Binged 'The Americans' for 3 seasons skipping the cold open every time

I thought those little scenes before the title were just filler, so I'd skip them to save time. Then I caught one by accident in season 4 where Philip is sitting in a diner and the whole episode clicked backwards. Anyone else realize they were gutting the best part of the show for months?

3 comments

3 Comments

troy_price1mo ago

Oh man, that exact thing happened to me. Skipped them through the whole first season and then felt like an idiot when I realized how much setup and character work I missed.

nguyen.angela1mo ago

Wait, are you serious? I actually go out of my way to skip intros and credits because I think they take away from the show. Like, most of the time those scenes just repeat stuff from the episode before or give away too much about what's coming next. I'd rather just jump right into the action and figure things out as I go. Honestly, I feel like a lot of those "setup and character work" moments you're talking about are just filler anyway. The good shows make sense without all that extra stuff, right?

foster.tessa1mo ago

Wait, did you seriously just realize this? I had a buddy who did the exact same thing @nguyen.angela, he skipped all the cold opens for like two full seasons because he thought they were just padding. Then he missed one and saw the diner scene and almost threw his remote at the TV. He said it was like finding out there's a whole extra chapter in a book you already read. Now he goes back and watches them all again before starting a new episode, which is kind of extra but I get it.