The Flintstones Collection (Blu-ray) Coming Fall 2020 (1 Viewer)

[LeoA]

Is there a unique name for something like what Cheers typically opened with?

Those were never a teaser by that definition nor were they ever really a prologue (with perhaps a few exceptions). Usually they were just a short humorous scene with no connection to the storyline of the episode.

 

[TravisR]

Is there a unique name for something like what Cheers typically opened with?

Cold open.

 

[BobO'Link]

Is there a unique name for something like what Cheers typically opened with?

Those were never a teaser by that definition nor were they ever really a prologue (with perhaps a few exceptions). Usually they were just a short humorous scene with no connection to the storyline of the episode.

Cold open.

That type of cold open was typically utilized to make a series syndication friendly. The cold open could easily be dropped, as it didn't contain information/plot for the current episode, to shorten the episode enough to avoid additional cuts to get it to a length acceptable for syndication which has more commercial time.

 

[B-ROLL]

That type of cold open was typically utilized to make a series syndication friendly. The cold open could easily be dropped, as it didn't contain information/plot for the current episode, to shorten the episode enough to avoid additional cuts to get it to a length acceptable for syndication which has more commercial time.

The teasers & previews for "the next episode" were removed by most stations in syndication. Many of the 20th Century Fox Television (RIP ) eg BAT-MAN & Lost in Space had teasers for the next week's show built in (that included plot points with a cliffhanger with an admonishment to return "next week/time same (BAT-)Time,... Same (BAT-)Channel... The next show would begin "Last week as you remember ...". Most of the time these would be included in syndication ... but later next show teaser would be dropped and the show would begin with new show would begin "Last week as you remember ..."

Quinn-Martin (later QM) shows would have a announcer narration (voice-over) teaser saying "Guest Staring ..." and show the actors in costume/make-up but not a lot of plot info. Tthen the the announcer would say "Tonight's Episode:"(title of episode) ...

 

[ScottRE]

The teasers & previews for "the next episode" were removed by most stations in syndication. Many of the 20th Century Fox Television (RIP ) eg BAT-MAN & Lost in Space had teasers for the next week's show built in (that included plot points with a cliffhanger with an admonishment to return "next week/time same (BAT-)Time,... Same (BAT-)Channel... The next show would begin "Last week as you remember ...". Most of the time these would be included in syndication ... but later next show teaser would be dropped and the show would begin with new show would begin "Last week as you remember ..."

Quinn-Martin (later QM) shows would have a announcer narration (voice-over) teaser saying "Guest Staring ..." and show the actors in costume/make-up but not a lot of plot info. Tthen the the announcer would say "Tonight's Episode:"(title of episode) ...

Lost in Space's cliffhangers were usually intact. However, later USA Network and Sci-Fi Channel runs would use prints with the "next week" graphics removed and a new textless freeze frame would come up. I would assume because they assumed audiences would think it wasn't coming back until the following week. I absolutely hated that. Whenever a random episode would include the actual "To Be Continued" I would be ecstatic. Only a handful of episodes edited out "last week as you recall." When USA first ran LIS, the started with the color episodes. The first two episodes omitted the teasers entirely. The rest of the episode was uncut but you started in medias res. Which was confusing.

However, in the third season, the production dropped cliffhangers in exchange for one minute previews. This were dropped after the WTBS run (which usually included them) and weren't on the USA or SFC prints. There weren't opening episode narrations in the third year so those were a very easy cut.

 

[Wiseguy]

A prologue is what I believe is also called a "cold open," because it's a mini-act meant to get you into the story of a certain week's broadcast before the title sequence (Emergency! did that for most episodes [one sixth-and-final-season episode, the pilot, and a few of the Final Rescues movies excepted], and O-R Jack Lord Five-O did likewise for a third of the run, before starting right at the top with the title sequence starting in the 5th go [1972-73], and then going to teasers near the end).

A teaser is a half-minute short digest of scenes from the episode being shown that night (as if to say, "Coming up on Riptide," for instance).

They're all called teasers. And it's "Five-0" with a zero. It stands for the 50th state. The letter O makes no sense.