There are two kinds of anthologies when it comes to TV. There are season-long anthologies that tell one story with a consistent set of characters for the length of a season. If renewed for a second season, the show tells a new story with new characters, often with the same theme or feel of the pervious season. ‘American Horror Story‘, ‘True Detective’ and ‘Fargo’ are all successful examples of modern series-long anthologies. The other kind is the episode-long anthology, in which each new episode explores a new story with a new cast. The British television show now available on Netflix called ‘Black Mirror‘ is a modern example that tells a new sci-fi story about technology’s potential effect on society every episode. ‘The Twilight Zone’, ‘Outer Limits‘, and the Steven Spielberg produced 1980s series ‘Amazing Stories’ are all episode-only anthologies and the last is being resurrected on NBC.
According to EW, NBC is giving the ‘Amazing Stories’ job to Bryan Fuller, who has a little more time on his hands after NBC canceled his previous show ‘Hannibal‘ based on the ‘Silence of the Lambs’ character Hannibal Lecter. It will be interesting to see Fuller take on ‘Amazing Stories’ considering that the original was a more family-friendly ‘Twilight Zone’. ‘Hannibal’ and Fuller’s other new show ‘American Gods‘ based on a book by Neil Gaiman deal with more mature content. The original ‘Amazing Stories’ attracted directing talent such as Martin Scorsese, Clint Eastwood, Joe Dante, Robert Zemeckis, and Irvin Kershner. Those big names may have been involved due to ‘Amazing Stories’ connection to Steven Spielberg, who even hired his regular composer John Williams to score the show’s opening which you can watch below.
‘Amazing Stories’ is NBC’s next attempt to regain audiences from past shows. The network is also revisiting ‘Cruel Intentions’ and ‘Hart to Hart.’ ABC is making a new ‘Fantasy Island‘ while CBS is taking another shot at ‘Nancy Drew,’ ‘Training Day,’ and ‘MacGyver.’ Of course, Fox has ‘The X-Files‘ coming up along with a new ‘Prison Break’ after recently rebooting ’24.’ Everything old is new again.