cold open
English
Etymology
From cold (“completely unprepared; without introduction”) + open.
Noun
cold open (plural cold opens)
- (television) An opening segment shown before the opening credits.
- 2004, James Mendrinos, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Comedy Writing:
- The best way to find out how the series you're writing for uses teasers or cold opens is to get your hands on a script.
- 2024 November 17, Zach Vasquez, “Saturday Night Live: Charli xcx has fun in otherwise middle of the road episode”, in The Guardian[1], →ISSN:
- Colin Jost and Michael Che cover the same ground as the cold open, reporting on Trump’s clown car cabinet picks […] .