A cold open (also 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. On television this is often done on the theory that involving the audience in the plot as soon as possible will reduce the likelihood of their switching away from a show. A well-known example is the pre-title "teaser" which occurs in all James Bond films since From Russia with Love. Shows which air some form of titles before jumping into the story and then running a formal opening sequence are also considered cold opens. A television program (US), television programme (UK) or simply television show is a segment of programming in television broadcasting. ... This article is about motion pictures. ... For other uses, see In Medias Res (disambiguation). ... This example of a title sequence, from long-running serial drama Another World, was seen from 1966 to 1981, making it one of the longest-running continuous title sequences on television. ... Opening credits, in a television program, motion picture or videogame, are shown at the beginning of a show and list the most important members of the production. ... This article is about the spy series. ... For the Ian Fleming novel, see From Russia with Love. ...

Cinematically, the cold open can last anywhere from less than a minute up to ten minutes. In rare circumstances it can be even longer: for instance, in Leaving Las Vegas and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, the title is not displayed until 15 and 18 minutes into the films respectively. For other uses, see Leaving Las Vegas (disambiguation). ... Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is an Academy Award-winning 2004 American romance film by director Michel Gondry. ...

Examples in Media

Cold opens have been popular on television since the 1960s. Their use on adventure serials was an economical way of setting up a plot without having to introduce the regular characters or even the series synopsis which would typically be outlined in the title sequence itself. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964–68) and Star Trek (1966–69) are good contemporary examples in the United States while in the United Kingdom it was usually series destined for American export that reiterated the format, such as The Saint (1962–69) and The Avengers (1961–69). The 1960s decade refers to the years from 1960 to 1969. ... The Man from U.N.C.L.E. was an American television series that ran on NBC from September 22, 1964, to January 15, 1968, for 105 episodes (see 1964 in television and 1968 in television). ... This article is about the entire Star Trek franchise. ... The Saint refers to the fictional character created by Leslie Charteris in one of the following contexts: Simon Templar, the character also known as The Saint (main article on this topic) The Saint (TV series), a TV series that ran from 1962 to 1969, starring Roger Moore as Simon Templar. ... The Avengers is a British 1960s television series featuring secret agents in a fantasy 1960s Britain. ...

British producer Lew Grade's many attempts to break into the American market meant that many of the shows he was involved with incorporated the cold open such as The Persuaders! (1971) and Space: 1999 (Series One only, 1975). Later, many British action-adventure series employed the format; The New Avengers (1976–77) and The Professionals (1977–81) are prime examples. Lew Grade, Baron Grade (birth name Louis Winogradsky) (December 25, 1906 - December 13, 1998) was an influential showbusiness impresario and television company executive in the United Kingdom. ... Not to be confused with The Persuaders (film) or The Persuaders (band). ... Left to right: Barbara Bain, Catherine Schell and Martin Landau from Space:1999s second season. ... A 1970s New Avengers paperback features Mike Gambit (Gareth Hunt), Purdey (Joanna Lumley) and the ubiquitous John Steed (Patrick Macnee). ... The Professionals has a number of meanings, including the following: The Professionals (TV Series) The Professionals is a 1966 Western movie directed by Richard Brooks. ...

Toying with many television conventions Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969–74) played around with the concept of cold opens, sometimes having an entire episode before the starting credits, and in one instance (the first episode of Monty Python's series four) having no opening credits at all (Terry Gilliam had not finished the new opening sequence). This article is about the television series. ... Terrence Vance Gilliam (born November 22, 1940) is an American-born British filmmaker, animator, and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. ...

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, daytime soap operas became the main user of cold opens, with virtually every American 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. This serial technique also occurred in the original series of Doctor Who, although the scene was usually refilmed. The first TIME cover devoted to soap operas: Dated January 12, 1976, Bill Hayes and Susan Seaforth Hayes of Days of Our Lives are featured with the headline Soap Operas: Sex and suffering in the afternoon. A soap opera is an ongoing, episodic work of fiction, usually broadcast on television... This article is about the decade of 2000-2009. ... This article is about the television series. ...

In the late 1970s and early 1980s some shows began with highlights from the following episode.

Currently, many US live-action TV shows do cold opens, while in Britain the practice is not as typical (though increasingly common) and many programs still begin with opening titles. British shows that do use cold opens include Torchwood, the revival of Doctor Who and Life on Mars. For plants known as torchwood, see Burseraceae. ... This article is about the television series. ... Life on Mars is a BAFTA and International Emmy award-winning British television drama series, which was first shown on BBC One in January and February 2006. ...

In the US, TV shows will occasionally forego a standard cold open at the midway point of a two-part episode, or during a "special" episode. For example, Buffy the Vampire Slayer's fourth season finale lacked a cold open, as it was an unusual dream-centric episode. Many episodes of MacGyver began with a cold open that was unrelated to the main episode and created by a separate director. List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes Restless is the 22nd and last episode of season 4 of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, characterized by bizarre dream settings which illustrate the four main characters overall themes as well as providing extensive hints about future developments. ... MacGyver is an American adventure television series, produced in Canada, about a laid-back, extremely resourceful secret agent, played by Richard Dean Anderson. ...

Throughout its history, the US TV show Saturday Night Live has employed the cold open—typically a sketch that ends with a character unexpectedly saying, "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night." This article is about the American television series. ...

Also, the practice of cold opens is becoming more widespread in animation, with the likes of Arthur, Kim Possible, Danny Phantom, The Venture Bros., Men in Black, Extreme Ghostbusters, The Proud Family and Aqua Teen Hunger Force doing cold opens (Beep Prepared used a brief one in 1961). Cold opens are also fairly common in anime, such as Fullmetal Alchemist, particularly in the first or last episode of a series. Even television's longest running cartoon series, Scooby-Doo, took up the cold open in the series' ninth installment, What's New, Scooby-Doo?. Look up Arthur in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... This article is about the television series. ... Danny Phantom is an animated television series created by Butch Hartman for Nickelodeon, produced by Billionfold Studios. ... The Venture Bros. ... Extreme Ghostbusters was a sequel/spin-off of The Real Ghostbusters, airing in the fall of 1997. ... The Proud Family is an American animated television series targeted toward African-American pre-teens and teenagers. ... Beep Prepared is a Warner Brothers Merrie Melodies theatrical cartoon short released in 1961. ... Year 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Animé redirects here. ... Demographic Shōnen Serialized in Monthly Shonen Gangan Original run January 2001 – still running Volumes 19 volumes, with 81 total chapters (as of March 12, 2008) TV anime Director Seiji Mizushima Studio Bones Licensor Aniplex FUNimation Entertainment MVM Films, then Revelation films Madman Entertainment Network MBS-TBS, Animax Original run... Scooby-doo is also British naval divers slang for civilian sport scuba diver. Scooby-Doo is an important character in animation up to this day Scooby-Doo is a long-running animated series produced for television by Hanna-Barbera Productions from 1969 to 1986, 1988 to 1991, and from 2002... Whats New, Scooby-Doo? was the ninth incarnation of the long-running Hanna-Barbera Saturday morning cartoon Scooby-Doo. ...

Video games such as Final Fantasy have included cold opens, either starting off with a lengthy opening sequence or, like the Metal Gear Solid series, have one level before displaying the title sequence. Kingdom Hearts II went as far as to include an entire subplot, often taking players upwards of three hours, before showing the game's logo. This has the primary effect of imitating cinema. This article is about computer and video games. ... This article is about the Final Fantasy franchise. ... This article is about the original PlayStation game. ... Kingdom Hearts II ) is an action role-playing game developed by Square Enix and published by Square Enix and Buena Vista Games (now Disney Interactive Studios) in 2005 for the Sony PlayStation 2 video game console. ...

The American version of the hit BBC sitcom/mockumentary "The Office" began employing cold opens in its second season. The cold open allows the writers to focus the audience on the oddball humor that popularized the show, in order to devote more "actual" show time to developing the increasingly more complex plots and characters. This article is about the various versions of the television series The Office, comparing UK, US, French, German, and French Canadian versions. ...

Documentaries do not use cold openings as frequently as fictional shows. The World at War is one famous exception, where in a few short minutes an especially poignant moment is featured. After the title sequence the events that explain the episode are outlined more fully. Fahrenheit 9/11 also features a lengthy cold open. The World at War is a 26-episode television documentary series on World War II, including the events leading up to it and following in its wake. ... Fahrenheit 9/11 is a controversial, award-winning documentary film by American left-wing filmmaker Michael Moore which presents a critical look at the presidency of George W. Bush, the War on Terrorism, and its coverage in the American news media. ...

Nomenclature

Cold opens were previously known as "teasers". The following memorandum was written on May 2, 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: is the 122nd day of the year (123rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the 1966 Gregorian calendar. ... The starship Enterprise as it appeared on Star Trek Star Trek is a culturally significant science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry in the 1960s. ... Eugene Wesley Roddenberry (August 19, 1921 – October 24, 1991) was an American scriptwriter and producer. ...

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."^[1]

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 while the titles roll. Star Trek writer David Gerrold, to tweak William Shatner on set, once told Shatner that he was writing a Star Trek episode in which Kirk lost his voice in the teaser (the hook), and didn't get it back until the tag.^[2] David Gerrold, born Jerrold David Friedman (January 24, 1944), in Chicago, Illinois, is an award-winning science fiction author who started his career in 1966 as a college student by submitting an unsolicited story outline for the television series Star Trek. ... William Alan Shatner (born on March 22, 1931) is a Canadian actor who gained fame for playing James Tiberius Kirk of the USS Enterprise in the television show Star Trek from 1966 to 1969 and in seven of the subsequent movies. ...

In hour-long dramas, a similar hook was often placed at the end of the first half hour. For instance, in Law & Order, this second hook is often the arrest of the suspected perpetrator of the crime committed in the cold open. Many shows mark each act break (which is typically followed by commercials) with minor hooks as well. This is to keep the viewers from changing the channel during the break. This article is about the original television series. ...

Newscasts

Cold opens and similar teases are also used in many television newscasts, including the major United States network newscasts. In news cold opens, anchors begin introducing stories in a brief, tease-like fashion. A newscast typically consists of the coverage of various news events and other information, either produced locally by a radio or television station, or by a broadcast network. ... A television network is a distribution network for television content whereby a central operation provides programming for many television stations. ...

See also

• Title sequence
• Hot switch

This example of a title sequence, from long-running serial drama Another World, was seen from 1966 to 1981, making it one of the longest-running continuous title sequences on television. ...

Notes

1. ^ Alexander, David (1995). Star Trek Creator: The Unauthorized Biography of Gene Roddenberry. Penguin Books. 
2. ^ Gerrold, David (1977). The Trouble with Tribbles. Bantam.