The saddest television death of all time

Was it this one?

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• The colonel's death on MASH.

• Gary on thirtysomething.

• On E.R., some years ago, the death of the female character - complications after a C-section - in the episode entitled "Love's Labors Lost." Also, there have been some sad deaths on soap operas, back in the "good old days" where characters STAYED dead.

• A tie between Scott Scanlon (David Silver's gun-twirling friend on 90210), and JFK.

• R2 beat me. I second Gary on thirtysomething.

• Oh, and in a way: "Charlie" on "Two-and-a-Half Men" recently; "sad" in that it's sad how (a) entitled Charlie Sheen has become and (b) what a prick three-letter-word bastard the showrunner, Chuck Lorre (nee something lese) has become.

• That British comedian who died on live TV.

• Bud Dwyer

• Edith Bunker, hands down.

• Damn! Damn! Damn!

• Cherry dying at the end of China Beach Season 1. I loved that show in it's first year.

• To #3: That one was so upsetting. Loved that episode (Bradley Whitford of WEST WING fame played the husband) and hope it won some writing awards. #7: Tommy Cooper was the comedian's name. My vote is Nate's death on SIX FEET UNDER. I remember shouting "Nooooooooooooo!!!" when that happened.

  Mia

• Adriana on the Sopranos. I'm still not over it.

• r12, that's not TV; it's HBO. (TM)

  HBO%20executive

• Beverly LaSalle on ALL IN THE FAMILY. I still cry every time I see it in repeats.

• Same here, r13. That scene traumatized me.

• Wallace on The Wire

• Mark, I think that was his name, the bald doc with glasses on ER.

• I have to agree with Edith Bunker. She wins, it moved an entire nation at the time. Top five would include Shannon on Lost. Sayid was just gettin some of that stuff when bam. Dead.

• TV deaths that to this day make me cry when I think about them, on General Hospital, BJ's death and Stone's death. Edith on AIF was really sad too, especially the part when Archie finds Edith's bedroom slippers. Ditto too on Beverly LaSalle.

• When the mother polar bear died on the nature documentary.

  john cheever

• I'm with R13 & 16 on Adriana's death. I'll never watch that episode again.

• FUCK NO. OP. THIS was:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DtnvOk8qnmGc%26feature%3Drelated

  Tina%20Lord%20Roberts

• I never saw Edith Bunker's death but reading about it on Wikipedia alone made me cry.

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_Bunker%23Edith.27s_death

• Maude Flanders (the Simpsons) Miss Landingham (the West Wing) Charlie Pace (Lost) Denis Leary's son on Rescue Me was killed in a hit and run, very tragic. Mr. Hooper on Sesame Street. Big Bird had to explain dying.

• Bobby Simone (Jimmy Smitts) on NYPD Blue

• R21, you just reminded me, Flower on Meerkat Manor was truly tragic. She was the star of the show for two seasons and then died from a snake bite. It traumatized a nation.

• I'll go with Colonel Potter's death on M*A*S*H.

• Edith Bunker -- but I guess it depends on your age...it was very sad.

• Bill McNeil on Newsradio because Phil Hartman was really dead.

• Vera Duckworth on Coronation Street. Or Ashley Peacock's being crushed to death in the building collapse on same show.,

• "Santos" on "Ugly Betty."

• Miss Landingham (the West Wing)

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FScv89J6rro&feature=player_embedded

• Catherine on Beauty and the Beast.

• Mrs. Landingham's death on West Wing is high on the list.

• Bitches, can you post scenes so we can decide for ourselves?

• Molly Jones -

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SOJjkNFqqU&feature=player_embedded#!

• JT's death on Degrassi: The Next Generation. Shot down and then laying in the piss of one of his tormentors. Todd in Suddenly Susan in that very special episode where Susan was looking for him all over the town meeting friends who speak favorably about him. Fred and Cordelia on Angel.

• There are a lot of good ones here, but I gotta go with Maureen Bauer. She died knowing her husband cheated on her with Nurse Lillian Raines. Had she lived, the hurt would have lessened and she and Ed probably would have divorced. Instead she skidded on an icy road and died a horrible premature death.

• Mom, mom, mommy?

  Buffy

• Paul Hennessy's sudden death on "8 Simple Rules", necessitated by the equally sudden death of the show's star, John Ritter. Very hard episode to watch; the genuine sorrow was all over the actors' faces. The one bright spot is that it gave Katy Segal her finest hour. BTW--that episode is scheduled to air on ABC Family on Monday.

  Anonymous

• [quote]Fred and Cordelia on Angel. I cried when Cordy died. I applauded when Fred croaked. Too bad they still kept that shitty actress around, though.

• I remember when Mr. Hooper who ran the store on Sesame Street died. I was five and cried all through Thanksgiving dinner.

  Tony Woodard

• Daphne on "Neighbours."

• I'd add my votes for: Nate on SFU Charlie on Lost Tommy's son on Rescue Me Also, Ned on Game Of Thrones. His daughter's reaction was heartbreaking and God know you didn't see it coming.

• Fred on Angel. Her pleading fir her life, asking Wesley "Why can't I stay?" was just so incredibly sad. Cordelia's death was sad but also kind of uplifting and expected.

• Angel's 'death' on Buffy.

• Rosalind Shays.

  Dick Cheney

• FUCK YOU ALL.

  Nicolette%20Sheridan

• Maureen Bauer's death, hands down. They had made Maureen the center of the show. She was connected to everyone. Her death effected every other character on the show. To never have Maureen forgive Ed before her death made Ed forever broken. And they followed her death, which was sad enough, with a week of mourning...her young daughter left behind, knowing something was horribly wrong between her parents before her mother left...her niece hiding her pregnancy alone in an attic, unable to even go to her aunt's funeral because then everyone would know...they played every angle of the story and killed me every day. And the show never recovered.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DHoOhXJm25n0%26feature%3Drelated

• Dick Clark on "Rockin' New Year's Eve" (still in progress)

• Edith's death.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3D-UKrAYD3zX8

• Of course, it's Nancy Marchand playing Iris' friend, Therese Lamont on "Another World". She's out on the patio in a wheelchair, sings "Bye, Bye, Blackbird" and dies. Tragic.

  Dustin

• I agree with those who listed Charlie on Lost. That was unexpectedly emotional for me. Also Denny Duquette on Grey's Anatomy who's death led to Izzy (who I still liked at the time) immediately resigning her job at the hospital. Also to R28, Colonel Potter didn't die on MASH, but it was sad when he gave away his horse Sophie in the final episode. It's probably Colonel Henry Blake that you are thinking of.

• The South Tower.

  Grief%20Porn%20troll

• Lucy COe's near-death experience on GENERAL HOSPITAL. I was a preteen in 1993 and had gotten hooked on GH because of my older sister. Basically, the storyline was that Scott Baldwin (Lucy's ex) and his new bride (forget her name) hired Lucy to be their surrogate. When she was 9 months pregnant in November '93 (for some reason I can't recall) Lucy ended up stranded in a blizzard in the mountains. She finds an empty cabin and ends up giving birth. She is soon found but has lost too much blood. At the hospital, as she lingers between life and death, Scott stays by her side, pleading for her to pull through. Meanwhile, Lucy has her near-death experience and doesn't want to return. This scene really affected me and I remember bawling my eyes out.

  Mary%21

• Megan's death on One Life to Live. They made a whole week out of it and had a bunch of flash backs. Very emotional.

• You're all wrong. It was Leo on the West Wing. He had a serious heart attack on the show, then he died from one in RL. He was a great gay actor. RIP.

• This goes back, but Jackson on "The White Shadow".

• When I was a little kid, they used to play "C" movies on TV. Movies that have completely disappeared. One movie started Wheezer from The Little Rascals and Petey, the Little Rascals dog. I recognized them both and started watching it, thinking it would be a fun movie. Next thing I know, I hear a squeal of brakes and a dog scream. Wheezer comes home from school and his parents tell him his dog was killed by a car and he needs to bury the dog. Wheezer goes outside and picks up the dead dog and walks with him, talking to the dog and crying, the tears streaming down his face That dog looked totally dead, flopping around in Wheezer's arms. I screamed. I went completely hysterical. I'd never seen anything like that in a movie before. I think I was about 5 years old, and I really only ever watched cartoons and the Little Rascals on TV. My mother kept telling me, "Petey's not really dead! He's just pretending!" I still think it's one of the saddest things I've ever seen.

• When I was four years old we had a kitten that the neighbor kids had squirted with the hose, not a big deal, right? Well the next day it was gone and my older sister told me it had died. She was a bitchy eight year old. I thought the kitten died because it got wet. I saw a commercial not too long afterward where a dad helps his kids give a little kitten a bath for some reason. I lost it and cried that they were killing the kitten and it took forever for my mom to calm me down.

• Chuckles the Clown on the Mary Tyler Moore show.

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• Brian Piccolo in "Brian's Song" Even my dad cried...

• Cherry White's death on China Beach. it actually was in the middle of Season Two. Aparrently the actress couldn't handle fame and wanted out of her contract.

• before Marg got all botoxed and scuplted

  http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DnOIBYqinlhA%26feature%3Drelated

• [49] Actually, I didn't cry, but I sniffled and was angry over Edie Britt's last stand. If she were real, she'd be beaming over the dropping ratings and cancellation.

• Bobby Ewing, Edith Bunker, Col. Blake

• Laura Palmer.

• The brutal, sudden death of Nate on SouthLAnd.

• Fry's dog on "Futurama", in "Jurassic Bark".

• I cried when Walter finally beat Maude to death with a tire iron because she wouldn't stop screaming at everyone.

  Vivian%20Harmon

• Pre-eclampsia. That's what I call that ER episode. It took up the entire show and it was devastating. When they cut away for the last commercial break before the end of the show, the local news announcer who normally did the headline teaser couldn't speak so they just faded to black. Charlie's death on LOST was also very sad. I didn't care about his character so much by then but the message on his hand was brilliant.

• Nate's death on 6ft Under

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QE6OPlZLwbs

• Liza's fashion sense on HSN.

  Hi%20Georgia%21

• The death of Jack Duckworth (and his reunion with his deceased wife Vera).

  http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DZI7O9Z7D3YM

• This was many years ago on an episode of Starsky and Hutch when Starsky's girlfriend played by Season Hubley was shot in the head by a vengeful character. She died after the bullet moved and she went blind. So sad. I felt so bad about that. Watching that video of Megan's death on OLTL reminded of how beautiful Joe Lando was.

• Dawson's dad on Dawson's Creek. Completely unexpected.

• Mary's baby on LHOTP. It was a horribly violent death for primetime television.

• "A, My Name is Alex" and the death of young Keaton's gorgeous best friend, Greg.

• Soap operas should be excluded, they are to TV what The Watchtower pamphlets are to literature. How about Christine Chubbuck of the sensationalist tv show Suncoast Digest? They specialized in blood and guts tv, sort of like Entertainment Tonight, the gory edition. In 1974, Christine pulled out a gun and shot herself in the head on live tv.

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_Chubbuck

• Gary’s death on thirthysomething (sorry can’t find a clip on youtube) But #1 for me was Nate on 6ft under. Never saw that coming. I cried like it was actually someone I knew.

  http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=nate's death six feet under&aq=0s&oq=nates dea

• While his death was only mentioned at the end of the very last episode, learning of Dan Conner's death sent me into an outrage. My roommate and I actually cried.

  Big%20Ole%20Mary%21

• Bitch @ R80: How about *YOU* fuck off, cunt? I'm the OP of this thread and I am explicitly INCLUDING soap operas.

• Lee Harvey Oswald.

• R83 is so mad, the poor dear lost three cheetos in the folds of her muumuu.

• I'm serious, the shopkeeper on Sesame Street (what was his name?) and they had to explain to Big Bird about death. Was actually poignant.

• R86, that one's been mentioned already.

• On the season one finale of "Ghost Whisperer" Aisha Tyler's character goes to the airport to pick up her brother but comes back because there was plane crash and she couldn't get to the terminal. Then the brother turns up and Jennifer Love Hewitt can see him and talks to him but Aisha can't, but it turns out she died when the plane hit and he wasn't on that plane. They handled it so well and I hadn't heard regular Tyler, who I liked a lot wasn't coming back the next season, so I was shocked and fell for it completely.

• Elaine (Dinah Manoff) on "Soap" was a real shock to me. She started out as such a bitch but then you fell in love with her after a while and then she was gone. It really bothered me for a long time.

• Caitlin Todd's shooting on NCIS was rather shocking in the way it wasn't foreshadowed by cheesy music. (Much like Dr. Romano's backing into the Helicopter on ER.) The following episodes where she appeared after her death was quite sad.

• Prime time: Edith on All in The Family Daytime: BJ on General Hospital (MARY!)

• R86, it was Mr. Hooper. The really sad episode is the one where Maria and all of the people on Sesame Street explain death to Big Bird. In so many words, the characters simply said that Mr. Hooper died, which meant that he would not come back. They were sad and some were crying, but I think that the bluntness of their description (no spiritual metaphors, no tip toeing around the fact that he wasn't coming back) was shocking for some people. I just did a youtube search and it appears that scene has been removed. Lame.

• In no particular order: Edith Bunker on AITF Gary on thirtysomething Bobby Simone on NYPD Blue

• I forgot to mention how much Victor Lord Jr.'s death affected me this past August. I airquoted my grief in betwixt masturbating myself to sleep that night.

  RH

• James on "Good Times". sike.

  Florida E

• Nathan on SFU Edith on AITF Wallace & Omar on the Wire Charlie Lost soap death-Isabella on Days of our Lives

• oops also forgot Meagan on One Life to Live.

• Jenny Gardner on "All My Children" Scotty Anspaugh on "E.R."

• Jin and Sun on Lost

• Christine Chubbuck.

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• Maybe not the saddest but one of the best-written episodes was the death of Hazel Bellamy at the end of the fourth season of UPSTAIRS, DOWNSTAIRS. Terribly sad because her husband, James, was so cruel to her immediately before she took to her bed with influenza, never to rise from it again. James learned only too late how selfish he had been and how much he really loved her. It was brutal to see James' father, Richard, put on the British stiff-upper-lip when he coldly broke the news to the housemaid, Rose, that Hazel had died in her sleep. Richard and Rose both adored Hazel and neither was allowed by their social positions to break down and wail for her as they would have wanted to. With the brilliance typical of the entire series, her death was a perfect example of dramatic irony. Almost everyone in the household, upstairs and down, had placed him or herself in harm's way during The Great War. Yet Hazel, the mistress of the house and the person most entitled to be sheltered and protected, was the only one to die before the Armistice.

• George ".007" on Grey's.

• R63, I was inconsolable at the end of that movie....of course I was 6, but I still remember how awful I felt....I cried for hours

• Ben on Parks and Recreation. Oops, that's not until sweeps.

• ...and now I've just spent a half hour crying watching YouTube clips of Vera and Jack Duckworth's deaths.

• Jin and Sun on LOST (It really got me when Hurley started sobbing)

• Kenny on South Park

• An episode of Nip/Tuck when sorry cant remember the names..the solid married dr was having an affair with the woman who had cancer and he stayed with her while she put a bag over her head and killed herself. Very powerful and moving.

  me

• "Fry's dog on "Futurama", in "Jurassic Bark". OMG. I couldn't believe this was a cartoon, albeit a "grown-up" one. Just when you think they've done a little morality tale about accepting loss with a tidy ending--you get some real wrist-slitting sadness.

• I still haven't gotten over Bobby Simone on NYPD Blue. And then Dennis Franz's son dies, too? Sheeesh. That was one of the best Police shows ever made. Ever. It was part of my adolescence. I thought of it because of Kim Delaney having that public meltdown recently. Sad. She was a good actress. Alcohol and pills messed her up. Wonder WEHT Dennis Franz.

• Miklos Feher 24-yr-old soccer player died on the field of a massive heart attack

  http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DX8mzeRVuDBU

• I was just thinking about this yesterday. On "ER" when the crazy guy stabbed Lucy (Kelly Martin) and Carter (Noah Wylie) and Carter falls to the floor and see her.

• R43 wins.

  http://youtu.be/9NjFbz6vGU8

• GENERAL HOSPITAL.. when BJ died and they put the heart in Maxie. Felica was so happy to get a doner not knowing that Tony was suffering about the loss of his daughter.. AND.. Bobbie was F#@king around on him. good LORD!!! I would start crying while the tape was rewinding just thinking about the previous days episode

  tony

• [quote]Fry's dog on "Futurama", in "Jurassic Bark Yes! And I honestly prefer the song in this context over how it's used in UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG. Swear to God.

• That scene was unforgettable R112.

• The shootings at Seattle Grace were pretty terrifying - so unexpected.

• Claire on Law & Order anyone? I wouldn't count Edict on AITF, since her death was merely announced. Also busy mourning the loss of chracters I didn't even realize had died (Mr. Hooper? Oh no!)

• Nate in Southland. I agree r69, I never saw it coming. Kevin Alejandro dies a lot on screen. I was sad when he died as Santos in Ugly Betty and he just died again a few weeks ago on True Blood. Sob! Also, r108 when Sean helped Megan to die in Nip/Tuck ...very moving.

• [quote]I wouldn't count Edict on AITF, since her death was merely announced. Archie's reaction to it is what made it so effective, R118.

• .

• Phil on THE GOLDEN GIRLS. (Estelle should have won a second emmy for this episode) Reese on DESIGNING WOMEN

• Edict Bunker?

• [quote]In so many words, the characters simply said that Mr. Hooper died, which meant that he would not come back. They were sad and some were crying, but I think that the bluntness of their description (no spiritual metaphors, no tip toeing around the fact that he wasn't coming back) was shocking for some people. The actor who played Mr. Hooper, Will Lee, had died almost a year before that episode aired. The Sesame Street producers (very wisely) held off on doing it until Thanksgiving 1983 because they wanted to make sure that parents would be home to answer questions and be there with their children.

  The Voice of the Night

• Trying to be careful of spoilers (as best you can in a thread like this)... I think the saddest of all time is the shocker at the end of season two of "The West Wing" (if you've seen the show, you know to which character I'm referring). Runners up include the major character death at the end of season five of "The Shield," and the inevitable death of Laura Rosalin at the very end of "Battlestar Galactica."

• Little Sebastian!

• Not the saddest, but Family Ties. When Alex's friend died. I grew up when tv was awesome, and for some reason that death is the only one that stands out. Maybe, because after that episode it seemed they changed the character (Alex) and show.

• I don't see why folks were so bent out of shape about Nate's death on SIX FEET UNDER. He was an asshole. I was glad he died. I felt bad for everyone else, but him...YUCK!!! Good riddance.

• The quick death of Anya on the last episode of Buffy really got to me. I loved her character. I wouldn't call it sad, but I wasn't expecting it at all.

• Well, but R128, feeling badly for David and Ruth (which I did) still qualifies it as a sad death. That scene where the two of them were cleaning and preparing his body for burial together was heartrending.

• Ianto Jones on Torchwood.

• Before I even read the thread, my first response is Gary on thirtysomething. he was my favorite of the guys on the show, and remembering the Melissa's reaction to his death is making me shivery just now, all these years later.

• Wallace and Stringer on The Wire. Hands down.

• Then dammit R130, his death did effect me.

• Sydney Andrews (the first time), Matt Fielding (only because it was such a non-event, sadly), and the amazing Kimberly Shaw. Gil Bellows on Ally McBeal, only because I had no idea it was coming. Dan Connor of course. Charlie, Jin and Sun, of course, but more so Juliet. Santos on Ugly Betty. Edie Britt, but especially Karl on Housewives.

• I agree R32. The doorway glimpse of Melanie Mayron's reaction to Gary's death on THIRTYSOMETHING was heartbreaking and sublime.

• Sorry I don't have the link, but the Matthew Perry character on Growing Pains. Tracey Gold was great in that episode.

• Aw, r137. That was sad. His name was Sandy and Tracey was great.

• Laura Sumner's death on Knots was brilliantly acted and scripted and set the way for the Sumner/Paige relationship. Edith Bunker's? Blah - hated that the show went on another, useless boring season. Jean Stapelton told them she would not come back and killing off Edith was the solution. Gloria and Mike didn't even come back for it. Stupid, stupid stupid. For soaps, Brooke Clinton being killed off GH to make way for Denise Alexander's salary was unforgivable to me. Bill Prentiss dying on Love of Life ruined the show for me. Meredith Wolek dying from a brain anuerism on One Life To Love was so sad. Cindy Clark Matthews dying right after marrying Russ Matthews on Another World was pure Love Story. Angelique ala Valerie Collins dying as a human from the gunshot of Lamar Trask on Dark Shadows did me in.

• Renata Corelli dying on Search for Tomorrow was heartbreaking. I remember there was a fire in the building and she was crawling through an air shaft to get out but didn't make it in time. A bunch of the characters waited for her but instead you heard an explosion and saw a big plume of smoke. Actually sounds stupid now.

• I saw many of the shows already mentioned and what's funny is that I can barely recall these deaths. I can't think of any character deaths outside of the ones already mentioned but I think it's just my brain's protective mechanism. Edith Bunker's death was extremely sad. I couldn't even watch more than 4 seconds of the clip of Archie. Too sad. "ER" had several incredibly moving deaths. I hated Dr. Greene but that last episode where he died, oh my god, that was so sad. Definitely the one where Kelly Martin was stabbed because it just came out of the blue. And remember Kerry's firefighter girlfriend? Her death was terribly sad. You just knew it was coming which made it worse. Sorry, I can't find a clip. I can't remember the character but I remember being very young and watching an episode of "Family." Someone died and it upset Buddy. I remember that upsetting me.

• R53 Is there anywhere to watch a clip of Therese (Nancy Marchand) singing "Bye, Bye Blackbird"?

• Chuckles the Clown

  A%20little%20song%2C%20a%20little%20dance....

• Chuckles the Clown on MTM

• Henry Blake on "MASH." The silliest was when the bald one-armed asshole doctor played by Paul McCrane(?)had a helicopter drop on him outside the ER entrance on "ER."

• Everyone in the final episode of Six Feet Under. I sobbed and couldn't listen to that Sia song for months after.

• Speedle's death on CSI:Miami was oddly sad for me. Probably the only non-ridiculous moment in the entire series.

• This past week on Downton Abbey was a pretty emotional one.

• So sad when Fred died on Angel, especially because they made a point of her soul being consumed by the entity that possessed her body.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DqLshPiR0jyM

• Another vote for the Six Feet Under finale. I was a sobbing mess. Also when Cyril gets executed in OZ. Jin and Sun on Lost too, but I think I was more angry than sad about that one.

• Joan Bradford on "Eight is Enough." Diana Hyland's death was big news (John Travolta's "one true love) and a big blow to the series. There was an episode in the subsequent season where Tommy (Willie Aames) finds a Christmas gift Joan had hidden. He reads the card she wrote to him and breaks down. It had me crying.

• For me, it was Megan on OLTL.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DhhKMFDp-4oQ

• Maggie on Falcon Crest.

• Another vote for Ned Stark and Santos on Ugly Betty.

• R142 A little seltzer in your pants...

• Shelly's Long's career after Cheers was the saddest death of all.

• Maggie's death on Falcon Crest made me angry more than it made me sad. The way they chose to get rid of her was awful and was like a slap in the face to viewers.

• Dexter's wife, because of the baby sitting beside the body.

• Jesse Hubbard's "death" on AMC in 1988. Debbi Morgan was phenomenal. I still slobber when I think about how brutally raw her performance was. I'll say it...MARY!

• My big screen television died 5 minutes before the Sopranos series finale. I had to watch it on a 42" TV. That made me pretty damn sad.

  Clown%20Puncher

• Xena

• Lexi Featherstone falling out Candi Bergan's penthouse window gets me every time. I'm glad the old Russkie was there to comfort Phar Lap.

• Rita Claxton on The Golden Girls.

• Claire, assistant D.A. on Law and Order. Her hayed blowed up good. Her hayed blowed up real good!

• That Freda, r163, Freda Claxton

  Celia Rubinstein

• Glenn on "The Walking Dead." Up yours, AMC!

  Glen%20Mazzara%20

• Edith. I cried like a baby.

• Ediths death was very sad.

• Vote for #15, and "Six Feet Under" finale. OMG - like someone else said, I cried every time I even thought of it.

  Mr.%20Emotional

• BJ on General Hospital, Hal and Barbara's daughter Jennifer on As The World Turns

• Joyce Summers on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." "M-Mommy?"

• For those that mentioned Christine Chubbock, there's also the R Budd Dwyer death. He was a lawmaker in PA who took his life on camera at a news conference. (Don't look for footage unless you want to be disturbed.) As for the others mentioned: I definitely second Santos on "Ugly Betty," - not so much about him (sad to lose him) but for the fabulous way they had it play out for Hilda. I was always annoyed by that character, but by the end of that episode I was bawling and had done a total 180. Hilda was my GIRL after that. Edith's death was very sad, of course. And though it wasn't technically an onscreen death, I bawled when Cosby did the Madeline Kahn tribute. Many sad deaths on soaps, but as much as I was personally a GL fan, the BJ's death story was, quite simply, the finest story every written for or played out on a daytime drama. And the moment where Tony hears his daughter's heart beating in another body is exquisite. Every soap has copied it shamelessly since, but it was THE saddest death ever.

• Agree with Mr. Hooper, Edith Bunker, and Lady Sybil. But the most UNEXPECTED and out of left field horrible death I cn recall happened to a kid on a bike who saw too much in "Breaking Bad." JAWS had the distinction of being the only movie who portrayed the violent death of a child, and "Breaking Bad" upped the ante as the TV show that assigned violent gunshot hits on kids.

• R141 Surprised it took so long for Lucy's death to be mentioned. I remember watching the show on and off and when I caught this episode, was completely thrown. It came out of nowhere. There had been all this build up the entire episode and from what I remember, you sort of lost track of the Lucy character... until they showed you at the very end.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DWxAeWHTC_FQ

• [quote]Little Sebastian! Bye, Bye, Li'l Sebastian You were like 5000 candles in the wind...

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• Erica Kane's mother. She let us know it, as well.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DDPhm6uIUWYA

• What about hysterical deaths? Lara Flynn Boyle's on Las Vegas. Writers set up a gag making fun of her weight and so she gets blown off a hotel roof by a strong gust of wind.

• "Knots Landing" did death well. Sid and Laura both had very emotional, very powerful deaths (both were aided by the patented KL "sad music".) Just listening to Sid's voice on the tape player saying how much it was worth just waking up in the morning next to Karen as she's listening and just clicks it off. And Laura's death...that they basically showed how strong the characters were and her videotaped goodbyes to Val and Karen especially seemed so real, even mentioning the episode way back in Season 1 when Val helped Laura deal with her false rape accusation. And Laura and Sid never came back from the dead (as much as I wanted them to) and their deaths affected the rest of the series as long as it was on.

• SFU finale Buffy's mom

• Stone's death on GH.

• Victor's third death on Y&R gets me every time.

• Ned on Six Feet Under or Rita on Dexter.

• Last weeks death on Downton Abby was pretty sad.

• Yes, Jennifer on As the World Turns; the fact that Benjamin Hendrickson, who played Hal, had committed suicide after filming these scenes -- but before they aired -- gave them an added weight that was devastating. A couple of mini-series featured deaths that, like Lady Sybil's, really hit me: Gregory Harrison's young wife (Stephanie Zimbalist) gets bitten by a snake a dies in Centennial; and Stacy Keach's young bride (Julia Duffy) is hiding in the cellar during the Battle of Gettysburg -- a Rebel soldier comes into the house and collapses on the kitchen floor -- she comes up and is trying to help him when a stray bullet through the window kills her. Both times I was shocked, and in the latter case I was crying buckets.

• Don't you make me come out there and hit you, R184.

  The%20Wind%20beneath%20My%20Wings

• [quote] Yes, Jennifer on As the World Turns; the fact that Benjamin Hendrickson, who played Hal, had committed suicide after filming these scenes -- but before they aired -- gave them an added weight that was devastating. That was so sad. By all accounts he was a really nice man. Suicide is such a sad choice.

• The death of Melissa Cumson on Falcon Crest was sad because the series never really recovered from the loss of Ana-Alicia. The producers realized they had blown it and tried to bring her back as a different character, but it was Ana as Melissa that people wanted.

• Neal Alcott on ATWT was devastating. Loved the chemistry between Mary Kay Adams (Neal) and Liz Hubbard. Mary Kay had the same lovely rapport with Beverlee McKinsey on GL.

• The death of Gary episode was tough enough on "thirtysomething" (and such a great secret since all were waiting for Nancy to die). But it really got me a couple of episodes later when Michael is trying to tie up all the loose ends with that awful wife of Gary's and his ghost tells him he did good at the end, he can let go now, and Michael finally lets himself cry. Ken Olin deserved as many Emmys as his wife did. Loved him as an actor, nice guy in person too.

• Santos' death on Ugly Betty was so sad too. Ana Ortiz was great in the dream sequence episode! On Six Feet Under, Nate's death was sad but I am still stunned by the episode where David was carjacked. I was sickened to my stomach after watching it! Bill Eckert dying in Luke's arm on "GH" was interesting for Bill said to Luke, "the last face I see is my own." Stephanie's death on B&B was sad because Katherine Kelly Lang acted her ass off in the episode.

• Ditto to Nate's death on SIX FEET UNDER. That scene where his mother and his brother prepared his body was heart-wrenching. And Jack on LOST. When the dog came in and laid down next to him, I totally lost it.

• Jenny in All My Children. I think she died in a ski accident.

• [quote]And Jack on LOST. When the dog came in and laid down next to him, I totally lost it. OMG, that made me cry.

• Diane Sawyer wandering out into NY traffic during GMA to get an olive for her martini.

• Grey's Anatomy had a couple of good ones back when it was watchable: Denny was the answer but then Shonda fucked it up with the ghost story. George's death was well done but the saddest for me was the story of the dying little girl whose father was desperate to keep her alive (it was too late) and ready to fly with her to Mexico for a transplant but she didn't want to because she was too tired, she just wanted her daddy by her side. He held her until she died. Lane Pryce - You knew it was coming yet when it finally happened it was still shocking and terribly sad.

• No soap could do a death like OLTL. While you didn't see his actual death-the final episode of Life Goes On still brings me to tears-I have it on tape-Becca is telling the story of how she and Jesse ended up back together and got married and the last scene it shows that she is telling the story to her young son-and it shows that she has remarried and the boy says something like he (the Chad Lowe Jesse) must have been a very special person and Becca says that yes he was and kisses the kid goodnight and says to him "good night Jesse"-hitting you with both the fact that Jesse had died (of AIDS for you people that don't know the show) and that while life for her did go on, she still loved/carried forward the memory of him.

• Without a doubt the death of Adriana (Drea e_Matteo) on THE SOPRANOS

• Has anyone mentioned the poor dog on Futurama?

• Independent journalism.

• Mr. Pamuk on Downton Abbey.

• Kenny on South Park Kenny on South Park Kenny on South Park Kenny on South Park Kenny on South Park Kenny on South Park Kenny on South Park Kenny on South Park Kenny on South Park Kenny on South Park Kenny on South Park Kenny on South Park Kenny on South Park Kenny on South Park Kenny on South Park Kenny on South Park Kenny on South Park Kenny on South Park Kenny on South Park Kenny on South Park Kenny on South Park Kenny on South Park Kenny on South Park

  And all their female teachers

• Stepping into the way back machine Brian Piccolo Brian's Song TV movie.

• I second R1. I was ten years old and a huge M*A*S*H fan. I sat down with my dad to watch the final episode of the third season and was completely floored at the end. I had seen TV character deaths before, but never a main character on a sitcom. The cast of that show felt almost like family to me, and when Radar announced that Col. Blake had died, it was completely unexpected. A punch right in the gut. I remember my eyes watering and I faced slightly away so that my dad wouldn't see how much that scene had affected me. As the episode ended, my dad and I just sat silent... in a state of shock.

  C

• Agree r195 that little girl on Grey's was just tear inducing. I have to add a few more from Grey's. The episode with the woman whose family is convinced she is nuts and has imagined a boyfriend. She is dying and just wants to hold on long enough for her boyfriend to get there and say goodbye. But as the episode goes on it seems more and more clear that she imagined this boyfriend who she met on a cruise and no one else has ever seen. She passes away and the audience is convinced she was just loopy. Then boom, there comes the boyfriend with flowers in hand it's too late she's just slipped away. I cried like a baby. Also, the death of Really Old Guy AKA Charlie.

• I know people hate the Lost finale, but I agree, Jack's death with the dog staying with him while he died was touching. A lot of MASH has not aged well, but I recently watched Henry's last episode. The scenes with him really avoiding any substantial good byes to Radar until Radar is saluting him as he goes, and a stunned Radar breaking the new to the operating room were well done. I read the actors did not know he was being killed off until they filmed that scene. I am guessing most of the viewing audience did not either in ther pre-spoiler world.

• I know that this TV death has been mentioned (R141) but this is the one that absolutely iced the cake for me. I still tear up and feel the same emotions each time I watch the clip - I loved the character of Dr. Mark Greene to bits and ER was never, ever the same for me after he died. So terribly sad.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7KFSrj9xo0&feature=player_detailpage

  Anonymous

• Soaps are for the mentally deficient.

• The FUNNIEST death was, has been, and always will be CHUCKLES THE CLOWN'S on the MARY TYLER-MOORE show.

  Ted Baxter

• Maureen's on GL. It killed not only her, but, some say, the show, too.

  Lillian%27s%20red%20scarf

• Even though she wasn't really dead, Miranda on AMC. I still cry like a baby when I see clips of the episode where Bianca is told Miranda died.

• Brian Piccolo Brian's Song Wallace, Omar and Sherrod (after he mistakenly took Bubs' poisoned smack) - I was happy to see String taken out) The Wire Hazel Bellamy Upstairs Downstairs Assumpta Fitzgerald Ballykissangel Ruth on MI5 (Spooks) & a bunch of others on MI5 Starbuck (the final disappearance or “death”) Battlestar Galactica

• Forgot D'Angelo Barksdale - which is one of the reasons String had to get got. The Wir

• I'm drawing a blank as to how Gary died on 30 Something. Can someone refresh my memory ?

• Frankie Frame on AW. Truly shocking to have a beloved character like that beaten, terrorized and then murdered out of the blue.

• Edith Bunker

• I think Gary died of terminal blandness.

• Anya on Buffy. It was quick. Sort of unexpected. And she deserved a better send off than that.

• You're thinking of the actor in his career after the show/after marriage to Michelle Pfeiffer. Gary died in a car wreck, 18 wheeler on an icy road -- and he was in a CAR, not on his bicycle. Never did say who had given him a ride.

  a%20longtime%20fan%20of%20the%20show%2C%20can%20you%20tell

• The ER episode with the pregnant lady not only hooked me onto the show but I became an instant fan of Anthony Edwarrds. When he died years later on the show to 'Over The Rainbow' was the second saddest death.. The first was Bobby was NYPD Blues. I cried like a baby.

• [214] Last year I watched the episode of Frankie's death and the one that followed that on YouTube and it shocked me more seeing years later. I was 17 when those episodes first aired.

• Natalie from The Facts Of Life. Oh wait she didn't die. Wishful thinking I guess!

  ICYNDICEY

• It was an exploding jet ski, r192. She and Greg were out on the lake and she went boom while he screamed. I can't believe I still remember that.

• I became an instant fan of Omar Epps due to the episode where he kills himself on E.R. I think ultimately he jumped onto a train track or something, but it was his utter depression. Completely believable. He played that deep depression well. A friend called me up the next day saying the same thing. I was moved. You should find the ep and watch it. Season 3. ep 11. Dr. Dennis Gant

• Was Omar Goofus or Gallant? (I always hated ER for doing that to the black guys). Lost was sad with the guy and the dog because you knew that the dog was going to eat the dead guy afterwards.

• I was wondering that too. Dr. Gallant died in combat in Iraq. Didn't Dr. Pratt die too in shooting when he was on a EMT run?

• Agree with R150. Cyril O'Reily. His death was so sad.

• Wilson Cruz guest starred on Ally McBeal playing a young transvestite prostitute. It was actually a Christmas episode. Ally was trying to help him get off the street and even took him in so that he could avoid jail time. Despite every legal wrangling and Ally jumping through the hoops for him (and the audience being led to believe that miracles can happen), Cruz's character returns to the streets and is murdered by a john who was angry that she was a he.

• Jen's / Michelle Williams' death on Dawsons Creek. A totally quiet scene where no words are spoken. Gran is sleeping in a chair next to her hospital bed and Jen wakes up from her nap sees Gran sleeping and then smiles and passes away. A moment later Gran wakes up and looks at Jen and knows. there's no background music the entire time. I remember being a struck by how quietly it happened but so moving in its simplicity. (Mary!)

• Lindsay Lohan's career after "Liz and Dick."

• Jessica Tate's death on "Soap". My god, my face was wet with tears watching that scene.

• Um, in real life, this takes the cak.

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:R._Budd_Dwyer%2C_moments_before_the_end.jpg

  Hey%2C%20man%20nice%20shot

• R157, Maggie's death on FC was, up until that time, the most disturbing. It still is. One of the tabloids leaked the news of how she was being offed, but I didn't really believe the FC writers would do something so horrible to such a beloved character. Then to top it off they all but destroyed the show for that last season. Even the hotness of Gregory Harrison couldn't save it. It only became bearable again when Jane Wyman returned for those last episodes.

  Jacqueline%20Perrault

• Kutner's suicide on "House"

• r177 - Will & Grace ripped off that idea and had Beverly Leslie blown off his balcony by a gust of wind.

• I had forgotten about Jennifer's death and Ben Hendrickson walking around like a zombie during those scenes. Heartbreaking on many levels. Another devastating death on As the World Turns was baby Johnny. From John having to make the medical decision for Barbara in the coma, to the ghost of Kim's sister Jennifer telling Kim to wake up, to John cradling and rocking Johnny as he died. I'm crying just thinking of it. (I know...Mary!)

• Maureen Bauer, too. I know everyone complains about what a mistake it was to kill her off the show but that storyline was soap opera at its best.

• the last episode of 6 feet under somehow really got to me. might have been the superb music choice

• When Rachel Greene was violently bludgeoned to death in the last season of "Friends".

  Courteney%20Cocks%2C%20daydreaming

• Vote #20 for the final scene of SFU. I was wrecked inside for days. I know... MARY! Another one that stayed with me was Adriana's death on the Sopranos. Not only was it sad, it was extremely disturbing. I think she knew or at least suspected during the car ride, and that makes it all the more gut-wrenching to watch.

• Yes Adrianna was sad and certainly unfair.

• John Ritter's on 8 Simple Rules... moreso because of his actual death that had to then be written onto the show. THAT has to be extremely difficult as a cast, basically having to grieve while in your role. Maybe it's therapeutic. What about other actor deaths that then had to be written into the series?

• How has Maude Flanders' death not been mentioned on here? Death by t-shirt cannon!

• R242 see R25

• Prue's death on Charmed and mostly because her death was the death of that show.

• Denny on Grey's Anatomy.

• Jack Bristow.

• R236, it was the saddest death. I think that the story was worth it; here's all they had to do to fill the void. They should have brought Claire, Michelle's birth mother back and have her fight to be in her daughter's life; set up a Fletcher/Claire/ Holly/Ed quadrangle. Instead the money they saved on Parker's salary went to another new actor not on her storyline and the guy never did much for the show IMHO except chew scenery. Also, they needed another actress to play a matronly 'talk to,' preferably a Bauer. Alan-Michael's mother Hope would have fit the bill.

• George Costanza's Fiance! Death by Envelope Glue!

• .

• Edith Bunker

• I've never cried like I did when Jon-Erik Hexum's character, Mac Harper, died on Cover Up. And that's because Jon-Erik Hexum, one of the most beautiful men ever created by God, had died in real life. Painful and intensely sad.

• Nate on Six Feet Under

• [quote]What about other actor deaths that then had to be written into the series? Coach on "Cheers"

• Larry Hagman on the current reboot of "Dallas."

• I cried when Bobby Ewing died. But then it was just a dream. All deaths should be like that!

  Andy%20Gibb

• If someone's character is killed off because they die in real life then that shouldn't count. That's not a real part of the narrative and the sadness is not about the character's death but the real person.

• Guy "Eddie" LeBec and his Zamboni accident.

  3%20men%20who%20have%20never%20been%20in%20my%20kitchen

• Buffy's death, the second time. Also, Tara's.

• Edith Bunker.

• r70 that episode was SO sad. Just thinking about him waiting for him. :(

• R89 I love Soap and yes, that scene was really sad. Apparently, it's also note worthy as it is considered to be the first time a sitcom character died on screen.

• Henry Blake and then Edith. The fact that deaths were addressed on sitcoms was startling. They were beloved characters and their deaths drove the point that life isn't fair home. At least it did for me at such young age. The last sitcom I watched was Frasier, so I'm not really aware of what's out there beyond what I read about in DL, but my sense is that sitcoms wouldn't touch death with a ten foot pole these days.

• Freddie on "Skins"

• R262 Not true... just ask Charlie Sheen's character from Two and a Half Men!

• Ha, ha! Forgot about Charlie, R264.

• R265 You were partially right. They didn't touch it with a pole... they hit it with a train.

• Edith Bunker. Her character represented to me the mother I never had.

• Didn't Marshall's dad die on "How I Met Your Mother"?

• [quote]Wallace on The Wire Good for you for mentioning that. That death really got to me.

• Katherine on Beauty andthe Beast. Iactuallycried my little 7 year old heart out. My parents tried to cheer me up.

• Mary Duvall on "Santa Barbara": she was crushed by a big letter 'C' from the Capwell Hotel when a gust of wind blew it off the roof. I was a teen and it devastated me so much that I actually stopped watching the show.

• Dan Conner on Rosanne.

• I don't understand why Adriana on the Sopranos was so sad. She was the girlfriend of a mob guy. Why would she think she necessarily had a long life ahead of her?

• Agreed, R273. Inevitable, and not surprising, from the time she started talking to them.

• Omar in "The Wire". I really liked the character. He was a survivor -- I thought he'd make it to the end.

• Giant Robot sacrificing himself for the good of humanity in the last episode of "Johnny Sokko And His Flying Robot". Still makes me cry 40 years later.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DKNmeixYw9m0

• The dog who played Buck Bundy retired after being on the show for a long time so they killed him off on the show. What made it so sad was the dog actually did die not long after his death on the show. I loved Buck.

  http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi%3Fpage%3Dgr%26GRid%3D11447739

• The saddest, most tragic death of all - from which millions(including ourself) have never recovered - occurred on June 22, 1969.

  Mrs%20Patrick%20Campbell

• The Golden Globes' remaining amount of integrity after giving Pia Zadora an award.

• Fuck off, r278. That wasn't a "television" death and she was a drug-addled addict. "Millions have never recovered" - yeah, right, only in your lunatic world.

• Fry's dog on "Futurama" in "Jurassic Bark". I've never been able to watch the episode again.

• Another vote for Fry's dog. That still makes me cry like a baby. Wesley on "Angel". I thought he went through a great arc from the time he showed up on "Buffy" until the end. Illyria: Would you like me to lie to you now? Wesley: Yes. Thank you, yes. Gren, "Cowboy Bebop"...I just felt really very bad for that guy.

• The answer is easily Brian Piccolo in Brian's Song. Is r211, the only mention besides mine? My gosh.

• Off topic because it doesn't involve an on-screen death but while I like the Fry's dog episode of "Futurama", but the episode which really gets to me is "Luck of the Fryrish" where Fry assumes that his brother Yancy took over his name and used his lucky seven-leaf clover to become famous. "Here Lies Philip J. Fry, named for his uncle, to carry on his spirit."

• Mac Harper

  Jeffrey Jones

• It saddens us that Mary r278 has such an empty, miserable and mis-informed life...

  http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DE5uWF0-hekA

  Mrs%20Patrick%20Campbell

• I saw [italic]Brian's Song[/italic] this afternoon after not having seen it since I was a kid. A few observations: James Caan sounded like a squeaky toy in the deathbed scene. Brian's and Gale's relationship was played really homoerotically. Shelley Fabares and Judy Pace as their wives just faded into the background. The theme song is a ripoff of "More." The real Brian Piccolo was gorgeous. And Gale Sayers looks great for 70.

• I don't know if anyone has mentioned this one before, it was Ianto's death in Torchwood.

• John Spencer - Leo in the West Wing.

• Isn't "television death" supposed to mean a TV CHARACTER? Not a John Spencer. Not a real suicide.

• Jen on Dawson's Creek especially when Grams kisses her forehead and says: I'll see you soon my child. Also, the video she made to her daughter where she tells her she grew up an atheist but hopes that her daughter is able to believe in God. And the part where she tells Jack she wants her daughter to fit in because she never did, and Jack tells her she fit in with him. Gabrielle on OLTL. Her final days were so sad. First her son Al died after a failed kidney transplant from Gabrielle, then she spends the rest of her time depressed until they had a serial killer off her. Tammie on GL. never saw that show but did see this scene on youtube. Thought it was great because of the way Jonathan reacted. And of course, the end of SFU. To this day that song cracks me up and makes me think about my life and death.

• The answer of course, was Mary Ingalls's baby. Not only did it die horribly in flames, but first its poor baby skull was used as a battering ram by Alice Garvey to smash a baby. Then its catatonic mother clung to its little charred corpse by the Walnut Creek creek. What could be sadder than that?

  Hester%20Sue

• Yes, I know Jensen Ackles is a Republican homophobe and uses words like 'gay' and 'queer' in a pejorative, derogatory way, but this scene is really sad.

  http://youtu.be/j-U0AsyF7yY

• [quote]She died after the bullet moved and she went blind. Do some people continue being able to see after they did?