The West Wing

20 Hours in America: Part I - S4-E1

Factual error: This show is supposed to take place in September, but the height of the corn and the complete lack of foliage change (even in early September there would be a little red or orange in the trees) make it look much more like June.

Inauguration: Part I - S4-E14

Factual error: In the first shot after the recap, the overlay text reads "United States Capitol/Sunday/Inauguration Day". During this episode and the one that follows there is an inauguration day celebration and President Bartlet makes his inauguration speech. Historically, however, when inauguration day falls on a Sunday the celebrations and speeches are scheduled for the next day, a Monday. The president is still sworn in on inauguration day (March 4th until 1933, January 20th after that), but all other activities are moved back one day. The inauguration date has only fallen on a Sunday 6 times since 1798, and only twice since the current inauguration date was set, so it is understandable that this arcane but important bit of scheduling tradition was missed by the show's researchers. (00:00:45)

Inauguration: Part I - S4-E14

Factual error: In this episode, it is Inauguration Day in January. In the previous episode, when CJ is visiting her father in Dayton, Ohio, it is February, according to CJ (when she complains that it will be too cold to go fishing with her father).

TopRamen17

Angel Maintenance - S4-E19

Factual error: The fighter jet alongside Air Force One has "NY" tail markings which designate it's with the 174th fighter wing, with a home base of Syracuse, New York. Surely, in this emergency over Washington, DC, jets from a more local base (like the 113th's F-16s at Andrews AFB) would have been dispatched to aid the President's plane. (00:13:05)

johnrosa

Angel Maintenance - S4-E19

Factual error: At the end of the episode, the pilot says their runway has been changed to "runway 39." Runway headings are multiples of 10° from 01 up to 36. There cannot be a "runway 39."

Pilot - S1-E1

Factual error: The Lockheed 1011 was only produced until 1984. There's no way that in 1999 Toby would be flying on one that "just came off the line 20 months ago."

More mistakes in The West Wing

Pilot - S1-E1

Laurie: Tell your friend POTUS he's got a funny name, and he should learn how to ride a bicycle.
Sam Seaborn: I would, but he's not my friend, he's my boss. And it's not his name, it's his title.
Laurie: POTUS?
Sam Seaborn: President of the United States.

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In Excelsis Deo - S1-E10

Question: This is as good a place to ask as any. In various US TV shows (including this one, and this episode), someone says "I could care less", when they always seem to mean "I couldn't care less", ie. they have no interest in what's going on. Surely if they COULD care less that means they actually care a reasonable amount? Is there any logic to this, or is it just a really annoying innate lack of sense?

Jon Sandys

Chosen answer: A really annoying innate lack of sense. My friends and family say the same thing all the time, and I'm endlessly trying to correct them. I think people just don't know any better and (ironically) couldn't care less that they're speaking incorrectly.

Answer: It's an endlessly annoying dropped negative, and it's been a common colloquialism for far too long. I believe it comes from an original (and now omitted and merely implied) "As if" preceding the statement. "As if I could care less." (Meaning "As if it were possible that I could care even less than I do.") But there's really no way to know.

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