Great article/thinkpiece on the age of anthologies

[Spock 20,290]

From the A.V. Club

The anthology series was a major topic of conversation at this year’s Television Critics Association Press Tour, the twice-yearly event at which networks allow critics a closer look at their programming. Whether the buzz was positive or negative depended on which network was presenting its wares. When FX president John Landgraf introduced a panel for American Horror Story: Hotel, the forthcoming fifth installment in the franchise, he had a lot to crow about. Not only is the American Horror Story franchise the most watched show in the network’s history, it’s racked up 70 Emmy nominations over its run and spawned the industry’s insatiable appetite for the limited series.

“With [AHS], Ryan Murphy invented the modern anthological series or limited series and initiated a new genre that has proved irresistible to other great artists and networks,” said Landgraf. “It’s pretty rare to see a truly new and original form of television, and I can honestly say that watching this genre develop not only through the four and now five seasons of American Horror Story and the one and now two seasons of Fargo and the beginning of our new series American Crime Story, but also through HBO’s True Detective and ABC’s American Crime, this has been as fun as anything I’ve ever done professionally.”

Considering how many anthology series have cropped up in the wake of AHS, Landgraf was being slightly modest about the influence of Murphy’s model. Murphy has benefitted most from the anthology boom. In addition to FX’s Hotel and American Crime Story—a true-crime anthology series—Murphy sold Fox on Scream Queens, a campy horror-comedy anthology. ABC brought back John Ridley’s American Crime for a second season, a shrewd move considering the provocative, topical series compensated for its anemic viewership with 10 Emmy nominations. Also returning to ABC is Secrets And Lies, the Juliette Lewis whodunnit, and the network is about to introduce Wicked City, a noir period mystery.

The tone of the conversation about anthologies wasn’t as favorable when HBO’s president of programming Michael Lombardo took the stage for an executive session. Lombardo spent a good portion of his time defending the critically razed second season of True Detective, which has seen a marked drop in quality since swapping out Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey for a hit-or-miss quartet of new characters. Lombardo, who said he’s unconcerned about the backlash, redoubled his praise of Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto and said a third season of the show is only a matter of Pizzolatto’s desire to make one. “I’m not in the business of micromanaging the process in the sense of telling a writer that these are the beats they need to follow in how they tell a story,” said Lombardo. “I think Nick is a bold storyteller, and I mean that only in the most positive ways.”

Detective isn’t the only case of an anthology series showing diminished returns over time. AHS, the show responsible for the anthology boom, is equally representative of the steep quality declines that can infect anthologies. Freak Show, the most recent AHS installment, was its least critically successful, and with the exception of Asylum, AHS’ second season, the show has grown less effective with each new season. But in the television industry, a robust audience forgives all, and Freak Show shattered its own ratings record with more than 12 million viewers.

Also this paragraph:

Anthologies are also irresistable to actors, who love the flexibility of one-year contracts allowing them to pursue other projects, or at the very least, return to the series as a completely different character. The relatively short commitment facilitates the participation of in-demand performers who typically avoid series television because it demands so much time. Hotel will be the first AHS season without Jessica Lange, who opted to do a play instead, and Lady Gaga will step into the lead role, a casting coup an open-ended series could never pull off. Anthologies also offer actors greater opportunities for Emmy recognition in the rechristened Outstanding Limited Series category, a race with only a fraction of the competition of the drama categories.

 

This is only half the article since for some reason we are not allowed to post the whole thing

(I also took the liberty of bolding the part about Freak Show for those saying that it's the most critically acclaimed season or whatever and that we're lying because we're haters)

http://www.avclub.com/article/age-anthology-why-ryan-murphy-model-taking-over-te-223622

[Pure Adrenaline 1,518]

nnnn the FS lashings

 

[Hauser 1,262]

Except Freakshow had the highest opening ratings for AHS, the highest rating for FX overall, and the most Emmy nominations of any AHS season and second most nominations falling short to Game of Thrones...so it IS the most critically successful. Im not a fan a huge fan of Freakshow, (being my 3rd favorite) but people saying "it's the least critically successful" is an opinion.

In regards to anthologies, the only one I have seen is AHS and I saw a bit of American Crime but I stopped watching because it felt forced and just didn't hook me in to the story, however I think that anthologies are great tv and but I don't think they will ever really overtake the long run regular tv series.

[JEWRJEWR 5,663]

ok

[Nitsua 27]

Except Freakshow had the highest opening ratings for AHS, the highest rating for FX overall, and the most Emmy nominations of any AHS season and second most nominations falling short to Game of Thrones...so it IS the most critically successful. Im not a fan a huge fan of Freakshow, (being my 3rd favorite) but people saying "it's the least critically successful" is an opinion.

In regards to anthologies, the only one I have seen is AHS and I saw a bit of American Crime but I stopped watching because it felt forced and just didn't hook me in to the story, however I think that anthologies are great tv and but I don't think they will ever really overtake the long run regular tv series.

American Crime and American Crime Story are 2 completely different shows. American Crime Story airs in 2016

[freebit 6,240]

I have a feeling more people will start to stan Freak Show halfway into Hotel's run. It's become a pattern. 

I feel like Ryan really reinvented the format (despite people not wanting him to get credit over anything, lol). There's really been no other show quite like it. Anyway, I love the idea of the anthology/limited series format coming back. There's so many shows that could have benefited from it (Lost and The Walking Dead in particular). Certain story concepts just don't need to be stretched out for eons, and this has hurt so many good shows. Fringe for example is a show that could have been great, but turned out to be 70% filler.