Most beloved sitcoms are riddled with errors and gaffes.
Whether it’s due to a new team of writers retconning a main character’s backstory to explore new and funnier territory, or whether it’s the more run-of-the-mill oversights inherent in having to quickly produce 20+ episodes of television a year, there’s no denying that countless re-watches of our favourite sitcoms have yielded a sizeable list of mistakes.
King of the Hill, Seinfeld, M*A*S*H, Friends, The Simpsons, How I Met Your Mother, and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, are just a few of the most iconic and acclaimed sitcoms ever produced.
However, they have let some errors slip by that only the eagle-eyed fans and devotees have noticed.
Sometimes these mistakes are not only forgiven but are actually welcome and vital – characters grow and evolve over time, and forgoing continuity in order to explore richer comedic, and sometimes dramatic, ground is certainly what’s called for in order to keep a series from stagnating or repeating itself.
At other times, though, these mistakes simply leaving most scratching their heads, wondering how or why the heck that happened.
Here are the 20 Mistakes In Iconic Sitcoms Only True Fans Noticed.
Charlie's Non-Existent Sister - It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia
Charlie Kelly is considered to be both the wild card and the stupid one in the gang. Though he demonstrates a level of empathy and concern for social norms that the others are sorely incapable of, making him the most lovable member of the gang.
His characterization is well-drawn and consistent from season 1 onwards.
However, there are some minor flubs in his backstory.
In the episode “Charlie Got [Assaulted]”, Charlie mentions that he has a sister. Oddly enough, this sister is never seen, mentioned, or heard of again.
This little mistake is in keeping with a lot of sitcoms, where characters mention relatives who never show up or are mentioned later.
This could be because it was something possibly to be explored later or because there’s not much in the comedy tank for Charlie having a sister.
Sneaker mistake - How I Met Your Mother
How I Met Your Mother’s season 5 episode, “Girls Vs. Suits” is considered to be one of the best episodes the sitcom ever produced.
It’s got a lavish musical number, “Nothing Suits Me Like A Suit”, a few tantalizing glimpses into the mother’s life, and it’s a gift for the fans who had stuck around for 100 episodes.
It’s very nearly a perfect episode of television, barring one little error.
During the musical number that closes out the episode, which is performed splendidly by Neil Patrick Harris and others, there’s a brief shot of an extra who’s wearing sneakers instead of loafers.
It’s possible that it made its way into the shot by accident, as actors wearing sneakers for physically strenuous scenes is quite normal.
However, the scene still stands out.
Inconsistent Ages - Friends
Minor continuity errors and little anachronisms here and there are no big deal. However, when a show can’t seem to keep the ages of the characters straight, it’s a sign of some sloppy writing.
Sure, it’s not as much of a big deal with a frivolous sitcom, but Friends was a sitcom that relied heavily on making the core cast feel like people we’d know (or at the very least, we’d like to know) in real life.
In season 7, Friends makes a point that Rachel is the last member of the gang to turn 30. The episode also features flashbacks to the others’ 30th birthday.
However, we’re told in season 1 that it’s Joey who is the youngest of the group, at 25 years old, while Monica and Rachel are just above Joey at 26 years old.
Not only that, but Ross remained 29 years old through seasons 3, 4, and 5.
The Car Wouldn't Start - Seinfeld
Sometimes mistakes in sitcoms, movies, or any television show can lead to the best kinds of scene. The Seinfeld episode “The Parking Garage” is a great example of this.
In “The Parking Garage”, the gang spends the whole episode looking for their parked car in a parking garage. Like the previous “about nothing” episode “The Chinese Restaurant”, it’s widely considered to be a Seinfeld classic.
However, without the ultimate punchline - that once they find and hop into the car it doesn’t actually start - it’s doubtful that the episode would be as impactful as it is.
Funnily enough, tthe episode was meant to end with the gang driving off, but the car wouldn’t actually start.
It was decided that this was a far funnier ending, and so it was kept in. They were all, of course, right about this.
Darker Smithers - The Simpsons
Waylon Smithers made his first appearance in The Simpsons' third episode, “Homer’s Odyssey”.
As Mr. Burns’ obsessive devotee with his nerdy appearance and ruthlessly efficient demeanour, he’s as endearing as any Simpsons character.
Although characters take a while to find their way, there was one obvious, immediate difference between this Smithers and the Smithers to follow: he was dark skinned instead of yellow skinned.
His hair was also silver/grey, suggesting that the character was perhaps originally meant to be much older as well.
However, the character was never conceived as black in the first place. Instead, this was just a run-of-the-mill coloring mistake.
Since the show had quite the low budget at this point, the time and money necessary to correct the mistake was not an option.
Villagers Speaking English - M*A*S*H
M*A*S*H, a war sitcom, aired from 1972 to 1983, running for 11 seasons. Although it was based on the Korean War, the fact that the Vietnam War was raging on at the time no doubt ensured that M*A*S*H would frequently oscillate between the comedic and the dramatic.
It was a tightrope, for sure: even to this day, a sitcom set during a war isn’t the easiest sell.
However, this is kind of funny when you consider that M*A*S*H's finale remains the most viewed television broadcast in history, with 125 million views.
The ensemble sitcom revolved around the trials and tribulations of the personnel at the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital.
While the show was fairly historically faithful in some respects, in others, it wasn’t so much.
One such oddity being that Koreans in the villagers speak perfect English.
Peggy’s Mother’s Personality - King of the Hill
More down-to-earth than most animated sitcoms, King of the Hill mined a considerable amount of humor in the more conventional and mundane of situations.
Set in the fictional town of Arlen, Texas, the Hill family and the surrounding community went through their fair share of embarrassing trials and tribulations, though it was all handled with a certain amount of affection from the writers and creators, and great attention to detail and continuity.
This makes the curious case of Peggy Hill’s mother, Maddy Platter, stand out all the more.
Initially introduced in flashbacks as just an older version of Peggy Hill, she was severely retooled in a later episode, “A Rover Runs Through It”.
In this episode, she was a rancher in Montana – and much grumpier and more unforgiving than her kindly early appearances suggested.
Wednesday is Friday - It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia
Blacker than midnight’s heart, It’s Always Sunny centres on a gang of demented narcissists who run a pub in South Philadelphia.
Leagues away from the aspirational nature and romance of, say, How I Met Your Mother, It’s Always Sunny is proudly vile and mean-spirited. It is also, not coincidentally, one of the funniest sitcoms of all time.
Though its brand of off-beat humour is different from many sitcoms, like most other sitcoms, it’s still prone to some hilarious oversights and errors.
One such example is in the episode “Frank’s Brother”, the opening tells us it’s Wednesday, but they receive a letter to meet Frank’s brother, Gino, on Friday at the airport.
Strangely, they leave that very day to meet Frank’s brother at the airport – and there he is, waiting for them… on a Wednesday.
Rachel’s Stand In - Friends
Easily one of the most popular and acclaimed sitcoms of the '90s, perhaps its only rival being Seinfeld, Friends similarly followed an ensemble and their loves and lives in New York City.
However, much unlike Seinfeld, Friends was several traces more sentimental; they most certainly hugged and learned.
The episode “The One with the Mugging” contains a blink and you’ll miss it error, though.
However, once you notice it, you’ll never be able to un-see it. During a scene, Rachel and Joey rush to Monica’s apartment.
During a back and forth between Joey and Monica, a strange brunette appears in Jennifer Aniston’s stead, just slightly out of frame, but obviously somebody who’s not Rachel.
Possibly she is a stand-in or a random crew member who wandered into the shot? It's difficult to say. Either way, it’s one heck of a blunder.
Visible Fog Machine - How I Met Your Mother
Like many rom-com shows, How I Met Your Mother followed the loves and lives of a group of 20-somethings in New York City.
However, the show had a neat framing device: the main character, Ted, now 50-something, was recounting the events that led him to meeting the mother of his teenaged kids in the year 2030.
The show juggled PG-13 bawdiness and warm fuzzies with remarkable aplomb, though the later seasons received some negative appraisal from fans and critics alike.
However, How I Met Your Mother still wasn’t immune to hiccups.
Look to the extremely visible fog machine in season 1 episode 11, “The Limo”, for proof of this.