to be continued

a lame plot device consisting of a disclaimer often seen at the unexplained or hasty ending of a tv programme informing the viewer that either:

-a main character may have possibly died or left permanently (but usually hasn’t, if they have the actor likely quit working on the show due to pay disputes)

-the script writers are fresh out of ideas until next week/month

-the director of the tv show believes viewers actually have attention spans longer than goldfish, absolutely no lives and care enough about the characters & plot that they are willing to sit on their -ss for days and nights patiently awaiting the conclusion of last week’s cliff-hanger

-the director believes making an audience wait anywhere from 24 hours to 1 week for a continuation will actually build antic-p-tion and suspense among them and generate more interest in his show (instead of actually annoying the living sh-t out of them)

-the script writers got over-ambitious or just plain f-cking lazy, and couldn’t finish the episode within the deadline

-the episode has gone over it’s allotted tv channel timeslot and hence will be replayed sometime later

-there wasn’t enough time to finish the episode within 5 minutes

-technical/financial/on-set/casting difficulties made finishing the episode impossible

-a cliff-hanger/what-if/multi-part story arc has been planned for future episodes (usually occurs when one season of a show ends, the following episode will begin with a recap of the previous one)
actor 1: “but wait… i have the answer to the meaning of life of itself!”

actor 2: “oh my god! oh my god! quick… tell me!”

to be continued…

jane: “billy wait, before we get married… i have something i should tell you.”

billy: “duh?”

jane: “i’m actually cheating on you with your brother, pregnant with your son’s child, an alien from jupiter, the person responsible for killing your parents and… i’m not actually jane at all.”

-jane rips off her face-

jane: “i’m your mother.”

-camera zooms in on billy’s gaping expression of shock and then fades to black”

to be continued…

agent mulder: “scully, for the first time i can promise you behind this door lies a real, extraterrestrial, alien being… here on earth. see for your own eyes…”

agent scully: “mulder, this is the 789th time you’ve said that… but okay, open the door. i’m ready.”

-agent mulder opens the door to reveal…-

to be continued…

“the end?” can also be used a subst-tute for “to be continued…”
1 more definition
a to be continued is a w-nk that you can’t finish off for a specific reason. e.g someone’s knocked on the door or you have to go to work.
(lord higginson) i cannot finish off my masturbation round. to be continued