Best Season Cliffhanger?

Mr E

Its been a trend for a long time to end a popular series with a cliffhanger... Some cataclysmic event that makes you scream at your TV, and makes you wonder how you can wait 3 or 4 months for the next series, just to see how it pans out. Some popular cliffhangers I can think of off-hand, go back as far as Dallas (Who shot JR?, and Bobby in the shower) to more recent shows, like Palmer's assassination handshake in 24.

Sci-fi series in recent years have used the cliffhanger to good effect... The 4 Star Trek series' from the last 16 years or so... Stargate, Alias, Earth Final Conflict...

So what are your favourite end of season cliffhangers of all time?

sceptre

I've always disliked the end of season cliffhangers to be honest. Star Trek had a few good ones though (The Best of Both Worlds and Descent to think of two). There was the JR Dallas episode, although the new season starter was a little dead. There was that time in Knight Rider where KITT was stuck in the air for three months having driven off a cliff (must have been painful). Obviously the Who Shot Mr Burns from the Simpsons as well. I pick up a lot of shows in reruns these days specifically so I dont have to put up with summer cliffhangers so I've no idea of the more recent ones.

User45701

Ye star trek and stargate do good 1s
- scrubs ended season 1 and 2 very well they seem to alyways do a good end season.
Freiends i suppose would get a mention
Who shot mister burns was probbey the most well known

September

The Sopranos normally carry series ends off well. While they may not be cliffhangers per se, there is always a sense of trepidation.

TCamen

Its been a trend for a long time to end a popular series with a cliffhanger... Some cataclysmic event that makes you scream at your TV, and makes you wonder how you can wait 3 or 4 months for the next series

Hmmm generally we're waiting 6-8 months for returning shows, often longer with less popular stuff or things on Net2 that share timeslots.... e.g stuff on Sky One, starts Jan/Feb-ish, generally finishes May/early June, won't reappear til the following Jan/Feb (if you're lucky, Alias *cough*). For Alias it finished season 2 on Sky One last May, only just reappeared on Bravo this March, nearly a year later, and after a killer cliffhanger to boot.

In recent times, Earth: Final Conflict season 2 finale 'Crossfire' is one of my all-time fav cliffhangers. The resolution ain't the best but it had a real "How the HELL are they gonna get outta this one?!" feel to it.

Millennium season 2 'The Fourth Horseman' / 'The Time is Now', when the killer Marburg Virus was on the loose was also brilliant. The scene with the family having dinner & suddenly all spontaneously bleeding to death was sickening, but oh so good Again the resolution wasn't the best, but great cliffhanger!

Alias season 2 'The Telling',
Buffy season 2 finale 'Becoming', Buffy season 5 'The Gift'.
Smallville season 1 finale 'Tempest'.
Babylon 5 season 3 'Za'ha'dum'.
24 season 1 '11pm-Midnight'.
Carnivale, season 1 'The Day That Was The Day'.
Profiler season 1 'Venom', season 2 'The Root of All Evil'.
The X-Files generally had some interesting cliffhangers, but the resolutions were invariably the worst of the lot!

Oh and just to be non-scifi for one, Melrose Place season 3 'The Big Bang' when Kimberly pressed the detonator to trigger all the bombs she'd set to blow up the apartment building. In true Sky One fashion, we waiting over a year for the next season.

Twin Peaks, Dark Skies & John Doe stand out for me as having killer cliffhangers & no resolution because they were cancelled

Jim

Friends was probably the most talked about one I can remeber (the one at the beach house I think, can't remember exactly what happened.....)

Who Shot Mr.Burns

Caesar_Bojangle

South Park a few seasons ago when we were left guessing as to who was Cartmans father.

DMC

Its the most famous one of them all, as mentioned already, Who shot JR... it had everyone talking for months and its still remembered as if it was yesterday, more than 20 years since it happened. The trick was, they didnt reveal who did straight away at the start of the next series, it was well into that season before you knew. They dragged out a season finale for more than 10 months!

banquo

the west wing - Two Cathedrals (end of season two)
the west wing - Commencement (end of season 4 - where zoey gets kidnapped?)

DrEvil

i agree that star trek had a few good cliffhangers but the follow up episodes at the start of the new series always wrapped everything up too quickly and neatly within one episode.

I like the ending to the second season of smallville with clark gone bad

My all time favourite ending to a series has to be the last hour in the first day/season of 24.

flogen

scrubs season 1 is the best that comes to mind...

(how did season 2 of that end again??)

Flogen

User45701

cox punched Celso and knocked him onto then floor and we where all left thinking NOOOOOO cox might get fired