As a sci-fi TV nerd I am all too familiar with such brilliant
shows like The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits. In many ways those shows set
the bar for what science fiction on television should be. Attempts have been
made to revive and/or copy those shows. Some have been met with success, most
have met with failure. So much so there are no such type shows on TV at the
moment. And my question is Why? Why did such a once popular and fertile format
for shows go away?
It is probably an accepted truth that everyone has seen at
least one episode of The Twilight Zone. Certainly everyone can tell you what
the theme song is. It has become synonymous with anything weird. Every New
Year’s Eve some channel (usually SyFy) does a marathon of all the classic
episodes of this series. Rod Serling won multiple awards and accolades for this
show, deservedly so. Many of the brilliant episodes of this show have been
remade and reimagined. Truly it was a benchmark in TV. A benchmark that sadly
hasn’t been reproduced. Even in the brief attempts to revitalize the series,
once in 1985 and once again in 2002, the same magic was never able to be
captured again.
Similarly there was The Outer Limits. While The Twilight
Zone tended to focus on stories on a mystical nature, The Outer Limits was more
sci-fi in nature. One major difference though is that while the re-launches of
The Twilight Zone failed, the re-launch of The Outer Limits, first on Showtime
and then on the Sci-Fi Channel, was a successful science fiction show. I am
quite a fan of this reimagining. But even though this show was successful, it
has been off the air since 2002. Currently there are no anthology type shows on
the air.
While I as a viewer certainly lament the lack of anthology
TV on the air right now, the real victims of the lack of these types of shows
seem to be actors. If you watch classic Twilight Zone or even the modern
versions of The Outer Limits you will witness a veritable who’s who of
television stars. Many of these anthology TV episodes are almost miniature
films in themselves and give an actor the chance to stretch their legs in a
scenario they may not normally get to play without having to commit to the
yearlong process of making a full-length film.
Another great thing about anthology television is that with
telling all these individual stories each week, you can see a progression among
the creators to try and top themselves in later episodes. Shows like the
Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits are built around the theme of moral fables
disguised as sci-fi and fantasy. There are only so many times one can show a
tale about time travel or fantastic abilities and present it with a fresh take.
And yet after one hundred and fifty six episodes (the total run of the original
Twilight Zone) they still managed to keep things fresh.
The problem with anthology TV, and the reason why so much
Television seems to be watered down nowadays is cost. The ideal film or TV show
will have as few sets and as small a cast as possible. Anthology shows require
a new cast and new sets every episode. Those costs can add up as a show goes
on. It’s why so many producers keep trying to bring back multi-camera sitcoms.
An entire show can be filmed on one stage with a core cast.
For the sake of storytelling, I hope the networks will
rediscover the formula for good Anthology TV. So many excellent actors and
writers got a chance to work on these series and they still entertain even
years after they were shot and even after multiple viewing. And to me that is
the true sign of quality TV. Able to watch it again over and over and still
enjoy it every time.
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