Lame Cliffhangers

[Canyon340]

Dallas made the season cliffhanger an annual event - and I genuinely think that it influenced every subsequent soap opera. However, for me the last great cliffhanger was the the shower scene. Every one after that was so lacking in imagination and daring. I recall at the end of the 88-89 season being bitterly disappointed by the exit of Sue Ellen. In fact, the entire story line was terribly weak and there was no drama or suspense at the end. It was around this time that I finally lost patience with the show. It was indisputable evidence of how lazy and slap dash the entire approach had become by then.

[Barbara Fan]

Sue Ellen and her boring movie was the worst, followed by Conundrum - Who cared about a film that showed JR in his true colours! not me!

the Body in the pool S3 and Cliffs suicide S4 werent the most exciting either.

[Sid Fairgate]

The last exciting cliffhanger for me was Pam's crash into the tanker. I totally didn't see that coming! The cliffhanger the following season would have been more exciting if they had just freeze-framed on the body going over the balcony. Instead, they ended the season with JR getting shot for the hundredth time. Totally lazy and boring.

Season 12 (DVD) pretty much ended without a cliffhanger, and was the most anti-climatic thing I had ever seen. I hated Sue Ellen's storyline that season, and Don Lockwood has got to one of the most boring characters the show ever had. The storyline was awful all the way around, and it's one of the reasons I dislike that season so much.

I also find it interesting how a whopping four seasons ended with a shooting. JR gets shot in 1980, Bobby gets shot in 1984, JR gets shot again in 1988, and JR shoots his mirror in 1991. Not to mention the countless shootings that took place outside of the cliffhangers. I wish the writers would have found more creative ways of putting the characters' lives in peril other than just shooting them all the time.

[vaughnleland]

I thougt the body in the pool was fine!

but Cliff's suicide attempt in Season 4 was the lamest early clifffhanger. I mean we knew they werent killing Cliff off.

[dazzle]

the exit of sue ellen was very, very boring..she should have left dallas with lots more drama:)

[Swami]

JR getting committed was a very poor cliffhanger.

Swami

[Angela Channing]

Dallas made the season cliffhanger an annual event - and I genuinely think that it influenced every subsequent soap opera. However, for me the last great cliffhanger was the the shower scene. Every one after that was so lacking in imagination and daring. I recall at the end of the 88-89 season being bitterly disappointed by the exit of Sue Ellen. In fact, the entire story line was terribly weak and there was no drama or suspense at the end. It was around this time that I finally lost patience with the show. It was indisputable evidence of how lazy and slap dash the entire approach had become by then.

I totally agree. Up until the Pam driving her car into the tanker the cliffhanger always kept you eager for the next season to start to see how things were resolved. However, that cliffhanger was just about passable the following one with Sue Ellen showing JR her film was boring, when I first saw it I thought "is that it?". Every subsequent cliffhanger was progressively worse up to and including the low point of Adam the devil.

[Mike]

The last great cliffhanger was Nicholas Pierce going over the balcony & Sue Ellen shooting JR, good drama.

[graysonmom]

I thougt the body in the pool was fine!

but Cliff's suicide attempt in Season 4 was the lamest early clifffhanger. I mean we knew they werent killing Cliff off.

I agree. The first time I saw that one I was like "yeah, okay. whatever."

[Sugar&Slick]

Cliff's suicide was not my idea of a cliffhanger!! ..it was very weak. There was nothing about that episode that made me go, "OMG!! I wonder what happens next"

[i love jr ewing]

I think the last great cliff hanger was Pam running into the tanker. the cliff hangers I hated the most was Cliff discovering a body in the pool at Southfork, Cliff attempting suicide, Sue Ellen shooting JR, The movie that Sue Ellen made about JR( I really hated that story line too), JR getting committed to the sanitarium, and the series finale Conundrum.

[Jessie]

JR getting committed was a very poor cliffhanger.

Swami

I agree that was my least favourite too. I thought it was really boring.

[roXyboy]

I think the worst cliffhanger of Dallas was when JR had himself committed to the sanitarium in season 12 (DVD season 13), followed close by Conundrum (series finale).

My list goes like this from worst to best:

JR getting himself committed to the sanitarium (Season 12)
Conundrum (Season 13)
Cliff's suicide attempt (Season 4)
Sue Ellen's exit (Season 11)
JR getting shot by Sue Ellen (Season 10)
Kristin floating dead in the swimming pool (Season 3)
Sue Ellen in the hospital (Season 1)
Bobby getting shot (Season 6)
Bobby's return (Season 8)
Pam's crash into an oil tanker (Season 9)
JR getting shot (Season 2)
Ewing Inferno (Season 5)
Bobby dies in the hospital (Season 7)

I don't know where to put the mini-series but I thought that it had a good ending.

[southfork78]

I thought the Sue Ellen/movie ending was really lame. At the time of the Cliff suicide cliffhanger, I was just a kid and didn't mind it too bad at the time, but as I look back, it was lame too. As several of you said, they were not going to kill Cliff.

[Benny JR]

Sue Ellen and her boring movie was the worst, followed by Conundrum - Who cared about a film that showed JR in his true colours! not me!

the Body in the pool S3 and Cliffs suicide S4 werent the most exciting either.

YES! The body-in-the-pool wasn't very good - especially since you can SEE that it's Kritsin if you pause it just as he turns the body over! Cliff's was one I didn't really care about either.

[Scarlett]

I wish the writers would have found more creative ways of putting the characters' lives in peril other than just shooting them all the time.

ex. Poisoning another family member. lol I don't think we saw much of that on the show.

[Swami]

For me it was the poorest of the lot.

Swami

[Canyon340]

YES! The body-in-the-pool wasn't very good - especially since you can SEE that it's Kritsin if you pause it just as he turns the body over! Cliff's was one I didn't really care about either.

Actually, they shot the pool scene with Gray, Principal AND Crosby. At the end of the season it is actually Linda Gray that appears to be in the pool if you pause it. By the beginning of next season it is most definitely Crosby.

[Canyon340]

ex. Poisoning another family member. lol I don't think we saw much of that on the show.

And of course this was very nearly the cliffhanger the writers chose instead of JR being pumped full of lead: Sue Ellen poisoning JR's drink.

[Sarah]

Dallas made the season cliffhanger an annual event - and I genuinely think that it influenced every subsequent soap opera. However, for me the last great cliffhanger was the the shower scene. Every one after that was so lacking in imagination and daring. I recall at the end of the 88-89 season being bitterly disappointed by the exit of Sue Ellen. In fact, the entire story line was terribly weak and there was no drama or suspense at the end. It was around this time that I finally lost patience with the show. It was indisputable evidence of how lazy and slap dash the entire approach had become by then.

I was just disappointed in the way her ending was written. Although pleased she went out 'on top' to a certain extent, for a MAJOR character who left the biggest hole in the show in my opinion, she deserved a hell of a lot more. I hated how the major characters left and then just credits roll. They should have had a special dedication or something.

[Sid Fairgate]

If I was to rank the cliffhangers from worst to best, it would go like this:

Sue Ellen's exit - 1989
Conundrum - 1991
James committing JR - 1990
Cliff's attempted suicide - 1982
Nicholas over the balcony/JR shot - 1988
Body in the pool - 1981
End of Barbeque - 1978
Sue Ellen in the hospital - 1979
Bobby in the shower - 1986
Pam's tanker crash - 1987
JR shot - 1980
Bobby shot - 1984
Bobby "dies" - 1985
Ewing Inferno - 1983

[Kimmekap]

I always season 3's cliff hanger with Kristin's death. There was no reason to kill her, the writers could have brought her back for a DNA triangle that makes it way to the Dallas media and creates havoc for the Ewings.

Ewing Inferno, another one that was so lame. We knew the cast members were going to survive. I would of preferred the cliff hanger being who gets control over Ewing Oil or Pam's response to Mark asking her marry him or anything else.

[Swami]

The Ewing inferno wasn't so bad, but I think the problem was at that stage the cliffhanger was becoming a widespread plot device, and consequently ideas were getting harder to come up with.

Swami

[dazzle]

i agree with kimmekap, there was no reason to kill off kristin, it would have been much more fun when she stayed around! and like sid said, the who shot jr, bobby and jr again and again was not very original

[Sid Fairgate]

always season 3's cliff hanger with Kristin's death. There was no reason to kill her, the writers could have brought her back for a DNA triangle that makes it way to the Dallas media and creates havoc for the Ewings.
I agree. She should have been kept alive so she could pop up every now and then and cause trouble.


Ewing Inferno, another one that was so lame. We knew the cast members were going to survive. I would of preferred the cliff hanger being who gets control over Ewing Oil or Pam's response to Mark asking her marry him or anything else.



I have to disagree with you here. Revealing the winner of the Ewing Oil contest wouldn't have been a cliffhanger because the issue would be resolved. And Mark asking Pam to marry him would have been dull in my opinion, at least for a cliffhanger.

The fire, on the other hand, was a culmination of everything that had happened that year. It showed how JR's actions indirectly affected everybody around him. The fire never would have happened if JR hadn't double crossed Walt Driscol, who rammed JR's car and unknowingly paralyzed Mickey Trotter.

Of course the writers were never going to kill anybody off, but the rebirth of Southfork after the fire was an important plot point the following season. It forced the characters to evaluate their lives. Sue Ellen moved into a different room, Bobby had to decide between overseeing the remodeling of Southfork or moving on to save his marriage, and JR enlightened both Ray and Bobby that they shared the blame in Mikey's fate by planting guns on Driscol.

The ripple effect of the fire was excellently done in my opinion, so suffice it to say I think it was anything but "lame." And as cliffhangers go, it was both action-packed and suspenseful. The only bad part in my opinion was that they didn't edit out the moving wall when Ray shoved JR into the piano.

[Kimmekap]

I agree the fire was great but it was lame to use it as the cliff hanger for the season. The fire left nothing for the imagination because we knew they would all live.

I like the cliff hangers that made you have to wonder what was going to happen and kept the viewers hooked until the next season. I think having Pam and Bobby close to reuniting, then Pam finds out Mark is dying and he ask her to marry him with Pam being torn. I think it would of been great to tease the viewers with Pam either going back to Bobby or does she fold for dying Mark until the next season. Can you imagine the die hard Bobby and Pam fans wanting Pam to go back to her Romeo(Bobby)? WHile the newely Mark and Pam fans wanted her to stick by this dying man who loves her. I think it would of created more of a buzz on the cliffhanger then the fire.

The fire was predictable in all its elements. Come on, Teresa actually got a night off. That was more suspenseful then the fire because someone other than Teresa would be forced to announce dinner, put John Ross down for gazillionth nap, bring food, etc... lol lol

[Sid Fairgate]

It wasn't likely they would have killed anybody off, but it was still a possibility. I think it was even more obvious that JR wasn't going to be killed off when he was shot in 1980, yet that's the most popular cliffhanger of the series.

The Pam/Bobby/Mark triangle was an intersting storyline, but I don't think it was strong enough to hold its own as a season ending cliffhanger. Again, I saw the fire as the Ewing Oil contest coming full circle. Ray, oblivious to his own involvement in it, decided to focus all of his blame for Mickey's accident on JR, and thus we have the Southfork fire.

I first watched the episode in 1997 on TNN and didn't have the Internet at the time to read spoilers, so I didn't know everybody would make it out okay. I figured JR would make it out alive, but the fate of Ray, Sue Ellen, and John Ross was up in the air.

[willie oleson]

Actually, they shot the pool scene with Gray, Principal AND Crosby. At the end of the season it is actually Linda Gray that appears to be in the pool if you pause it. By the beginning of next season it is most definitely Crosby.
Interesting! I didn't know that.
I think Kristin's and Nicholas' death are good cliffhangers because:
A) they didn't get shot
B) they really died

People always remember the season 8 cliffhanger for the shower scene, but for me the most interesting part was when Sue Ellen walked into JR's office when the bom exploded.
That was definitely my "OMG!-moment".

Pam's car crash...I found it more disheartening than exciting.
After all they had gone through, finally back together and then...BAM! It just wasn't fun anymore:(

[jill from scotland]

Sue Ellens Movie about JR was the weakest cliff hanger but nothing about the final years was memorable as a cliff hanger and the final cliffhanger with JR and the devil was bad.