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On The Table Read Magazine, “the best entertainment magazine in the UK“, take a look at research done to find the top TV cliffhangers in television history.
Nothing attracts audiences more than a gripping cliffhanger, whether it’s Hank’s realization in Breaking Bad that Heisenberg may be closer than he thought or Ross’s moment at the altar in Friends. However, given the amount of competition, is it possible to determine which top TV cliffhanger was the most effective?
findmycasino.com‘s experts on series bingeing decided to look into the world of television legends and use YouTube statistics to determine the greatest cliffhangers in television history.
Top TV Cliffhangers
| Rank | Show | Description | Views | Likes | YouTube analysis score/10 |
| 1 | Game of Thrones | The White Walkers invade | 13,000,000 | 100,000 | 9.74 |
| =2 | The Office | Jim and Pam kiss | 3,000,000 | 48,000 | 9.34 |
| =2 | Breaking Bad | Hank figures out Walt is Heisenberg | 3,700,000 | 38,000 | 9.34 |
| 3 | Sherlock | Sherlock jumps | 2,900,000 | 36,000 | 8.82 |
| 4 | Friends | Ross says the wrong name | 2,700,000 | 28,000 | 8.55 |
| 5 | Grey’s Anatomy | The last match goes out after the plane crash | 2,900,000 | 9,900 | 8.03 |
| 6 | The Good Place | Eleanor figures out she is in The Bad Place | 1,300,000 | 15,000 | 7.76 |
| 7 | Eastenders | Kat Slater reveals she is Zoe’s mum | 1,900,000 | 8,900 | 7.64 |
| 8 | The Walking Dead | Negan kills the cameraman | 1,000,000 | 15,000 | 7.37 |
| 9 | Breaking Bad | Jesse kills Gale | 861,000 | 15,000 | 7.24 |
| 10 | Loki | Loki is in a different TVA | 831,000 | 13,000 | 6.98 |
| 11 | The West Wing | The President is attacked | 1,100,000 | 2,900 | 6.97 |
| 12 | The O.C. | Marissa shoots Trey | 574,000 | 4,100 | 6.58 |
| 13 | Stranger Things | Hopper sacrifices himself | 382,000 | 4,800 | 6.32 |
| 14 | Sons of Anarchy | Abel is taken | 502,000 | 3,800 | 6.19 |
| 15 | ER | Lucy and Carter are stabbed | 1,000,000 | 2,000 | 6.06 |
| 16 | Grey’s Anatomy | Meredith meets Addison | 358,000 | 2,500 | 5.79 |
| 17 | Buffy the Vampire Slayer | Buffy sacrifices herself | 180,000 | 2,200 | 5.40 |
| 18 | Lost | Jack wants to go back | 232,000 | 1,900 | 4.74 |
| 19 | The Simpsons | Maggie shot Mr. Burns | 159,000 | 2,200 | 4.74 |
| 20 | Star Trek: The Next Generation | Picard is assimilated | 157,000 | 1,200 | 4.48 |
White Walkers In Game Of Thrones
With a near-perfect 9.74/10 YouTube analysis score, Game of Thrones, which aired for eight years and featured a lot of unexpected twists and turns, takes first place. As the wall that protects the Seven Kingdoms is breached in the epic finale of Season 7, “The Dragon and the Wolf,” the fate of all of our favorite characters is up in the air. This episode of Game of Thrones has received an incredible 13 million views and 100,000 likes; a total that is 33 times greater than Stranger Things’ combined total.
The Office and Breaking Bad
The Office and Breaking Bad share second place with a YouTube analysis score of 9.34/10. Hank, a DEA officer, is revealed to be on the verge of a realization in the rivetingly suspenseful “Gliding Over All” of Breaking Bad. This realization has the potential to alter the course of the show. This iconic finale, another gritty global favorite, still only has 38,000 likes and 3.7 million views; less than a third of the gains made by “The Dragon and the Wolf” of Game of Thrones, which came out on top.
The Office’s infamous “Casino Night” episode, in which our favorite office best friends Jim and Pam finally take the next step in their relationship, is tied for second place with Breaking Bad. This hit episode from 2006, a perennial favorite, still makes viewers weep 15 years after it aired. In addition, compared to Ross’s error at the altar in Friends, which only received 2,728,000 views and 48,000 likes, this iconic kiss has received eleven times as many views and likes.
Sherlock
Sherlock, a detective drama, comes in third as the best UK representation in the table. The show’s 2012 episode “The Reichenbach Fall” receives an impressive YouTube analysis score of 8.82/10. In this breath-taking episode, audiences are left with the impression that everything is lost as Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock appears to seal his fate. At the conclusion of this season finale, viewers were left on edge with 2.9 million views and 36,000 likes.
Ross At The Alter In Friends
The Friends episode that kept viewers riveted comes in at a close fourth place. Ross makes an unforgivable error during his wedding to Emily in this unforgettable episode. This Friends hit has a YouTube analysis score of 8.55/10, has 2.7 million views, and has 28,000 likes. It is only 0.27 percent behind Sherlock’s apparent demise.
The Slaters In Eastenders
The now-legendary line “You ain’t my mother!” from UK television is widely quoted. was uttered for the first time in a revealing argument that took place between Zoe Slater and Kat on Eastenders in 2001. This captivating cliffhanger moment still holds up in seventh place, more than two decades later, with a YouTube analysis score of 7.64/10 (calculated using an average percentrank of YouTube views and likes). This episode also surpasses big-budget dramas like ER, The Walking Dead, and Lost with a whopping 1.9 million views and 8,900 likes.
Noughties TV
It is abundantly clear that the new millennium brought with it a love of television drama, as almost half (45%) of the episodes in the top ranking aired in the 2000s. However, 2012 was one of the most well-represented years in the ranking. With over 9.5 million combined views and likes, Sherlock, Grey’s Anatomy, and Breaking Bad provided endless entertainment.
Methodology
- Findmycasino.com sought to uncover the most iconic TV cliffhangers.
- To do this, they analysed online articles from reputable sources including The Guardian, Screenrant and Business Insiderto create a seed list of 39 of the best TV cliffhangers of all time.
- The total number of Youtube views and likes were recorded for clips of each cliffhanger moment.
- A YouTube analysis score was created using average percentrank of the number of views and likes for each video.
- Each episode was ranked according to their YouTube analysis score.
- The data was recorded on 8/12/22 and is accurate as of then.
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