10 Best TV Show Cold Opens Ever
"I want it thaaaat way"
Sometimes it can be tough to open an episode. You have to cater to those who might not have seen the last entry, but also deliver something strong enough to hook audiences in regardless.
While many shows do this by using catchy opening credits, others decide to break this rule and chuck you right into the action, giving you something sudden and unexpected to get you prepared for what's still to come.
These cold openings are an ingenious way not just to set up the coming outing but to establish the tone of the series you're watching.
They can throw you a tonne of humour that will become the basis for the episode, give you something entirely irrelevant to the coming plot that delivers a distinct feel for the characters, or set up a powerful scene establishing the stakes, while offering viewers an adrenaline boost to keep them excited.
The following are the best examples of this writing technique, as they all got audiences addicted to everything going on, before it had really began.
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This list will contain minor spoilers.
10. Fringe - The Arrival
Fringe was a perfect show for Sci-Fi fans, as it blended all of the best aspects of the genre. There was intrigue, action, humour and almost every kind of science fiction trope under the sun. This made it a great hodgepodge of wacky and badass moments, which can be almost entirely summed up in this strange and peculiar intro from the show's fourth episode.
The Arrival opens on a diner, where we meet a weird bald man with no eyebrows. He asks the waitress for raw meat in a neat bun and eleven jalapeños on the side. As soon as it arrives, he smothers it with pepper and hot sauce, all the while watching and taking notes on a construction site.
After chowing down on what's likely to be the hottest sandwich of all time, he remains calm as the site falls apart and collapses. Afterwards, he steps out, gets on the phone and states, "It has arrived".
Sometimes, there's no better way to catch an audience's attention than throwing them right into the action.
This weird character - who'd we'd later learn was an Observer called September - was certainly eye-catching, and the juxtaposition between his hilarious meal and devastating destruction made, unlike his food, an incredibly appealing combination.