How to Use cold open in a Sentence

cold open

noun
  • Episodes begin with dramatic, Breaking Bad-style cold opens and end on cliffhangers but often drift sluggishly between the two.
    Judy Berman, TIME, 10 July 2024
  • During this weekend’s cold open, cast members depicting Biden allies made exaggerated claims about his vigor, drawing laughs.
    Shant Shahrigian, New York Daily News, 3 Mar. 2024
  • Kelly Ripa just slithered into a Live cold open as chilly as the scales of a reptile, as the beloved talk show host kicked off Wednesday's episode with a stern warning to audience members.
    Joey Nolfi, EW.com, 10 July 2024
  • The series starts with a cold open featuring a guy bumping around in a dark, wet room of some sort.
    Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 7 May 2024
  • Based around the season’s cold open, the song harkens back to the timelessness of East Coast hip-hop and features Bumpy’s anthem.
    Jazz Tangcay, Variety, 11 June 2023
  • And this milestone was also addressed with this week’s cold open.
    Katie Reul, Variety, 9 Apr. 2023
  • The crowd appears unsure of how to react to this cold open, but loves Kenan’s appearance.
    Andy Hoglund, EW.com, 10 Dec. 2023
  • The high of the hand Following a chilling cold open, the movie gets underway on Mia's mother's remembrance day.
    Megan McCluskey, Time, 28 July 2023
  • The latest lame cold opens from Studio 8H have little to say other than to make the same old Trump jokes with a slightly different cast than four years ago.
    Kelly Lawler, USA TODAY, 18 Mar. 2024
  • This week’s cold open made a very strong case for this year’s women’s NCAA tournament completely eclipsing the men’s side (more on eclipses later).
    Omar L. Gallaga, Los Angeles Times, 7 Apr. 2024
  • But first, the show’s cold open took a break from politics and news to preview Sunday’s Academy Awards ceremony.
    Omar L. Gallaga, Los Angeles Times, 12 Mar. 2023
  • Tonight’s cold open features this tantalizing glimpse of two-on-one awkwardness.
    Kristen Baldwin, EW.com, 12 Feb. 2024
  • Johansson showed up during yesterday’s cold open wearing a replica of Britt’s green blouse and cross necklace.
    Esther Zuckerman, The Atlantic, 10 Mar. 2024
  • This cold open immediately sets the scene for where Ahsoka appears to be headed.
    Megan McCluskey, Time, 23 Aug. 2023
  • This week’s cold open eschewed White House politics or Trump court drama for a look at how parents are reacting to recent student protests at college campuses.
    Omar L. Gallaga, Los Angeles Times, 5 May 2024
  • The variety show dispensed with its typical topical cold open for one that featured SNL castmembers sharing moments with their moms.
    Hilary Lewis, The Hollywood Reporter, 11 May 2024
  • When the series kicked off its 49th season in October, Pete Davidson toed the line between humor and sincerity while addressing the violence overseas during his episode’s cold open.
    Shania Russell, EW.com, 31 Mar. 2024
  • Filmed in August 2012 — prior to much of the show’s ninth season — the episode would have aired as a regular episode of The Office, but would only have featured the familiar cast in its cold open.
    John Russell, Peoplemag, 14 Aug. 2024
  • Heading into this new season, Rudolph is cognizant of the fact that the stakes of the 2024 election — in which Trump is running against Harris — go far beyond cold opens and hit-or-miss comedy sketches.
    Larisha Paul, Rolling Stone, 11 Sep. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'cold open.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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