cold open

English

Etymology

From cold (completely unprepared; without introduction) +‎ open.

Noun

cold open (plural cold opens)

  1. (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 [] .

Antonyms

See also