500 blogs. Forgive the self indulgence for a second but that amazes
me considering three and a half years ago I started these almost as a
joke. I just wanted to see my name in the list of blogs on the TGWTG
home page. But I kept coming up with ideas, and of course made friends
that carried over here when I began posting on Manic Expression (three
years ago to the day on Wednesday!!). This has become a fun hobby and
nice diversion from the bad things that have happened these last few
years.
I wasn’t sure what to talk about for this, and then remembered an
idea I had been holding off on for awhile now. TV Cliffhangers! Oh you
know that feeling, when you’re into the show and all of a sudden those
three little words appear – TO BE CONTINUED. But I am not talking about
two partners resolved the next week. No to be continued’s are even worst
when you get a huge surprise and you’re dying to know what will happen
next.,,,,and have to wait until next September to find out.
But while some cliffhangers were so good that they remain good to
this day, some are not. They are lame or forced…or when the show returns
for part 2 the cliffhanger is ruined when the show literally retcons it
away to reestablish the status quo. Don’t tease us with a big change
and then not deliver! Some are so silly that they are famous for how
silly they are! Then there is one thing even worst–when there is no
resolution at all!!!!!
Now to limit this I am only discussing season ending cliffhangers,
and of shows I have actually watched (with one or two exceptions). My
focus will be mostly sitcoms but I will mention some other shows.
Ok let’s start with the infuriating one’s…the one’s that have
no resolution!! I went thru some of these last year so let’s go thru
them again but real quick :
Benson-At the end of the series, the final episode involved the
Governor and Benson running against each other. So who won? The world
will never know
Alf-We see ALF missing his flight to be with his friends and is
trapped by the Alien Task Force. What happened? No clue. Oh yeah there
was a follow up movie years later called Project ALF which sucked.
Lois & Clark-As the awful season 4 came to a close, we got an
episode where part of theme was Lois and Clark discussing having a
baby. At the very end of the series finale, what happens? A baby appears
out of nowhere! What’s the story? Sorry last episode.
Caroline in the City-the final episode has Carline ready to marry another guy when Richard re-appears. Yay.
The Sopranos-I never watched this show but this ending pissed off
so many people I have to acknowledge it here. The final episode has
someone walk into the restaurant where Tony is sitting. Tony looks
up….and nothing! What kind of ending is that?
Lost-I haven’t discussed this one yet so let’s do it here. This
whole show was a big mystery where the solution was promised on the
final episode. What happened? The confusion final episode raised more
questions than it answered.
My Name Is Earl-So did Earl ever finish that damn list or not?
There are plenty more but let’s move on into the
cliffhanger’s which were either ill conceived or weren’t that bad…until
the next episode either retconned the story away or quickly moved past
it making the cliffhanger pointless or irrelevant in hindsight.
Dynasty
I mentioned this last year in another article but there is no way I
can do a list like this and not discuss this one. It was the season
finale as The Carrington’s are attending the wedding of Amanda
Carrington and Prince Michael. All is going well when suddenly a bunch
of terrorists storm in! They smash through the windows and shoot up the
entire wedding party, guests and all!!! I am not even joking, that’s
exactly what happened. The final shot of the cliffhanger is the entire
wedding party on the floor, presumed dead. It’s a fantastic image to be
honest. The show was going through a tough contract period, and the
creators were playing hardball. The worst thing is when the next season
premiere came on it established that almost everyone survived. It’s been
said the show was downhill after this, and I have no doubt.
Will & Grace
This show loved to retcon their cliffhanger’s. I have kind of brought
this up before but let me explain what I mean in detail. Season one
ended with Will and Grace deciding they should live apart. That lasted
one year. Season Two is the real bad example. Ok so the season ended
with this convoluted story where Grace was dating two men while Will
quit his job and ran way to an island but was followed by his boss who
offered him a promotion to be partner if he worked with a client who
turned out to be Stan and Karen…..yeah I got a headache now. The worst
thing is that despite all this “character development” for Will it was
all undone within the first fifteen minutes of the next episode. The
promotion and the island were quickly dismissed and Will and Grace were
back to normal. Huzzah. The end of season three Will meets his fantasy
boyfriend…who doesn’t last till the opening credits of the next episode.
Season four…well ok, this one did take as we met Leo in the following
episode which began the process of flat out killing the series. Finally,
I should mention the cliffhanger when Will and Jack wake up in the same
bed together. It is quickly revealed in the next episode that nothing
happened and the whole thing is forgotten.
Night Court
Speaking of retconning cliffhangers. Yeah, this show did these too
and they were actually pretty dramatic for this show, even if they
ultimately affected nothing. One season ended with news that Harry Stone
was no longer a judge, and Christine was! This four episode arc was
pretty good and real funny……but at the end Harry was back and Christine
was a lawyer again, as if the four episodes accomplished nothing. The
next year we find out Dan is in the Army (out of the blue), is sent on a
mission to a war zone (of course he is)….and is presumed missing after
being shot down! That’s quite a heavy way to end a season! The following
season began with Dan stuck with some Eskimo’s and having to perform
surgery on an Eskimo girl before he is saved. Wow, and what affect did
this have on his character? None, he was back to normal the next episode
and this was never mentioned again.
Murphy Brown
Ok this wasn’t retconned away (exactly) but I had nowhere to put this
one since it was not a good cliffhanger in my opinion. At the end of
Season 3 we had two episodes where Murphy was torn between two guys. The
final scene of that second episode was the shocking cliffhanger ending
that Murphy was, in fact, pregnant. By who? Who cares! Yawn. True they
did manage to make the whole pregnancy arc work pretty well that next
season but this cliffhanger is so forced and flat out of nowhere that
it’s more confusing than anything. There was no set up, no
foreshadowing, it was just thrown at us. And for me this was the series
jumping the shark moment. And while the pregnancy was the big story the
next season, the baby very quietly faded into the background after he
was born.
ER
Damn this drama and their cliffhangers that went nowhere! One very
powerful ending to an episode showed Dr.Green apparently letting a
patient die. Long story short the patient was gunman who shot up a
school. Green is stuck in an elevator when the guy flatlines, and Green
just kind of stares at him and does nothing rather than apply the
paddles. Wow, that’s powerful! What happened next? It was quickly dealt
with and forgotten in the next episode. There was another cliffhanger
involving small pox…only it wasn’t really small pox and it was really
stupid. Yeah for a really cool drama series this show didn’t resolve
their cliffhangers so great. They were either boring or blatant stunts.
However they did season ending episodes (that were single, self
contained episodes) very well.
The Big Bang Theory
Yeah I hate to say it but they’re season ending cliffhangers suck.
One season the guys went to the South Pole, and nothing came from it
(well ok Leonard and Penny start dating). Two years ago we had Leonard
go off on a long term trip leaving Sheldon alone. There was a lot of
potential here to explore Sheldon being alone…nope, Leonard was back two
episodes later as if he never left. Last year the cliffhanger was
Sheldon going away on his own. Wow, what potential to see Sheldon travel
the country while his friends cope with his absence…..NOPE. Sheldon is
back by the end of the first episode as if he never left. The one decent
one was Howard going to space but is that even technically a
cliffhanger? In that episode we see Sheldon hold Amy’s hand. Wow! He is
showing her affection! What comes from this? Nothing never mentioned
again. Yeah this show is not perfect.
Just Shoot Me
This may be one of the best examples of retconning a season ending
cliffhanger ever. Here is the setup, at the end of a season finale we
see Dennis and Nina talking at night (wont get into their stories not
important here). Things get romantic, there is music playing (long story
part of the episode), and the two suddenly begin to seriously make out.
Fade to black, end of episode. What happened? The next season begins
with the two being interrupted, and Dennis flees. Ok long story short,
Dennis ignored Nina the next day to her aggravation and finally reveals
he kissed Nina to pay her back for being mean to him when he started
there. Trust me, there is no indication in that first episode that the
kiss was a ploy by Dennis to get Nina back for anything. Not to mention
this was NINE YEARS LATER. Dennis must really have patience! The
creators clearly pulled that one of out of their, you know, because they
didn’t want the two to get together. Why end with that cliffhanger
then? Good question!!!
The West Wing
Toward the end of the series I was finally watching when one season
ended with quite a pair of episodes. The president’s daughter is
kidnapped, and the president temporarily relinquishes his job because he
can’t focus on running the country. Yikes! What happened next? The next
episode the daughter is rescued very easily and the president gets his
job back with no trouble. In fact the episode rushes through a whole
year, making the tension filled previous episodes basically a waste of
time. It was boring and I was disappointed. Apparently this was due to a
change in the people running the series and man did it show. By the way
I have read the season 1 cliffhanger was really good but either didn’t
see or it don’t remember it.
Charmed
I debated discussing this one but here we go. In the end of the third
season we see Piper and Prue seriously wounded while Phoebe, Leo, and
Cole are trapped in the underworld with Phoebe having given her oath to
stay there forever. Heavy stuff! To bad Shannon Doherty left the series
so that when the next episode started everything had already been
resolved, and Prue was dead.
Ok so let’s talk about the cliffhangers that had everyone talking…and did not disappoint the next season!
Dallas
Oh hell yes my friends. I will go on a limb and say that even today
there aren’t many who has never heard of “Who shot JR?”. It was an
ingenious set up as JR, played of course by Larry Hagman, is seen in his
office one night. He hears a noise, and when he looks out the door
someone shoots him. And the country went nuts! Seriously everyone wanted
to know this one, heck there were even betting parlors in Vegas laying
odds on who the killer was! It was just huge. Who was the killer? It was
Kristen, J.R.’s scheming sister-in-law and mistress, but apparently
everyone in the cast filmed a short scene where they had shot J.R. and
no one would know who would really be the killer until the episode
aired. This was and is still a classic, and has been spoofed by many
including Saturday Night Live and of course The Simpsons. This set a
standard for cliffhangers to come.
So, what about that other famous cliffhanger where Bobby Ewing popped
out of the shower and revealed he never did and the whole ninth season
was a dream? It was a stupid and lame stunt meant to bring Patrick Duffy
back to save the show. I even knew about in 1986 when I barely knew
what Dallas was. And that’s all I can say about that. This series did a
cliffhanger every year and I would be here all day if I discussed them
all.
Friends
This show did cliffhangers well, very well! The cliffhanger of Ross
saying Rachel at the alter rather then Emily was huge. The series was
literally never the same after that. After all the Ross and Emily stuff
it looked like they would marry, especially after Rachel went all the
way the London to tell him she loved him–and couldn’t do it. When Ross
said “Rachel” no one knew what would happen next! The series other
season ending cliffhanger of note was the Vegas episode where Ross and
Rachel suddenly emerge from a wedding chapel! Credit to the writers this
wasn’t quickly retconed away, it took a few episode to resolve and
remained a part of the characters history from then on. But the absolute
best cliffhanger ending in my opinion was Monica and Chandler’s wedding
where we find out that Rachel is pregnant! What??? While this was out
of the blue like Murphy Brown the difference is that Friends took time
to explain and explore this rather than just throwing us a curve and
then expecting us to just accept this while the series went on as
normal.
Ok so they weren’t all perfect. On the other hand, when Rachel and
Joey kissed at the end of season nine it led to nothing. The whole
romance stuff between the two was quietly done away with two episodes
later when they realize neither were in love with each other after all.
Ross and Charlie also broke up later, making that whole cliffhanger
utterly pointless.
Cheers
One of the best examples of a good cliffhanger came from this series.
Long story short, Sam had been dating a councilwoman named Janet but
Diane was still very much around. Eventually the new woman hears that
Sam had a thing for Diane and makes him fire her. She overhears and
resigns. Then Janet ends up breaking up with Sam anyway because she
believed he was still in love with Diane. This was a three episode arc
that I will admit I have not really watched. So the season ends with Sam
alone in Cheers, and picking up the phone and calling someone, asking
them to marry him. Which? Fans had to wait the whole summer to find out
it was in fact Diane. There were other cliffhangers this show did but
this one was by far the best.
You may notice not to many 80’s shows made it on this list. Because
back in those days, seasons on sitcoms didn’t end in big special
episodes that ended in cliffhangers normally. They just had a final
episode that may have been a little more special but still self
contained, and that was it. Cheers was one of the few which did
cliffhangers as I just stated. Here’s are two rare one’s :
Growing Pains-It’s funny how this silly little show always seems to
make it on my lists. So the whole season had been building up that Mike
was in love with Julie (who was the nanny for the baby Chrissy).
Finally, in the season finale Mike confesses that love to all (it had
been a secret) and asks Julie to marry him. What does she say? We had to
wait till the next year to hear her say yes. Sadly the plans were
changed when the series couldn’t work with the actress but it was still a
decent cliffhanger.
Gimmee A Break-One season ended with middle daughter Julie running
off and getting married. The final scene had Julie and her new husband
telling a shocked Nell when The Chief calls from the other room, asking
if Julie is in there. Nell screams “No!” and the scene freezes, what
happened next? We never knew because sadly Dolph Sweet passed away so
when the next season began that cliffhanger ending was quietly
dismissed. Which I can certainly forgive in this case. Although it was
mentioned that The Chief accepted the new husband.
Frasier
Most of the cliffhanger’s for this series would quietly be retconned
away the next year. Like the one where Frasier gets everyone fired, they
were all re-hired a few episodes later. Or how about one where Roz
quits Frasier’s show and is angry at him for dating another woman she
doesn’t like. The next episode she got her job back in the first five
minutes and retconned it so that her anger was really misdirected anger
at her father, and all was forgiven.
With one exception. This series had one of the most talked about
cliffhanger endings. And while you could argue it was a bit of a cop
out, it wasn’t forgotten or retconned in any way. The show was forever
changed by this cliffhanger which did NOT disappoint. Of course I am
talking about the episode where Niles finally confessed his feelings to
Daphne. At firsts she rejects him, but the episode ends with the her
running away from her wedding and the two whisking away together in a
Winnebago…to the end of the driveway. Yeah it felt like the creators
kind of played it safe, but the episode did a decent job of following
that up successfully. Niles and Daphne stayed together and several
episodes that next season dealt with the consequences of their actions.
Roseanne
Not sure what to say about this one. Yeah the cliffhanger was good
but the follow up episode was….eh. I am talking about the episode where
Becky and Mark decide to run off and get married. It’s a real shocking
end, almost coming out of nowhere! In the next episode, time has passed
and everyone is kind of cool with it. Except Dan anyway. Obviously they
were writing Lecy Goranson out and so while I’m glad the two stayed
married the fact Becky vanished from the show hurt this one in
hindsight, for me anyway. When I looked this up I was surprised to find
this was not a season ending cliffhanger, it was a two part season
premier. I could swear that’s not true, but ok I am still bringing it up
because of how shocking it was. I guess it makes sense this show would
have no dramatic cliffhanger since every episode was a cliffhanger in a
way. Season 8 was the closest when Dan and Roseanne have a massive fight
and it looks like she is leaving.
Seinfeld
It’s just impossible for me to keep this show off a list isn’t it? In
a rare season ending cliffhanger, we see Jerry and Kramer have a fight
over keys. Kramer storms off and ends up running away to California. And
appears in an episode of Murphy Brown! In the two part season finale
(which aired in the summer originally for some reason), we see Jerry and
George go out and find him. There was a story about Kramer being wanted
as a serial killer plus a lot of cameos. But it all worked, this is
when Seinfeld was at it’s prime and couldn’t do anything wrong.
3rd Rock From the Sun
This silly little show did a decent job with it’s cliffhanger
endings. I mean sure the episodes didn’t change the series, but at least
the follow up’s were satisfying conclusions. Season 1 had Dick replaced
with an evil look a like. Season 2 had the family leave after they have
started dreaming, leaving Dick behind. They come back the next episode.
Season 3 had Harry be kidnapped by his girlfriend’s ex. The follow up
was technically a retcon since it didn’t follow the story set up in the
first part, but the ex had been played by Phil Hartman, who was sadly
killed between seasons. So yeah I can sure forgive that one.
Saturday Night Live-Wait, what? It’s a sketch comedy show! Well yeah
which is why in 1985 the show did a satire of these cliffhangers. The
whole cast was stuck in a burning room, except Jon Lovitz who Lorne
Michaels saved, and the question was WHO WOULD SURVIVE? Since most of
that cast was fired the answers was no many. Cute parody.
I know I missed dozens more from 24 to Battlesrar Galatica to Dr.Who
to Sarah Connor Chronicles to Quantum Leap. So feel free to comment on
the cliffhangers which got you excited….or disappointed.
But wait…..
You be wondering about a certain major TV show cliffhanger I did not
mention. It set a standard for TV cliffhangers, and is one of the best
EVER. Plus it’s from a series I love and talk about a lot. So where is
it? Well my friends I decided that it was to big a subject to tackled
alone, or in a small section in this article, so I have decided to ask
for assistance. Join me next time as I take a close look at the Star
Trek cliffhanger season finale’s with help from my good friend Les.
Besides, I wouldn’t be here without him so it only seems fitting to have
him help celebrate my 500th blog and 3rd anniversary on the site. So
yes what I am saying is…..
To Be Continued…. (aren’t I a wise ass?)
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