The shift in how shows handle cold opens over the last decade

I was rewatching Breaking Bad last week and noticed something. Those old cold opens from around 2008 would just dump you into a random scene with no context, sometimes a full 2-3 minutes before the title card. But now with shows like The Bear or Succession, they use those first 60 seconds to setup a tiny mystery or a mood piece. Feels like streaming changed the pacing, since nobody has to wait through commercials anymore. Has anyone else noticed the cold open evolution changing how you get hooked?

2 comments

2 Comments

eric_price7d ago

Nah, cold opens were way more intriguing when they were mysterious and slow.

thompson.tyler7d agoMost Upvoted

Big same. Those old cold opens where you'd just get a quiet shot of a character in their car or staring at a wall for a solid minute before anything happened. They let you sit in the mood and figure out the vibe before the plot even kicked in. Now everything's gotta be a flashy hook right away, like the audience can't stand more than three seconds of silence. It's a bummer because that slow build is exactly what made me love shows like The Sopranos or early Breaking Bad. You just don't get that patient storytelling anymore.