10 TV Show Mistakes Directors Left In Because The Acting Was Too Good

Those happy TV accidents that were too brilliant to leave out!

What We Do In The Shadows fire
Disney Platform Distribution

No matter how much planning and preparation goes in to the creation of some television goodness, there's no getting around the fact that mistakes are bound to happen.

But for every botched line-reading or backfiring on-set stunt that leads to a complete resetting of a scene and a few frustrated groans, there are those other, happier accidents that were so unexpectedly brilliant that pulling them out of the finished product would've been plain foolish.

Every actor worth their salt possesses the ability to think on their feet and keep the show going, even when things don't appear to be going to plan. And the various committed, inventive, and unbreakable performers on this list all managed to turn a number of potentially unfortunate errors into TV gold.

Whether the stars involved were trying their best to keep from legitimately going up in flames and producing comedy magic in the process, or messing up lines to the point of creating a moment far more effective than the one previously printed in the script, the directors behind these scenes had no choice but to immortalise these particular TV clangers due to the performances on show being so utterly marvellous.

10. A Blue Blazer Blunder Leads To Gold (Friends)

What We Do In The Shadows fire
Warner Bros. Television Studios

If you ever needed a reminder of just how unrivalled the electric chemistry possessed by the titular group of Friends truly was during the NBC smash hit's days as the biggest sitcom in town, then look no further than the way they handled Matthew Perry's hilarious verbal misfire during Season Four's The One with Phoebe's Uterus.

With the Chandler Bing star tasked with delivering the line "Donald Trump wants his blue blazer back," Perry unfortunately found himself fumbling out the world "black" at the end of that attempted zinger.

Far from allowing this clear error to derail the bit though, Perry was soon met by wave after wave of brilliant improvised digs from the likes of David Schwimmer and Jennifer Aniston, as the friends rolled with the mistake. And the creative squad behind the episode found the entire exchange so unexpectedly hilarious that they felt it was more than worthy of making the final cut.

When you throw this many brilliant comedy minds into a room, a few unanticipated moments of side-splitting improv are to be expected. And this particular set of unplanned utterances helped save the slightly botched scene, all while hilariously poking fun at Perry in the process.

 
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Lifts rubber and metal. Watches people flip in spandex and pretends to be other individuals from time to time...