10 TV Deaths That Totally Trolled Audiences
1. Lt. Col. Henry Blake - M*A*S*H*
In M*A*S*H*'s third year, the series opted to kill off Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake, the commanding officer of the 4077th M*A*S*H*. He was the man Hawkeye turned to when he needed help, but he also turned a blind eye to his antics, knowing he would do his best work that way.
In many ways, he was the backbone of the series in the early seasons, but that didn't protect him from being killed, and the death was far more impactful to the audience than any other on this list. Before 1975, characters on television series didn't die. They might leave, or be replaced, but the concept of death was foreign to sitcoms.
This made the death of Colonel Blake far more of a tearjerker than any others on the show. His death occurred off-camera, with Radar reading off a message, which said Blake was killed in a plane crash on his way home from Korea.
The only person who knew what the message said was Alan Alda, which meant that everyone in the scene besides Hawkeye showed their real reaction to the news. It was authentic and showed a real feeling of loss, which makes it one of the most masterful trolling character kill-offs in TV history.