6. 'We Have To Go Back!' Lost ('Through The Looking Glass')
ABC's hit drama 'Lost' pretty much takes the cake for most use of cut-to-blacks. Ever. I mean they literally use it for every major or minor cliffhanger, which in 'Lost' is about five times per episode. Despite its over use, they are often still pretty good, and there are several examples I could have chosen for this list. The ending to season one, when Locke opens the hatch, or the ending to season five, when Juliet smashes the nuclear bomb with a rock although to be fair, here they break the mold and cut to white. All great moments, but the one I'm listing here has got to be the "We have to go back!" cut at the end of season three, the first time they used the 'flash-forward' plot device. After the tear-jerking drama of Charlie's tragic death, the survivors are sundered over whether or not to trust the people from the ship that has landed offshore. In our first glimpse into the future we see Jack, now a broken man, back in the real world. He tries to convince the other's who've returned with him that they made a mistake. Cut-to-black, and we're left wondering how they got home in the first place; what's up with these crazy flash-forwards; and why in the name of TV would they want to go back?! Oh, so that the show keeps going I guess...