In 1985, when Steven Spielberg’s Amazing Stories premiered on NBC, television audiences had already been exposed to the idea of the short form anthology series, even if the term had not been in the current vernacular. Rod Serling had stirred the minds of audiences starting in 1959 with The Twilight Zone and Night Gallery in 1970. Both series looked at issues faced by society and the human psyche as shown through a science fiction or horror setting. While Spielberg kept the same format as these programs, Amazing Stories was influenced by oral storytelling—tales of the strange and fantastic from other worlds.
While the series’ viewership was not especially high, it did earn 5 Emmys and a considerable cult following via reruns on cable and streaming services. Nevertheless, it seems odd for a series which has such lack of recognition during its time to not only be rebooted 35 years later when anthology series are a dime a dozen, but specifically by Apple TV+, a streaming service which has had little promotion and whose subscribers are largely recent iPhone buyers who received a free trial of the service
Comprised of only five episodes, the stories in Apple’s Amazing Stories forgo the aliens, mummies, and telepathy of the original series. The reboot, led by executive producers/showrunners Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz (best known for ABC’s Once Upon a Time), is more Earth-bound, akin to science-fiction themed episodes of early-2000s teen dramas. “The Cellar,” the series’ first episode, follows a character named Sam (played by Teen Wolf’s Dylan O’Brien) as he is transported to 1919 while helping his brother restore a home. While in the past, he meets a young woman named Evelyn (Victoria Pedretti), who is to be married off to help her family financially, but is eager to liver her own life. Upon falling in love, the couple strive to return to the year 2020 together, but due to the fight of time, each ultimately finds themselves in the year and place they need to be, rather than want.
Even more modern, Chinaka Hodge’s “The Heat” follows the potential limbo of a high school track star (Hailey Kilgore) after being killed in a hit-and-run while out with a friend. Pursuing the trope, she must discover her unfinished business for her spirit to leave Earth, which is to not only help her best friend succeed as a track star, but for the pair to reveal their romantic feelings for one another. Complicating matters, they must be running to communicate, making the incorporation of the “chase your dreams” cliché far too literal for a 45 minute story, especially when both actors are forcing their way through the script so much that it feels like they were filmed separately.
Based on these first two episodes, is not likely to sell many Apple TV+ subscriptions or renewals, particularly when the series only ran for five episodes—five fewer than had originally been ordered by Apple. These episodes position the reboot less as the Amazing Stories of the 1980s and more as a family-friendly version of Jordan Peele’s Twilight Zone reboot, incorporating over-the-top suspense rather than special effects. Meanwhile, the original series remains on the NBC app, which is free with a cable subscription, and it will likely be included onNBC Universal’s Peacock App when it launches in July 2020.
Amazing Stories is available on Apple TV+, available to subscribers for $4.99/mo. Visit https://tv.apple.com for more information.
