History Main / CommercialBreakCliffhanger

** Subverted in exactly one episode of ''Series/CanadianIdol''. The host said he will reveal the winner. After a second delay, the audience announced it to be after the break, but the host replied "right now, actually".

* ''[[Wrestling/ImpactWrestling Imapct Wrestling]]'' [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] this in their ''Total Nonstop Deletion'' special. After a massive spot between two wrestlers that cumulates with them crashing through a door, announcer Josh Matthews is quick on detailing what is about to happen next, but then gets annoyed over ''a commercial break'' in the middle of a world title match. Made even funnier as they [[AmbiguousEnding never show the conclusion to this before leading into the Main Event of the night]].
-->'''Josh Matthews:''' ...The champion and challenger are down! Who will make it to their feet? Who will leave- [[DoubleTake Wha?]] What do you mean we have to go to break? The world title's on the line! ''cut to commercial''

* Happens all the time in ''Series/{{The Chase|GameShow}}'', especially when there's a 'one question shootout at play' (ie the contestant has to get the question wrong to go through else the Chaser will probably catch them). In some amusing examples, the contestants have either noticed this and groaned just before the commercial break cuts in, or in one strange case, actually announced the break with 'see you after the breaks folks!' when the host was too busy laughing.

* In the original broadcasts of the WesternAnimation/JoeOrioloFelixTheCat cartoons, each episode was split into two parts with a cliff hanger at mid point, and the narrator would say "What will happen to Felix in the next exciting adventure of Felix the Cat?" and in the next part, the theme song would play again before the second half (hence why each second half of an episode does a recap of the previous half). [[EditedForSyndication These parts were cut in the late 70's by tv stations trying to add more commercials.]] The DVD releases of the show use these syndicated edits.

* Oddly, the punchline to a cutaway gag on WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy was cut off.
* Done in most of WesternAnimation/TheDisneyAfternoon cartoons.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' episode "Him Diddle Riddle" ends its first half as Him gives the girls a really long riddle, then tells them to solve it in 2 minutes, 45 seconds. By the time the commercial break ends, the girls have solved the riddle by [[spoiler: bringing Him a rocky road ice cream cone]].

* In general, ever since the success of ''Series/WhoWantsToBeAMillionaire'', game and reality shows frequently use this in an attempt to [[WhoWantsToBeWhoWantsToBeAMillionaire emulate its success via heavily dramatic presentation]]. By the late 2000's, nearly every (new) game and reality show would do it at every available opportunity. It seems to have lapsed into cliche territory around the turn of the decade, and critics (and fans) will now often trash a show for trying to do it too often. Even ''Millionaire'' itself seems to have become the victim of SeinfeldIsUnfunny in this aspect (especially since the American version didn't actually use the cliffhanger that much. As for other countries, however...)

** BONUS ROUNDS, on the other hand, are the MOST GUILTY offender. Take ANY Japanese game show with a bonus round where [[OneHitPointWonder any wrong answer ends the game in a loss]]. If it cuts to commercial at any point before the final question, it is a 99% guarantee that the bonus game will be lost after returning from the break. It completely destroys the tension for anyone who recognizes this pattern. One wonders if Japanese TV editors genuinely believe that their ViewersAreMorons.

* And then, there's the French version of ''[[Series/TheMillionPoundDrop Money Drop]]''. My god, it might not be the TropeCodifier, but it happens at the '''very last moment'''. We wait about 30 seconds to see what is the wrong answer, and suddenly, at the very last second, there's the commercials.

* The 2010s revival of ''Series/ToTellTheTruth'' doing this is one of this version's [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks unnecessary changes from previous versions]]:
-->"Will the real [person who did this incredible thing] please stand up...when we come back!"[[note]]It's supposed to be "Will the real [person's name] please stand up". Additionally, there are no commercial breaks when this happens.[[/note]]

* An early episode of ''Series/AirCrashInvestigation'' attempted one of these only to have it SpoiledByTheFormat. Just before the commercial, the narrator notes that rescue services are on their way and leaves the viewer with the question of whether they will arrive in time to save the first officer from a horrible death. Quite a cliffhanger -- if not for the fact that the episode had already shown multiple clips from said first officer's survivor interview.

-->'''Yakko:''' [[NoFourthWall We're gonna need a few commercials]] [[LampshadeHanging to figure this one out]]!

** Parodied again in "Dog of Death". Santa's Little Helper has been acting sickly for most of the third act, and just before the first ad break, Grampa nonchalantly announces that the dog is dead. When the show comes back from commercials, the Simpsons immediately realize that he's ''not'' dead and scold Abe for "toying with their emotions."

* ''[[Wrestling/ImpactWrestling Imapct Wrestling]]'' [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] this in their ''Total Nonstop Deletion'' special. After a massive spot between two wrestlers that cumulates with them crashing through a door, announcer Josh Matthews is quick on detailing what is about to happen next, but then gets annoyed over ''a commercial break'' in the middle of a world title match. Made even funnier as they [[AmbigiousEnding never show the conclusion to this before leading into the Main Event of the night]].

** Sometimes in some episodes, if a certain segment featuring Yakko, Wakko, and Dot is more than two minutes, the segment will be split into two parts, with an act break in-between.

-->[...]

PseudoCrisis is a specialized version of this trope. Compare ChargeIntoCombatCut, when the show cuts to an unrelated scene at the beginning of a fight.

->'''Meep:''' My word,We've been falling for a long time.\\

* Happens all the time in ''Series/TheChase'', especially when there's a 'one question shootout at play' (ie the contestant has to get the question wrong to go through else the Chaser will probably catch them). In some amusing examples, the contestants have either noticed this and groaned just before the commercial break cuts in, or in one strange case, actually announced the break with 'see you after the breaks folks!' when the host was too busy laughing.

->'''Meep:''' My word,We've been falling for quite a long time.\\

->'''Meep:''' We've been falling for quite a long time, haven't we?\\
'''Doofenshmirtz:''' Oh, right, joke about the commercial break. That's really how I want to spend my last few seconds!

-->-- '''''WesternAnimation/{{Phineas and Ferb}}''''', after a commercial break in the middle of the two characters plummeting to their doom

-->-- ''''WesternAnimation/{{Phineas and Ferb}}'': After a commercial break in the middle of the two characters plummeting to their doom.''

* An episode of ''TheUprightCitizensBrigade'' used a variation of this trope by claiming that they had succeeded in creating a batch of mind-numbingly unbearable commercials, then pressing play and treating the actual commercials as the ones they were referring to. It was claimed before each subsequent break that an even worse batch than the last one was cued up to play.

** And in another episode, with Sideshow Mel narrating the story of Lisa's comedy rise to fame, he says something along the lines of "We'll find out what happened in three... two... one..." fade to black.

* When American shows not made for premium stations such as {{Creator/HBO}} or Creator/{{Showtime}} (which don't have commercials) are broadcast in countries where the frequency of commercials is lower, or when an American show goes out on [[Creator/TheBBC BBC Two]] or is released on DVD, with no commercial breaks at all. This results in dramatic cliffhangers which fade out... then fade back in right away, sometimes [[AdBreakDoubleTake repeating the last line said before the break]], which, if you're any bit familiar with the SaturdayMorningCartoon during an age such a thing existed on network TV, was prevalent to the point of ubiquity.

* When American shows not made for {{Creator/HBO}} (which doesn't have commercials) are broadcast in countries where the frequency of commercials is lower, or when an American show goes out on [[Creator/TheBBC BBC Two]] or is released on DVD, with no commercial breaks at all. This results in dramatic cliffhangers which fade out... then fade back in right away, sometimes [[AdBreakDoubleTake repeating the last line said before the break]], which, if you're any bit familiar with the SaturdayMorningCartoon during an age such a thing existed on network TV, was prevalent to the point of ubiquity.

* An early episode of ''Series/AirCrashInvestigation'' attempted one of these only to have it SpoiledByTheFormat. Just before the commercial, the narrator notes that rescue services are on their way and leaves the viewer with the question of whether they will arrive in time to save the first officer from a horrible death. This ''would'' be a cliffhanger -- if not for the fact that the episode had already shown multiple clips from said first officer's survivor interview.

* An early episode of ''Series/{{AirCrashInvestigation}}'' attempted one of these only to have it SpoiledByTheFormat. Just before the commercial, the narrator notes that rescue services are on their way and leaves the viewer with the question of whether they will arrive in time to save the first officer from a horrible death. This ''would'' be a cliffhanger -- if not for the fact that the episode had already shown multiple clips from said first officer's survivor interview.

** ''[[WWESmackdown Smackdown]]'' has recently averted this, with picture-in-picture of the match off to the side as the commercials play.