Call The Waaaaambulance: Favorite Crying Moments On TV

[magicdog]

For some old school sadness:

I was just watching Quincy, M.E. on Cozi.  Today's episode was "Dying For a Drink"(1982).  Dr. Lorraine Linderman. another coroner and co-worker of Quincy's develops a drinking problem and naturally, it affects her home and work life.  She's in denial that there is a problem, so it festers for a while.  She and her husband decide to go on vacation alone to Mexico, where she gets drunk again. and hits rock bottom.  Her husband admits having an affair because she wasn't "there for him", but promises to break it off if she cleans up and gets treatment.  She goes to a ladies only AA type meeting and things are starting to look up.  She gets her job back (after getting suspended for screwing up due to her drinking) and you are hoping for a happy ending.  After hanging up with her boss, Dr. Asten. excited to go back to work again, her husband comes down the stairs with suitcases.  He tells her he may not come back because the slut he was having an affair with "told him things" and he was leaving her.  

Meanwhile at the office, Quincey & the staff have a banner welcoming her back and celebrating her renewal.  Then their boss, Dr. Asten comes in with the news that Lorraine committed suicide at 3am.  Everyone is saddened and stunned.  Asten looks up at the welcome back banner and with a touch of anger in his voice demands it be taken down.  We're left on the sad note that a good person just on the road to recovery was destroyed by someone she thought she could depend on.

[magicdog]

A twofer in a rerun of Emergency!

 

In the episode, "Kids" (1972), Roy and Johnny rescue a young boy (about age 8) from a hole he fell into while playing with friends.  When he gets to the hospital, Dr. Brackett notices he boy seems hurt worse than expected from his fall, including a minor skull injury.  He suspects the boy is being abused by at least one of his parents (specifically the stepfather).  He reports it and it goes to trial but the good guys lose as there isn't enough evidence to prove it was the parents' abuse.  Naturally, the boy's mother is in denial.  Towards the end of the episode, we see the boy being wheeled into the emergency room with his mother looking on with a look of guilt on her face for letting it happen again.  We don't officially know what happens to the boy this time.

The second incident almost pushes Roy to quit the paramedic program!  In, "Decision" (1972) Roy and Johnny go to the rescue of a man who was installing an engine into his car.  The engine was suspended from the rafters in his carport, but the rafter broke and the engine landed on him and pinning him in the car.  Roy and Johnny do everything they can and they get him to the hospital (including having the added complication that the ambulance antenna is lost on the way so they couldn't directly communicate with Rampart).   The man's doctor was called to Rampart to help, but he doesn't think much of paramedics as they are not doctors.  Dr. Brackett naturally tells him the program so far has made a lot of difference in saving lives for people hurt in the field.  Unfortunately, the man dies and Roy is in a tailspin when the doctor tells him he thinks it was his fault the patient didn't get to the hospital sooner or if a real doctor had been there.  Brackett and Johnny both try to remind Roy that sometimes you lose a patient despite your best efforts and not to quit.  Later that day, another doctor (who happens to be at Rampart and a friend of the dismissive doctor) has a coronary right in the ER.  Naturally, everyone springs into action but unfortunately, we learn the doctor died.  Dixie is distraught and on a rare occasion, bursts into sobs as she tells of the doctor how despite being in a hospital surrounded by three competent doctors in an ER setting still couldn't save the man, but paramedics get the short end of the stick by professionals with too much hubris.   

[Egg McMuffin]

Archie and Edith Bunker saying goodbye to Mike and Gloria as they leave for California is one big tearjerker. The scene of Archie peering through the curtains as the cab drives away and then breaking down is heartbreaking. As is the final shot of Archie and Edith quietly sitting in their chairs, sniffling, as the episode ends. You can even hear members of the studio audience crying if you listen closely.

[magicdog]

Another sad moment from Emergency! :

In, "Messin' Around" (1974)  Johnny and Roy get a call about a child having taken ant poison.  When they arrive his mother stops them and tells them her 7 year old son had a habit of wanting attention and made phony calls to the police before.  They try to convince her to let them at least examine the boy, she refuses until a police office standing with them convince her to stand aside.  The boy has been doubled over in pain the entire time but mother insists the boy is pretending.

Eventually, Johnny and Roy get him to Rampart, but unfortunately he dies.  His mother feels guilty since she thought all he was doing was looking for attention.  Naturally, Roy and Johnny are upset the kid died and Johnny in particular is out of sorts over it.  When they get to the station, Chet had set up another prank (he and Johnny are in the middle of a prank war) when Roy tells him and the others that the boy didn't make it.  Chet in a rare non jerk moment, warns Johnny of the prank and says they can have a temporary truce as Johnny is not in a mood to deal right now.

[Spartan Girl]

Two scenes in WandaVision:

1) Her reaction to seeing Vision’s remains being reduced to scrap metal at SWORD, brokenly whispering “I can’t feel you.”

2) And then she breaks down upon discovering that Vision was going to have a house in Westview for the two of them was just gut wrenching. You could tell in that moment that the grief just reached such a fever pitch that it finally exploded out of her through her powers, and thus the Hex was born:

[Spartan Girl]

Just gonna leave this here

[Danny Franks]

I finally got around to watching season 4 of Stranger Things. There were a whole bunch of times in the finale where I got choked up, but when Dustin was talking to Eddie's uncle? Oh man, full on tears. I often wonder about Gaten Matarazzo's abilities as an actor because Dustin usually only gets goofy, fun stuff to do, but he absolutely brought it in that scene, as did the actor playing Eddie's uncle.

Edited January 16, 2023 by Danny Franks

[giovannif7]

The cast's fourth-wall-breaking tribute to Leslie Jordan at the end of Call Me Kat Season 3 Episode 10. Watching the actors, especially Cheyenne Jackson, struggle to get through it without dissolving into sobs got to me like nothing has in years. 😭😭😭

 

[magicdog]

Just caught a classic sad moment in Emergency.

In the episode, "Frequency" (1973), Johnny and Roy are called to an accident scene near the freeway.  A motorcycle cop was hit by a car.  Turns out it's a friend of Johnny's named Drew.  They hadn't seen each other in a few months but carry on a bit of conversation as they try to treat him.  Treatment is complicated when the biophone is tied up for a brief while because another paramedic team is using it for a heart patient.  When they finally get through, Drew tells Johnny to please tell his wife Pam that she was the best thing that ever happened to him.  Johnny tells him not to worry and they'd get him to the hospital.  Drew falls unconscious.

Later at Rampart Drew succumbs to his injuries, never regaining consciousness.  Johnny takes it upon himself to break the new to Pam and their young daughter (who looks about 5).  The look on Johnny's face alone tells Pam everything she needs to know and has some relief in knowing Drew apparently didn't suffer.  I was hoping Johnny would have told her what Drew's last words were, but we hear Pam telling Johnny how Drew used to say that Johnny got the best end of the deal (being a carefree single guy).  We then see Dr. Early and Roy coming up on the scene, but upon seeing the obvious sad moment before them, they opt to walk away in respectful silence.  

[magicdog]

Just caught another vintage sad moment from of all shows, "Leave it to Beaver":

In, "Beaver's Houseguest" (1960), Beaver meets a new friend at summer camp nicknamed "Chopper".  They get along so well, Beaver asks his parents if Chopper could spend the weekend at their house.  Ward and June agree and Chopper arrives.  Essentially he's a nice kid, but a bit more worldly wise than Beaver - because his parents are divorced.  When he arrives, he brings two nice gifts for the Cleavers, expensive cologne from London for Ward and a fancy box of chocolates for June.  Beaver gets a brand new baseball mitt (Chopper's dad owns a sporting goods company) and they go on to have some fun.  Later Chopper asks Beaver about his family - like if Wally was his real brother or not (his parents have married more than once and he has step siblings and half siblings).  He also mentions how everyone throws nice gifts his way (the audience knows it's to buy his affection) and he claims to like the way things are (or at least par for the course).  In fact, the man that brought him to the Cleaver house was his mother's current boyfriend! 

Beaver starts to wonder if Chopper has it good considering all the stuff he gets and the expanded family members and asks his parents separately if they like each other and would they ever consider divorcing.  Obviously, they tell him no.  June worries Chopper might be a bad influence on Beaver but Ward says Beaver is just curious about how things work.  The next morning, Choppers mother calls and asks her son to come home early.  He tells the Cleavers it's because she has a case of "the weepies" (crying and looking to her son to be her support).  The Cleavers agree and Chopper goes back, but is mindful to thank his hosts.  Beaver ends up having a talk with his parents about this and agrees that he definitely has the better family deal.    

 

  

[Blergh]

3 hours ago, magicdog said:

Just caught another vintage sad moment from of all shows, "Leave it to Beaver":

In, "Beaver's Houseguest" (1960), Beaver meets a new friend at summer camp nicknamed "Chopper".  They get along so well, Beaver asks his parents if Chopper could spend the weekend at their house.  Ward and June agree and Chopper arrives.  Essentially he's a nice kid, but a bit more worldly wise than Beaver - because his parents are divorced.  When he arrives, he brings two nice gifts for the Cleavers, expensive cologne from London for Ward and a fancy box of chocolates for June.  Beaver gets a brand new baseball mitt (Chopper's dad owns a sporting goods company) and they go on to have some fun.  Later Chopper asks Beaver about his family - like if Wally was his real brother or not (his parents have married more than once and he has step siblings and half siblings).  He also mentions how everyone throws nice gifts his way (the audience knows it's to buy his affection) and he claims to like the way things are (or at least par for the course).  In fact, the man that brought him to the Cleaver house was his mother's current boyfriend! 

Beaver starts to wonder if Chopper has it good considering all the stuff he gets and the expanded family members and asks his parents separately if they like each other and would they ever consider divorcing.  Obviously, they tell him no.  June worries Chopper might be a bad influence on Beaver but Ward says Beaver is just curious about how things work.  The next morning, Choppers mother calls and asks her son to come home early.  He tells the Cleavers it's because she has a case of "the weepies" (crying and looking to her son to be her support).  The Cleavers agree and Chopper goes back, but is mindful to thank his hosts.  Beaver ends up having a talk with his parents about this and agrees that he definitely has the better family deal.    

 

  

Yeah, it was sad how jaded Chopper already had become via playing all these parental figures to his advantage. One of the few sad, but humorous moments of the episode came when he described the 2nd ex-wife of his father (who'd been married three times) as being given the family nickname of  'Mrs. In-Between' . Evidently 'Mrs. In-Between' had borne some younger half-sibs for Chopper, otherwise I truly don't see why she didn't put the whole mess behind her  after she split with Chopper's dad.