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A cold open (commonly referred to as a teaser) in a television program or movie is the technique of jumping directly into a story at the beginning or opening of the show, before the title sequence or opening credits are shown. Shows which air some form of titles before jumping in to the story and then running a formal opening sequence are also considered cold opens.
Cinematically, the cold open can last anywhere from less than a minute up to ten minutes (or more in rare circumstances). Perhaps the best known example is the pre-title "teaser" which occurs in all James Bond films since From Russia with Love. An extreme case happens in some films, e.g. The Mummy Returns, in which the whole movie could be considered the cold opening, with the opening titles sequence being followed immediately by the end credits rolling.
Well known TV shows that begin with a "cold open" are The Nanny, Roseanne, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,Veronica Mars, Surface (TV series), The Dick van Dyke Show, The West Wing, Friends, 7th Heaven, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Teen Titans , The Original Series and its spinoffs, The X-Files, Saturday Night Live (with a few episodes from the 1981 to 1984 as exceptions), In Living Color (usually the cold opening for In Living Color is either a music video parody or a fake commercial), MADtv, Law & Order and its spinoffs, Full House, House, Crime Scene Investigation and its spinoffs, Smallville, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (the only exceptions being the season four finale: "Restless" and the musical episode "Once More With Feeling"), Martin Mystery, Angel, Monk, Firefly, The Wire, MacGyver, Alias, Lost, Desperate Housewives, the reincarnation of Doctor Who, the new Battlestar Galactica, Nip/Tuck, The Shield, ER, Scrubs, Babylon 5, Cheers, Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, Fullmetal Alchemist, Unfabulous, That's So Raven (there's no plot connection), several episodes of X-Play, and some episodes of Futurama, the second season of Drawn Together, and Family Guy. Halloween episodes of The Simpsons often begin with a cold open as well.
History
Cold opens were not widespread on television until the 1990s, despite having been around on television since The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964-1968). Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969-1974) played around with the concept of cold opens, sometimes having an entire episode before the starting credits, while in one instance (the first episode of series four), having no opening credits at all (Terry Gilliam had not finished the new opening sequence).
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, daytime soap operas became the main user of cold opens, with virtually every soap employing the format. While several soaps experimented with regular opens in the early 2000s, all are currently using cold opens. Typically, a soap opera cold open begins where the last scene of the previous episode ended, sometimes replaying the entire last scene. After several scenes, usually to set up which storylines will be featured in the episode, the opening credits are shown.
Presently, virtually all US live-action TV shows do cold opens, while in Britain the practice is fairly atypical and many programs begin with opening titles. Among the last such shows without a cold open was UPN's Seven Days (1997). Also, the practice of cold opens is becoming more widespread in animation, with the likes of Kim Possible and The Proud Family doing cold opens (incidentally, Beep Prepared used a brief one in 1961). Cold opens are also fairly common in Japanese animation (anime). Even television's longest running cartoon series Scooby-Doo has taken up the cold open in the series' latest installment, What's New, Scooby-Doo?.
Cold Open in Animation
Yes, even cartoons have cold opens. Here's the list of shows.
- All Grown Up!
- Animaniacs
- Aqua Teen Hunger Force (Series 1-3)
- A.T.O.M.
- Ben 10
- Danny Phantom
- Freakazoid!
- Help! It's the Hair Bear Bunch
- Kim Possible
- The Legend of Tarzan
- The Life & Times of Juniper Lee
- Loonatics Unleashed
- Martin Mystery
- Ozzy & Drix
- The Proud Family
- Sheep in the Big City
- Sonic X
- Teen Titans
- What's New, Scooby-Doo?
Nomenclature
Cold Opens were previously known as "teasers". The following memorandum was written on 2 May 1966 as a supplement to the Writer-Director Information Guide for The Original Series, and was authored by Gene Roddenberry, describing the format of a typical episode. This quotation refers to what is now known as a cold open:
- a. Teaser, preferably three pages or less. Captain Kirk's Voice Over opens the show, briefly setting where we are and what's going on. This is usually followed by a short playing scene which ends with the Teaser "hook."
The "hook" of the teaser was some unexplained plot element that was alluded to in the teaser, or cold open, which was intended to keep audiences interested enough in the show to dissuade them from changing stations. In hour long dramas, a similar hook was often placed at the end of the first half hour. On Law & Order, this second hook is often the arrest of the suspected perpetrator of the crime committed in the cold open.
Notes
"Cold open"