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?
Actually, you mentioned the one that has really stayed with me, Patti....
ReplyDeleteThe 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.
ReplyDeleteDiana Muldaur's character on LA LAW.
ReplyDeleteWas that the elevator shaft death, Graham?
ReplyDeleteHave a good trip, George.
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.
ReplyDeleteThe shooting of Will on THE GOOD WIFE made me gasp.
Ned Stark would have been my second choice. I think I had heard about Will so I saw it coming.
ReplyDeleteThe death of Sweets on Bones was totally unexpected.
ReplyDeleteHey, Sandra. How are you?
ReplyDeleteI have never watched BONES. Maybe I will start.
It was M.A.S.H for me.
ReplyDeleteSaw 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.
ReplyDeleteNow, James Garners' death in Nichols, snuffing out the series' title character - that was a shocker.
Not shocking, but memorable, Chuckles the Clown.
ReplyDeleteYes, highly memorable. I don't remember Nicols. Wonder how that happened.
ReplyDeleteNichols 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.
ReplyDeleteWe just saw this episode of MASH not long ago so it is the freshest in my mind.
ReplyDeleteI never heard of NICHOLS before.
ReplyDeleteThere were several surprise deaths in JUSTIFIED.
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.
ReplyDeleteThat was a real shocker. That was when we all watched the same TV shows.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWell, 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.
ReplyDeleteOf 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.
(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.
ReplyDeleteThis may be stretching the premise, but EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER ON ST ELSEWHERE ceased to exist in its last episode.
ReplyDeleteAnd the same for NEWHART....
ReplyDeleteWell, three characters in ST. ELSEWHERE continued in different form...an MTM Productions trope!
ReplyDeleteI remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I saw that episode of MASH.
ReplyDeleteBritish 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!
ReplyDeleteWow-Have never even heard of this series. Would like to see it.
ReplyDeleteBuck the dog on Married With Children.
ReplyDelete