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.

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" of all James Bond films since From Russia With Love.

Several well known TV shows that begin with a "cold open" are The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Alias, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Enterprise, Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, The X-Files, Saturday Night Live, Law & Order, CSI, Smallville, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, MacGyver, Lost and early episodes of Futurama and Family Guy.

Cold opens were not widespread on television until the 1990's, despite having been around on television since The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (mentioned above). Presently, virtually all live-action TV shows do cold opens. 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).