10 TV Deaths That Totally Trolled Audiences

8. Bobby Ewing - Dallas

Family Guy Brian Death
CBS

Back in 1984, the show that was on everybody's lips around the water cooler was Dallas. Ratings were high, and the show was helping to build on numerous actors' careers, but the final episode of the season saw the death of one of them, and he was a biggie: Bobby Ewing.

On the show, Bobby was the son of Jock and Miss Ellie Ewing, making him rather important. In fact, the original plotline for the series was to focus on his marriage to Pamela Barnes, who was from a rival family. The Romeo and Juliet-style plot intended to kill Bobby off in the first season, leaving Pamela as the main protagonist, but things changed.

As the series developed, the focus shifted to his older brother, J. R., and it eventually came time to kill Bobby off. It was a significant death, and the fans took it pretty hard, but the show must go on... and that's precisely what it did. The series continued for a full season before the unthinkable happened.

Once that season was over, and a new one began, it did so with an infamous shower scene. No, it wasn't a recreation of the scene from Psycho, it was Bobby, back from the dead, only he wasn't. His ex-wife (who killed him with her car) found him showering, and realized that everything that happened in the past season was all just a dream.

They trolled the audience with the death of Bobby Ewing, and then they hit back with a double-whammy by bringing him back, negating the previous season entirely.

In this post: 
Family Guy
 
Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

Jonathan is a graphic artist, illustrator, writer, and game designer. Jonathan retired from the U.S. Army in 2017 and enjoys researching and writing about history, science, theology, and many other subjects. He writes for ScreenRant, CBR, NerdBastards, Listverse, Ranker, WhatCulture, and many other sites online. You can check out his latest on Twitter: @TalkingBull or on his blog: jonathanhkantor.com