning to use them.
Suggested correction: Considering Bonnie always used to shave her head, it's not beyond the bounds of possibility that she just kept a razor on her in case she wanted to do it again. She's an impulsive type of person, after all.
Factual error: In season 4 generally, Phoebe has the shortest pregnancy ever. She gets pregnant as the boys win the girls' apartment. In the next episode Ross meets Emily, after 6 weeks he gets engaged to Emily and they then choose to get married 4 weeks later. Phoebe would only be 10-12 weeks pregnant by the time they fly to London, not in her third trimester.
The One With The Girl From Poughkeepsie - S4-E10
Factual error: Ross falls asleep on the train and ends up in Montreal, where the woman he meets tells him "it's only a 2-hour ferry ride to Nova Scotia." Yeah, more like a journey of between 13 hours (12-hour car ride plus 1-hour ferry) and 23 hours (multiple bus legs plus 1-hour ferry.) The character could have been lying to Ross, but it's not presented that way at all.
The One With All The Rugby - S4-E15
Factual error: Rugby starts with a kickoff and not with a scrum, only the forwards on the team participate in the scrum not the whole team, and there is no scrum half to retrieve the ball from the scrum. The scrum took far too long. There is no structure to the scrum like there should be (props, locks, flankers etc). He doesn't seem to have a team and for some reason everyone just jumps on him, there is no line with one team and another it just seems like a free for all which is nothing like rugby, rugby halves are ended when the ball goes out of play which does not happen here - he just decides to end it for no real reason. Several fouls are committed in the ruck such as coming in from the sides, diving off their feet and holding onto the ball which aren't being penalised. You're not allowed to kick people or harm them intentionally in rugby, there are no cups in rugby but there are mouth guards, which no one is wearing.
The One With All The Rugby - S4-E15
Factual error: Before Ross goes out to play the second half of the rugby game, Emily gives him some tips on how to hurt the other guys. She singles out one of the guys, saying he doesn't wear a cup. These guys are all English players who love rugby. Rugby players would NEVER wear a cup for rugby is more of a grinding sport than hit and miss. These guys would be crazy to wear a cup.
The One With The Fake Party - S4-E16
Factual error: Phoebe says in the show that she's three months pregnant. Not only is she way too big for that, but the fetus also kicks for the first time. Women don't feel fetal movement until 16 weeks at the earliest, and for a first pregnancy it may not be until 25 weeks or so.
Suggested correction: Phoebe's size could partially be explained in that she was carrying triplets, though Lisa Kudrow was pregnant in real life, and was further along than her character. Her pregnancy had to be written into the show and the gestation timelines did not match up. Phoebe feeling "movement" could just be her imagination, as her character is supposedly somewhat psychic and often perceives things that are not necessarily discernible to others or isn't even real.
The One With The Free Porn - S4-E17
Factual error: We know that Phoebe is three months pregnant, because it's the day after the party where she told Joey that she was three months along. But the ultrasound shows three little lumps that in no way resemble a three-month fetus. An actual three-month fetus is the size of a jellybean.
