WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD — If you haven’t yet watched Thursday’s episode of “Scandal,” you may not want to keep reading.
Thursday night’s shocking death on “Scandal” left the show’s longtime fans in an overwrought state (much like its hyperventilating characters). James Novak (Dan Bucatinsky) was a White House press secretary who had seen too much — namely, a videotape showing the vice president killing her husband. He had to go. Novak’s husband, White House chief of staff Cyrus Beene (Jeff Perry), knew he had to go. And so he was gunned down — shot in the back by B-613 commander Jake (Scott Foley) as he tried to run away. His sudden death was paired with a series of flashbacks that showed his meeting with Cyrus and their eventual falling in love. Viewers were undone, to put it mildly.
Novak’s parting recalls the other unexpected deaths of television characters over the years — and other very sad TV moments.
So here is our list of TV’s 10 saddest moments, in no particular order.
The series finale of ‘M*A*S*H’ (1983)
Yeah, yeah, we know. This one’s predictable. But still . . . over 105 million viewers tuned in to watch Hawkeye (Alan Alda), Hot Lips (Loretta Swit), Klinger (Jamie Farr), et al., bid a fond farewell to the 4077th as the Korean War drew to a close.
Dr. Mark Greene’s death on ‘ER’ (2002)
Sad-sack Dr. Greene (Anthony Edwards) was already divorced from his wife and alienated from his daughter, Rachel, when he was diagnosed with an aggressive terminal brain tumor. He eventually reconciled with Rachel, who comes to visit him while he’s in the hospital. Mark gives Rachel some touching, fatherly advice before Rachel slips a pair of headphones on Mark with the song “Over the Rainbow” playing as he drifts off into death. A four-hankie moment.
The series finale of ‘Six Feet Under’ (2005)
The five-season HBO series, about a family of undertakers in LA, shocked viewers not once, but twice. First, beloved main character Nate Fisher (Peter Krause) died after suffering a second stroke. Then, the series finale featured a “flash-forward” vignette, showing how all of the show’s other main characters would die (some fairly soon, others many years later). It was an affecting, poignant reminder of the fragility of life that still resonates with the show’s fans.
The murder of Adriana La Cerva, ‘The Sopranos’ (2007)
She was doomed. When tough-talking mob moll Adriana (Drea de Matteo) was coerced by a female FBI agent into becoming a mole, we knew her days were numbered. The stress was unbearable. Adriana couldn’t sleep at night. She developed colitis. When Christopher (Michael Imperioli) put it all together, he had to tell Tony (James Gandolfini) that his girlfriend was a snitch. One day, Silvio (Steven Van Zandt) took Adriana for a ride in his big car. They drove into the woods. She knew he wasn’t a nature boy. He stopped the car and she got out, knowing that he was going to shoot her. She ran. Not far.
Charlie dies on ‘Lost’ (2007)
Charlie Pace, played by Dominic Monaghan in the ABC drama, was a rock star/heroin addict before crash-landing on the island, but became a doting boyfriend for Claire (Emilie de Ravin) and father figure to her infant son. Tragedy struck him in the third-season finale, though, when, after volunteering to swim to the Looking Glass station to shut off the device blocking transmissions to the island, the room flooded. Charlie heroically locked himself inside to spare Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick) and drowned, but not before warning him by writing the message on his hand “Not Penny’s Boat.”
Denny Duquette dies on ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ (2009)
Denny (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) suffered from congestive heart failure and was a patient of Dr. Preston Burke’s (Isaiah Washington). He had a very hard time trying to get a heart transplant, and when his hopes were dashed, he became a DNR patient. And then Izzie Stevens (Katherine Heigl) fell in love with him. He eventually proposed to her and eventually got his heart transplant — but later died because he threw a blood clot off of the stitches in his chest which went to his brain. When his father came to meet Izzie after Denny’s death, he told Izzie that Denny was rich and had written her a check for $8.7 million. The money he had given to Izzie was used to establish the Denny Duquette Memorial Clinic.
Lady Sybil Crawley dies on ‘Downton Abbey’ (2013)
Lady Sybil (Jessica Brown Findlay) was the most beautiful of the Crawley daughters and the first to marry. Her choice, the family chauffeur Tom Branson (Allen Leech), was unconventional — but the family eventually warmed to him when they saw how happy he made their darling. When Sybil became pregnant, she moved in with her family again. On the night she went into labor, complications developed and Sybil died after giving birth, of preeclampsia. Not a dry eye in the house.
The ‘Red Wedding’ episode of ‘Game of Thrones’ (2013)
The HBO drama doesn’t shy away from killing off characters, but the gruesome murders of King Robb Stark, his wife, Queen Talisa, his mother, Lady Catelyn, and a slew of Stark soldiers at the wedding of Edmure Tully and Roslin Frey in the penultimate episode of Season 3 had fans reeling for weeks. The massacre was so traumatic, it spawned an Internet meme of people posting videos of their shocked reactions while viewing the episode.
‘Family Guy’ kills off Brian the dog (2013)
Fans of the Fox ’toon were outraged when the beloved Griffin family pooch was hit by a car and killed in a November 2013 episode, spawning a Twitter hashtag and a petition urging producers to resurrect the talking, sarcastic dog who was a constant companion to baby Stewie. Turns out their sadness was short-lived, however, as the character was brought back to life just weeks later — after Stewie used his time machine to travel back and save Brian from the speeding car.
Cory Monteith tribute episode on ‘Glee’ (2013)
After the 31-year-old actor died last summer of an accidental drug overdose, the Fox dramedy had to deal with writing his character, Finn Hudson, out of the show (made even sadder by his real-life romance with co-star Lea Michele). In the October episode “The Quarterback,” the New Directions learn of Finn’s death (though the cause was never addressed) and paid tribute to his life, including a heartbreaking rendition of “Make You Feel My Love” sung by Rachel (Michele).