Top 5 Memorable Movie Character Deaths (That I Actually Saw)

Killing off a character has to be done right to leave the right impact. We have to first spend enough time with the character so we will feel for them. Then, the more sudden or shocking it is the better. And finally, if possible, this has to be the characters kick ass moment of the film. Some movies do this very well with villains. The end of Bonnie and Clyde was incredibly well done. But when it's a good guy getting killed that changes things a bit. The Amazing Spiderman recently showed us how this can be done and done well.



Here are five good guy character deaths which kind of shocked me when I first saw the movie. I think Les did a list like this recently, but I think I came up with five choices he didn't. If not I am sure my friend wont mind. A few rules : It has to be a death which was permanent (no reversing the sun to change it or anything), it has to be a good guy no villain redemption stuff (sorry Darth Vader), and finally it has to be from a movie I saw. There are dozens of examples from movies I never saw but I want this list to be about real experience.









#5.Jack Palance in City Slickers


This what I like to call "narrative death" because if this did not happen the movie would never be able to continue. But that doesn't make it any less sad. Billy Crystal, Bruno Kirby and Daniel Sterns play a couple middle aged guys at a dude rand (long story). Curly is the awesome trail boss, and he was fricking cool as hell. Palance had a fun as hell time in this role and it showed. So just when we start to really like Curly, he ends up suddenly dying. As I said the scene was necessary to move the plot along, but It was still sad to a lose a character we just as we learned to love him.

Look at Sitcom Cliches:The Operation

I thought I was done with these but I came across one I just had to talk about. In sitcoms, characters only gets sick when convenient. In the old days they never went to the bathroom either, but Seinfeld (among others) took care of that one. So very  often we get an episode where a character is ill with a cold or maybe even something more serious like a sprained ankle, kidney stone, chicken pox, or even the measles (all six kids at once? YIKES!!)



But I wanted to focus on something else. When a sitcom is waning on its last legs, very often they resort to a stunt to get veiwers to tune back in. The stunt involves one of the cast members needing a very serious operation. It's usually a two or three episode arc which of course when resolved is never spoken of again. Even though some of these surgeries require extensive recovery time.



Before I begin let me be crystal clear about one thing. I am NOT making light of these medical problems or surgeries. If someone has, or knows someone who has, gone through these serious experiences than my heart goes out to them. What I am making light of is the obvious ratings stunt that the series is using to keep viewers watching. They always have the same cliche's including the characters waiting going through "life changes", flashbacks or fantasy sequences to fill the show out, and the scare where we are supposed to believe the character is really going to not survive.



These episodes could fit several TV Tropes though not sick episode since those are just when a character is ill. As you will see many of these are "heart attack episodes" but not all. Before we begin, fare warning. I usually hate these. Here are some examples of surgeries on sitcoms except for child birth. That is another discussion my friends.





All in the Family


Archie had gallbladder surgery in one memorable episode. Of course being Archie he gets admitted by a Puerto Rican receptionist, treated by a Jewish physician, and is forced to accept a blood transfusion from a female West Indian doctor's assistant. Got to love that show. Gallbladder surgey was also required for Mona on Who's The Boss? in one of the best episodes of that series.

Random Thoughts-The OTHER Diff'rent Strokes Curse

I love sitcoms of the 80's, but you may notice that I hardly talk about a show that was on before 1984. Why is that? Because most of the shows on in the late 70's/early 80's were so bland! Everytime I look at a list of the greatest sitcoms there is always this gap from around 1978 to 1984. Today I decided to try to take a closer look at this, and figure out


Why Did So Many Early 80's Sitcoms SUCK?




Now let me be perfectly clear. I am not saying these shows were BAD, if you love them fine. But there was something about these shows which just made them, unique? We all know the story, the sitcom was considered dead. In 1982 only one sitcom was in the top 10, Three's Company. In 1983 only one once again, only this time it was Kate & Allie. Then in 1984 Bill Cosby came along with The Cosby Show, and single handedly saved the sitcom (not to mention NBC). But the question is, what happened? What made the sitcom go stale in the early 80's?



Was it because they weren't funny? Not with shows like MASH and Taxi. Is it because there were not big stars? Three's Company was huge not to mention a little show called Happy Days. Was there an onslaught of boring and fake reality TV which made people forget about good scripted shows? Nah that wouldn't happen until 2002.  Of course there were major hits of the time (Mash anyone?) but many of the sitcoms of that era just didn't make people want to watch.

Top 5 Favorite Themes to TV Shows I Never Watched

Theme songs are amazing things. A good theme song and get you excited for a show, and makes you smile when you think of it even years later. I have talked a lot about theme songs from TV shows I loved, but what about from TV shows I did not love? It is something special when a TV theme is so memorable that even though I had no interest in the program, I still can't help but love the theme!

Here are my top 5 favorite themes to TV shows I never watched




#5 Greatest American Hero

High on he list because, honestly, I am not sure if I never watched it or not. I was familair with it, but watch it? Not sure. I was to young to remember. But the theme is great song that I love to listen to. It was also a full fledged song which I remember hearing on my radio many times in the good old days.

#4.The People's Court


I said before that I never watched this show, and I didn't, but you gotta admit it has an awesome theme! Of course the reason I am so familiar with it is probably because anytime anyone does something legal related in a comedy show, this is the theme that more often than not pops up.

Underrated Trek:Endgame (VOY)

Welcome back to Underrated Trek,where I take a special look at Star Trek episodes that I love…which may not bethe most popular or even liked by most. I have talked a lot about series finale's this month, and before May ends I decided I had to discuss a Star Trek series finale in my "Underrated Trek" series. But which one?

Turnabout Intruder isn't really a series finale in the traditional sense, it just happened to be the last episode they made, though I will discuss that another time. All Good Things is one of my favorite episodes of anything, so that doesn't count. What You Leave Behind is a solid, if slightly convoluted, end for DS9. These are the Voyages is not underrated... it's just plain bad. So that leaves only one left, from Star Trek Voyager.

Analytical Episode Review:Family Ties, "Alex Doesn't Live Here Anymore"

Series finale month concludes my friends!

Sometimes a series is really running on fumes when it gets to the final episode. But despite that they manage to pull out a fantastic finale. What do MASH, Mad About You, ST-TNG, and Murphy Brown have in common? Their last season was not very good, but they managed to go out with a very strong final episode (most notably MASH of course which set records that still stand to this day). Will & Grace, on the other hand, had an awful last season capped with a terrible final episode! I thought that I would conclude series finale month by looking at that terrible final episode. But it sucked. So rather than discussing a painful episode, let's go back to one of the best show's from the 80's:

"Alex Doesn't Live Here Anymore"

This episode aired on May 14, 1989. How did the family who epitomized the 80's say goodbye?

My Top 5 All-Time TV Guilty Pleasures

I have talked before about things I am kind of embarrassed to admit I liked. For instance how I actually like Christmas with the Kranks. Waaayy back I did a list like this but, to be honest, most of the shows I listed were decent and have strong fans. What about the real embarrassing stuff?




Today I want to discuss five TV shows from all time that I usually will not admit I liked, but I did and watched without hesitation.




#5.Today's Special


This show was corny, silly, and really weird....and I watched it every chance I got. It was a Nickelodeon show, excuse me actually it was a Canadian show airing on Nickelodeon because that's all they had in the 80's. It was about a department store and a mannequin who comes to life. There was a mouse and....it was silly but I watched.





#4.Fear Factor


My now ex-wife actually got me into this show, and it was strangely compelling. It was gross, sure, but watching people eat gross things and be covered with bugs was, oddly, entertaining. One thing the show had was a good host; Joe Rogan did a very good job of not being too serious. They had theme shows and celebrity episodes, and it was just good fun. Yeah my wife made me watch it but I admit, I was into it.