superstringtheory

Has there ever been a sitcom/hour show where they killed off the main character in the final episode that aired? the only one I can think of is Soap (Jessica).

Static Cling

Edited thread title.

Specific thread titles = good.

Thread title of "TV question" in "TV Talk" Forum = not so good.

Fielding Mellish

Xena
Deep Space 9 (Well, kinda...)

And of course, the blood-soaked finale of Punky Brewster.

Groucho

Magnum P.I. was supposed to end that way...but then they got cold feet (so to speak) and brought him back from the dead. Needless to say, the show went really downhill from there.

IdgIe49

SHE DID??????????????????????????

Aghama

Another "kinda" for Sledgehammer. It was actually the end of the first season.

Eternia

The first ending for the series was hilarious hehe.

The actual series finale though, the ending was "ok did he really mean it?"

AndyCapps

Was then when a bomb went off or something and they threw something on the screen like, "To be continued... next season?"

I loved that show.

Red Dog

Kelly in Charlie's Angels

Had there been no reunion Dallas movies, you could have concluded that JR died in the final regular episode of Dallas.

Eternia

Correct. Then ABC gave it a green light for the second season, and I believe the second season is ment to actually set five years before the nuclear explosion that happens at the end of the first season.

Then final finale of the series ended with Sledge asking Doreau is she would marry him and she goes something like "Are you kidding?" and he gives a gruff "yeah" and they turn their heads away from each other with confused looks on their faces.

Also fun TV fact, David Rasche (Sledge) played the president on the short lived NBC sitcom "DAG" and in the first episode his codename with the secret service is "hammer".

RobCA

In the final episode of Roseanne, it was revealed that the entire last season (and perhaps the entire series, depending on your interpretation) never happened, that it was part of a book Roseanne was working on, and that Dan had actually died some time before. I was too shocked and confused by the ending to fully appreciate it at the time, but I'd love to see it again. One thing's for sure, that final twist was the only thing about the last season that I liked.

Rob

Josh-da-man

Did Edith Bunker die in the final episode of "All in the Family?" Or did she die in the first episode of "Archie Bunker's Place?"

Josh-da-man

I was just going to mention "Roseanne," as well.

In that last episode, it revelaed that Dan did indeed die when he had the heart attack, and that the entire series was essentially Roseanne Conner recasting her reality. Other changed details -- Darlene had actually married Mark rather than Becky, and Jackie was a lesbian.

As an aside, "Roseanne" actually was a pretty good series for a while, but began a steady decline at some point toward the last few seasons. I think it began when Roseanne got more and more creative control over the production and finally "jumped the shark" (though that's probably too mild of a description for the train wreck the show became) after she fired most of the writers. Toward the end it was just embarassingly bad -- I even felt sorry for Steven Seagall.

rfduncan

Well - techincally Jessica does not die at the end of Soap. They end with her in front of a firing squad. That was actually a season cliffhanger to be resolved the following season (there were TONS of loose ends as I recall), but the show was not renewed. As I recall years later there was talk of a "movie" where they were to resolve everything but Cathryn Damon, the actress who played Mary Campbell, passed away. Since the show was originally centered around the two sisters, the idea was scrapped. Great show!

She was murdered during a mugging off-camera in the 1st episode.

Didn't Steven Keaton die in the final episode of Family Ties?

Scheherazade

Yup, much to the ire of many fans, Xena died in the last episode... Gabrielle now talks to herself (cuz apparently Xena's ghost is still hovering around her) and she can throw the chakram and do the nerve pinch now so last we see she's off to Egypt to play Warrior Princess. Would love to see a spin-off with Gabby and maybe Joxer as her sidekick or something, hehe.

~Scheherazade

superstringtheory

Yeah, I guess it was pretty much open ended and I assumed...there were way to many loose ends but I did love the show.

Jadzia

How about Jay Mohr in the short-lived Action!.

Londo

Then again, there is Blake's 7, where in the final episode they kill off THE ENTIRE CAST...

.. or did they??

Charlie Goose

That's wrong. Edith was not killed by a mugger. She died of natural causes. The first show of the second season showed Archie struggling with the off-camera death.

Honk!

rfduncan

Whoops - you're right Charlie. Where did I come UP with that ?

In any case, the character's death did not occur in the final episode of the series so it does not qualify.

dstrauss

Well, John Sheridan "died" in the final episode of Babylon 5.

latenight

Jeffery Sinclair died in B5, 1000 years before the show even aired!

Mister Beefhead

I think Edmund (Rowan Atkinson) died at the end of every Blackadder season, didn't he?

Zee

Don't laugh....

Sailormoon. Episodes 198-200, the saddest things I have ever seen. Honestly! -Everybody- dies.

They also die at the end of the first season.

RobCA

Nope. You might be thinking of the three-parter at the beginning of the last season, where he had a heart attack and needed a quadruple bypass. But he recovered, and was very much alive in the final episode, in which Alex moved to New York.

Rob