 This is the SF Productions podcast network And I'm Mark you can check out our audio podcast how I got my wife to read comics on iTunes or on our website SF podcast that work calm One of the enduring TV formats is the anthology series Of course, this came originally from books was transformed into radio and then moved to the small screen Essentially an anthology is a set of stories with a different set of characters each time Generally tied together by theme place or time It was tailor made for radio and TV mostly because it was cheap Writers and cast members would come and go with no long-term contracts or commitments Which made it easy to get up-and-coming talent in the 1950s Almost all of TV's live dramas were anthologies usually titled with the name of the sponsor Alcoa premiere Ford star Jubilee General Electric Theater the Schlitz Playhouse of Stars Then there were the Important drama series such as Playhouse 90 from 1956 to 60 winning nine Emmys and where Requiem for a heavyweight first premiered and Studio one from 1950 to 58 where 12 angry men first premiered both of which later became award-winning films Film actors who otherwise were forced to ostracize TV by the studios at the time would often produce host and even star in shows such as Conrad Nagel theater the David Niven show and the Loretta Young show one show from that time Which still exists today albeit in a very different form is Hallmark Hall of Fame Which started in 1951 and was on radio before that the series has racked up no less than 81 Emmys so far and currently monopolizes Christmas movie watching The stampede of TV westerns in the late 50s along with the move of most TV production from New York Where there was plenty of cheap Broadway talent to LA brought that era mostly to an end and at that point Anthologies became more specialized mostly by genre. There's westerns such as Death Valley days from 1952 to 1970 brought to you by 20 new team borax and Zane Gray theater from 1956 to 61 in fact long-running westerns bonanza and gun smoke Essentially became anthologies over time with the regular cast mostly pushed aside to follow the story of that week's star family anthologies such as Disneyland aka Walt Disney presents aka Walt Disney's wonderful world of color aka the wonderful world of Disney 1954 to 2009 kicked off such shows as the CBS Children's Film Festival from 67 to 78 and ABC after-school specials from 1972 to 1997 with Disney about to begin their own streaming service I'm going to assume a new anthology series isn't far behind. Yeah, there is educational and historical anthologies such as Omnibus from 52 to 61 and profiles encouraged from 64 and 65 religious anthologies such as Insight from 1960 to 64 and Lamp on to my feet from 1948 until 1969 but two genres would come to define this concept mysteries and sci-fi Mysteries were a mainstay going back to radio suspense lights out in your sanctum and They actually had some TV runs, but the series most remembered is Alfred Hitchcock presents Getting the master suspense to host and produce the series including the shadow of his rotund figure Got it a 10-year run from 55 to 65 with a second run using colorized Hitchcock host segments from 1985 to 1989 There were actually two host sequences shot for each episode There was a US version which generally would spoof a commercial or the sponsor and a European version Which would poke fun at the US? sci-fi was at the time considered to be trashed by the public so stories were readily available on the cheap and Casts and sets could look crappy without issue tales of tomorrow from 1951 to 1953 and science fiction theater from 55 to 57 were examples and then two shows came to define the genre Rod Serling used his experience writing 1950s live TV dramas to create the twilight zone 1959 to 64 a series that moved between sci-fi horror and comedy with ease Several the episodes have become pop culture milestones wishing someone into the cornfield having time enough it last There's a man on the wing of the plane to serve man. It's a cookbook Each episode slipped in a moral or at least a surprise ending Twilight Zone was so influential to a generation of writers and directors that a film was made in the 80s and two remakes 1985 to 89 and 2002 to 2003 came out of it and CBS is about to remake it again for CBS all-access Serling would produce a sequel of sorts called night gallery from 1970 to 73 Which was much more horror based one of those influenced by the show with Steven Spielberg Who used his club to get NBC to buy amazing stories from 1985 to 87? ABC wanted their own twilight zone and got it on the outer limits The series relied a lot more in sci-fi but also used plot twists at the end like twilight zone The outer limits had a second life from 1995 to 2002 the resurrection of these two series was part of an anthology resurgence after studios discovered a hungry audience for it and Local stations wanted 60-minute shows and syndication after Star Trek the next generation proved the concept Friday the 13th the series ran from 87 to 90 Tails from the dark side ran from 84 to 88 tails from the crypt from 89 to 96 and the hitchhiker from 83 to 87 Attempts to make comedic anthologies were mixed only two managed to last more than one season ripping yarns 1976 to 79 was a British series written by Monty Python alumni Michael Palin and Terry Jones Love American style 1969 to 74 would generally use rom-com vignettes, but would sometimes attempt backdoor pilots of new shows and one of those was the pilot for happy days Love American style can be seen as a progenitor of two series from the late 70s Not normally considered to be anthologies, but clearly are the loveboat 1977 to 1986 had a regular ongoing cast but like bonanza served to propel the stories of the guest stars of the week Fantasy Island 1977 to 84 was born out of the loveboat success and ran alongside it on ABC Saturday night It also had a regular cast but that week's guests were the real stars While anthologies never really went away considering all the reboots of the classics We are currently in a major resurgence of the format American horror story 2011 and ongoing is a twist on the anthology using the same cast over a season to tell a story Then using the same troop in a new story with new characters true detective from 2014 till now follows a similar formula as did American crime from 2015 to 2017 an American crime story from 2016 through now The siren song of inexpensive anthology Television has now made it to streaming services in the form of black mirror 2011 and ongoing a near clone of Twilight Zone focusing on how technology always is misused has already won five Emmys It got huge buzz after the episode USS Callister a twisted tale of a Star Trek clone and virtual reality as long as there's a need to fill screen time And with so many options out there. It's never been more critical anthology series will be with us much like our anthology series, I don't We don't have an anthology series But we do have an audio podcast now I got my way to read comics on iTunes or on our website as a podcast network com from the pop culture bunker I'm Mindy and I'm mark. Thanks for watching. I'm being pulled into the cornmeal