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Don't touch that dial: Test Pattern tunes into television, movie, music and pop culture links, as well as gossip and idle chat from around the Web.

Every week, msnbc.com entertainment producers Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, Denise Hazlick, Paige Newman, Kurt Schlosser and Anna Chan weigh in on topics ranging from TV commercials to movie hype to the latest celebrity blunder. We're not ashamed to admit our love for bad TV or reveal what's on our iPods, and invite you to join the conversation via your comments.



Resurrecting Movie Mistakes...and opening it up to TV

Posted: Tuesday, January 09, 2007 12:55 PM by Gael Fashingbauer Cooper
Filed Under: ,

Despite its name and the giant TV in the logo, Test Pattern isn't just about television -- topics covered include movies, books, music and other entertainment/pop-culture elements.

I wanted to resurrect the recent Movie Mistakes topic here because so many people sent in comments that I didn't have room for in the old commenting format.

You can still read my old entry here, but in short, I mentioned a scene in the wonderful new movie "The Queen" in which Queen Elizabeth II gets into a Land Rover with two dogs, and climbs out a few minutes later with the dogs having magically created a third, adult dog in just a minute in the back of the car. And they say rabbits reproduce fast.

Many of you e-mailed in movie goofs of your own, but I was only able to share a few of them here. So if you want to try again, use the commenting function and we'll see if there's still life in the old topic.

We're also going to open the topic up to TV goofs as well. In the comments on the old Weblog, Dani wrote in to mention a scene in "Meet the Fockers" where Dustin Hoffman calls Ben Stiller "Ben," instead of using his character's name.

It reminds me of one of my favorite "Brady Bunch" goofs.  In a scene where the kids get a trampoline, Mom Brady (Florence Henderson) supposedly calls Peter "Chris" (as in actor Christopher Knight) and in the same scene, Greg (Barry Williams) refers to "sister" Jan as "Eve" (as in actress Eve Plumb).

What, was it opposite day on Clinton Avenue? Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!

 

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Comments

There are tons & tons of errors in older shows from the 70s. And they're not even hard to find! With the advent of color, I imagine that the producers were trying to get them pumped out as quick as possible, not worrying about continuity or errors like moving bandages & mysterious changing clothes.

Amye, Cleveland (Sent Tuesday, January 09, 2007 4:23 PM)

I thought it was interesting in The Aviator, where Leonardo DiCaprio's character Howard Hughes crashes his plane. We next see him in the hospital where he is told almost all the bones in his face were crushed... except his teeth were still perfectly intact. Seems to me he would lose a few teeth also if his nose and cheekbones were completely smashed.

Meghan, College Station, TX (Sent Tuesday, January 09, 2007 5:04 PM)

The "goof" in Meet the Fockers is incorrect. I watched it lst night and Dustin Hoffman clearly said "Man" not "Ben". Just to be certain, i went back and watched it with closed captions and it confirmed that he said "man"

jc (Sent Tuesday, January 09, 2007 9:52 PM)

I caught a good one when "High School Musical" ran for the billionth time on Disney. Supposedly the story takes place in Albuquerque, NM and the timeframe is somewhere around mid-January (both of which I confirmed with my step-daughter who has seen it all 1 billion times it's been run, and IMDB who also caught this goof). Yet they've got blooming flowers everywhere and the characters are wearing t-shirts. When I drove to work this morning it was in the 20's outside...Albquerque is NOT warm enough to have green foliage and t-shirt wearers in the middle of January!

Leslie, Albuquerque, NM (Sent Wednesday, January 10, 2007 10:02 AM)

Anyone who is a fan of Star Trek or the X-Files who loves finding errors should check out The Nitpickers Guides by Phil Farrand. They are so much fun to read. They include a rundown of the plot for each episode and all kinds of fun little details. My brother and I used to love them when we were growing up! I think we became bigger fans of these shows because of his books.

Emily, York, NE (Sent Wednesday, January 10, 2007 11:05 AM)

One of the first movie mistakes I ever learned was in Uncle Buck. He gets stuck under a door with a bear on top of him, bouncing. You can see the bear trainer’s stick in a couple shots. Also there was a recent Grey’s Anatomy in which the Asian gal cut into a body and the blood spurted up on her face, covering one eye. When she walked out of surgery she still had blood on her face, but it was more neatly arranged, and not in her eye.

Will (Sent Wednesday, January 10, 2007 11:47 AM)

Jen's goof about "Stranger Than Fiction" and the obvious boom mikes is probably incorrect. Here's what Roger Ebert says: "When you repeatedly see a boom mike in a movie, 99.9 percent of the time it is NOT the fault of the film's director, but of the projectionist in your theater, who has framed the film incorrectly. Many films contain additional real estate above and below the frame, to allow the picture to bleed off the edge of the screen. A complaint to the theater manager may do the trick."

VM, Costa Mesa, CA (Sent Wednesday, January 10, 2007 12:11 PM)

It wasn't Uncle Buck...that was the Great Outdoors.

Rich S, Newport News VA (Sent Wednesday, January 10, 2007 1:56 PM)

Perhaps the most cliched "movie mistake," besides the one about wristwatches on period-clad extras, is the cameraman-in-the-mirror (or car door, etc.). With all the high-tech editing tricks available to modern post-production crews, can't anything be done to get rid of this?

Nina Gaspich, Chicago, IL (Sent Wednesday, January 10, 2007 3:23 PM)

One of the classic continuity errors in in Chariots of Fire. Eric Liddel starts and ends the final race with a piece of paper in his hand, but it disappears and reappears several times during the race.

Charliy, Nashville, TN (Sent Friday, January 12, 2007 3:32 PM)

Closed Captioning can't be relied upon to give you the dialogue said on the set if a mistake is made and not caught. Most film captioning is taken from the final shooting script when the captioning is being prepared for DVD or video mastering. Although it is great fun to watch a lot of TV shows and movies with the CC turned on. In a lot of series you end up seeing dialogue on the screen that was cut, changed or dubbed over giving the scene an entirely new flavor. Most recently, you can find things like this on the Moonlighting DVDs as well as Alien Nation and others.

Dave marshall (Sent Saturday, January 13, 2007 8:12 PM)

There is a great blooper in Mary Poppins. When she first meets Mr. Banks, she is holding the torn wish list of the children in her white-gloved hand. When they do a close up of her handing it to Mr. Banks, the glove is black. But when they go back to a full shot, the glove is white again. and she hasn't even gone out with the chimney sweep yet!

Pat W, Bensalem, PA (Sent Tuesday, January 16, 2007 3:42 PM)

Here's a recent one: In the "Fall Finale" of Veronica Mars, Veronica and Logan are talking while outside. When the shot is facing Logan, over Veronica's shoulder you can see a strand of Veronica's hair blowing in the breeze. When shot reverses and faces Veronica the strand of hair is neatly tucked behind her ear. They cut back and forth serveral times.

Sonya, St. Louis, MO (Sent Wednesday, January 17, 2007 1:45 PM)

In the History Channel's "Jonestown: Paradise Lost" the NBC cameras feature a modern 6-feather peacock rather than the stylized "N" that was the NBC logo at the time.

Henry K, Los Angeles, CA (Sent Thursday, January 18, 2007 12:27 AM)

There was a good one in the movie Operation Petticoat, with Cary Grant. At the end of the movie, he is greeted by 2 boys (playing Tony Curtis's sons) and they call him Mr. Grant.

Caryn Feeney, Salt Lake City, UT (Sent Friday, January 19, 2007 4:19 PM)

Here's a biggie! The Wizard of Oz. Dorothy's hair, the ponytails are in front of the shoulders, then behind, the in front again. Check out the scene where she meets the scarecrow. It's too funny!

Steve B, Leominster, MA (Sent Monday, January 22, 2007 12:06 AM)

I heard that Tim Burton is remaking The Wizard of Oz... Is it true? If so, Why? It's such a classic... Stick to original material!

Manny, Queens, New York (Sent Wednesday, March 21, 2007 2:29 PM)

In happy gilmore, when happy tries out for the hockey team he shoots the puck and breaks the glass in front of the 2 coaches then it goes back to happy and his tatrum, when it goes back to the coaches, the glass is intact.

chad, grand junction, Co (Sent Tuesday, July 24, 2007 7:19 PM)

In the film "Eyes Wide Shut" Tom Cruise's character goes to comfort someone who has lost her father. When he walks down the hall to her father's bedroom there are decorative pieces sitting on the tables along the wall. After the scene when he is leaving the room the pieces are magically gone.

Landon, Dothan, AL (Sent Wednesday, August 08, 2007 11:54 AM)

It is accurate that uncovering truthful material on this subject can be time consuming.

dog training (Sent Sunday, November 11, 2007 12:31 AM)



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