The anthology format is tricky to do well. For every good story that makes you want to keep watching, there may be a bad one that turns you off the entire show. When it comes to TV, you absolutelymuststart out with a good impression, as you are trying to entice viewers to watch week to week. Sadly, the first episode of Apply TV+’s reboot ofAmazing Storiesis anything but what its title suggests.
The originalAmazing Storieswas created bySteven Spielberg, who directed some of the episodes and wrote the stories for 18 of the 45 episodes. The show was partly inspired by the science-fiction magazine of the same name. It featured a highly impressive cast and crew with episodes starringPatrick SwayzeandKevin Costner, and directed by everyone fromClint EastwoodandJoe DantetoMartin Scorsese. What made the original show stand out was that it was a more optimistic take on the grimmer anthologies likeThe Twilight Zone.
And that’s exactly where the issues with the new take begin. Even if Spielberg is back as an executive producer, it appears to be a much-reduced role compared to the first time around, withOnce Upon a Timeproducing/writing duoEdward KitsisandAdam Horowitztaking over the reins as showrunners. Optimism and a sense of wonder sit front-and-center in the first of five episodes of the reboot, “The Cellar,” which starsDylan O’Brien(The Maze Runner) as Sam, a millennial who goes around in life without a clear goal; he simply helps his brother Jake (Micah Stock) fix up houses while waiting around for a new match on a dating app to distract him for a while. Of course, things change when, during a heavy storm, Sam discovers a cellar in the new house he’s repairing and accidentally finds himself transported back in time to 1919. While looking for a way back home, he meets Evelyn Porter (The Haunting on Hill House’sVictoria Pedretti), a woman who loves music but is being pushed into a marriage of convenience. As Sam starts spending time with Evelyn, the two of them bond over their desire to belong in a world free of the limitations and expectations of the early 20thcentury, and a romance begins.
Though at first it may feel refreshing to see an anthology show move away from the grim anti-modernism ofBlack Mirror, the human horrors of the newThe Twilight Zone, or the pure supernatural terror ofCreepshow, the first episode ofAmazing Storiestries so hard to take a brighter and family-friendlier approach to the anthology format it ends up feeling like a watered-down version of better shows. It is one thing thatAmazing Storiesdoesn’t want to dive too deeply into the many, many reasons why no one should want to voluntarily go back to the past and barely glance at the social problems of the time in favor of a basic time-travel love story; it is another thing entirely to talk down to the audience and assume they’d not notice the way the episode skips basic character development or avoids answering any questions about how the world works because they assumed the audience wouldn’t even ask those oquestions. But hey, at least the original theme song byJohn Williamsis back, and isn’t that great?
Indeed, the episode seems so obsessed with recapturing that old Amblin magic that it focuses on the wrong things, like putting old small-town America on a pedestal as the ultimate place to live in, instead of focusing on making us care about the characters. None of the principal cast gets a chance to stretch their talents, as the supporting cast only gets one or two scenes to make an impact and end up feeling more like glorified cameos. As for the two main characters, even if O’Brien and Pedretti have decent chemistry (and they’re talented actors in their own right), their romance feels forced. “The Cellar” somehow manages to drag when it needs to move along quickly, and then rushes just when we want it to breathe. The romance at the center of the story isn’t really explored until halfway through the episode, and by then it’s a race against the clock to resolve the time-traveling story as well as give a proper send-off to the characters. The result is a courtship we barely get a glimpse at, with the pacing moving so quickly in the last 20 minutes you may be forgiven for pausing to check if you somehow skipped over scenes that would have made you care about the story or the characters at all.
It remains to be seen whether future episodes will bring us back to the more fantastic or amazing tales that made the original popular, but as of now, this feels like a cry of anger at the current slate of grim anthology shows, and a desperately rushed attempt to return to the older, safer type of TV shows that reassured you that the past was as bright as you remembered, and that everything is alright as long as you have an old and familiar sweater you’re able to wear again when you feel bad.
Optimism isn’t a bad thing to have on TV shows, but when that’s the only thing you’ve got going for you, living up to “amazing” seems like a reach.
Rating: ★★ Fair
Amazing Stories is now streaming on AppleTV+
