Cliffhangers and plot twists are the bread and butter oftelevision. What’s a better way tokeep audiences interested in a showthan giving the programs they love an unexpected turn? But cliffhangers and plot twistshave to be tasteful, not justsomething done for shock valueand for the fun of it.
Though shows today are full of them, greatly unexpected moments have always existed; just watch any TV show of the1980s. Each must have had at least one cliffhanger or plot twist that kept viewers watching and returning to them. Here are the ten best TV plot twists and cliffhangers of the ’80s thatmade a lasting impact on storytelling, television, and audiences.
10Sid’s Car Dives Off a Cliff
‘Knots Landing’ Season 2, Episode 18
Knots Landingwas a spin-off ofDallas, and it was incredibly popular among bothDallasfans and others who wanted a new primetime soap opera to watch.Knots Landingwasn’t afraid to step out of the pattern of pandering to audiences, and viewers witnessed that when fan-favorite Sid Fairgate (Don Murray) got into a car accident at the end of season 2. This season finale was a massive shocker for people who were cheering for Sid, especially since season 2 was complex for him.
Knots Landingfocused on families living in a coastal suburb of Los Angeles; among them was Sid Fairgate, a car company owner who has a wife and three children. Other characters come from all walks of life, andthe show revolves around the drama that constantly surrounds them. Interestingly, the drama went off the rails often, makingKnots Landinga serious nighttime soap opera. When Sid learns about a plot with some stolen car parts, it turns out his car was tampered with, too; this causes his brakes to fail and his car to dive off a cliff. Fans had to wait only a month to find out what happened to Sid, but it was the longest wait with such a cliffhanger.
Knots Landing
9Sonny Crockett’s Amnesia
‘Miami Vice’ Season 4, Episode 22
Miami Vicewas one of the most watchedand loved primetime series; it lasted for five seasons, with the last one introducing a very different side to Sonny Crockett (Don Johnson). Thus far a hero,Sonny gets into an accident at the end of season 4, when a boat explodes. Sonny survives but loses his memory and reverts to his undercover persona, Sonny Burnett. This plot twist was a gritty, noir-ish turn for a show that was most known for style over substance in its beginning.
At the end of season 4, Sonny’s newly assumed identity is formed, and the season ends with him believing he’s a dangerous crime lord and drug dealer. Fans waited between May and November 1988 to see whether Sonny was going to remember his real identity, butSonny assumed his drug-dealing persona throughout the first half of season five. This plot twist also very suddenly turnedMiami Viceinto a darker series, a shift thatultimately got it canceled. After the trouble with time slots and frequent showrunner changes, it’s great that fans still got a conclusion, and one with Sonny Crockett coming back to his real self.
Miami Vice
8KITT Gets Destroyed
‘Knight Rider’ Season 3, Episode 14
Knight Riderwas another cool show that aired in a primetime slot onNBC; though it gained a faithful, cult following, it was canceled after four seasons, most likely due to consistent negative reviews from critics at the time and increasing budget demands. Still, modern critics agreeKnight Riderleft a lasting legacy and had interesting episodesthat drove audiences to return during the show’s four-year run.
Knight Riderwas about justice seeker and former detective Michael Knight (David Hasselhoff), who was in an accident and whose face and identity were redone by a tech billionaire, Wilton Knight. Knight gave Michaelan artificially intelligent car with numerous weapons and perks, called KITT;Michael and KITT solved crimes that the cops usually couldn’t. This awesome premisewas ahead of its time, it seems, but for hardcore fans, it was a sign of the future and of a great show. That’s why, when KITT got lured into a pit of acid and nearly melted completely, fans were devastated. After all, KITT was the hero of the show and his apparent destruction hooked and stunned viewers of all ages.
Knight Rider
7The Airplane Crash
‘Falcon Crest’ Season 3, Episode 28
Falcon Crestwas often called “Dallaswith grapes,” butit managed to pull out of the stereotype and gain fame and admiration from audienceswho enjoyed its very dramatic premise. Nowadays, we could compareYellowstoneto it, maybe evenLandman, sinceFalcon Crestwas specifically about wine industry families feuding with each other about, well, who had better wine and more connections. The show was set in the fictional version of the Napa Valley, titled Tuscany Valley, and the warring families were Gioberti and Channing.
Falcon Cresttruly embraced its comparisons toDallasduring its nine-season run, mostly in its shock tactics. While the first couple of seasons had a murder mystery at their core, thebiggest cliffhanger of the show was the season three finale. It showed most of the main characters boarding a private jet, which soon started malfunctioning and eventually crashed. Fans waited between May and September 1984 to find out who, if anyone, had survived that disastrous crash.Falcon Crestraised the bar with this cliffhanger, since it also killed off three of its leads in the accident.
Falcon Crest
6The UFO Abduction
‘The Colbys’ Series Finale, Episode 49
You know when we said in the intro that plot twists and cliffhangers had to be tasteful and believable?The Colbys' showrunners really said, “No, thanks,” and decided on devising one ofthe most deviously surprising plot twists/cliffhangers of, basically, all time. You read that correctly—they introduced a UFO abduction in the series finale.The Colbyswas aDynastyspin-off, and it followed the Colby family, one of the wealthy conglomerate owners that were connected to another wealthy family, the Carringtons.The Colbyslasted for two seasons, between 1985 and 1987.
InThe Colbys, audiences followed several members ofthe Colby and Carrington families, and it was outlandish from beginning to end. There was involvement of the KGB, beefing with the oil industry, murder, plane crashes, unwanted babies, affairs, romances, and death everywhere.In the season 2 finale,Fallon Carrington (Emma Samms)gets abducted by a UFO, giving the already bleak soap opera an even crazier tonal shiftinto science fiction. This proved to be too jarring for fans who just wanted to watch a dramatic plot, thus ending the show for good. It’s truly one of TV’s most bizarre cliffhangers of all time.
The Colbys
5The Snow Globe Plot Twist
‘St. Elsewhere’ Series Finale, Episode 137
Whoever thought of the “it was all a dream” plot twist isa genius of its own kind, though today, that’s one of the cheesiest plot twists in storytelling. DuringSt. Elsewhere’s storied run, it wasone ofthe most hypnotizing medical dramason television, andit won numerous awards, nominations, and critical acknowledgment. It launchedDenzel WashingtonandTim Robbinsinto superstardom and, with its unusual series finale, became one of the most debated shows ever.
This will spoil the show, so read at your own peril—but it might also help you pay attention to details if you plan to watch it.St. Elsewherewas set in a fictional St. Eligius Hospital in Boston, which is a teaching hospital and educates medical professionals. The show was gritty and realistic and employed a large ensemble cast who took part in one or two plotlines across seasons. It was a big deal, andwhen the series finale aired, many people thought it diminished its entirety. The plot twist at the end shows that St. Eligius and its characters were alla figment of one autistic boy’s imagination, turning the medical drama into a philosophical head trip. This prompted critics and analysts to create aTommy Westphall Universe hypothesis, which is the name of that boy.
St. Elsewhere
4Diane Leaves Sam
‘Cheers’ Season 5, Episode 26
The slice-of-life comedy set in a bar where regular patrons hang out with the bar’s owner, Sam (Ted Danson), was one of the biggest shows on TV when it aired. Even reruns were watched with adoration, asCheersintroduced some warmth and enjoyment into primetime televisionwithout leaning on ludicrous plot twists thatDallasandDynastyfrequently employed. However,Cheersdid leave fans hanging after one specific episode, which was the season five finale titled “I Do, Adieu.”
Throughout season five, Sam and hison-and-off girlfriend Diane(Shelley Long) are going back and forth about getting married. Even the season four finale was a cliffhanger, as Sam proposed to Diane over the phone; she rejected him because she expected a much better proposal, and so Sam spends season five getting Diane what she wants. In the finale, the wedding is on, but Diane’s ex comes to tell her he sent one of her book manuscripts to a publisher, and they want her to finish it;the condition is, Diane must leave Sam and Boston. Though she doesn’t want to, Sam insists on her following her dreams; selfless and loving as Sam was in the scene, his sacrifice was overshadowedby Diane’s shocking exitthat’s still remembered by fans everywhere.
3The Moldavian Massacre
‘Dynasty’ Season 5, Episode 29
The Moldavian Massacre is the name of the events that take place in the season five finale ofDynasty, titled “Royal Wedding.” It sounds terribly ominous or like a euphemism, but when it aired on TV,it was the biggest, boldest, and (the second)most shocking season finalein soap opera history. ThoughDynastyheld on for four more seasons, many critics considered “The Moldavian Massacre” to be the flashiest and loudest bang for the show, after which everything just felt underwhelming. A great cliffhanger can also be detrimental to a show, asDynastyseems to prove.
“Royal Wedding” was set in Moldavia, and the wedding was betweenAlexis Carrington’s (Joan Collins)daughter, Amanda (Catherine Oxenberg), and her beau, Prince Michael of Moldavia (Michael Praed). Just as the celebration was at its peak,a military coup started in Moldavia and a group of terrorists crashed the wedding, mowing down everyone attending. It was a real bloodbath and a shocking plot twist that also ended up being a cliffhanger, after which people waited between May and September 1985 to see its aftermath. This episode was so shocking that it briefly madeDynastythe number one show in the US.
2Magnum Gets Shot
‘Magnum P.I.’ Season 7, Episode 22
Magnum P.I.was a banger showthat, at its peak, ended up as the third most-watched series of the 1982-83 season. It consistently stayed in the top 20 most viewed shows during its airing and ended after eight seasons and 162 episodes. Interestingly enough, thecliffhanger that madeMagnum P.I.so memorable and intense was supposed to be the series finale, but it seemed people were so unhappy with it thatCBShad to order a whole new final season. It makes sense why people were unhappy—Magnum (Tom Selleck) apparently diesat the end of season seven.
To rewind a bit, the episode opens with Magnum entering a dangerous and flashy shootout at a dockside warehouse.He gets fatally wounded and ends up in a coma, and the episode follows him in a gentle, bright light, while he’s able to hear and see his friends watching over him in real life. This was meant to be a near-spiritual send-off for a great television hero, and the episode, aptly titled “Limbo,” has an 8.7/10 rating on IMDb. Its tone and the ambiguity of Magnum’s fate raised the show to a level above light crime fare; still, fans didn’t want to let this slide, and Magnum wakes up in season eight.
Magnum P.I.
1Who Shot J.R.?
‘Dallas’ Season 3, Episode 25
The gold standard of TV cliffhangers, the crème de la crème of soap opera royalty,Dallas' plot twist/cliffhanger shooting of J.R. Ewing (Larry Hagman). This event hadn’t only made J.R. a bigger and more prominent character throughout the series, butit gave CBS creative freedom to orchestrate a brilliant marketing strategythat is known to this day as “Who Shot J.R.?” The mystery of who pulled the trigger dominated newspaper headlines and undoubtedly sparked a ton of watercooler chatter across global offices. Fans waited between May and November 1980 to find out who pulled the trigger.
InDallas,the Ewing family are oil magnates, andthey continuously get into feuds with the local cattle ranchers who refuse to sell their land for oil.The Ewings are, of course, ruthless, cruel, and incredibly wealthy, and J.R. Ewing himself is a massive antagonist. He was described as egocentric, greedy, and manipulative, so the list of suspects included everyone else in the series. Around 83 million Americans tuned in to see the reveal of the shooter, and even international audiences became intrigued; apparently, a session of the Turkish parliament was cut short so that legislators could go home and watch it. “Who Shot J.R.?“changed how serialized TV was written and marketed, and many would say, for good.
