Cold open

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A cold open 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 also are 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.

Well known TV shows that begin with a "cold open" are Roseanne, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, The Dick van Dyke Show, The West Wing, Friends, 7th Heaven, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Andy Milonakis Show, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Alias, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Enterprise, The X-Files, Saturday Night Live, Law & Order and its spinoffs, House, CSI, Smallville, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, MacGyver, Lost, Desperate Housewives, Doctor Who (2005), the new Battlestar Galactica, Nip/Tuck, The Shield, ER, Seinfeld, Friends, Cheers, Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, several episodes of X-Play, and some episodes of Futurama and Family Guy.

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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). 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?.

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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 Star Trek, 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."Template:Ref

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 prevent 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.

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