Talk:Cold open

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I have no idea where to put this question, but doesn't the movie American Beauthy not show its titles till the end of the movie? That must be quite rare. Pam, not signed in

If all that's required for a "cold open" is having new material come before the credits, then a "cold open" is not beginning in medias res. For example, Star Trek episodes begin with a "cold open," but each episode generally begins a new, standalone story. Epics are not serials. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Ccoll (talk • contribs) 2005-08-15 16:22:26.

Contents 1 Another Videogame 2 Needless examples? 3 Soaps 4 Teaser to Cold Open? 5 Recent Phenomenon? 6 Family Guy? 7 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind?? 8 Teasers used as to build up suspence? 9 SNL 10 Permissions? 11 Opening Gambit 12 Cold Openings in Anime 13 self-contained cold opens 14 misleading info

[edit] Another Videogame

I saw the mention of Metal Gear Solid using a cold opening. Paper Mario on the Nintendo 64 has a cold opening. Not sure if anyone cares though.

[edit] Needless examples?

• If most live-action shows start with cold opens these days, why the need for the paragraph-long list of examples? -- nae'blis _(talk) 20:03, 15 February 2006 (UTC)
  • I agree. The list is stupid long. I reccomend shorting the paragraph to a sentence with 3 or 4 examples(I say, Law and Order, Star Trek and Friends, but that's my opinion) and maybe creating a list page that has all of them. --Cookn4evar 23:11, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

I think that the listings of various Star Trek series are unneccessary. Just posting Star Trek would be enough.

Trimmed to about a half-dozen shows, including Simpsons. I perhaps could have included more of the animated shows, but there's no sense in trying to be exhaustive here, as cold opens have gotten more and more common in recent years. -- nae'blis _(talk) 01:39, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

• Talking about examples, the movie "The Good, Bad and the ugly" continues to display the credits well till about 50% of the movie —Preceding unsigned comment added by 125.17.142.146 (talk) 12:21, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Soaps

The article states that "virtually every soap [employs] the format". This is not true at all. In the UK at least, most of the popular soaps do not include cold opens. EastEnders, Coronation Street and Doctors (BBC soap opera) don't; Holby City and Neighbours do. Tobyink 11:50, 7 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Teaser to Cold Open?

When did it stop being a teaser? Why? Is there any real sourcable etymology on this?

--El benito 18:51, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

The article cites one source, which refers to "teaser". Where does cold open come from? 82.46.128.26 23:12, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Recent Phenomenon?

I seem to recall many cold opens in the years prior to the 1990s. Thinking back to the 1960s, F Troop, Gilligan's Island, and Batman began with a title slide including the words "In Color" (which was new at the time), followed by a teaser, and only then going to the title sequence. I didn't watch dramas back then (other than Star Trek) so I couldn't say what they did. ShawnVW 19:24, 6 May 2006 (UTC)

How is this different than the "opening gambit" of shows like MacGyver? Where the pre-credit is often only tangentally connected or unrelated to episode itself different thing entirely? -a

I remember sitcoms using this a lot starting in the early 80s. All the big 70s shows, like Laverne and Shirley, 3's Company, etc., were "credits first"; then in the 1980s, many shows--like Cheers, Night Court, Kate & Allie--all had a little bit before the credits. Night Court in particular--there would always be a big joke and then the distinctive two opening notes of the theme.

[edit] Family Guy?

Family Guy hardly ever begins with cold openings (I can only think of the first episode that does). There may occasionally be a throwaway gag at the start, before the opening, but the same can be held true for many animated shows (like Futurama). --DK 03:22, 26 August 2006 (UTC)

You imply that there are jokes in Family Guy OTHER than throwaway gags.ZebulonNebulon 19:26, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

On the commentary tracks for Futurama and Family Guy, the creators/writers of those shows very specifically refer to the pre-credit gags as cold opens Ja2ke 21:28, 4 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind??

Is it worth mentioning Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind considering the cold opening lasted well into the 2nd reel? I (personally) found it to be quite a peculiar cold opening, as I had been settling into the story by the time it was shown.

[edit] Teasers used as to build up suspence?

• In one Epsiode of Quincy M.E "Crib Job" the victim is shown in the teaser falling dead at the begining-yet this is not shown in the following episode!!

[edit] SNL

I realize There's Lots Of Examples, But Isn't Saturday Night Live One Of The Most Popular - With The Whole "Live From New York..." schtick? Dslawe 05:02, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Permissions?

Aren't there a lot of arcane rules for where and how all the titles, credits, etc. have to be displayed. Are any special permissions needed before they can for e.g. put the title at the end of the film? Ewlyahoocom 07:02, 3 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Opening Gambit

I'm sure that I've seen one show (possibly MacGuyver) refer to the pre-credits mini-adventure as the "Opening Gambit" in its credits. Is this another term for it, presumably taken from chess, or just an oddity of (possibly) MacGuyver? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Brickie (talk • contribs) 09:13, 5 February 2007 (UTC).

[edit] Cold Openings in Anime

I seem to recall that cold openings were a more recent phenomenon in anime adopted in large part around the mid to late 90s. In the 70s, 80s and early 90s the vast majority of anime TV shows used "warm openings" (included unedited shows direct from Japan). This would (interestingly enough) coincide to around the time where the concept became increasingly accepted on prime time US television. Perhaps the article should be changed to explain that they are "increasingly more common" in anime, or to otherwise explain how this wasn't always the case. Maybe I'm starting to show my age here, but I definitely remember being a bit thrown off guard when I started seeing more and more cold opens in anime TV shows. Prior to that I subconsciously expected an anime TV show to start with the title sequence. Kensuke Aida 07:24, 18 April 2007 (UTC)

One of the best examples of the Cold Open is in the "Police Squad" TV series, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_Squad. The "special quest star" is always killed in the cold open, which has nothing to do with the rest of the episode. Slipangle 16:52, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] self-contained cold opens

The article seems to state that the cold opens is always a part of the story in the episode it belongs too but some shows, Cheers for example, often have a cold open that features a self-contained comedy bit unrelated to the main story of the show. Thus one could watch a Cheers episode from after the cold open without missing any of the episodes plot. Maybe this should be clarified? --Cab88 15:37, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] misleading info

I removed this quote: "Shows which air some form of titles before jumping into the story and then running a formal opening sequence are also considered cold opens." The reasoning is because this, when added to the rest of the definition, makes the definition far too broad, essentially saying that a cold open is any opening that does OR DOES NOT come before the opening credits -- in other words, every opening is a cold open. Surely this is inaccurate, or at the very least, misleadingly worded. Minaker (talk) 04:49, 14 May 2008 (UTC)

Also, although I didn't alter anything regarding the following issue (I don't want to start any edit wars), we should be more careful in the discussion of what does or does not qualify as a cold open. For example, if the opening credits don't appear until 15 or 30 minutes into the film, the entire pre-credits sequence is not a "cold open"; by definition, by its very wording, a cold open is the opening of the narrative, and if you're a half hour into the story, it's not really the opening of the film anymore, regardless of when the credits occur. Minaker (talk) 04:49, 14 May 2008 (UTC)