Top 10 Biggest TV Continuity Errors
#10: How JD &and Turk Met “Scrubs” (2001-10)
Top 10 Full House Continuity Errors We Can't Unsee
Goofy John Dorian and the cool Chris Turk have one of the most adorable bromances on TV. Yet the writers seemed somewhat confused on its origins. JD and Turk met in college, this much is detailed in several episodes, but what happened during their first meeting is unclear, since the show depicts the event twice and both times are different. The first time sees JD entering their dorm room with a mullet and introducing himself. The second sees Turk as the one introducing himself to JD in the dorm, and sees JD wearing a wizard hat. While it could have been a case of bad memory on the part of the characters, we’re more inclined to blame the writers.
#9: No Son? “ER” (1994-2009)
Top 10 Biggest Unsolved TV Mysteries
Doug Ross – the heartthrob pediatrician with a rebellious streak – and his romance with Carol Hathaway was integral to “ER's” early seasons. Lesser known is the fact that Doug had a son prior to getting together with Carol…or did he? Although he mentions the boy several times in season 1, he claims later in the series not to have any children. This is likely an abandoned plot point, although the show does make clear that Doug had never met his son and the show’s former executive producer John Wells has come out in saying that Doug’s lack of contact with his child was intentional and played into his character’s choice of profession.
#8: The Oldest Sister? “Charmed” (1998-2006)
Top 10 Differences Between Charmed Reboot and Original
The death of eldest sister Prue Halliwell and actress Shannon Doherty’s departure may have been met with some praise – due to the behind the scenes drama on this supernatural show – but it also led to some problems. Hitherto unknown half-sister Paige Matthews was invented to maintain the trinity of witch sisters. However, despite being stated to have been born in 1977 from an affair by their mother, Paige witnesses her own grave in another reality, with her year of birth being listed as 1975. Except, Phoebe was the one who was born in 1975, as a flashback shows she was already a few years old when Paige was born. Too bad the writers couldn’t magic a fix for this screw-up!
#7: Elevator Amnesia “The Big Bang Theory” (2007-19)
The elevator seen in the apartment building most of the characters in this nerdy series call home is perpetually broken through most of the series. A season 1 episode sees the guys buy a time machine and having to lug it up the stairs, with Leonard explaining to Howard that the elevator has been broken for two years. What’s the problem? Well, a later episode flashes back and shows that not only was Howard there when the elevator was broken by Leonard’s experiment, but the event happened 5 years previously; meaning that both supposed geniuses forgot the details of the incident... much like the writers.
#6: The Whole Timeline “That ‘70s Show” (1998-2006)
Top 20 Friends Mistakes That Were Kept in the Show
The ‘70s were a trippy decade, but this show featured some bizarre gaffs even drugs can’t explain. While the disappearance of Donna’s younger sister, Tina, after one episode is pretty bad, what’s worse is that the entire timeline of the show is all over the place. While overall it’s supposedly set between 1976 and New Year’s Day 1980, this is messed up by the fact that the show is 8 years long, the characters take several years to graduate high school, despite not beginning the show as freshmen, and the fact that the show had annual holiday episodes. Add in the confusing information on characters’ ages and when they met and you’ve got a long, strange mess of a timeline.
#5: Mulder’s Sister’s Abduction “The X-Files” (1993-2002; 2016-18)
Fox Mulder is a believer in the strange, and paranormal and it’s in large part due to the apparent abduction of his sister, Samantha, by aliens. Despite the traumatic event’s impact on Mulder though, information about it, including Mulder’s recollections of it, are contradictory. Early on, he states that Samantha was abducted from her bed, yet a flashback shows that she was not. A hypnotherapy session sees Mulder recount that he was unable to move when it happened, yet the same flashback shows him perfectly able to do so. The Truth is out there – and it’s that the writers messed up.
#4: Vampires Don’t Breathe “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” (1997-2003)
Top 10 TV Vampires
Reinventing vampiric lore for a new generation can’t have been easy and there were bound to be a few flubs. Season 1 establishes that vampires, being undead beings, have no breath, as evidenced first by Angel when he claims to be unable to perform CPR. Except…all the vampires in the show can talk and some of them smoke, which requires breathing to do. Vampires are also shown visibly panting after running in later episodes and Spike is even tortured by drowning. Yet they’re also unaffected by choking or gas…so we guess it’s just a thing when the script calls for it.
#3: The Doctor’s Age “Doctor Who” (1963-89; 2005-)
Top 20 Greatest Doctor Who Villains
Over half a century of stories set all over time and space was bound to cause of a few continuity errors. Just ask hardcore Whovians about the UNIT dating controversy, if you have an hour to kill. But one of the more flagrant continuity gaffs is something simple: how old the Doctor is. The Doctor has never consistently stated his age, with stories in the classic era giving it anywhere from 500 to several thousand. However, the revived series consistently states early on that he is around 900 years old, despite the older figures given in the classic series. Of course, the simple answer is that he’s lying, but one would hope that the writers would at least try to keep continuity in mind.
#2: The Bells of King’s Landing “Game of Thrones” (2011-19)
Top 10 Biggest Game of Thrones Twists
The penultimate episode of “Game of Thrones” proved one of the most controversial in the show’s history. It saw Daenerys Targaryan snap and burn King’s Landing and thousands of its inhabitants, despite the bells being rung to surrender. The problem? Well, back at the Battle of Blackwater, Davos said, “I’ve never known bells to mean surrender.” Okay, well it’s not like Davos is a native of King’s Landing or anything. Oh wait! He’s from the Flea Bottom district…At least the episode he said that in wasn’t written by George R.R. Martin himself-…nope he totally wrote it! So one of the most hated moments in “Game of Thrones”…is built…on a continuity error…by the very person who created it all! Before we get to our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions: Disappearing Claustrophobia “New Girl” (2011-18) Like Riding a Bike “The Office” (2005-13) Lister’s Regenerating Appendix “Red Dwarf” (1988-93, 1997-99; 2009; 2012-) Rory’s Age “Gilmore Girls” (2000-07, 2016)
#1: The Characters’ Ages / Birthdays “Friends” (1994-2004)
Top 10 Best Friends Recurring Characters
As a fairly long running sitcom, “Friends” had plenty of continuity snafus to choose from: try to guess how many times Chandler and Rachel met each other “for the first time?” More than you’d think! But one of the most frequent errors is the group’s ages and birthdays. Different members have been stated to be the oldest and the youngest, some of them have remained the same age several seasons in a row, and Ross especially had multiple birth dates given in the series. No wonder “they’ll be there” for us – they all apparently exist outside of time!
