Favorite Friday Cliffhangers

[Eric83]

What are some of you guys' favorite Friday cliffhangers.

Most of mine are from GL in the 90's since that was the only soap I was able to follow year-round then.

I will post some of those later, as my memory is a little clouded.

Some recent ones are:

GL- Annie threw herself down the stairs.

During Reva's stalker storyline, and the stalker called in and they traced the address and realized it was the Spaulding Mansion.

When Harley was shot.

When a pregnant Olivia tripped, and went tumbling down a flight of stairs.

When Reva "died" from her cancer.

When Philip was shot and "killed".

DAYS- When Marlena arrived to Melaswen, and saw Alice. (Stupid story, but I had no idea what was coming so pleasently suprised.)

(Many of favorite DAYS' cliffhangers are from the SSK story.)

There are tons more, especially with Passions. Many of JER's cliffhangers would be fanatsies and false tags, etc. but they were really good.

What about you guys?

[Michael]

There was a great one in July '97 on Days, when Josh Taylor as the recast Roman was introduced. John and Marlena were getting married, and right before the ceremony was set to begin, Kristen marched into the bridal party's room dressed all in red. Marlena was like, "Um, get lost. John's over you," and Kristen just stood there smirking. Then she had this man brought in in a wheelchair, with his face all bandaged up. Marlena looked him over, gasped, and said, "No, it can't be!" And Kristen smirked back at her and went, "It is. It's Roman Brady." It was SO GOOD, and I wasn't reading spoilers then, so I literally had no idea they were bringing Roman on.

[Eric83]

I've seen that clip on Youtube, it was really good. Was JER still writing DAYS then?

[Michael]

Yeah! It was the very end of his first tenure, like two months before he left. Stuff was happening so fast. I'm rewatching it now, though, and of course all the lead-up scenes through the episode are Marlena thanking (presumably dead) Roman for giving them his blessing, and telling John how nothing will keep them apart, and mentioning Roman 12,000 times.

[catsmeouch]

1997, particularly May-September but basically from January-November, was a great year for Days. Totally at its best. That's when JER paid off many of his biggest stories: Kristen was exposed, John and Marlena reunited, Will was revealed to be Lucas' son, Carrie and Austin got married...so great!

The only Friday cliffhanger that I can remember vividly is when Franco Kelly attacked Kate with a fire poker. Suddenly, a shot rings out and Franco falls down dead. Kate turns around to take a look at the shooter and gasps in shock. Most of us knew/guessed it was Lucas, but it could've been a lot of people. Good storytelling from Sally Sussman-Morina. In fact, her work in 1998 was a pretty good follow-up to JER's run (the Killing Pool stands out as Sally's classic/epic/best story from her run).

[LoyaltoAMC]

AMC, circa May 1987. Travis, who's running for political office, is being blackmailed by a guy who thinks that Travis is the father of Yvonnne's baby. For some reason this one sticks in my mind. These were the days before spoilers, and Travis's and Yvonne's (who was involved in Jesse/Angie's story) stories hadn't had any crossover during the five or so months each of them was playing out. They came together at that one Friday cliffhanger, which I remember being shocked at. Definitely hadn't seen that coming. What was also interesting about the story was the implication that Travis, who was white, could father a baby with Yvonne, who was black. Travis turned out not to be the father, but interracial romance stories, even the hint of one, were rarely done at the time, and I found that aspect pretty fascinating. Also, during that weekend, while waiting for the scene to pick back up on Monday, some huge real-life political scandal broke (possibly Gary Hart/Donna Rice, don't recall which one), so it was all very timely.

[alwaysAMC]

AMC - Helga wheeling in Angelique Marick at Wildwind during Dimitri/Natalie's wedding reception. Holy cow - shocking, creepy, suspenseful... AMAZING.

I tried to find the clip on YouTube - no luck. Here are two promos basically about the story/scene:

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Mardi Gras explosion also ranks pretty high for me.... along with the two tornados (first one moreso than second one...of course).

[bellcurve]

I'm focusing on just cliffhangers as a whole and not just the ones on Fridays.

-My favorite cliffhanger of all time came from the MTV soap, Spyder Games. Newly gay and out Ivan asks his online friend "Buddy"(who had convinced him to stop seeing the sex therapist and to divorce his wife) why he was a no-show at last night's rave. Camera pans to someone typing on a computer to reveal Natalia, Ivan's sister, is the one who's been chatting with him online as payback for choosing to side with her brother, Dmitri, over her. There were no advanced spoilers or warnings beyond, maybe, the first week and that moment was actually more shocking than the predictable Taylor being Boris Carlile's murderer.

Other Favorite Cliffhangers:

Sunset Beach:

-Earthquake and Tsunami disasters

Port Charles:

-The Nurses Walk Out on the hospital as everyone stands around, shocked. Alan Quartermaine passes by the desk and angrily says, "Will somebody answer the damn phones?"

-Frank gets shot at the Recovery Room.

-Julie tells Lucy that Christina is her daughter.

[Paul Raven]

I'm guessing the Salem Strangler reveal was on a Friday.

i still remember Y&R in the 70's when Jill visited Katherine and as they were bitching to each other,Jill grabbed a letter opener in the final scene.

In true Y&R fashion of the time Katherine conducted the whole conversation with her back to Jill.The next episode it continued,but Jill just put the opener down and left.

[Soapsuds]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gxyJJh48JU

The Carolyn Crawford Murder Revealed

The actual reveal wasnt that great but the cliffhanger was!!

[soapfan770]

Another extremely memorable Friday cliffhanger on GL in 1997 in addition to Reva "pushing" Annie down the stairs was this:

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The date of this was 11/21, not 10/23 as the video says. I remember it because I was snowed in that day too.

[Sedrick]

I had just been writing about this very topic in my notebook the other day planning to start a thread, and a great mind beat me to it!

The Friday cliffhanger is one of my most favorite aspects of the classic daytime soap. Back in the good old days, the Friday cliffhanger was a signature event not to be missed...the better writers of daytime knew how to bring things to a fever pitch on a Friday, making the viewer think that all hell was about to break loose...Friday's final moments were like a hit of a powerful and addictive drug, and the viewers were hooked fiends..and there was no doubt whatsoever that you would tune in on Monday (for the obliglatory replay of the final five minutes or so of Friday's show) to get that next fix!

In my twenty-five plus years of viewing I have witnessed some spectacular Fridays cliffhangers, so I'll have to post seperately for the different shows. I'll start with the show that during the 1980's was truly the master at the Friday close...ONE LIFE TO LIVE...

*I still remember to this day the tension-filled courtroom drama in either 1985 when Tina Lord was put on trial for the murder of Harry O'Neill. Tina was of course innocent, as Mitch Laurence had shot Harry dead intending to frame Viki/Niki Smith for the crime...but the only eyewitness to the shooting who could clear Tina was Niki, who had since retreated back into the depths of Viki's psyche with no intentions of coming out again. However, on a Friday, poor Viki took the stand, and Tina's attorney, Pete O'Neill (Harry's brother) grilled her so hard that Viki couldn't take it anymore. Suddenly, Viki's head began to slowly turn round and round as it always did when Niki was about to emerge. Clint jumped out of his seat in fury as he watched his wife slip away and Niki Smith take control. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!!!! NOW WE MAY NEVER GET HER BACK!!!" Clint roared at Pete as the background music swelled before the show faded to black...

*A year later, Mitch was again wreaking havoc as he set up his cult of iced tea drugged female disciples in the Waterside Inn. He was fleecing the mostly wealthy young girls of their money, and journalist Cassie Callison went undercover to expose him. Unfortunately, Mitch was on to her, and on a Friday afternoon poor Cassie found herself drugged out of her mind in Mitch's Waterside Inn suite. As Cassie lay on the sofa, dastardly Mitch leered over her, preparing to rape the poor girl. Then suddenly just as Mitch had jumped on top of Cassie, there was a loud crash and thud, and the evil con man fell off Cassie, landing dead on the hardwood floor...he had been murdered, but just who had delivered the fatal blow to his head?

*Tina going over the falls in 1987. Enough said.

*1987, Tina and Max at the the altar getting married when OOPS!!! Tina blurts out "I take thee Cord"!

*Although technically I don't think it was a Friday (more likely a Thursday, but the show didn't air that Friday), the 1987 Thanksgiving show, when Delilah left the holiday celebrations at Llanfair in a limo on her way to the airport to go to either NYC or Hollywood to realize her dream of becoming a star. However, one of those infamous Llantano blizzards set in and the limo got stuck. Delilah would not be stopped though! She jumped out of the limo and declared that she would walk to the airport if she had to! She promptly disappeared for over a year and was presumed dead until...

*In 1988, the faux-Bo storyline, which seemed to last FOREVER (but in a good, suspenseful way), got the final scenes EVERY Friday, and the tension kept building and building every week! The two Fridays cliffhangers I remember best were when Didi marched into the party the Leightons were throwing at Stonecrest, and then the one in which Delilah and Lord Henry were in the park and she was almost spotted. Then of course the tragic Friday when faux-Bo/Patrick London pulled sweet Didi onto the electrified fence with him, killing them both...

MORE MEMORIES TO COME!!!

[DRW50]

Thanks for that clip Ruxton Hills, I always thought that last scene was from another ATWT scene!

My favorite Friday cliffhanger was when Daryl jumped on the ski lift as Frannie tried to flee. I was terrified by that, that was the cliffhanger that truly kept me waiting.

[Mitch]

Very simply..."Heelllooo, Bar Ba RA!"

McKenkie Castle was rebuilt in Oakdale (dont ask) and people started to see Monks floating around the grounds, rumour started flying that it was haunted (I guess the ghosts flew across the ocean) and while it actually WAS haunted, a revelation we find out a few years later(once again, dont ask, anything McKenkie castle that Marland wrote really kinda sucked compared to the rest of the show) but the Monks were really drug traffickers (I think???) that the Jokedale PD were investigating. Babs, in a room at the castle at night (she was screwing Humpy Steroid Duncan) a secret passage opens, a monk with a hood on comes out....he pulls the hood off and its James Freakin' Stenbeck.

Okay,it seems dumb now, but at the time, there were no spoilers,no internet, I had no idea James was coming back, and this was his first resurrection, they hadnt beaten the James drum to death yet.

The other great Friday revelation was Marion Crane. While the audience knew she was Brett, dimbulb Lucy didnt. After months of enjoying Marion torturing Lucy, who definatley took the short bus to school, the audience was treated to Marion kidnapping Lucy and holding her in, where else, the Lighthouse (why that was never the first place for the SF PD to look, oh, Chief of Police was Frank Cooper, who had a lifetime pass to the short bus) Dumb Lucy still thinks that Marion is a woman (she was never a lady) tells Marion that she knows that she has a crush on her, but she can't return the feelings. Disgusted with her continued stupidity, Marion incredulously asks "You think I'm a LESBIAN???" and rips off her wig to reveal that she is indeed Brett.

The only let down is the actor had a breakdown and the reveal was done by someone else (If I remember correctly) but while everyone else on earth was railing against this storyline as tasteless (it WAS, that was the fun) cause a villian would dare change someoene's HIV test results..it was a fun ride and a great reveal.

[DRW50]

You're right. The actor, Frank Beaty, had a breakdown. The temp recast, who had to return for several stays I think, was Marc Wolf. He did a good job, considering. At the time I actually wondered if they were planning to have Brent stay on, remember towards the end they suddenly started showing flashes of his mother or father and how he was abused as a child, and they brought in his sister. Looking back I wonder if they may have been planning a "they cut out the bad" tumor type of story like McTavish did with Jonathan Lavery on AMC. Anyway, if they were, Beaty's breakdown probably stopped that once and for all.

I can see why people thought the story was offensive, but like you said, it was a very entertaining story, strong performances, and lots of twists and turns.