The West Wing

Pilot - S1-E1

Character mistake: Sam makes a joke about Laurie being "free of cataracts" because she smokes so much pot. She laughs and says "I get that. That's funny." Except there's nothing to 'get', because Sam is wrong. Cannabis has been used as pain relief for people suffering from glaucoma; it does nothing whatsoever for cataracts. It's surprising that neither Sam nor Laurie would have known this. (00:03:10)

Pilot - S1-E1

Character mistake: During the face-off about religion/politics, they get into a shouting match about commandments, both groups being equally convinced that "honour your father and mother" is the 1st or 3rd commandment, respectively. In actual fact it's the 4th or 5th, depending on which version (Catholic or Protestant) of the 10 commandments you go by. See http://www.positiveatheism.org/crt/whichcom.htm.

Jon Sandys

Election Day (Part 1) - S7-E16

Continuity mistake: When Bruno and Bob are poring over exit polls, they mention that Santos seems to be leading in North Dakota, and comment that it is a state that hasn't gone Democratic in forty years. While that is true in the real world, in the fictional West Wing world, it is stated in Season 4 that Bartlet won the Dakotas in his landslide reelection.

marathon69

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Pilot - S1-E1

Question: I don't really understand Josh's comment to Mary Marsh on TV ("Lady, the god you pray to is too busy being indicted for tax fraud."). Could someone please explain it to me?

Answer: It's in reference to the many televangelists and revival ministers usually associated with the right-wing that have been convicted of tax fraud (Jim Bakker and Tamy Faye being a more famous set). Occasionally, the more unscrupulous ministers have bilked millions from believers all in the name of God.

Nikki

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