Anthology series

{{Short description|Form of broadcast entertainment}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2022}}

Image:Luxdolls2.jpg ad art featuring Joan Crawford]]

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.{{cite journal |date=23 October 2015|title=Anthology series changing television|journal=UWIRE Text|pages=1 |via=General OneFile}} 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.{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044263/fullcredits |title=Full Cast & Crew |website=IMDb |access-date=19 April 2019}} Some anthology series, such as Studio One, began on radio and then expanded to television.{{cite book |chapter-url=http://www.rodserling.com/PPBintro.htm |title=Patterns |last=Sterling |first=Rob |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |year=2015 |isbn=978-1505707465 |chapter=About Writing for Television |access-date=2019-04-19 |archive-date=2015-08-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150826040816/http://www.rodserling.com/PPBintro.htm |url-status=dead }}

Etymology

The word comes from Ancient Greek {{Lang|grc|ἀνθολογία}} ({{Transliteration|grc|anthología}}, "flower-gathering"), from {{Lang|grc|ἀνθολογέω}} ({{Transliteration|grc|anthologéō}}, "I gather flowers"), from {{Lang|grc|ἄνθος}} ({{Transliteration|grc|ánthos}}, "flower") + {{Lang|grc|λέγω}} ({{Transliteration|grc|légō}}, "I gather, pick up, collect"), coined by Meleager of Gadara circa 60{{nbsp}}BCE, originally as {{Lang|grc|Στέφανος}} ({{Lang|grc|στέφανος}} ({{Transliteration|grc|stéphanos}}, "garland")) to describe a collection of poetry, later retitled anthology – see Greek Anthology. {{Transliteration|grc|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.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EwtRbXNca0oC&dq=%22The+Collier+Hour,+the+first%22&pg=PA163 |last=Dunning |first=John |author-link=John Dunning (detective fiction author) |title=On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio |date=1998 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0195076783 |pages=163–164 |edition=Revised |access-date=2019-09-13}} 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 for science fiction, horror, suspense, and mystery genres (all produced in the US, unless noted):

File:Nolmsted.jpg of NBC's Sleep No More fantasy series]]

:{{Hatnote|Listed in order of first broadcast}}

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.{{cite news |last=Chimes |first=Art | title=Last Radio Drama | url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1150876 | work=National Public Radio | access-date=2010-01-22}} 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.{{Cite journal|last=Kraszewski|first=Jon|date=Fall 2006|title=Adapting Scripts in the 1950s: The Economic and Political Incentives for Television Anthology Writers|journal=Journal of Film and Video|volume=58|issue=3|pages=3–21|jstor=20688526}}{{Cite journal|last=Simon|first=Ron|date=2013|editor-last=Riggs|editor-first=Thomas|title=Philco Television Playhouse|journal=St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture|edition=2nd|publisher=St. James Press|volume=4|pages=144–145}}

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. Ida Lupino 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.[http://home.wlv.ac.uk/~in5379/film.htm#starlight Ray Bradbury on Film and TV: Starlight Summer Theater (1954)] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081006074209/http://home.wlv.ac.uk/~in5379/film.htm#starlight |date=October 6, 2008 }} 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 United States. 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.{{Citation|title=American Horror Story|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1844624/|access-date=2019-04-19}}

The success of American Horror Story has spawned other season-long anthologies such as American Crime Story and True Detective.{{Cite magazine|last=Malone|first=Michael|date=2 May 2016|title=Anthology format gets a 'true' rebirth: AMC is the latest of many nets modeling shows after True Detective and Fargo.|magazine=Broadcasting & Cable|volume=146|issue=17|pages=24|via=Academic OneFile}}

= American drama =

= Anime =

= British drama =

= Canadian drama =

= [[Korean drama]] =

= Indian drama =

= Mexican drama =

= Pakistani drama =

= Philippine drama =

= Thai drama =

= Animated =

= Adult animation =

= Children and family =

= Comedies =

= Crime dramas =

= Educational =

= Historical =

= Medical =

= Military =

= Mystery and suspense =

= Religious =

class="wikitable sortable"
Title

! Started

! Ended

! Seasons

! Episodes

! Notes

Patriarchs and Prophets

| Volume 1

| Volume 2

| Volume 3

| –

| –

Crossroads also known as Way of Life

| 1955

| 1957

| 2

| 78

| –

Family Theater

| 1949

| 1958

| –

| 540

| –

Insight

| 1960

| 1984

| 23

| 250

| –

Lamp Unto My Feet

| 1948

| 1969

| –

| –

| –

Look Up and Live

| 1967

| 1971

| –

| –

| –

This Is the Life also known as The Fisher Family

| 1952

| 1988

| –

| –

|

= Science fiction and horror =

class="wikitable sortable"
Title

! Started

! Ended

! Seasons

! Episodes

! Notes

Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond

| 1959

| 1961

| 3

| 96

| –

Amazing Stories (original series)

| 1985

| 1987

| 2

| 45

| –

Amazing Stories (reboot)

| 2020

| 2020

| 1

| 5

| –

American Horror Story

| 2011

| Present

| 11

| 114

| –

American Horror Stories

| 2021

| Present

| 1

| 7

| –

Are You Afraid of the Dark?

| 1990

| 2000

| 7

| 91

| –

Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction

| 1997

| 2002

| 4

| 45

| –

Black Mirror

| 2011

| Present

| 6

| 27

| British series

Castle Rock

| 2018

| 2019

| 2

| 20

| –

Channel Zero

| 2016

| 2018

| 4

| 24

| –

Chiller

| 1995

| 1995

| 1

| 5

| –

Darknet

| 2013

| 2014

| 1

| 6

| –

Dark Realm

| 2001

| 2001

| 1

| 13

| –

Deadtime Stories

| 2012

| 2013

| 1

| 11

| –

Dimension 404

| 2017

| 2017

| 1

| 6

| –

Electric Dreams

| 2017

| 2018

| 1

| 10

| –

Exposure

| 2000

| 2002

| 2

| 42

| –

Fantasy Island

| 1977

| 1984

| 7

| 152

| Includes 2 Movies

Fear and Fancy

| 1953

| 1953

| 1

| 15

| –

Fear Itself

| 2008

| 2008

| 1

| 13

| –

The Fearing Mind

| 2000

| 2000

| 1

| 12

| –

Freddy's Nightmares – A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Series

| 1988

| 1990

| 2

| 44

| –

Ghost Stories

| 1997

| 1998

| 1

| 44

| –

Ghost Story

| 1972

| 1973

| 1

| 22

| 23 total includes 1 Pilot

Goosebumps

| 1995

| 1998

| 4

| 74

| –

Great Ghost Tales

| 1961

| 1961

| 1

| 12

| –

Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities

|2022

|2022

|1

|8

|–

A Haunting

| 2005

| Present

| 10

| 105

| Stopped in 2007 and returned in 2012

The Haunting

| 2018

| 2020

| 2

| 19

| –

Historias para no dormir

| 1966

| 1982

| 3

| 29

| –

The Hunger

| 1997

| 2000

| 2

| 44

| British/Canadian Series

Infinity Train

| 2019

| Present

| 4

| 40

| –

Inside No 9

| 2014

| 2024

| 9

| 55

| –

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

| –

Monsterland

| 2020

| 2020

| 1

| 8

| –

Monsters

| 1988

| 1991

| 3

| 72

| –

Mystery and Imagination

| 1966

| 1970

| 5

| 24

| British 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

| –

Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King

| 2006

| 2006

| 1

| 8

| –

Out of the Unknown

| 1965

| 1971

| 4

| 49

| British series

Out of This World

| 1962

| 1962

| 1

| 13

| British 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

| British series

Quinn Martin's Tales of the Unexpected

| 1977

| 1977

| 1

| 8

| Not to be confused with the British series (below)

The Ray Bradbury Theater

| 1985

| 1992

| 6

| 65

| –

R.L. Stine's The Haunting Hour

| 2010

| 2014

| 4

| 76

| –

Room 104

| 2017

| 2020

| 4

| 48

| –

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

| British 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 (revival series)

| 1985

| 1989

| 3

| 65

| –

The Twilight Zone (revival series)

| 2002

| 2003

| 1

| 43

| –

The Twilight Zone (revival series)

| 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

| 2024

| 3

| 26

|–

Star Wars: Visions

| 2021

| Present

| 2

| 18

|–

= Westerns =

class="wikitable sortable"
Title

! Started

! Ended

! Seasons

! Episodes

! Notes

Frontier Theatre

| 1950

| 1950

| –

| –

| No episodes are known to have survived.

Death Valley Days

| 1952

| 1970

| 18

| 452

| –

Frontier

| 1955

| 1956

| 1

| 31

| –

Zane Grey Theater

| 1956

| 1961

| 5

| 149

| –

Cheyenne

| 1957

| 1962

| 7

| 107

| –

Dead Man's Gun

| 1997

| 1999

| 2

| 44

| –

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, Halloween III: Season of the Witch, was meant to be the beginning of a series of anthology horror films, but due to negative reception that plan was shelved.

= Drama series =

class="wikitable sortable"
Title

! Started

! Ended

! Instalments

! Notes

Cities of Love

| 2006

| N/A

| 5

| {{Cite web|url=https://www.slashfilm.com/berlin-i-love-you-trailer/|title='Berlin, I Love You' Trailer: Keira Knightley, Helen Mirren Star in Fourth 'Cities' Anthology Film|date=2019-01-20|website=/Film|language=en-US|access-date=2019-05-12}}

= Genre =

class="wikitable sortable"
Title

! Started

! Ended

! Instalments

! Notes

Carry On...

| 1958

| 1992

| 31

| Comedy series which used the same roster of comedic actors and comedians

Yagyu Chronicles

| 1961

| 1964

| 9

| Composed of two versions of the "Yagyu Bugeicho" novel by Kosuke Gomi (films #1–2 and films #4–8) and two stand-alone stories (film #3 and film #9).

Shinobi no Mono

| 1962

| 1970

| 9

| Composed 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).

Seventeen Ninja

| 1963

| 1966

| 2

| Composed of Seventeen Ninja (十七人の忍者) and the in-name-only sequel Seventeen Ninja: The Great Battle (十七人の忍者 大血戦).

The Bloodthirsty Trilogy

| 1970

| 1974

| 3

|

The Ninja Trilogy

| 1981

| 1984

| 3

| Composed of Enter the Ninja, Revenge of the Ninja, and Ninja III: The Domination.{{cite web |url=https://eurekavideo.co.uk/movie/the-ninja-trilogy/ |title=The Ninja Trilogy Blu-ray from Eureka Video |access-date=2019-08-05 |archive-date=6 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190806133447/https://eurekavideo.co.uk/movie/the-ninja-trilogy/ |url-status=dead }}

Shake, Rattle & Roll

| 1984

| 2023

| 16

|

Hanna-Barbera Superstars 10

| 1987

| 1988

| 10

| The series of syndicated animated television films produced by Hanna-Barbera, as part of The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera programming block.

Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy

| 2004

| 2013

| 3

|

Cloverfield

| 2008

| N/A

| 3

|

Video games

Anthology video games have been very rare since the 1980s. Compilation or package video games (e.g. Castlevania Anniversary Collection) are not included.

class="wikitable"

|+

!Title

!Started

!Ended

!Installments

!Notes

Final Fantasy

| 1987

| N/A

| 16

|Many games have different settings and playable characters alongside incorporates fantasy genres (from high fantasy to science fantasy to dark fantasy) but some names (e.g. Biggs, Wedge, and Cid) from either supporting or minor characters still intact.

Silent Hill

| 1999

| N/A

| 8

| Each game presents a different story and main characters, but in the same titular town of Silent Hill; Silent Hill f is the only game eschews from settings and characters instead set in fictional Japan during the 1960s with exclusive Japanese characters, marking it a departure of the main franchise.

Resident Evil Outbreak (File #2)

|2003

|2004

|2

|A spin-off of Playstation-era mainlines (1, 2 and Nemesis), each chapters (as scenarios) have different settings but set in Raccoon City in a style of nonlinear gameplay.

Far Cry

|2004

|N/A

|6

|While each game takes place in the same fictional universe, each game features different protagonists, characters, locations, mechanics, etc. One game takes place in the Stone Age (Far Cry Primal) while another takes place in a retro-futuristic world. (Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon)

The Dark Pictures Anthology

| 2019

| N/A

| 5

| It is planned to consist of eight games, with one entry per year.

Fears to Fathom

| 2021

| N/A

| 5

| An episodic psychological horror game where each episode unveils a short story narrated by the ones who survived.

See also

{{Portalbar|radio|television}}

References

{{Reflist}}