A Look at Anthology Series

The anthology series, once neglected, is experiencing a revival with a surge of recent ‘genre’ shows, particularly horror and crime dramas, adopting the format – Inside No. 9, whose third series came to a close this March, is just one in a line of horror series to do so.

A possible explanation for this pattern lies in the structure of the stories being told. Both horror and crime are heavily formulaic genres which rely on maintaining a level of secrecy from the audience that can become tedious if drawn out for too long. Anthology shows provide a refreshing alternative to long-form television, and a way of avoiding this problem.

The anthology comes in one of two forms, shows where the reset occurs between episodes and shows where it happens between seasons. Of the two, the ‘immediate reset’ flavour has a historical association with the horror genre, stemming from Rod Serling’s speculative fiction classic The Twilight Zone, but still seen today in the form of spiritual successor Black Mirror. The benefit of the anthology structure here is obvious: each episode presents us with a new central concept which can be explored over the course of its runtime, taken to extremes for the final act and then flushed.

Anthology shows provide a refreshing alternative to long-form television.

The ‘season reset’ flavour has also seen a comeback. Producer Ryan Murphy heads the movement, having announced this March his fifth show in the format. He dominates the horror angle with American Horror Story and Scream Queens, while his American Crime Story joins True Detective and Fargo in elevating the genre beyond generic procedural.

What Murphy and others see in the anthology format is freedom from the usual commitments made when signing up for a show. This is especially the case in America where shows can run for up to 26 episodes at a time and are renewed indefinitely, often long after fresh ideas have dried up. Knowing your expiration date ahead of time allows for sharper stories, and attracts bigger names: see McConaughey and Harrelson in the first season of True Detective, or Gaga’s award winning turn in AHS: Hotel.

Rod Serling’s show was one of the first to embrace the anthology format. Credit: Roadsidepictures, flickr

As for the returning cast, not being permanently tied to one character allows them to express a greater range, with regulars taking turns as both hero and villain. See American Horror Story again, where Sarah Paulson alone has played a medium, a journalist, a junkie and a pair of conjoined twins.

However, the anthology series’ inherent inconsistency can make it a dangerous strategy to take, as quality can range wildly between episodes and seasons if executed poorly. This can leave viewers feeling disappointed, frustrated and eventually indifferent to the struggles of a changing cast, as observed in the backlash towards True Detective‘s good-but-not-great second season.

Each episode presents us with a new central concept which can be explored over the course of its runtime, taken to extremes for the final act and then flushed.

Despite this, when it comes together the anthology format can produce some truly memorable stand-alones: Twilight Zone episodes such as ‘To Serve Man’ and ‘Nightmare at 20,000 Feet’ remain pop-cultural references fifty years after airing. Black Mirror may not have reached this stage yet, but the dip-in nature of the anthology allows for easy revisiting, with episodes blowing up long after release due to Brooker’s uncanny foresight.

Inside No. 9 has also embraced the full potentials of the anthology, playing with setting, tone and style over its run. The episode ‘A Quiet Night In’ delivered laughs and shocks from effectively zero dialogue, while the recent Christmas special took the form of an increasingly unsettling creator-commentary track. It is innovation like this, gimmicky and unsustainable in conventional episodic format, that flourishes when free from the pressure of series conformity.