Living on the Edge

Take a look back at some of our fave jaw-dropping, what-happens-next cliffhangers.

- NATE MILLADO

IT WAS THE SHOT HEARD ’ROUND the world. CBS primetime soap Dallas capped its third season on March 21, 1980, with a bang: Oily oil baron J.R. Ewing, once described by The New York Times as “the nastiest man on television,” was shot twice before collapsing to the ground. Everyone was a suspect! And everyone was obsessed—including England’s Queen Mother herself—over “Who shot J.R.?” After an excruciating eight-month wait, a whopping 83 million viewers tuned in to see who pulled the trigger. (Spoiler alert: It was J.R.’s former mistress and sister-in-law, Kristin Shepard.) Over the next four decades, TV shows have upped the ante with their own cliffhangers, keeping viewers on the hook over a summer—sometimes over a year!

13 SERIAL KILLERS ESCAPE!

“The Storm” (Aired May 4, 2016)

After thwarting a prison break and a bomb threat, the