Patricia Abbott (pattinase): The Most Memorable/Shocking TV Death

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

The Most Memorable/Shocking TV Death

Hard to beat the death of Henry Blake on MASH. But there have been a lot of surprises. Some to accommodate a cast member's desire to move on (like McLean Stevenson) but many to accommodate the writers' desire to move on or surprise. What death took you by surprise?

27 comments:

Anonymous said...: Actually, you mentioned the one that has really stayed with me, Patti....; 7:48 AM
George said...: The recent shooting death on MAJOR CRIMES of Assistant Chief of Special Operations Russell Taylor played by Robert Gossett. This murder of a long-time character caught me completely by surprise.; 8:22 AM
Graham Powell said...: Diana Muldaur's character on LA LAW.; 9:39 AM
pattinase (abbott) said...: Was that the elevator shaft death, Graham?
Have a good trip, George.; 9:52 AM
J F Norris said...: There were a couple of characters in GAME OF THRONES I wish hadn't been killed as off as quickly as they were. The Stark wedding party slaughter was definitely horrific and a shock.

The shooting of Will on THE GOOD WIFE made me gasp.; 10:20 AM
pattinase (abbott) said...: Ned Stark would have been my second choice. I think I had heard about Will so I saw it coming.; 10:23 AM
sandra seamans said...: The death of Sweets on Bones was totally unexpected.; 10:37 AM
pattinase (abbott) said...: Hey, Sandra. How are you?
I have never watched BONES. Maybe I will start.; 11:01 AM
Rick Robinson said...: It was M.A.S.H for me.; 12:46 PM
Bill O said...: Saw nothing shocking in Henry's M.A.S.H. death. It was the writers' way of closing the door on Stevenson, after his own solo career was also shot down - as everyone but MS and his agent knew it would.
Now, James Garners' death in Nichols, snuffing out the series' title character - that was a shocker.; 5:01 AM
Jerry House said...: Not shocking, but memorable, Chuckles the Clown.; 6:35 AM
pattinase (abbott) said...: Yes, highly memorable. I don't remember Nicols. Wonder how that happened.; 7:30 AM
Bill O said...: Nichols was Garner's attempt to do another "Maverick" in a western post-industrial era. Problem was, the character didn't work in the Dirty Harry '70's. In the last episode, Nichols tries to reason with a villain, and gets his brains blown out. In the epilogue, Garner rides into to town as his own more macho twin brother, complete with spaghetti western mustache. A naked ploy for second season renewal, NBC wasn't buying. Literally.; 7:37 AM
Charles Gramlich said...: We just saw this episode of MASH not long ago so it is the freshest in my mind.; 11:14 AM
Gerard said...: I never heard of NICHOLS before.

There were several surprise deaths in JUSTIFIED.; 2:11 PM
Travis Erwin said...: Maybe because I am from Texas and my mom was a huge Soap Opera fan both daytime and night but the whole Who shot Jr? phenomenon from Dallas sticks with me even though it was horrible writing and a dream if I remember correctly. At the time it seemed huge.; 4:08 PM
pattinase (abbott) said...: That was a real shocker. That was when we all watched the same TV shows.; 5:08 PM
Todd Mason said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 8:08 PM
Todd Mason said...: Well, not enough people watched NICHOLS. That would've been where I first saw Magot Kidder, as Garner's character's too-young eventual girlfriend. My mother was a confirmed Garner fanatic.

Of course, I wasn't watching DALLAS (and certainly not THREE'S COMPANY) and was watching VISIONS on PBS and SECOND CITY TELEVISION in syndication in the late '70s. I got the better deal.

The episode of NEWSRADIO where the characters memorialize Bill MacNeil after the actual murder of Phil Hartman by his estranged wife was probably the saddest character death I recall.; 8:10 PM
Todd Mason said...: (NICHOLS is running on the broadcast network GetTV and was visible on YouTube for complete episodes, but GetTV to the copyright holders had those taken down.) WADL runs GetTV on a secondary channel in Detroit.; 8:23 PM
Bill O said...: This may be stretching the premise, but EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER ON ST ELSEWHERE ceased to exist in its last episode.; 8:58 PM
Bill O said...: And the same for NEWHART....; 9:11 PM
Todd Mason said...: Well, three characters in ST. ELSEWHERE continued in different form...an MTM Productions trope!; 5:20 AM
Joe Barone said...: I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I saw that episode of MASH.; 9:49 AM
Anonymous said...: British Sci-Fi series BLAKE'S 7. In the very last episode the title character (who has been missing for two series) is gunned down by his friend due to a misunderstanding. The remaining 7 are shot one-by-one and tumble to the floor in slow-motion. The last man standing is surrounded by the bad guys, and smiles as he slowly raises his gun. The end titles start, without the usual music, and we hear the roar of gun-fire before the music slowly rises in volume. The BBC phone lines were jammed with calls from irate viewers for the rest of the night!; 6:42 PM
pattinase (abbott) said...: Wow-Have never even heard of this series. Would like to see it.; 6:53 PM
Cap'n Bob said...: Buck the dog on Married With Children.; 6:54 PM