Everyone knows that a TV show doesn’t truly become your favourite until it’s reached out of the television, ripped your heart out through your tear ducts, and chowed down on it with some fava beans and a nice chianti.?
Dig out the man-size Kleenex and a pint of full-fat cookie dough ice cream, because if you’re not a sobbing mess by the end of this list then you just might be a heartless shell, completely devoid of feeling. That, or a character in Game Of Thrones. In which case, welcome to the 21st Century and thank you for being able to stop feeling up your sister long enough to read this.
1. – Brian Griffin, Family Guy
Let’s get this one out the way, since it’s been such a sore spot as of late. It’s never nice when a family pet dies, and it’s even worse when not even your diabolical toddler’s time machine can save him. It’s not the saddest cartoon dog death to appear on this list – just you wait – but Brian still deserves his moment. Until they bring him back in the next season, that is.
2. – Mr Heckles, Friends
He was the grumpiest character in the history of 90’s sitcoms and only ever appeared when he wanted to royally fuck things up, but the reason that The One Where Mr Heckles Dies was one of the saddest TV deaths ever was the effect that his death had on the rest of the group. He kidnaps Ross’ monkey and dresses it in a pink tutu, he chased away Chandler’s fashion-photographer roommate with the porn star sister and he tried to kidnap Paolo’s innocent cat, yet his death still manages to give Chandler a life-changing epiphany. Don’t say that you didn’t tear up the last time you heard “Goodbye, Mr Heckles. We’ll try to keep it down.”
3. Amber – House M.D
In the words of Dr Greg House, “Cutthroat Bitch” met her tragic and agonizingly slow demise hooked up to some machines next to a sobbing Wilson, after the bus she was on got into a fight with a garbage truck. Much like a certain someone else who appears later on in this list, we somehow go from hating everything this character does to angrily shaking our fists at the sky and wondering why we we ever started watching this damn show. ?However, Amber never let a little thing like being dead stand in the way of her screen time – she pops up inside House’s head as his subconscious later on in the show, and the show is better off for it.
Honourable Mention – Kutner. We never actually see his death, but that’s fitting because it came out of left field and totally socked us round the face, then left without a word.?
4. Ben Sullivan – Scrubs
Nobody watches Scrubs expecting to be sobbing into their cup of tea. Ben Sullivan – Dr Cox’s well-meaning younger brother – seemingly came back for one episode to help celebrate his nephew’s birthday. Family fun and frolicks, right? No, because he dies of cardiac arrest and after a homage to The Sixth Sense, a heartbroken Dr Cox comes to the realization that he’s at his own brother’s funeral rather than his son’s first birthday. Don’t even get me started on Laverne.
5. Anyone And Everyone – Blackadder Goes Forth
Isn’t it always the comedy shows that catch you off guard? This is the oldest reference on the list – I was born in the nineties, so sue me – but it’s still the most poignant and still hits a raw nerve even twenty four years after it first aired. They dangle a happy ending in front of your face and then swipe it away and send every last man gets sent over the top to face the guns, no matter what cunning plan he had up his sleeve. Boom boom boom, boom, boom boom boom.
6. Lori Grimes – The Walking Dead
Lori Grimes was such ?a godawful character that at times, she almost came back full circle and arrived at a genius character. Her death was one of those times. She stopped fucking things up long enough to actually make the audience warm to her in her final moments, thanks to a tearful monologue, the phrase “take care of your daddy for me”, and the fact that she was being cut open to save the life of her unborn kiddo. It still kind of sucks that T-Dog’s death had to play second fiddle to Lori, but why ruin the general theme of the entire three seasons?
7. Every character you ever loved – Game Of Thrones
They say that killing off your main character shows poor writing skills. George R. R. Martin says nothing to this, because he is too busy laughing maniacally and bathing in the tears of every Game Of Thrones fan ever. EVER. Eddard, Drogo, Robb, Cat, the wolves, Talisa, take your pick. Each one picked off without any thought for the poor fans at home, although on the plus side, it does get easier to keep track of who’s who without having to pause and Google it.
8. Seymour Asses – Futurama
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5peiLlHdvo
“Seymour? Who’s that?” I hear you ask. Well, you’ve just scrolled past the video, so obviously by this point you know that it’s a dog. Fry’s dog, to be exact. When Fry finds her fossilized remains, he decides not to bring her back to life because she must have carried on with her life after him and found new owners.
What he doesn’t know is that Seymour loyally waited outside the pizza shop where Fry worked before he was frozen, waiting for her master to come back for twelve whole years, until she finally gave up, exhausted and elderly. C’mon, dead dogs always tug at the heart strings.
So there’s the list as it stands today. Seeing as it contains Game Of Thrones and Walking Dead, it will probably need updating next year with at least five more beloved characters each.
As ever, please feel free to add your own and let me know exactly how stupid and wrong my decisions are in the comments section below. Bonus points for creative death threats.
boR says
No Walter white?!?!?!
advizor54 says
OMGOSH!!! How can you leave out Dr. Green (Anthony Edwards) from ER. I still tear up every time I hear IZ’s version of “Over the rainbow” that overlayed his last scene. He was the heart, soul, and conscious of that show and it was a crushing loss.
Patient Zero says
huge oversight, Colonel Blake on MASH.
Hotel says
umm…six feet under
j says
matthew crawley on downton abbey
Charlie says
Tommy Merlyn on ‘Arrow’
Jule says
Ben Sullivan
Kerry says
Detective Carter on “Person of Interest.” What a waste of a great character.
Mike says
Somebody should kill this list.
George “Grey’s Anatomy”
Lem “The Shield” (and again on Sons of Anarchy no less)
Mark “Grey’s Anatomy”
Kate “NCIS”
Mike says
Opie “Sons of Anarchy”
John Peter says
The Lonely Gunners from The X Files
Chelley says
Um, hello. Tara and Joyce from Buffy. Serious oversights.
Ash says
Actually, Ben was Jordan and Danni’s brother, not Dr Cox’s
ME623 says
Jimmy Smits on NYPD BLUE
Francisco says
Xena Warrior Princess, they killed her off in the penultimate episode to the series finale and stayed, as a ghost, in the final episode. When her sidekick/lover Gabrielle was about to return her back to life, Xena’s ghost stopped her. She (the writers) gave he excuse that because she killed so many innocent people back when she was a villain those souls must be avenged. So, basically they throw the whole 6 years of the show about forgiveness and the very end they decided that vengeance was the way to go because the writers couldn’t find a way to give the show a befitting end.
Hillary McGuire says
Sid from Knots Landing
Sarah says
SEYMOUR. Why did you have to remind me of that episode? That episode left me audibly sobbing like a baby, and still does.
Lynn Duncan (Seamonkey) says
Really? This was compiled by someone with a very short memory. I actually watched none of these shows.
Dr Mark Greene, Henry Blake.. George Definitely second all of these and early in er, Lucy’s death was especially shocking ..
Johnny says
Brian Griffin? No one cares about a show that hasn’t been good since season six and has been decreasing in popularity since.
Mickey says
No Joyce, Tara or Anya from Buffy the Vampire Slayer??? Are u fuckin’ serious???
Eric says
Ummm The Brandon Frasier character was Cox’s Brother in Law, if your going to put it on a list at least be accurate
Nathan says
Ok, lets see now,
David Tennant’s Doctor in Doctor Who
Jinksy in Warehouse 13 (altho much like Brian from Fam guy, not for long)
Most of the family members that died either before or after their Extreme Makeover Home Edition.
There probly more, but thats just off top of my head.
Sue says
The character Rosalind Shays from LA Law steps into the empty shaft. That totally stunned me.
Lige says
Edith Bunker
Nicole says
Tara? Joyce?
Sybil?
Winne says
HOW CAN YOU LEAVE OUT THE TIME WHEN BBC’S SHERLOCK JUMPED OFF BARTS???????????????????
Jay says
I can’t believe that they killed off Mathew, very subtle but a strong player in the series!
ashley says
Opie or tara from soa?
Kim says
Charlie in LOST! I was so upset I didn’t watch again for a year!
Sandy says
Tommy’s not dead.
Zach says
Ben Sullivan is Cox’s former brother-in-law… Scrubs actually made me cry a few times… Rest are good too, loving the “every character” for GoT
Darius says
Opie….Tara….or Clay from Son’s of Anarchy? William White? James from Goodtimes? Omar or Stringer Bell from the Wire? If the death isn’t epic or evoke tears it shouldn’t be on the list.
Darius says
Also Lori from the Walking Dead’s death does not compare to Hershel’s or Shane’s death
Domonique says
Joyce, Anya, Spike, Jenny from Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Dani says
What about Charlie, Sun and Jin from Lost? Those were awful deaths that fans couldn’t let go of for the longest time.
Ianto from Torchwood. And Owen and Tosh.
Jenna from Vampire Diaries.
CJ says
Rue from The Hunger Games
Oprah says
The Walking Dead is highly overrated in general and Lori was a TERRIBLY written and acted, as are ALL of the female leads on that show.
Daryl’s storyline is interesting….and that’s it.
I was happy to see them all go. I stopped watching months ago so Hershel’s death is actually a welcome surprise…overacting hack.
Oprah says
Agreed
Oprah says
HAHAHAHA ya, so tragic….did I say tragic? I meant unbelievably boring.
bluecoffeetable says
King Arthur, from BBC’s MERLIN!!!! It was the most tragic death ever!!!!
bbeck says
I couldn’t even watch that last episode that we had recorded when I found out what happened. How could they do that to us?
NV Rick says
What about Debra Morgan and Nick Brody?
Fatboy67801 says
Misty Day from American Horror Story: Coven. I LOVED her!
di says
seriously ? NO FINN?
JB Samson says
Adriana from The Sopranos
shanny88 says
George- Greys Anatomy
Edith says
So nice to see in the comments that, while Joyce, Tara and Anyanka may have met their untimely ends, BtVS still lives on in the hearts and minds of its fans!
(All bow to Joss…)