Potential of Horror and Science Fiction Anthology Shows

*Originally published on 2/3/10


Networks have tried their hands at producing anthology series. Over the decades we've had series like Tales from the Crypt, The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits. All of these were entertaining for the most part and had a unique draw. Other shows have tried to replicate the success but haven't been able to hit the nail on the head like those shows did. They even tried to relaunch a more modern version of The Twilight Zone, but it didn't meet with much success.

I was pretty excited when NBC announced a new program called Fear Itself. It was a horror anthology series that advertised itself as a series of mini-movies. They even managed to nab a few big name directors to work on some episodes.

Each episode would be a self contained story so new viewers had no need to worry about getting caught up as each episode was independent and there was no building continuity.

We gave it a shot, and there were a few decent episodes, but it was really a sub par effort. The problem lay with the writing, it was more worried about providing a last second twist and it sometimes felt like that was the sole purpose of the hour long episode.

Once you figured out that the whole episode was an elaborate set up to a twist, you could usually figure it out long before the twist actually came. Such an occurrence completely defeats the purpose of a twist. Some twists were so bad that they made no sense and actually managed to piss you off as the credits started rolling. That's not entertainment, nor is it good horror.

The idea of an anthology series has such potential. It's interesting, different, and requires no previous viewing to enjoy. Every episode is a jumping on point as each episode is independent of one another.

This makes conditions ideal for writers who want to get into television, but don't want to spend weeks getting caught up on show continuity. On the one hand, providing such an opportunity to budding writers is a great idea, but on the other hand, with writing like that, you're shooting your show in the foot. Maybe a bit more balance between veterans and rookies would've made it more palatable to viewers?

Sitcoms aren't what they used to be, people are sick of reality television, and while procedural crime dramas are entertaining enough, there are only so many you can watch. Viewers want new ideas and such a program gives them potential for said new ideas.

Hopefully some network takes another crack, because those types of programs do develop their own cult audience. If done right, it can give the TV viewing public just what they were looking for. Just don't make the same mistake that the makers of Fear Itself did and have each episode peak with the theme song (in the case of Fear Itself, the song was a track off of Serj Tankian's solo album). When the highlight of any given episode is the awesome theme song, you're in a little bit of trouble.