Watching a series is usually synonymous with commitment: the viewer conditions their next days, weeks, months or even decades to follow certain characters and a certain story. But after the success of Black Mirror by Charlie Brooker in 2011, anthology series where each episode tells an independent and self-contained story have become fashionable again. They are ideal series for those allergic to commitment where each episode is like rolling the dice: you never know what you’re going to get when you hit the play button.
AppleTV+
Little America
An image from the second season of ‘Little America’.
In the magazine Epic Magazine True stories of people who had migrated to the United States and tried to make a living there, seeking immigrant vindication, were published, and the creative team of Emily V. Gordon, her husband Kumail Nanjiani, and Lee Eisenberg searched for ways to transfer these anecdotes full of humanity to the small screen.
The result is a dramatic, tender, hopeful work that had its worst claim in the censorship of the episode. The Son by Stephen Dunn (Queer as Folk) in the Middle East and Russia by recounting the obstacles a young Syrian homosexual faces in getting out of his society alive. This Friday the second season lands with eight new episodes and, who has not yet seen The Sonnow you have where to start Little America.
Rtve and Amazon Prime Video
Stories not to sleep
‘Stories to not sleep’ has already broadcast two seasons.
In 1966, Chicho Ibáñez Serrador premiered Stories not to sleepwhich could be understood as the Iberian version of The unknown dimension (The twilight zone): Each episode focused on disturbing stories framed in horror, suspense or science fiction and all of them were independent. But, for those who don’t want to go back that far in time (which is always a good idea), in 2021 the concept was rescued with prestigious directors aboard the revival produced by Rtve and Amazon Prime Video.
The first season had four episodes directed by Rodrigo Cortés, Paco Plaza, Paula Ortiz and Rodrigo Sorogoyen with actors of the level of David Verdaguer, Vicky Luengo, Dani Rovira, Inma Cuesta, Miki Esparbé, Eduard Fernández, Raúl Arévalo or Nathalie Poza. The second, released at the end of October, had Salvador Calvo, Jaume Balagueró, Alice Waddington and Nacho Vigalondo as the main creators and cast that included Javier Gutiérrez, Carlos Cuevas, Irene Montalá, Manuela Vellés, Pablo Derqui, Álvaro Morte, Mina El Hammani, Roberto Alamo and Neus Sanz.
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What is the best way to start it? start with episode Freddy by Paco Plaza, who is moved by the terror of possessed dolls and which is related from the homage to the episode of the same name produced by Chicho Ibáñez Serrador in 1982.
Disney+
What if… (What would happen if…)
What if: Each episode imagines a hypothesis. What if Agent Carter, for example, had been Captain America?
Chadwick Boseman’s last job as Black Panther was as a voice actor in this Marvel animated series. The concept behind the series is simple and had already been explored in the comics: to consider how the Marvel Cinematic Universe would have developed by changing some of its most significant elements.
For example, what would have happened if Penny Carter had become Captain America instead of Steve Rogers, if Ultron had won, if Thor had been an only child or if T’Challa was Starlord in Guardians of the Galaxy. And what attracts the most attention from Marvel’s most inventive production? How it ties into MCU canon now that the multiverse theory has been confirmed.
Movistar+
Blackout
‘Blackout’ has five episodes.
The creative effort behind this Movistar project that adapts the José A. Pérez Ledo podcast should be applauded. Imagine what would happen in Spain after a solar storm left the population without electricity for months and the scriptwriting team made up of Isabel Peña, Alberto Marini, Raúl Arévalo, Fran Araújo, Isa Campo and Rafael Cobos had to agree to fragment the story, that each story could be understood independently and that at the same time the series conveyed the chaos and conflicts that arose during those months.
Not all episodes of Blackout They are at the same level, but for those who do not want to see all the episodes or want to configure the story in their own way, here are three pieces of advice: pay attention to the first episode (Denial) with Rodrigo Sorogoyen honoring his identity as director, to the third (Confrontation) by Isa Campo with an always stupendous Patricia López Arnaiz and the fifth (Balance), a bucolic and humanist claim by Isaki Lacuesta, Isa Campo and Fran Araújo. Whoever thinks from their starting point that it will be like Collapsethe wonderful French series available on Filmin, take a look at it because it bears similarities but has its own personality.
syfy
The twilight zone
And, if we previously referred to The unknown dimensionhere must enter (of course) the reboot from Rod Serling’s classic updated with Jordan Peele as emcee. The author of let me out, we Y nopewhich produces the series, appears only as a scriptwriter in two episodes and, it must also be recognized, this The twilight zone It’s like playing Russian roulette with little chance of finding yourself a truly stimulating exercise.
Netflix
Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities
Guillermo del Toro does not direct a single episode, but those whom the Mexican filmmaker admires do.
Oscar winner Guillermo del Toro composed this anthology series to celebrate this last Halloween on Netflix: eight horror episodes written and directed by authors whom he admires as his regular collaborator Guillermo Navarro, cinematographer of The Pan’s Labyrinth either Pacific RimVincenzo Natali (cube) or Ana Lily Amirpour (A girl walks home alone at night).
Among the most interesting aspects of the experiment? That Netflix skipped its customs when launching the series, turning The Cabinet of Curiosities into a phenomenon with the premiere of two episodes for four consecutive days. And, whoever is looking for the most stimulating delivery, can take a look at autopsythe third episode directed by David Prior (The empty man) with a screenplay by David S. Goyer (Foundation).
filming
Inside No 9
The 12 days of Christine is a masterpiece of anthology episodes.
What Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton do as writers of Inside No 9 Priceless: An anthology series with stand-alone and stand-alone episodes that always take place on a site that includes the number nine. It could be a train cabin, an apartment, a hotel room, a dressing room, a church, or a soccer team locker room.
And what episodes can not be missed by the viewer? La Couchette Y The 12 days of Christine, the first episodes of the second season directed by the Catalan Guillem Morales. Delving into them without knowing anything is one of the most stimulating elements of Inside No 9: you never know if you will find a drama to cry, a hilarious comedy or a disturbing story that will put you on the ropes.
Amazon Prime Video
modern love
Brandon Kyle Goodman, Anne Hathaway, Cristin Milioti and Emmy Rossum at the ‘Modern Love’ premiere in 2019.
Who better than John Carney, the man behind Eleven either begin againto adapt the column of The New York Times called Modern love where contemporary love stories are told. It cannot be said that all the stories work at the same level but Take me as I am, whoever I am with Anne Hathaway it is a marvel that deserves to be adapted into a film and with the same leading actress (and of whom it is better not to know anything) and When the doorman is your main man with Cristin Milioti it is another unmissable joy for seriéphiles.
More series?
Amazing Stories on Apple TV+, which adapts Steven Spielberg’s eighties series with Howard Kitsis and Adam Horowitz as new creative managers; american horror stories from Disney+ and Tales of the walking dead of AMC+, which expand the universes of american horror story Y the walking dead; Electric Dreams from Amazon Prime Video, which adapts short stories by Philip K. Dick; Love, Death and Robots from Netflix with David Fincher as executive producer of this animated series; or the stories of Easy from Netflix about love and life in Chicago.
