Top 10 Mistakes In TV Shows
#10: Intruder Alert! “Malcolm in the Middle” (2000-06)
You didn’t have to be eagle-eyed for this shot to strike you as strange. As Lois walks out holding her ruined dress, there’s a crewmember on the floor holding a bucket in the hallway. It’s nice that Lois has an assistant, but does Malcolm know they have a house guest?! In the DVD audio commentary for this “Malcolm in the Middle” scene, producers explained that they’d left the mistake in to see if anyone would catch them. Well, people certainly did, perhaps because they pointed it out, or perhaps just because a guy crouching on the floor holding a bucket of water kinda stands out!
#9: “Say Your Line” “Fuller House” (2016-)
Top 10 Mistakes Caught Live at Award Shows
Hey, even veteran actors forget their lines sometimes! It’s just rare for a castmate to remind them, and for that to make the final cut. In the “Fuller House” episode “Glazed and Confused”, Matt brings baby Tommy over to his older brothers, who are both sick in bed. There’s a lot going on here that could distract a child actor, what with the baby and the dog, and Michael Campion, who plays Jackson, must have seemed a little preoccupied . . . because little Elias Harger, who plays Max, very audibly whispers a helpful reminder. That’s what brothers are for, right?
#8: Duct-taped Staff “Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers” (1993-96)
It might be one of the most popular kids’ franchises of all time, but the production has a fair number of mistakes, especially when it comes to props and costumes. When the Power Rangers face down Lord Zedd outside a cave, his menace is undermined by the fact that there’s duct tape holding his staff together. Our best guess is it got broken behind-the-scenes and they didn’t have time to build a replacement, but there must have been a way to make it look more convincing. Broken equipment seems to have been a recurring issues - as even the morphers themselves started to fall apart, including Jack’s in one “S.P.D.” scene.
#7: Magic Phone “Coronation Street” (1960-)
Top 10 My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic Episodes
Where can we get ourselves one of these?! Panicking over an injured Seb in this episode of “Coronation Street”, Anna shakily takes out her phone and calls emergency services. Except that she doesn’t actually dial any numbers . . . or even unlock her phone. She just picks up the phone and holds it to her ear. Did it read her mind?! If so, that’s amazing! And also disturbing. Veteran actor Charlie Sheen has also had difficulties using cellphones - talking into an upside down iPhone in one episode of “Two and a Half Men”. It’s a wonder he got any womanizing done at all.
#6: Screen Problems “The Big Bang Theory” (2007-19)
Top 10 Characters from The Crown We Wish Got More Screen Time
Penny might not be book smart, but you’d think she could at least operate a computer. When she becomes obsessed with the MMORPG “Age of Conan”, she asks Sheldon to help her out. She’s apparently so excited about playing the game however that she’s imagined the entire thing. In this careless shot, you can see that the screen of the laptop she’s carrying is actually blank. It’s not the only time the group attempt to use computers that aren’t actually on - making you wonder if they really deserve all those fancy credentials.
#5: Mysterious Dark Object “Lost” (2004-10)
Top 10 Mysterious TV Characters
During “Lost’s” run, fans scoured every episode for hidden clues and meanings. And they picked up on more details than even the showrunners intended. Arguably the most pivotal scene of the series is the plane crash in the very first episode. Right before the turbine explodes, a black object streaks upwards, visible only to eagle-eyed viewers sifting through the scene frame-by-frame. Its discovery launched a range of fan theories, including that it was an early manifestation of the smoke monster. Turns out that, according to producer, it was just a CGI error. There goes all that theorizing!
#4: Cameraman Behind the Stairs “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” (1997-2003)
When you’re paying attention to what’s happening down the lens of your own camera, it’s not really your fault if you end up caught in the field of view of someone else’s. This happens frequently in TV and movies. In one intense fight scene between Buffy and a vengeful Faith after the latter wakes from a coma, you can see a cameraman just hanging out by the stairs trying to catch the action. A similar thing happens in “Battlestar Galactica” while Helo and Tyrol fight over who Number Eight likes more. The immersion is ruined as viewers can see the crew member loitering in the background.
#3: Missing Steering Wheel “Firefly” (2002)
The last thing you want when you’re piloting a craft through the dangers of deep space is for your entire control wheel to disappear. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened to Wash in the first episode of “Firefly,” where he can be seen trying to steer with thin air. It’s a surprise that this mistake slipped through, since the director and all the crew had to have noticed at the time. Apparently, they’d pulled Alan Tudyk's chair back to get a wide shot, and Tudyk remained committed to the role, presumably not realizing just HOW wide the shot really was. Well, hey, that’s dedication.
#2: Monica?! “Friends” (1994-2004)
Top 10 Monica & Ross Sibling Moments on Friends
The six main cast members of friends have been globally recognizable for decades, so much so that one unsuspecting thief went viral because of a passing resemblance to David Schwimmer. So fans are quick to spot when the characters they know and love just . . . aren’t the characters they know and love. In one episode of friends, Phoebe can be seen chatting with her good friend Monica, who isn’t Monica at all but rather Courtney Cox’s body double, left carelessly in the shot. It’s happened in other episodes, too, such as when this imposter shows up in Jennifer Aniston’s place.
#1: Coffee in Winterfell “Game of Thrones” (2011-9)
Top 10 Episodes of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee
At $15 million an episode in its final season, “Game of Thrones” is one of the most expensive TV shows in history. So surely rookie production mistakes are out of the question . . . right? Well, unless lattes have become all the rage in Westeros, that’s exactly what happened in season 8, when a very modern day coffee cup was left on a table. First thought to be from Starbucks, it was actually from a local Belfast coffee shop. While we’d all want to treat ourselves to a coffee if we’d survived the 55-day shoot from the previous episode, it’s pretty amazing that this made it to air - unless the show’s vast budget actually goes towards making sure Emilia Clarke doesn’t run out of coffee.
