In case you couldn't tell, we do love our TV anthology series! From A Man For All Seasons to seventies cult classic Thriller to Tales of the Unexpected; Alfred Hitchcock Presents; The Agatha Christie Hour... I love them all! And they don't all have to be anthologies of the suspense genre either, as I also enjoyed Storybook International which was a children's TV anthology - a collection of folk tales from around the world.
It takes great skill to come up with a whole load of characters and storylines for a series where the episodes are largely independent from each other. Not to mention fitting each storyline within the allocated time limit making sure all loose ends are neatly tied up. There's not going to be a 'to be continued' as that's not how anthologies work!
And more recently I've been coming across more and more TV anthology series such as The Ray Bradbury Theatre; Natural Causes which ran for one series on ITV back in the eighties, and The Hitchhiker. I'm definitely not bored in the evenings that's for sure.
Even though TV anthologies are still around, I don't feel they're as popular or as numerous now as they were in say perhaps the 1950s-1980s, and it started to peter out a bit during the 1990s. I know that growing up it was Tales of the Unexpected that was the most well known. My family enjoyed it and I still remember hearing that eerily haunting theme tune floating up the stairs and into my room as I was trying to sleep! Then I discovered Thriller a couple of years ago and I'm trying to work out which theme out of the two is the eeriest!
What are your views on TV anthologies? Do you enjoy them? And which are your favourites?
This is definitely one for my mum who's into things like short stories and films and things like that. My mum is a writer and she's said the same thing that Angel has in that there's a skill and technique that goes into creating any kind of 'short' where the reader/viewer doesn't feel as though everything is left unfinished and is left 'hanging'. I'm sure I've watched TV anthologies in the past although none spring to mind right now! 🙄 And I'd have to ask my mum which her faves are!
oh god yeah! I do like TV anthologies. Tales was huge!!! It's amazing when I talk to people who were born well after this series ended and they don't know anything about it. I'm sure they think I'm dead old but I reckon they've missed out! LOL! I agree with a lot of the members on here who have said that it doesn't matter if a programme is an anthology series or not, they're just after a good show. But what I like about a lot of the anthologies is the variety it gives you. With Tales of the Unexpected, you could have episodes about a serial killer, something with a supernatural element, or something akin to a parable. You knew knew what you were going to get so it was quite exciting. Plus the new actors and characters kept things very fresh.
It's thanks to the posts here about Thriller that I got to watch them. I do have memories of this show but very rarely got to see any episodes. I wish I'd got to see them a lot sooner. I know my mum liked things like Armchair Thriller and Play of the week.
Not that I mean to be a copycat but I also have to say Tales and Murder Most Horrid! 😂Anyone would think that those were the only two anthology series that ever existed. 😂🤣But the fact that so many people have named them should tell you how popular they were. As Lucie said it doesn't really matter if something is part of an anthology or not. I just have a preference for entertaining dramas which are very enjoyable regardless of the format.
I don't know if this is an anthology per se but I'm a fan of American Horror Story which first came out about ten or eleven years ago. But rather than individual episodes, each season would focus on a complete series that had nothing to do with the previous season's series. I quite like that it's a series rather than an episode because there's more story and more twists and turns and stuff. I think it's a good halfway point between a more traditional anthology and a regular series. My favorite season is the one called Coven.
Everyone's been talking about Tales of the Unexpected, and while I did watch a bit of it, and yes, it was good, but it was really my parents' show as it was a firm favourite with them. They may even have the DVD collection.
As for whether I like anthologies, well I'm not sure I'm all that bothered. I've never decided to watch a show just because it was an anthology series so I suppose it's not that high on my list of viewing preferences.
Hehe! I'm another one who watched Tales and Murder Most Horrid. I really hope that I'm able to watch MMH somewhere. If there's a DVD set, I wouldn't mind purchasing it as it was a very entertaining show. But then it's Dawn French so what do you expect!
I never watched the actual show as it was of no interest to me and no one at home watched it but I do remember the ads for The Alfred Hitchcock Presents Show that has been mentioned here. But otherwise I'm not all that familiar with anthologies. Books even less I have to say!
I have to say it, I don't really mind those anthology series but I much prefer a good six-parter or something like that. I like a drama that gradually reels you in and keeps you tuning in for the next episode. I like a series that is all connected with all the ends tied up in the final episode. I find that with some of these anthologies you might get a great episode, followed by a mediocre one, and then one that isn't so brilliant.
But that said I did enjoy Tales of the Unexpected. In fact a lot of my family liked it. It was something that was quite popular back in the eighties. And Rosie mentioned Murder Most Horrid which is something else I enjoyed.
I do remember Storybook International. I can actually hear the theme in my head - although I have forgotten the words! I'm not sure if that series has ever been repeated which is a shame because I think kids would love hearing all these tales from faraway places.
Now that you mention it, I suppose there were a lot of anthology series on during the time I was growing up. I just didn't know it at the time! But the two that stand out in my mind were Murder Most Horrid which I actually did watch. I'm a big Dawn French fan. And I didn't watch it as it wasn't something my younger self was interested in but I do remember the Talking Heads series. I remember there was a very popular one with Thora Hird called Cream Cracker Under the Settee which everyone was talking about. But to be honest, I'm not really bothered if it's an anthology or not. I just like well written dramas.