tearjerker

noun

Etymology: From tear + jerker, so termed because it suggests one is likely to cry during its performance.

1. An emotionally charged film, novel, song, opera, television episode, etc., usually with one or more sad passages or ending.

   “Renamed in honor of the tube tearjerker, the work wondrously went on to become the most recognized theme in all of soapdom.”

   “The psychologist Paul Rozin lumps tearjerkers with other examples of benign masochism like smoking, riding on roller coasters, eating hot chili peppers, and sitting in saunas.”