Back in the day, The Twilight Zone came onto the screen and made an enormous impact. Nobody had ever done anything quite like it. It really changed the way we view what is possible on television; its impact was really that powerful! Besides making such a big mark on people, it also served to inspire them greatly. A lot of people wound up making spin-offs of the series or working with similar ideas and themes.
Amazing Stories
Amazing Stories was created by none other than Steven Spielberg, and it ran from September 29, 1985, to April 10, 1987. The series was nominated for 12 Emmy Awards and won five. It didn’t rate that well (starting at 36th and ending at 52nd), but did garner a lot of awards in its short existence. Unfortunately, the network (NBC in this case) decided to focus solely on ratings and canceled the show after a mere two seasons.
The series is considered by critics to be one of the better things shown on television. Interestingly enough, the film Batteries Not Included was originally going to be a story for Amazing Stories. What happened was that Spielberg wound up liking the story so much that he decided to expand on it and make it into a feature film, which debuted in 1987. On March 6, 2020, Apple TV+ launched a revival of the series.
Tales From The Crypt
Tales from the Crypt is another classic show from the 1980s. It is a product of the early days of HBO, which has always been considered a pioneer in TV series. It had its run from June 10, 1989, to July 19, 1996, on HBO for seven full seasons. The content was heavily derived from the 1950s series of comic books which has the same name as the series, or from other series from the same comic company.
Because this was an HBO show, it was free of the normal network practices as far as content is concerned. This means that the show was able to produce content that never would have been shown on the traditional networks. For this reason, you have to be sure you are watching an original version of this show because the show was also syndicated and heavily edited versions were shown on the major networks.
Black Mirror
Black Mirror is the newest entry here. It started just back in 2011 and supposedly there may still be new episodes in the works, although the running joke of this writing is that reality has gotten way too close to Black Mirror. This is the only non-American offering in this article, being a British production, although some episodes are set partly or wholly in the USA, and actors from all over are used.
The show deals mostly with rapidly developing technology and its unexpected – and often very dark – consequences. There are currently five seasons of Black Mirror, the third and fourth having six episodes each, and the other seasons having a mere three each. There is also a “White Christmas” special. Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, a full-length interactive film, came out on 28 December 2018. The show has to date managed to garner eight Emmy Awards.
