So I have recently been rewatching the sopranos and I have noticed that for a tv drama the concept of a cliff hanger is as not used as much, where as today it feels like you can’t watch a tv show without every episode ending on a cliffhanger.

You may hate this or be a fan of it like me as it make binge watching shows a lot easier, but regardless what was the first show to start this trend? Is it possible it was breaking bad? I haven’t rewatched the wire recently, but I don’t remember many cliff hangers there.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Comments

Edm_vanhalen1981 t1_jdo6th8 wrote on March 25, 2023 at 9:50 PM

#2,359,785

Probably Dallas and the "Who Shot JR" cliffhanger.

the_original_Retro t1_jdo6yw2 wrote on March 25, 2023 at 9:51 PM

#2,359,800

It goes all the way back to before television. A ton of radio "serial" shows had cliffhangers at their ends so you would want to turn into next week's episode to see how the heck the hero survived.

It predates TV, and predates TV series. There are hundreds in USA alone.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_old-time_radio_programs

Tigercat92 t1_jdo84hk wrote on March 25, 2023 at 10:00 PM

#2,359,926

Replying to Edm_vanhalen1981 (#2,359,785)

Same note too

crashfrog t1_jdo856y wrote on March 25, 2023 at 10:00 PM

#2,359,929

Does anyone know the trope namer for this? What was the first episodic drama to end with a guy literally hanging from a cliff?

GrumpigPlays OP t1_jdo8cce wrote on March 25, 2023 at 10:01 PM

#2,359,947

Replying to crashfrog (#2,359,929)

That is an extremely good point, and I want to know now

AmnesiaInnocent t1_jdo8ox7 wrote on March 25, 2023 at 10:04 PM

#2,359,977

Replying to crashfrog (#2,359,929)

According to Wikipedia, the term came the serialized novel A Pair of Blue Eyes by Thomas Hardy which was published in a magazine (I'm guessing one chapter in each issue?) in 1872-1873. And yes, at one point the hero is left hanging of the side of a cliff.

daninlionzden t1_jdo8uvg wrote on March 25, 2023 at 10:05 PM

#2,359,995

Replying to GrumpigPlays (#2,359,947)

Not TV, but the movie the Italian job (1969) ends this exact way - all the characters on a bus about to tip over the edge of a cliff - this is the likely origin of the phrase

daninlionzden t1_jdo8xxw wrote on March 25, 2023 at 10:06 PM

#2,360,006

Lost season finale cliffhangers were talked about all summer back in the mid-2000s

hedronist t1_jdo976b wrote on March 25, 2023 at 10:08 PM

#2,360,031

I loved Flash Gordon (1936 serial) when I was a kid. Every episode -- every episode -- ended with a situation where you just knew that Flash (or one of the other principal characters) were dead, dead, dead.

And the next week would start with a slightly different camera angle so you could see how they escaped.

WearDifficult9776 t1_jdo9byq wrote on March 25, 2023 at 10:09 PM

#2,360,046

It was a literary thing long ago

ronearc t1_jdobpwx wrote on March 25, 2023 at 10:28 PM

#2,360,285

Pretty sure it goes back to 1935's The Miracle Rider starring cowboy legend Tom Mix.

But that's what my dad, who was born in '28 told me. It may go back farther and he just wasn't aware.

MarkovCow t1_jdocjpy wrote on March 25, 2023 at 10:34 PM

#2,360,357

Replying to the_original_Retro (#2,359,800)

The storyteller in the frame narrative of one thousand and one nights kind of did the same thing too.

goatjugsoup t1_jdocren wrote on March 25, 2023 at 10:36 PM

#2,360,385

From tvtropes.org

>Named for the old Saturday matinée film serials which would frequently leave a character literally hanging from the side of a cliff, revealing how the character escaped in the next episode.

stile99 t1_jdodh6s wrote on March 25, 2023 at 10:41 PM

#2,360,455

>what was the first show to start this trend? Is it possible it was breaking bad?

No, not even remotely possible. By the 60s it was so much an established trope that Batman lampooned it.

Every. Single. Episode.

GrumpigPlays OP t1_jdodkyc wrote on March 25, 2023 at 10:42 PM

#2,360,469

Replying to hedronist (#2,360,031)

That’s really cool I’ll have to check some episodes out. That sounds way ahead of its time and I love stuff like that

GrumpigPlays OP t1_jdods5h wrote on March 25, 2023 at 10:43 PM

#2,360,489

Replying to daninlionzden (#2,360,006)

True I completely forgot about lost, I think that might actually the be the correct answer. I wasn’t necessarily saying that tv invented cliff hangers, I was just trying to figure out what popularized them. Lost is probably what did it do good intuition.

Latter_Feeling2656 t1_jdogwl6 wrote on March 25, 2023 at 11:07 PM

#2,360,805

Replying to Edm_vanhalen1981 (#2,359,785)

I don't know why anyone would downvote this. Obviously, the concept of cliffhangers predates Dallas, but if you're looking at a continuous practice in US primetime, serialization is anchored right here. They had "Who Shot JR?", Dynasty followed with several cliffhanger endings, and serialized programming became more and more common in both drama and comedy throughout the 1980s.

Edm_vanhalen1981 t1_jdoi10e wrote on March 25, 2023 at 11:16 PM

#2,360,902

Replying to Latter_Feeling2656 (#2,360,805)

Still the biggest one of my lifetime. At the time it hit every magazine, newspaper and tv show in the North America and parts of the world. This became a cultural phenomenom.

Nobodycares2022 t1_jdop9xi wrote on March 26, 2023 at 12:10 AM

#2,361,657

The show , Soap, pretty much ended every episode on a cliffhanger.

Monapomona t1_jdpc8u3 wrote on March 26, 2023 at 3:11 AM

#2,364,102

Not saying it pioneered the cliff hanger, but Dallas “Who Shot JR” was likely the most well known and quintessential.

GrumpigPlays OP t1_jdpcjgf wrote on March 26, 2023 at 3:14 AM

#2,364,134

Replying to Monapomona (#2,364,102)

What i gathered from all the responses is that Dallas probably was the first show for cliff hangers to make a major impact on the majority of tv show watchers.

Then I’m pretty sure the show Lost is was plunged it into absolutely everything afterwords. Someone mentioned how much people would talk about the Lost cliffhangers while it was airing and with how popular it was I can see it being what made in so mainstream

omnilynx t1_jdpra9x wrote on March 26, 2023 at 5:47 AM

#2,365,706

Replying to the_original_Retro (#2,359,800)

Hate to one-up you but it goes back before radio, too. Serial novels, published in newspapers and magazines, have been doing episodic cliffhangers since at least Dumas and Dickens' time.