E pluribus Unum: toward a poetics of the TV anthology

Abstract

ABSTRACT The TV anthology series, which enjoyed significant popularity in the past but has been scarce amidst the dominance of episodic series and serials in the 2000s and early 2010s, seemed to experience a kind of renaissance after the international success of Black Mirror (Channel 4, 2011–2014; Netflix, 2016–present), followed by other popular shows like Room 104 (HBO, 2017–2020) and Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams (Channel 4/Amazon Prime Video, 2017–2018). The anthology format differs from series and serials in that its seasons consist of packages of episodes that are not connected by a narrative throughline, but instead feature a different plot, cast, and story world in each installment, raising the question of whether they can really be described in terms of ‘seriality’. This article explores the serial qualities of the anthology format and the source of poetic unity that grants cohesion to the multifarious episodes bound together in this type of show. In the absence of narrative accumulation, alternative qualities of seriality are examined and several ‘anthological markers’ are identified. Ultimately, this article argues for a poetic peculiarity of the format that is determined by a dynamic interplay between a single creative purpose and episodic variety and experimentation.