- Cliffhangers are an important part of television history.
- Iconic sitcoms, prestige TV shows, and soap operas have used cliffhangers in their storytelling.
- Some of the most famous were on “Game of Thrones,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” and “Lost.”
Writing for television is all about how to keep your audience tuning in. One way to do that is to get viewers emotionally invested … only to put their beloved characters in mortal peril, emotional hell, or a combination of the two.
In the era of television before streaming, cliffhangers used to be a way to keep viewers coming back. During “sweeps week” — ratings periods held four times a year — networks would bring out their biggest, most shocking storylines to try to lure in the most viewers to boost viewership and, therefore, ad revenue. As such, some of the most iconic moments in TV history, including some of the cliffhangers below, took place during sweeps weeks.
However, streaming has changed the game when it comes to retaining viewers, and it seems like almost every episode of a Netflix series ends in a cliffhanger to keep you binging.
Here are some of the most iconic cliffhangers in TV history, not all of which ended up satisfying viewers in the long run. But they all got people talking and kept them watching week after week.
