This is when a season ends with a cliffhanger that could have killed any number of the cast.

Useful because executives can then [[ExecutiveMeddling negotiate contacts]] with the cliffhanger in mind; i.e., "Take a pay cut or we will kill you off".

Compare BolivianArmyEnding and OurHeroIsDead. EndingTrope so beware '''Unmarked Spoilers'''.

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!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* ''Series/RobinHood'' Series 3 ends with Nottingham Castle being blown up and Gisbourne, Isabella and Sheriff Vaisey all apparantly dead too. (It's somewhat invalid considering the show was cancelled).
* ''{{CSINY}}'' Season 5 ends with a machine gun opening fire on the entire regular cast, who were gathered in a bar to remember a colleague who'd been killed.
* One season of ''{{Dynasty}}'' ended with a terrorist attack on a wedding... long story... and everyone apparently dead. The first episode of the next season was one of the highest rated episodes in that show's history. The resolution was that a couple of extras got killed. The cop-out is considered the show's JumpingTheShark.
* ''{{Lost}}'' season 5 ended with a hydrogen bomb potentially detonating in proximity to at least eight of the main characters.
** Of course, they have a ''better'' chance of surviving if it did detonate than the alternative. Really.
* Both ''HomicideLifeOnTheStreet'' and ''{{NCIS}}'' ended seasons with the entire cast getting reassigned. Less fatal than the other situations, but the same effect of being able to write out any character they want.
* The final episode of ''BlakesSeven'' ended with all the heroes apparently getting shot. Had there been a fifth season it would have been revealed that some if not all had survived, but at that point the show got cancelled.
** The second season ended with the crew launching a seemingly suicidal DelayingAction against an alien fleet. Two characters were written out- Blake and Jenna. The former returned for the next two finales, dying in the last episode. The latter was killed off-screen.
* In the ''Army Wives'' Season 1 final episode, the title characters were inside a bar when a man walked in and detonated a bomb he had strapped to him.
* Just about every season ending from ''{{ER}}''.
* StarTrekTheNextGeneration episode "Best of Both Worlds Part 1" ended this way, with the Enterprise's WaveMotionGun aimed at Picard and the cube that assimilated him. This coincided nicely with rumours that Patrick Stewart might be quitting, making for a very tense summer.
* ''{{Andromeda}}'' had a season end with two characters captured by Magog, the android impaled, the captain and first officer knocked out, and the ship having taken a miniature black hole through it. Season 4's finale was even nastier, leaving everyone but Dylan dead or about to die. (They didn't.)
* The ending of ''{{Charmed}}'' season 3 could have killed off Prue and Piper, and actually was used to kill off Prue.
* The finale for Season 1 of CBS's ''{{Jericho}}'' ended with a cut to black as a firefight began involving most of the major characters. This may have contributed to the uproar in response to the cancellation of the series at the end of season 1, as many of the devoted fans did not know the fate of their favorite characters.
* ''{{Criminal Minds}}'' did this in its third season finale, showing several identical black SUVs, each a destination for a pair of major characters. The episode ends with one of the SUVs, not specifically identified, exploding. Season 4's opener, however, reveals that the only casualty was the single minor character among the possible victims.
* In ''The Guardian'''s second season cliffhanger, James is brutally shot by a client and left to die. The resolution is a nasty fakeout: Nick sees the client leave and realizes something's up, but he's too late to help James.

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[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* ''BeastWars'' second season ended up with Megatron messing up the whole of reality.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* PhantasyStar II ended like this, with Lutz transporting the other members of your party to the your location to aid you in fighting a HORDE of [[spoiler: [[HumansAreBastards Earthmen]]]] after defeating the final boss. Kind of a stupid thing to do in retrospect because the only people that actually know what really happened on the ship and with Mother Brain are (you guessed it) the members of your party, and with them all (possibly) dead, no one would be able to tell the world the truth.

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