What is the saddest episode on a TV show that you've seen?

[TheZue]

Futurama. The episode where Frye remembers his dog and how close they were and at the end Frye gets frozen but the dog doesn't know it and sits outside the pizza parlor waiting for him to return. He sits and waits through seasons and seasons until he dies. We absolutely can't watch that one here or we all start bawling.

That one is a doozy. The other futurama that makes me bawl is the one when Leela realizes she's a sewer person and it shows the flash backs of her parents looking after her as a child. I loved Futurama.

I agree about the alley McBeal when Billy died, it was so much worse because he went on about how they had been married for years which is how it really should have been...then ally told his first wife he was actually talking about her before he died. Ugh it was so sad. I wasn't expecting that at all.

 

[Tink_Or_Belle]

I cried and cried when on Growing Pains Carole Seavers boyfriend died (I think one of the guys from friends played him) He was in a wreck and she goes to see him in the hospital and he seems fine Then at the end he dies and her brother Mike has to tell her and he was always messing around with her and she didn't believe him... I think it would still make me cry if I saw it again

 

[SharpMomOfTwo]

I have two -
The last episode of Roseanne when you realize that Dan has died from the heart attack. It also reveals that Becky is really married to David, and Darlene is really married to Mark. The last episode changed the whole show around to the family REALLY being a real family that Roseanne had started to write about when (I think) Dan passed away. I know most people - at least everyone I know - thinks that Roseanne was a white trash show, but that last episode was just so sureal and so heart breakingly sad.

My other one is also Roseanne - It was the last season when Darlene has her baby, but they don't think that shes going to make it because she is so premature. I remember watching that for the first time when I was pregnant with my first. Oh my goodness they needed a forklift to get me off the couch that night I was sobbing so hard. All in all, Roseanne is a pretty white trash show (which is why I LOVE IT!), but it also had some very meaningful pieces to it, and I still watch it every morning while I work out!

 

[phamton]

On "Judging Amy" when Jared Duff dies right before his wedding to Maxine. What made it sadder was knowing that Richard Crenna (who played Jared) had really died.

 

[DisneyKT]

On "Judging Amy" when Jared Duff dies right before his wedding to Maxine. What made it sadder was knowing that Richard Crenna (who played Jared) had really died.

I forgot about that. That was sad. I liked Richard Crenna.

 

[Cool-Beans]

Mary goes blind. But, gosh, there are so many Little House episodes from which to choose.

Also Buffy's mom dying, but not in a dramatic, "cry your eyes out" kind of way. I think it is the best death episode ever, because it is so realistic.

I also was a little heartbroken at the end of the Wonder Years where he mentions that his father died a couple years (or months?) later. I'm not sure why that one "got" me so badly, just did.

 

[bekkiz]

I bawled at the ER where Dr. Green dies, as well as the final of this season of House when Amber dies.

But I had totally forgotten about the dog episode of Futurerama. I'm tearing up thinking about it. Even my DH cried at that one.

 

[Barb]

I agree with all of those mentioned. I avoid most of them because I just know I'll be sobbing again.

But the saddest episodes on TV, without a doubt, are Animal Planet's Animal Cops. I cry at every single episode. Yet I can't stop watching. The pain and sufferering of those poor animals just breaks my heart. The worst part is that you know it's real and it's really happening, every day.

 

[Traveliz]

The saddest one for me was on 8 Simple Rules. It was the first episode after John Ritter's death and they had written it into the story line. You knew that all of the emotions that you were watching were real. Those kids did an amazing job! I was bawling!

For any Guiding Light fans out there, recently for me was when Gus died. The last scene between Gus and Harley was heart wrenching.

I was going to mention that one too -- I loved John Ritter and I loved that show and you are right -- that group of actors did a great job with that episode, I felt so bad for them.

Liz

 

[Robinrs]

Another one is an episode of Fresh Prince, believe it or not. The episode where Will's father returns and just as Will's starting to connect with his father he's backing out of taking him along in his truck and may or may not be back. That last scene with Will letting out all his rage and hurt and Philip there to comfort him, and Will starts to realize that his uncle is more of a father than his father is ... definitely shows Will Smith's acting potential back then.

That got to me so hard... since my son's crappy father has done this to my son so many times...

I also cried my eyes out when the family from Good Times got the call that James died.... I had always feared losing my Dad and that one really hit me.

 

[Sleepy]

Six Feet Under. The episode when they let Nate die. It was not so much his death, but the reaction of the family. Not that death is easy for anyone, but you would expect a family who deals with the death process daily, to handle the death of a family member in a different way. It showed how raw death is and how we all handle our emotions the same way. We all have the same questions. We all try to make sense of it and it is common to lash out at other family members when a tragedy happens. I guess I was just not expecting that kind of reaction from this family, especially since the death of the dad in episode 1 was so different.

The final episode of season 1 of Ghost Whisperer. I cry with all episodes, but that one was the worst.

 

[CourtasanSatine]

Tosh and Owen being killed on Torchwood and her goodbye video afterwards.

 

[sPaRkLeSpAz]

I have a few. On Degrassi the Next Generation when J.T. was stabbed and died, I bawled my eyes out. Also during season 4 of that show when Rick shot Jimmy, and even when Rick died. That show has made me cry soo many times.

Also, during an episode of Full House when the grandfather died. That was sooooo sad, I get teary now when I watch it.

 

[barkley]

Six Feet Under. The episode when they let Nate die. It was not so much his death, but the reaction of the family. Not that death is easy for anyone, but you would expect a family who deals with the death process daily, to handle the death of a family member in a different way. It showed how raw death is and how we all handle our emotions the same way. We all have the same questions. We all try to make sense of it and it is common to lash out at other family members when a tragedy happens. I guess I was just not expecting that kind of reaction from this family, especially since the death of the dad in episode 1 was so different.

The final episode of season 1 of Ghost Whisperer. I cry with all episodes, but that one was the worst.

on the flip side-the final episode of six feet under, though full of death (we got to see how everyone lived out their lives and passed) was very uplifiting (though i was upset and shed some tears when they showed how keith was killed).

 

[marybet]

Remember when the doctor's wife died on St. Elsewhere?

lOL, I've cried through a lot of tv shows!

The end of that show when he finds they gave his wives heart to another patient and he is sitting there listening to it beat in the other woman's chest, that was so sad.

 

[EMom]

Well, most of the biggies have been mentioned already and I'll probably get flamed for this one, but being an animal lover.....

When Flower died on Meerkat Manor, I was a sobbing, nose-blowing, bleary-eyed mess. If anyone would have walked in on me watching that episode, they would have thought a close relative had died. I think I went through at least half a box of Kleenex on that one.

I'd gotten really attached to that little bitty feisty dickens.

 

[TwinsinCA]

Also, when Georgie died on General Hospital.

When/how did she die? I used to watch that show all the time but stopped a few years ago.

 

[darlak]

The final episode of M*A*S*H*. They had been hiding out on a bus with several civilians and one woman had a chicken with her. It kept squawking and Hawkeye kept telling her to keep it quiet so they wouldn’t be detected. Finally she just killed it.

Through flashbacks in Hawkeye's therapy sessions, we finally learned that it hadn't been a chicken at all. It was her own baby that the woman killed. I've never even seen that episode in reruns, but it remains my vote for the saddest ever.

 

[TwinsinCA]

There was an episode during ER's first season called 'Love's Labor Lost' about a woman who dies in childbirth. That episode and the one where Greene dies were the two saddest I remember on that show.

I also agree with those who mentioned the GA epsisode where Denny dies. It was just on a few weeks ago and I cried all over again.

I also agree about BJ's death on GH. Makes me teary just thinking about it.


ETA: sorry I didn't read the whole thread before posting and didn't see someone else mentioned that episode of ER! I see it left an impression on others as well.

 

[KirklandTutu]

There's another Wonder Years one that gets me.

One of Kevin's teachers passes away. If I remember correctly, the teacher was trying to push him because he saw potential in him, but Kevin, being of middle school age, hated that fact and said some nasty things to him. I can't remember if Kevin tells the teacher how much he respects him before, or after the teacher dies. Either way, oh boy, break out the kleenexes.

...and, can Hallmark comemrcials count? or is that a whole other thread?