GlossaryCraft technique
Cold open
Also: teaser · pre-credits
A cold open, also called a teaser, is the scene that runs before a show's title sequence. It drops the audience into action with no setup, doing three jobs at once: hooking attention, establishing tone, and planting the question the episode will answer. Common in television and many features.
The cold open earns its name by starting cold — no recap, no easing in. It plays before the main titles and is built to make a channel-surfing viewer stop.
A strong teaser does structural work, not just spectacle: it sets the tone, introduces the engine of the episode, and ends on a hook into the title card. In half-hour comedy it often carries a self-contained joke; in drama it usually poses the week's dramatic question.