20 times TV shows made noticeable continuity errors in the plot

In an early episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Captain Holt shares that he follows Charles Boyle’s food blog because it’s the only one that mentions mouth feel. Later in the series, Holt becomes known for his no-nonsense approach to food, even asking for Boyle’s help cooking a meal for his husband and claiming to be a food novice.

In one episode of The Golden Girls, Rose says that she was the valedictorian of her high school class, but in a later episode, she has a different story, saying that she dropped out of high school and later got a GED.  

Modern Family ran for so long that it’s surprising there weren’t more continuity errors. In the first season, Phil notes the song that he sang at his and Claire’s wedding, but later in the series, Claire says the two didn’t have a formal ceremony. 

In the first episode of Friends when Rachel comes to Central Perk in her wedding dress, Monica introduces her to the members of the group she doesn’t know: Phoebe, Joey, and Chandler. However, in later episodes, Rachel met Chandler at Thanksgiving a couple of times when he was in college with Ross. 

Some character details need to be written down. In an early episode of Full House, Uncle Jesse is addressed as Mr. Cochran, but his last name is later changed to Katsopolis. 

Spin-offs are all well and good until there’s a major continuity error. In an episode of Cheers, Frasier tells the gang that his father is dead. In the show’s spin-off, Frasier, the title character’s father is a main character. Fraiser explains the error when an old pal from Cheers visits in an episode, saying that Frasier lied about his father because the two weren’t on speaking terms at the time. 

That ‘70s Show lasted eight seasons and took place over four years of time. However, the show had five Christmas episodes within that four-year timeframe. 

Scrubs shows JD and Turk’s first meeting on two separate occasions in the series, both times having noticeable differences, particularly JD’s appearance. In one depiction, JD has a mullet, and in another, he’s wearing a wizard hat. 

In an episode of Riverdale, Veronica is accepted into Harvard as part of the 2024 class, indicating that she graduated high school in 2020. However, in the next season, the series skips ahead seven years, and Veronica says it’s 2021. To be fair, there was a lot to keep track of in Riverdale. 

In Veep, Gary’s major changes from one season to another, with Selina first saying it was in science and Gary later saying it was in hotel management. The error could be explained as a character flaw in Selina, but it was probably just a flub in the writers’ room. 

Early on in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, it’s said that vampires don’t have breath. However, there are multiple instances in later episodes where the vampires exhibit behavior that can only happen with breath, including Spike being drowned. The magic of television. 

In Hannah Montana, both Miley as Miley and Miley as Hannah refer to Robby Ray as her father. Robby Ray was in the public eye, but no other character ever picked up on the fact that he was both Hannah's and Miley’s father. 

In the pilot episode of The Big Bang Theory, Sheldon Cooper is so strapped for cash that he goes to a sperm bank with Leonard to make some money. But in the next season, Sheldon gives Penny some money because he has more than enough saved. 

Just how old is the Doctor? In older episodes of the iconic long-running series, the age of the Doctor varies by hundreds of years. The continuity error was fixed in the reboot, though, with the Doctor’s age hovering around 900. 

In an episode of NCIS, Tony tells the woman he’s seeing that he loves her. However, just a few episodes later, the woman is upset because Tony has apparently never told her that he loves her. Either a character or a writer had a case of amnesia. 

In Stranger Things, Will’s birthday is supposedly March 22. However, either all the characters forgot, or the writers forgot because his birthday isn't acknowledged in another episode set on March 22. 

In one season, Cory’s mother gives birth to his brother Josh. By the next season, Josh is about five years old, and there is no mention of a significant jump in the timeline. 

At the beginning of The Good Place, Chidi says that, while on Earth, he was most comfortable speaking French and that in the afterlife, he’s still speaking French, but it’s just being automatically translated into whatever language the others are most comfortable understanding. However, in a later episode where Chidi is on Earth after having gone to the afterlife, he’s speaking English. 

Some continuity errors aren't within the show's context but rather within the TV realm and the real world. In one of the final episodes of Game of Thrones, a Starbucks cup was sitting on a table next to Daenerys Targaryen. Something tells us there was no Starbucks in Westeros in 298 AC. 

In early episodes of ER, Doug Ross says he has a son. However, in later episodes, he says he has no children. Some character details are easy to explain away, but having a child seems like one that should’ve been nailed down.