Lucy's Showbiz Swan Song - S2-E17
Other mistake: While Lucy and Ethel are auditioning their act for Ricky at the club, just as Lucy spins around watch her hands as she very quickly pulls on the string at her waist, which causes her pantaloons to loosen and fall to the floor. (00:12:05)
Ricky and Fred Are TV Fans - S2-E31
Visible crew/equipment: When Lucy decides to use the scissors to cut the TV wire on the roof, she and Ethel walk out of the kitchen, and at the start of the next shot we can see the end of the set wall and black cables on the floor, at the right side of the screen.
Lucy Wants New Furniture - S2-E28
Revealing mistake: When Ricky startles Lucy in the kitchen just as she's getting the salt, she climbs up through the kitchen/living room window, and in the shot from the living room when she and Ricky step down onto the chair, we can see the four long metal brackets which bolt the chair to the floor for safety. (00:13:15)
Visible crew/equipment: While Ricky and Fred are trying to clean up the volcanic rice eruption, when Ricky slips on the floor the second time the front edge of the raised kitchen set's platform can be seen. (00:19:15)
Never Do Business With Friends - S2-E32
Other mistake: When Lucy and Ethel are on the back porch fighting about the washing machine and also when Mrs. Trumble walks out, Lucy's back door is open and we can see the shutters between the kitchen and living room, with the kitchen counter/sink underneath, but the sink's faucet which should be seen has vanished. (00:14:45)
Lucy Wants New Furniture - S2-E28
Other mistake: When Ricky corners Lucy while she's holding the box of salt, the top and sides of the box have tape hiding its brand name (looks like Diamond), to prevent it from being seen on the air. (00:13:30)
Continuity mistake: While tired Lucy is trying to open the card table's legs, she lays her head down then falls asleep, and when it cuts to Ethel and Fred walking in on our sleeping Lucy, there's writing on the table's underside which wasn't in the previous shot. (By the markings on the table it also looks as if the table has been turned on its adjacent side). (00:06:10)
Redecorating - S2-E8
Revealing mistake: At the end of the episode, when Ricky and Lucy walk into the bedroom to see the new wallpaper, look behind them when the bedroom door opens and you'll catch a glimpse of William Frawley - waiting for his cue - hiding behind a wall in the background before he ducks back out of sight.
The Anniversary Present - S2-E1
Deliberate mistake: In this episode Lucy is trying to get Ricky to notice that their anniversary is on Monday the 19th by showing him a large calendar with the 19th circled. However, when they are in California and they celebrate their anniversary and Ricky asks for information to be wired to him, the telegram tells him that their anniversary is on the seventh.
Never Do Business With Friends - S2-E32
Continuity mistake: In this episode, the Mertzes buy the Ricardo's old washing machine and say that theirs is old enough to be in the Smithsonian, yet just a few episodes earlier ("Sales Resistance") Fred tells Ethel to come and see her new Handy Dandy washing machine.
Continuity mistake: When Lucy handcuffs herself to Ricky we see the style of handcuffs as they phone the locksmith, but when they're both in the bedroom their handcuffs are entirely different, then their handcuffs revert to the original style when the locksmith shows up. Additionally, when Lucy cuffs Ricky's wrist note the direction of the locking bar around Ricky's wrist, but the next morning when the locksmith is with them, the locking bar is around Ricky's wrist the opposite way, which is quite impossible. (00:06:45)
Never Do Business With Friends - S2-E32
Continuity mistake: In Lucy and Ricky's apartment there are six shutters between the kitchen and living room, a set of three open to the left and three open to the right, but after the washing machine falls off the porch, when Mrs. Trumble's nephew thinks they're all crazy he runs through the back door and we see a set of four shutters on one side. Also note the round knobs are at the bottom corners, when they should be higher up at the center. (The prop shutters that we see through the doorway during the porch's "exterior" shots are identical to the seven shutters that were in apartment 4A, before the Ricardos moved downstairs). (00:22:10 - 00:24:25)
Deliberate mistake: In episode "Redecorating" Lucy wins new furniture, then in the next episode "Ricky Loses His Voice" the new furniture's delivered to the apartment, and the new couch has two normal and identical seat cushions. Starting in the next episode "Lucy is Enceinte" until the episode "Lucy Wants New Furniture", in some scenes the couch has the identical short cushions, however, in other scenes one of its seat cushions (depending on the episode, it's either left or right) is much higher than the other. For example, in "Lucy Hires a Maid" the higher seat cushion's on left side while Lucy waits for her lunch, then after Ethel urges Lucy to fire the maid the short cushion's on the left. The uneven cushions are usually seen in scenes with either Desi or another male actor, who sit on the side of the couch which has the higher seat cushion. There are even scenes where both of the seat cushions are the higher ones, such as in "Lucy's Last Birthday."
Lucy Wants New Furniture - S2-E28
Continuity mistake: Lucy runs back and forth from Ricardo's and Mertz's apartment through a door in Mertz's living room that is not there in other episodes before or since.
Continuity mistake: At the end of Ricky's song "Lady of Spain" when he sings the verse "all that my eyes are revealing, Lady of Spain", in this wideshot we see Lucy in front of the balcony doors facing forward raising her arms, then in the next side closeup Lucy's still facing forward and a flag has suddenly appeared behind her on the balcony door. (00:21:50)
Revealing mistake: After Ricky and Lucy split up to go fishing Ricky yells that she should watch out for bears, and when Lucy stops at a tree and crouches down, the huge tree beside her jiggles when she leans on it. (00:13:40)
Visible crew/equipment: While Ethel's holding Little Ricky trying to soothe the baby, when it cuts to Fred just as he's walking into the bedroom, the sleeve of a crew member and a bit of camera/equipment can be seen at the right side of the screen. (00:03:30)
Lucy Changes Her Mind - S2-E14
Visible crew/equipment: When Ricky begins to talk to Ethel about the night they all went out to dinner, it cuts to the start of his flashback and it's a closeup of Ricky sitting on the couch calling out to Lucy, and as the camera pulls back into a wideshot we see the shadow of the moving camera/equipment. (00:01:15)
Lucy Wants New Furniture - S2-E28
Continuity mistake: After Lucy mentions the ad for a couch and coffee table, when she walks over to the desk note the shadow and lighting change on the back of the desk. (00:02:10)
Lucy Wants New Furniture - S2-E28
Continuity mistake: At the start of the episode, when Lucy puts the baby in the crib there's only one bumper pad and it's on Lucy and Ricky's side of the crib rails, but in the baby's closeup there's a bumper pad at the rails behind him - which is the opposite side of the crib. (00:00:45)
Answer: There is no reason. It's a just a silly plot device, typical of the era. Women characters were often portrayed as making uninformed assumptions or decisions.
raywest ★