Anthology series
An anthology series (also: anthology series, series anthology or anthological TV series ) is a television series in which the episodes or seasons have a unifying theme, but - unlike in normal television series - different characters, a different plot and cast and possibly also have other, different properties or play in different fictional universes / worlds. The name anthology series is based on the term anthology , which usually stands for a collection of short stories with independent content.
If it is an anthology series in which there are the mentioned differences between the seasons, the seasons consist of eight to ten episodes on average. Each season tells a complete story. Recurring actors within the series play a different character in a different plot for each season. Anthology series of this type became particularly popular in the United States in the 2010s .
Examples
Examples of anthology series, each episode of which has a different plot, cast and character ensemble, are:
- Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955-65)
- Twilight Zone (1959-64, 1985-87, 2002)
- Outer Limits - The Unknown Dimension (1995-2002)
- Black Mirror (since 2011)
- Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams (since 2017)
- Into the Dark (since 2018)
- Star Trek: Short Treks (since 2018)
- Love, Death & Robots (so far one season with 18 short episodes, since 2019)
Examples of anthology series, each season of which has a different plot, cast, and character ensemble are:
- American Horror Story (so far 9 seasons with ten to 13 episodes each, since 2011)
- Fargo (so far three seasons with ten episodes each, since 2014)
- True Detective (so far three seasons with eight episodes each, since 2014)
- American Crime (three seasons with 29 episodes, 2015-2017)
- American Crime Story (so far two seasons with 10 episodes each, since 2016)
See also
literature
- Hendrik Efert: New entry without previous knowledge , contribution to the program Grünstreifen , DRadio Wissen from March 24, 2014
- Franz Everschor : USA: Growing popularity of anthology series , in: Medienkorrespondenz from October 16, 2015
- Jason Lynch: The Miniseries Is Dead (Long Live the Miniseries!) , In: The Atlantic on June 17, 2014