12 TV Moments Made Unintentionally Depressing By Real Life Events

In the short lived ABC show Flashforward, everyone on Earth gets a glimpse into the future at once, and some people deal with that information better than others. One character named Al decides he’s going to ensure the flash he sees never happens by committing suicide. He ends up jumping off a building to his death after declaring that he’s finally found a way to change the future.

Al was played by Lee Thompson Young, and three years after this scene aired, the actor himself committed suicide. He was just 29 years old. Shortly after the television broadcast, Young gave this quote about his character which is eerie to read in light of what happened:

“Yes, you know, his flash forward was torturing him. The fact that he saw himself [in the near future] on the phone with a lawyer, talking about a case in which he accidentally killed the mother of two small children... he just couldn’t live with himself. He was trying desperately to figure out if there was any way he could change that. 

And, in the meantime, everything in everyone else’s flash forward seemed to be coming true, step-by-step, so he was unable to sleep at night. He was depressed, frustrated, angry. He felt powerless. And, in the end, he finally decided that this is how he could change that.”