10 Best TV Show Cold Opens Ever

This is quite possibly one of the best scenes and acting performances ever put on the small screen, so the fact that it acted as the cold opening for the first episode of a TV show is nothing short of incredible. It took every viewer by the throat and demanded their attention.

The scene depicted a news anchor named Will McAvoy (Jeff Daniels) taking part in a debate. As he sat between two arguing sides of the political spectrum, he answered every question with political ambiguity.

But after being asked why America was the greatest country in the world, he threw away all vagueness, and went on a colossal rant about the declining state of the country, and left everything on the table.

Jeff Daniels gave one of the best performances of his lifetime here, and the dialogue is just what you'd expect from Aaron Sorkin. He manages to balance the information-packed speech with a tonne of emotion and character development.

Newsroom's opening scene was the sort of thing you'd expect as an episode or even season climax, so the fact that it was the audience's first peek into the show meant they were utterly spoiled with great acting, directing and writing.