10 Great TV Cliffhangers (With Awful Pay-Offs)
9. 24 - "Day 2: 7:00 A.m. - 8:00 A.m."
The staple of a great cliffhanger is leaving people wanting more as soon as possible. The second season of 24 managed to accomplish just that with an outstanding finale in an otherwise disappointing season. In the final stretch of episodes, the writers managed to redeem most of the first half thanks to some great action and lots of tension. The finale is probably the season's crowning achievement.
Fans of 24 were ravenous after the Season Two finale, which saw President David Palmer collapse due to being poisoned by Mandy. The closing minutes of that second year were the talk of the town for an entire summer, with everyone wanting to know if President Palmer, a beloved character on the show, would survive. Fast forward a few months, and Palmer comes back in the Season Three premiere just fine.
The show jumped three years forward in time as if nothing happened. Although the show made reverence to Palmer's poisoning, viewers didn't get to see any of the drama. Instead, they needed to quickly adjust to the new setting and story: a story in which the heroic Jack Bauer all of a sudden had a heroin addiction.