Anthology series explained

An anthology series is a written series, radio, television, film, or video game series that presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short.[1] These usually have a different cast in each episode, but several series in the past, such as Four Star Playhouse, employed a permanent troupe of character actors who would appear in a different drama each week.[2] Some anthology series, such as Studio One, began on radio and then expanded to television.[3]

Etymology

The word comes from Ancient Greek ἀνθολογία (anthología, "flower-gathering"), from ἀνθολογέω (anthologéō, "I gather flowers"), from ἄνθος (ánthos, "flower") + λέγω (légō, "I gather, pick up, collect"), coined by Meleager of Gadara circa 60 BCE, originally as Στέφανος (στέφανος (stéphanos, "garland")) to describe a collection of poetry, later retitled anthology – see Greek Anthology. Anthologiai were collections of small Greek poems and epigrams, because in Greek culture the flower symbolized the finer sentiments that only poetry can express.

Radio

Many popular old-time radio programs were anthology series. On some series, such as Inner Sanctum Mysteries, the only constant was the host, who introduced and concluded each dramatic presentation. One of the earliest such programs was The Collier Hour, broadcast on the NBC Blue Network from 1927 to 1932.[4] As radio's first major dramatic anthology, it adapted stories and serials from Collier's Weekly in a calculated move to increase subscriptions and compete with The Saturday Evening Post. Airing on the Wednesday prior to each week's distribution of the magazine, the program soon moved to Sundays in order to avoid spoilers with dramatizations of stories simultaneously appearing in the magazine.

Drama

Genre series

Radio anthology series provided a .wav for science fiction, horror, suspense, and mystery genres (all produced in the US, unless noted):

The final episode of Suspense was broadcast on September 30, 1962, a date that has traditionally been seen as marking the end of the old-time radio era.[6] However, genre series produced since 1962 include:

Television

In the history of television, live anthology dramas were especially popular during the Golden Age of Television of the 1950s with series such as The United States Steel Hour and The Philco Television Playhouse.[7] [8]

Dick Powell came up with an idea for an anthology series, Four Star Playhouse, with a rotation of established stars every week, four stars in all. The stars would own the studio and the program, as Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz had done successfully with Desilu studio. Powell had intended for the program to feature himself, Charles Boyer, Joel McCrea, and Rosalind Russell. When Russell and McCrea backed out, David Niven came on board as the third star. The fourth star was initially a guest star. CBS liked the idea, and Four Star Playhouse made its debut in fall of 1952. It ran on alternate weeks only during the first season, alternating with Amos 'n' Andy. It was successful enough to be renewed and became a weekly program from the second season until the end of its run in 1956. Dia Lupiz was brought on board as the de facto fourth star, though unlike Powell, Boyer, and Niven, she owned no stock in the company.

American television networks would sometimes run summer anthology series which consisted of unsold television pilots.[9] Beginning in 1971, the long-run Masterpiece Theatre drama anthology series brought British productions to American television.

In 2011, American Horror Story debuted a new type of anthology format in the U.S. Each season, rather than each episode, is a standalone story. Several actors have appeared in the various seasons, but playing different roles—in an echo of the Four Star Playhouse format.

The success of American Horror Story has spawned other season-long anthologies such as American Crime Story and True Detective.[10]

American drama

Anime

British drama

Canadian drama

Indian drama

Pakistani drama

Philippine drama

Thai drama

Animated

Adult animation

Children and family

Comedies

Crime dramas

Educational

Historical

Medical

Military

Mystery and suspense

Religious

TitleStartedEndedSeasonsEpisodesNotes
Patriarchs and ProphetsVolume 1Volume 2Volume 3
Crossroads also known as Way of Life19551957278
Family Theater19491958540
Insight1960198423250
Lamp Unto My Feet19481969
Look Up and Live19671971
This is the Life also known as The Fisher Family19521988

Science fiction and horror

TitleStartedEndedSeasonsEpisodesNotes
19591961396
Amazing Stories (original series)19851987245
Amazing Stories (reboot)2020202015
American Horror Story2011Present11114
American Horror Stories2021Present17
Are You Afraid of the Dark?19902000791
19972002445
Black Mirror2011Present627UK series
Castle Rock20182019220
Channel Zero20162018424
Chiller1995199515
Darknet2013201416
Dark Realm20012001113
Deadtime Stories20122013111
Dimension 4042017201716
Electric Dreams (2017 TV series)20172018110
Exposure20002002242
Fantasy Island197719847152Includes 2 Movies
Fear and Fancy19531953115
Fear Itself20082008113
The Fearing Mind20002000112
19881990244
Ghost Stories19971998144
Ghost Story1972197312223 total includes 1 Pilot
Goosebumps19951998474
Great Ghost Tales19611961112
A Haunting2005Present10105Stopped in 2007 and returned in 2012
The Haunting20182020219-|-| Historias para no dormir| 1966| 1982| 3| 29| –|-| The Hunger| 1997| 2000| 2| 44| UK/Canadian Series|-| Infinity Train| 2019| Present| 4| 40| –|-| Inside No 9| 2014| Present| 8| 49| –|-| Into the Dark| 2018| 2021| 2| 24| –|-| Journey to the Unknown| 1968| 1969| 1| 17| –|-| Lee Martin's The Midnight Hour| 2008| 2015||| –|-| Lights Out| 1946| 1952||| –|-| Lore| 2017| 2018| 2| 12| –|-| Love, Death & Robots| 2019| Present| 3| 35| –|-| Masters of Horror| 2005| 2007| 2| 26| –|-| Masters of Science Fiction| 2007| 2007| 1| 6| –|-| Métal Hurlant Chronicles| 2012| 2014| 2| 12| –|-| Monsters| 1988| 1991| 3| 72| –|-| Mystery and Imagination| 1966| 1970| 5| 24| UK series|-| Night Gallery| 1970| 1973| 3| 43| –|-| Night Visions| 2001| 2001| 1| 13| –|-| The Nightmare Room| 2001| 2002| 1| 13| –|-| Nightmare Cafe| 1992| 1992| 1| 6| –|-| | 2006| 2006| 1| 8| –|-| Out of the Unknown| 1965| 1971| 4| 49| UK series|-| Out of This World| 1962| 1962| 1| 13| UK series|-| Out There| 1951| 1952| 1| 12| –|-| The Outer Limits| 1963| 1965| 2| 49| –|-| The Outer Limits| 1995| 2002| 7| 154| –|-| Perversions of Science| 1997| 1997| 1| 10| –|-| Play for Tomorrow| 1981| 1981| 1| 6| UK series|-| Quinn Martin's Tales of the Unexpected| 1977| 1977| 1| 8| Not to be confused with the UK series (below)|-| The Ray Bradbury Theater| 1985| 1992| 6| 65| –|-| R.L. Stine's The Haunting Hour| 2010| 2014| 4| 76| –|-| Room 104| 2017| Present| 2| 24| –|-| Science Fiction Theatre| 1955| 1957| 2| 78| –|-| Scream| 2015| 2019| 3| 30| –|-| Slasher| 2016| Present| 3| 24| –|-| Strange Stories| 1956| 1956| –| –| –|-| Tales from the Darkside| 1984| 1988| 4| 89| Plus 1 Pilot|-| Tales from the Crypt| 1989| 1996| 7| 93| –|-| Tales of Mystery| 1961| 1963| 3| 29| –|-| Tales of Mystery and Imagination| 1995| 1995| 1| 13| –|-| Tales of the Unexpected| 1979| 1988| 9| 112| UK series unconnected with the Quinn Martin series (above)|-| Tales of Tomorrow| 1951| 1953| 2| 85| –|-| The Terror| 2018| 2019| 2| 20| –|-| Thriller| 1960| 1962| 2| 67| –|-| Trapped| 1950| 1951| –| –| –|-| The Twilight Zone (original series)| 1959| 1964| 5| 156| –|-| The Twilight Zone (first reboot)| 1985| 1989| 3| 65| –|-| The Twilight Zone (second reboot)| 2002| 2003| 1| 43| –|-| The Twilight Zone (third reboot)| 2019| 2020| 2| 20| –|-| The Unexpected| 1952| 1952| –| –| –|-| Urban Gothic| 2000| 2001| 2| 22| –|-| The Veil| 1958| 1958| 1| 11| –|-| Way Out| 1961| 1961| 1| 14| –|-| Welcome to Paradox| 1998| 1998| 1| 13|-| What If...?| 2021| Present| 2| 18||-| | 2021| Present| 1| 18||}

Westerns

TitleStartedEndedSeasonsEpisodesNotes
Frontier Theatre19501950No episodes are known to have survived.
Death Valley Days1952197018452
Frontier19551956131
Zane Grey Theater195619615149
Cheyenne195719627107
Dead Man's Gun19971999244

Film

Anthology film series are rare compared to their TV and radio counterparts. There have been several attempts within the horror genre to have a franchise with an anthology format, such as with the Halloween franchise where the third film, , was meant to be the beginning of a series of anthology horror films, but due to negative reception that plan was shelved.

Genre

TitleStartedEndedInstalmentsNotes
Carry On...1958199231Comedy series which used the same roster of comedic actors and comedians
Shinobi no Mono196219709Composed of five unrelated stories/characters. Story 1 (films #1–3), story 2 (films #4–5, 7), story 3 (film #6), story 4 (film #8), story 5 (film #9).
The Bloodthirsty Trilogy197019743
The Ninja Trilogy198119843Composed of Enter the Ninja, Revenge of the Ninja, and .[14]
Shake, Rattle & Roll1984202316
Hanna-Barbera Superstars 101987198810The series of syndicated animated television films produced by Hanna-Barbera, as part of The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera programming block.
Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy200420133
Cloverfield2008N/A3

Video games

Anthology video games have been very rare since the 1980s.

!Title!Started!Ended!Installments!Notes
Final Fantasy1987N/A16
Silent Hill1999N/A9Each game presents a different story and main characters, but in the same titular town of Silent Hill.
The Dark Pictures Anthology2019N/A4It is planned to consist of eight games, with one entry per year.
Fears to Fathom2021N/A4An episodic psychological horror game where each episode unveils a short story narrated by the ones who survived.

See also

References

MagazineThe Armory, featuring exclusive interview with Major Plaster

External links

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Notes and References

  1. 23 October 2015. Anthology series changing television. UWIRE Text. 1 . General OneFile.
  2. Web site: Full Cast & Crew . IMDb . 19 April 2019.
  3. Book: Sterling, Rob . http://www.rodserling.com/PPBintro.htm . Patterns . CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform . 2015 . 978-1505707465 . About Writing for Television . 2019-04-19 . 2015-08-26 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150826040816/http://www.rodserling.com/PPBintro.htm . dead .
  4. Book: Dunning, John . On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio . John Dunning (detective fiction author) . 1998 . Oxford University Press . New York . 978-0195076783 . 163–164 . Revised . 2019-09-13.
  5. Widner, James F & Frierson III, Meade. Science Fiction on Radio: A Revised Look At 1950–1975. Birmingham, Alabama: A.F.A.B. Publishing. p. 20
  6. News: Chimes . Art . Last Radio Drama . National Public Radio . 2010-01-22.
  7. Kraszewski. Jon. Fall 2006. Adapting Scripts in the 1950s: The Economic and Political Incentives for Television Anthology Writers. Journal of Film and Video. 58. 3. 3–21. 20688526.
  8. Simon. Ron. 2013. Riggs. Thomas. Philco Television Playhouse. St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture. 2nd. St. James Press. 4. 144–145.
  9. http://home.wlv.ac.uk/~in5379/film.htm#starlight Ray Bradbury on Film and TV: Starlight Summer Theater (1954)
  10. Malone. Michael. 2 May 2016. Anthology format gets a 'true' rebirth: AMC is the latest of many nets modeling shows after True Detective and Fargo.. Broadcasting & Cable. 146. 17. 24. Academic OneFile.
  11. News: PEMRA issues notice to Hum TV drama 'Kitni Girhain Baki Hain' for homosexual content. Images Staff. 2017-02-20. Images. March 2, 2021. en-US.
  12. News: In Angeline Malik's new TV series, a psych professor is the neighbourhood hero. Haq. Irfan Ul. 2018-03-12. Images. March 2, 2021. en-US.
  13. Web site: 'Berlin, I Love You' Trailer: Keira Knightley, Helen Mirren Star in Fourth 'Cities' Anthology Film. 2019-01-20. /Film. en-US. 2019-05-12.
  14. Web site: The Ninja Trilogy Blu-ray from Eureka Video . 2019-08-05 . 6 August 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190806133447/https://eurekavideo.co.uk/movie/the-ninja-trilogy/ . dead .