31 Days of Halloween Day 7: Best Anthology TV Series
False Positive Tips: Best Anthology TV Shows –
First off, if you’ve been paying attention, it’s no secret, I cherish anthologies of short speculative fiction. I dig the stuff in all its many forms—books, comics, film, and TV. Weird Tales, Creepshow, The Illustrated Man, Heavy Metal = love, love, love, and love.
FP is a love letter to my favorite entertainment stuff.
I was lucky. You could say that I was spoiled. Because I was exposed to this stuff early. As a result, it’s a part of me.
Long before I discovered Tales of O. Henry or found the work of Ray Bradbury, I was introduced to Mr. Rod Serling.
Some of my earliest joyful TV memories include watching reruns of The Twilight Zone during annual holiday marathons—starting long before I could read. These series have a supreme impact on the way I think about storytelling and inspire the making of False Positive. I love me some anthology TV! ❤
How about you?
Why not celebrate Halloween by binging a great anthology series this October?
Top Anthology Television Recommendations
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The Twilight Zone
(1959–1964)
Production Description:
“Rod Serling’s seminal anthology series focused on ordinary folks who suddenly found themselves in extraordinary, usually supernatural, situations.”
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Tales from the Darkside
(1983–1988)
Production Description:
“This 30-minute horror/fantasy anthology series follows in the vein of The Twilight Zone. Each episode presents another standalone story of horror fantasy, and/or science fiction. Some episodes are gruesome, a few are of a lighter comedic style. Like many such shows, Tales… adapted the work of famous genre authors of the period such as Harlan Ellison, Stephen King, and Clive Barker.”
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Tales from the Crypt
(1989–1996)
You can skip s. 7—they missed the mark and got the tone all wrong that season.
Based on the classic EC horror comics. DVD Product Description:
“Hosted by the Cryptkeeper, each episode of the show offered a new, ghoulish tale for the audience to sink their teeth (or fangs) into.”
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Love, Death + Robots
(2019– )
Production Description:
“Sentient dairy products, werewolf soldiers, robots gone wild, garbage monsters, cyborg bounty hunters, alien spiders and blood-thirsty demons from hell – all converge in eighteen NSFW animated stories.”
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The Twilight Zone
(1985–1989)
Production Description:
“Travel into the fifth dimension once again with THE TWILIGHT ZONE, testing the limits of reality and exploring the mysteries of the universe. Airing from 1985 to 1989, this critically acclaimed anthology series carried on the legacy of the original Rod Serling program and attracted a brand new audience of fans. The series features major stars including Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren, Martin Landau and many more! In compelling tales of intrigue by such noted writers as Ray Bradbury, Stephen King, Arthur C. Clarke and Theodore Sturgeon.”
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Bloodride
(2020– )
The title and framing device serve as little more than window dressing for the dark stories.
Production Description:
“The doomed passengers aboard a spectral bus head toward a gruesome, unknown destination in this deliciously macabre horror anthology series. “
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Roald Dahl’s Tales of the Unexpected
(1979 –1988)
Production Description:
“Sinister and with a touch of the macabre, Tales of the Unexpected holds, at its heart, a core of black humour that makes each story both compelling and surprising, with a twist in each tale that delighted audiences throughout the country.
Although Roald Dahl is best known for his children’s books, his most famous and sinister adult creation was Tales of the Unexpected. Adapting works from Dahl himself, Patricia Highsmith, Ruth Rendell and a host of other celebrated writers, this highly acclaimed series ran for an impressive nine years from its first transmission on ITV in 1979. Its iconic title sequence and haunting theme tune (from prolific TV composer Ron Grainer) ensured that Tales of the Unexpected was memorable viewing.
Sometimes gory, but always surprising, the stories all have a twist to entertain and often shock the viewer.
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Alfred Hitchcock Presents
(1955 –1962)
Fun Fact about AHP: With 6 episodes based on the works of Roald Dahl, a few stories overlap with episodes of Tales of the Unexpected.
Production Description:
“Reunite with the “Master of Suspense,” Alfred Hitchcock, for mind-boggling twists and devious thrills […]. Delve into 191 stories of greed, larceny, revenge and murder where every character holds a guilty secret and a misleading “MacGuffin” lurks in every corner. Featuring some of Hollywood’s brightest guest stars, including Walter Matthau, Steve McQueen, Peter Lorre, Dick Van Dyke, William Shatner and Burt Reynolds, it’s 22 discs of delicious mysteries from the icon whose highest hope for his audience was to “give them pleasure – the same pleasure they have when they wake up from a nightmare.”
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If the List Kept Going…
Monsters (1988–1991)
Masters of Horror (2005–2007)
Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1985–1989)
Hammer House of Horror (1980)
The Ray Bradbury Theater (1985–1992)
The Outer Limits (1995–2002)
Amazing Stories (1985–1987)
The Outer Limits (1963–1965)
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How does my list compare to yours? What’s on your list of favorite anthology TV series?
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