A cold open in a TV show is the scene that is shown before the title card, and there are some standout ones in the past. Now, in today’s world of streaming, the commercial break is often not a concern for writers and showrunners, but the concept has become integral to the structuring of shows. While there are still significantly many shows that open with the titles, the cold open has become a common creative choice. Moreover, with network TV shows now finding homes on streaming platforms, the cold open lives on through them as well.
While cold opens in drama shows often depict shocking moments or tease the events of the episode, sitcoms often use them to perform skits. A goofy routine by the characters that doesn’t contribute to any plot line can be commonly seen in sitcom cold opens. A few cold opens have changed their sitcoms forever, but the most iconic ones are usually disconnected from the plot, like the parkour cold open from The Office. While it was first introduced as a trope in narrative fiction, even sports shows like Netflix’s WWE RAW have cold opens now.
10
Ron Swanson Discovers Internet Cookies
Parks & Recreation Season 4, Episode 9 – “The Trial of Leslie Knope”
The whimsical antics of the Parks & Recreation characters have enthralled audiences for years. Created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, it follows the employees of the Parks and Recreation Department in the fictional town of Pawnee, Indiana. The department’s director, Ron Swanson, played by the brilliant Nick Offerman, is a deeply mistrusting anti-government man. He can find a conspiracy in everything, and is almost paranoid about personal safety and privacy. So, Ron Swanson wouldn’t approve of Nick Offerman’s president from Civil War (2024).
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In one of the show’s funniest cold opens, which often provide satisfying payoffs to the quirks that are set up in the episodes, Ron Swanson learns about internet cookies. Swanson gets thrown off when a computer ad containing his name pops up during a session of online shopping. Nick Offerman’s expression when Ron realizes targeted ads involve the internet learning about him is priceless. Swanson further unravels when his assistant asks him to look up his address on Google Earth. This cuts to him throwing his computer in the garbage, which is sudden and hilarious.
9
Desmond’s Introduction
Lost Season 2, Episode 1 – “Man of Science, Man of Faith”
Lost
9/10
One of the most excellent sci-fi TV shows with a mystery element, Lost is one of the most influential TV shows of all time. It has a reputation for having fallen off towards the second half of the show, but irrespective of that, it was one of the greatest sci-fi shows to ever air on TV. With a great cast that sells the suspense and the intensity of the characters’ circumstances with stunning performances, it has a significant presence in the conversation on sci-fi TV shows even today.
Rewatching Lost today allows us to watch the first episode of Season 2 right after finishing the last episode of Season 1, but Desmond’s introduction after a whole year-long wait made it even more iconic when the show aired.
Throughout the first season of Lost, viewers are teased with hints about what could be under the hatch. The ending of the year hinted at a revelation surrounding it, with a cliffhanger. So, when Desmond was introduced early on in the second season as living under the hatch, it blew viewers’ minds. The iconic opening scene of season 2, where we see his morning routine set to Cass Elliot’s Make Your Own Kind of Music, is a part of TV show history.
8
Nobody But Me Lip Dub
The Office Season 7, Episode 1 – “Nepotism”
The Office
8/10
The best place to stop watching The Office before it declines is the end of season 7, but before that, it featured some of the series’ best cold opens. It’s one of the most iconic moments in the show, and has even inspired other offices to attempt their own versions of this scene. The unassuming way it begins and the way it maintains energy throughout with unique reactions from the characters, which establish their quirks perfectly, leaves an indelible mark on the viewer.
Yes, the scene in question is none other than the lip dub of The Human Beinz’s Nobody But Me by the employees of the Dunder Mifflin Scranton branch. The infectious enthusiasm of the characters will make you sing along and maybe dance along with them. The song is amazing, the actors are passionate, there are jokes in the form of antics, and the ending reveals that they made Toby film it so that he wasn’t in the dance – it’s a perfectly extended joke about everyone in the show.
7
Tywin Melts Ice
Game of Thrones Season 4, Episode 1 – “Two Swords”
Game of Thrones leaves no stone unturned in its efforts to establish just how evil the Lannisters are, and how much they hate the Starks. From killing Ned Stark in the penultimate episode of the first season, they have just made life worse for the Starks. While this is more of a symbolic gesture, the way the fourth season opens further establishes how little Tyiwn thinks of the Starks.
The Starks’ defeat is made apparent through this symbolic gesture as Ned Stark’s last traces are snuffed out.
In the cold opening Game of Thrones season 4, episode 1, Tywin is seen ordering a smith to melt down Ned Stark’s sword, Ice, and making two new swords instead. He even throws the sword’s scabbard in the fire and watches it burn with an expression of wicked satisfaction on his face. The Starks’ defeat is made apparent through this symbolic gesture as Ned Stark’s last traces are snuffed out, and used to make weapons for the Lannisters.
6
Dean’s Payday Rap
Community Season 5, Episode 9 – “VCR Maintenance and Educational Publishing”
Community
8/10
Community is perhaps the greatest sitcom ever made. With meta writing, uniquely quirky characters, and subversive narrative techniques, it experiments with the medium and pushes its boundaries with every episode. Just like with many other sitcoms, some of the best moments of the show come from the side characters, who are all just as entertaining and memorable as the main characters.
For some reason, Dean decides to announce this via freestyle rap, and says some things that make him uncomfortable, eventually making him break down and run away in embarrassment in his signature style.
No one can watch Community without developing a fascination with Dean Pelton — the eternally-anxious dean of Greendale Community College. He never stops sweating about the lack of infrastructure and the borderline problematic decisions he makes. One of Dean Pelton’s funniest quotes is in a cold open in season 5, when he comes to announce that payday has been postponed due to a lack of funds. For some reason, Dean decides to announce this via freestyle rap, and says some things that make him uncomfortable, eventually making him break down and run away in embarrassment in his signature style.
5
The Survivors Clear The House
The Walking Dead Season 3, Episode 1 – “Seed”
The Walking Dead is one of the greatest sci-fi TV shows ever made. Set in a post-apocalyptic zombie-infested world, it follows a group of survivors led by Rick Grimes as they do what it takes to survive. By the time season 3 begins, Rick has become a strict leader who acts like a dictator to the group. He takes decisions that he believes are in the best interests of the group, so he can whip them into shape as a survival crew.
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The cold opening to the premiere of The Walking Dead season 3 is arguably the best moment of the show. The characters kill the zombies living in a house, scour it for resources, and stock up on what they find, before promptly leaving when they notice more zombies coming towards the house. The characters don’t speak once while they are in the house, and they go about their work with clinical precision, coordinating like a well-oiled machine. The scene establishes just how well they work together now, because they don’t even need to speak to communicate with each other.
4
Walter Says “Say My Name”
Breaking Bad Season 5, Episode 7 – “Say My Name”
Breaking Bad
10/10
Breaking Bad, one of the most loved TV shows that should never be rebooted, follows the unbelievable journey of an overqualified high school chemistry teacher who eventually becomes a drug lord. Walter White loses himself in the business of making and selling drugs by season 3, and by the end of season 4, there’s no Walter White left. He’s officially Heisenberg now, the man who makes the iconic blue meth.
He ensures the distributor knows that he’s none other than the infamous Heisenberg.
Subtlety is one of Breaking Bad‘s greatest strengths, and it gradually teases Walter’s interest in becoming a drug lord through subtle hints in the form of aggressive antics. In season 5, there’s nothing left to tease, and the show clarifies that for viewers with the perfect moment that has since become the stuff of legend. After an altercation with a new distributor who speaks insolently to Walter, he growls at him to say his name. He ensures the distributor knows that he’s none other than the infamous Heisenberg. It depicts how much his ego has grown.
3
Asian Jim
The Office Season 9, Episode 3 – “Andy’s Ancestry”
The Office
8/10
Sitcom cold opens are some of the greatest in TV history – they offer a look into the lives of the main characters away from the plot details of the episode they’re in. Their quirks are on full display, as they do some weird stuff that doesn’t fit into the episode, but makes sense for them to do. So, it only makes sense for The Office‘s best cold open to involve Jim’s greatest prank on Dwight.
The animated movie IF, directed by John Krasinski and starring Ryan Gosling alongside himself as voice actors, called back to the iconic cold open in one of the promotional videos where Randall Park appeared in John’s place to talk about the experience of making the movie.
While the two characters exchange pranks throughout the show, even in the middle of the episodes, such a prank is perfectly suited for a cold open. The shocking level of effort Jim puts into it and its hilarious effect on Dwight explains the cultural footprint of the prank. Randall Park appears as Jim and compliments Dwight on being race-blind because he didn’t realize he’s asian. His photograph shows Park’s picture instead of John Krasinski’s, who normally plays Jim. It’s the greatest cold open in the show, depicting Dwight’s growing bewilderment as he replays memories in his head.
2
Fleabag Thinks Her Period Is Coming
Fleabag Season 1, Episode 2
Fleabag
9/10
One of the greatest shows ever written, Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag follows the protagonist, played by Waller-Bridge, during two formative periods of her life. She’s dysfunctional, distraught, and hilarious – offering a comical take on tragic occurrences and the inconveniences one faces in her regular life. The writing and narrative structure make the entire show feel like an inside joke between the character and the audience. So, in keeping with that tone and style of storytelling, the cold opens in Fleabag often tackle daily moments she faces as a woman, and her commentary on them in the form of punchlines.
The most interesting and amusing of these moments is in Fleabag season 1, episode 2, which opens in the metro. The character perceives everyone in the train groaning, as if from stomach cramps, but they all groan in sync to AWOLNATION’s Sail. The absurdity and extreme nature of their movement reflects her own anguish about her presumably incoming periods. The scene fits right in with the surrealist humor in the rest of the show, and introduces viewers to the character’s perspective and sense of humor.
1
Jake Makes The Criminals Sing
Brooklyn Nine-Nine Season 5, Episode 17 – “DFW”
Brooklyn Nine-Nine is perhaps the greatest sitcom when it comes to cold opens. It almost always features an outlandishly funny interaction in the cold open that adds to the characters’ lore. The use of humor in what would otherwise be a morbid situation defines the show’s brand of comedy. It follows the shenanigans of cops during their investigations into often gruesome crimes. Many of the Brooklyn Nine-Nine cold opens are part of TV hall of fame, but perhaps no cold open in the history of television than the Backstreet Boys homage to the show.
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A distraught woman is trying to identify the man who killed her brother, and the only way to do it is to make them sing so she can recognize their voice. The catchy rendition of I Want It That Way, Jake’s immersion in the singing, and the woman’s ghastly reaction at the end – there’s simply too much to love about the scene. It has made fans replace the line “tell me why” with “now number five”, because that’s what Jake sings in the scene.