While TV often offers us an escape from our own troubles, sometimes we can’t help but get attached to the characters, and when they suffer, we can’t help but feel for them. We follow them throughout several seasons, we get to know them, we see their highs and their lows, and it’s almost inevitable that we’d feel a little crushed inside when something tragic happens to them, doesn’t it? These are some of the saddest moments on TV, according to our editors.
Denny Duquette’s death on Grey’s Anatomy
Grey’s Anatomy is notoriously known as a soap opera that’s trying to squeeze its fans for tears every chance they get. With all the drama going on throughout the fourteen seasons of the show, one truly heartbreaking moment was the death of Denny Duquette. The love affair of Denny and Izzie was arguably the most authentic relationship in the relationships-packed drama. When Denny died alone on the hospital bed after his heart-transplant, while Izzie was excitedly getting ready for the ball, was one of the most gut-wrenching moments on the show; the moment when Izzie finds him and curls up besides his body on the hospital bed had us all reaching for a box of tissues.
When Jane’s phone gets disconnected on Breaking Bad
Jesse Pinkman, portrayed by Aaron Paul, is the most lovable and relatable character on the popular series Breaking Bad, so when he lost his girlfriend to drugs, it was a heartbreaking moment for fans around the world. Despite making some mistakes, Jesse is ultimately a good person with a kind heart, and throughout the show, he loses almost everything and everyone he ever cared for. After Jane’s tragic death, Jesse calls her cell again and again to just to hear her voice on the voicemail, and the scene when her phone finally gets disconnected was probably one of the most heartbreaking moments on the show, not to mention on TV history.
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Marshall losing his father on How I Met Your Mother
You don’t expect a sitcom like HIMYM to be this sad, but when it comes to a character like Marshall Eriksen, you can’t help but get personally attached. Marshall is undeniably the most beloved character on the show – he’s a loyal friend, a supportive husband and a lawyer guided by his ethics compass – and you just can’t help but love him. When his father has a sudden heart attack and dies, Marshall loses his role model and his best friend, and chokes up from the pain, and us fans couldn’t help but feel for him, although he’s a fictional character.
When Seymour waited for Fry to return on Futurama
This scene would be particularly agonizing to watch if you’ve ever owned a dog. The sci-fi sitcom Futurama isn’t your typical sitcom, but it has plenty of profound moments, very much like this one. We find out that after Fry was frozen, his beloved dog Seymour spent the following 12 years fulfilling his owner’s last command: wait for him in front of the pizza place until he comes back, which he never does. The loyal pup waits for his owner’s return for 12 years, until he finally dies of heartbreak (and, well, old age).
Finding Cathy’s storage locker on The Big C
Unlike other shows on the list, you expect The Big C to be full of heartbreaking moments, and it is. After all, it’s a show about a woman battling cancer. The show is full of heartbreaking scenes to choose from, but one of the most touching moments was when Cathy’s son, Adam, finds the storage locker where she kept all the gifts she wanted him to receive after her death. She had prepared Christmas presents, birthday presents, graduation presents and gifts for other life-highlights for years ahead, for all the moments she wouldn’t be able to be a part of. This was her way of ensuring she’d be there for every important moment in her son’s life, even after her death.
