8 TV Shows That Killed The Main Character Early

It’s almost hard to remember that 24 started life as a small scale thriller, and not a show about the implausible adventures of the immortal Jack Bauer.  On Day One Jack was tasked with stopping the assassination of a presidential candidate and his wife Teri was just as much of a main character, with the show dividing attention between their intersecting stories. 

Poor Teri had an all out terrible day in season one. She and her daughter were kidnapped, threatened with death repeatedly, she was raped, she had to kill in self defense, she learned Jack had an affair with a colleague, she briefly got plot convenient amnesia and to cap it off she was murdered in the final episode. By Jack’s mistress no less, who turned out to be a traitor. 

Teri’s death was a stunning final note to the season, and over the years 24 proved to be a brutal place for any character not named Jack Bauer, with shocking deaths becoming an important part of the show's formula.