10 Best Anthology TV Series of All Time, Ranked
What’s the unique magic of television? Is it its ability to tell massive stories that span over the course of several years? TV shows’ capacity to reinvent themselves constantly? Its addictive nature and how it creates an atmosphere that can envelop audiences for hours straight? It’s likely that it’s a mixture of all these factors and more, and few genres intensify these qualities as much as the anthology TV show.
An anthology series is all about telling different stories with different characters, sometimes across different genres and even in different universes. Divided into segments (whether it’s episodes or seasons), anthology series have each segment tell its own tale. Throughout the decades, this has sometimes resulted in some of the most gripping and entertaining shows on television, proving that viewers don’t need to follow a single narrative thread in order to be enthralled.
10
‘Why Women Kill’ (2019 – 2021)
Created by Marc Cherry
One of Reddit’s favorite anthology TV shows, Why Women Kill is one of the most stylish and underrated series in its genre. It’s a dark comedy that follows three women in different decades all living in the same house, as they face infidelity and betrayals in their marriages. Though the show only lasted for two seasons, these are two phenomenal seasons that soap opera fans are guaranteed to love.
Created by Marc Cherry, a master of television focused on female characters, Why Women Kill offers more of what fans of his other shows (like Desperate Housewives and The Golden Girls) love, with a devious twist. Funny, suspenseful, surprisingly moving, and sporting a cast stacked with stars, it’s a cleverly farcical anthology series that fans of the genre can’t miss.
9
‘American Horror Story’ (2011 – )
Created by Brad Falchuk and Ryan Murphy
The premise of American Horror Story is straightforward enough. Throughout its thirteen seasons, it’s centered on different compelling characters and atmospheric locations, showcasing different aspects of horror. Haunted houses, slasher villains, aliens, the devil, and lots and lots of outstanding performances by the likes of Evan Peters, Sarah Paulson, and Kathy Bates are what viewers looking to get into this cult classic can expect.
Like all anthology series that run for such a long time, American Horror Story has obviously had its ups and downs — but truthfully, the ups are much more abundant, and enough to make the downs at least decently entertaining. Plus, the variety between all seasons means that there’s something here for every kind of horror fan, and isn’t that what these kinds of shows are all about?
8
‘American Crime Story’ (2016 – )
Developed by Scott Alexander, Larry Karaszewski, and Sarah Burgess
American Crime Story is, unsurprisingly, a crime anthology series — and one of the best ones currently on television, at that. It retells America’s most infamous tales of crimes and criminals. The first season is about the O.J. Simpson trial; the second season is about the assassination of fashion designer Gianni Versace; the third season is about the Bill Clinton–Monica Lewinsky scandal; and the fourth season, currently in development, will be about tax fraudsters Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager.
Though the show’s opening season is easily its best, the following two are also outstanding. With exquisite performances, such as Darren Criss‘s impressive turn as Andrew Cunanan or Clive Owen‘s stunning transformation into Bill Clinton, all the real-life characters of American Crime Story come to life in stunning fashion. This way, each season manages to be riveting and suspenseful even if audiences already know the outcome of each case being depicted.
7
‘Love, Death & Robots’ (2019 – )
Created by Tim Miller
One of Netflix’s best anthology shows, Tim Miller‘s incredibly fun Love, Death & Robots is comprised of a collection of animated short stories spanning across genres like sci-fi, fantasy, horror, and comedy. Employing all sorts of jaw-dropping animation styles, the show can do all sorts of things. It can offer smart satirical commentary on modern society, terrify viewers with monsters and existential dread, or simply make them have a hell of a good laugh.
People who love anthology series that are constantly proving their versatility with all kinds of experimental stories will surely have a blast with Love, Death & Robots. The show has offered multiple exceptional episodes throughout its run, and though some of its weakest episodes can definitely hit pretty low lows, its highs are so stratospheric in their entertainment and creativity value that it makes each season worth binging in one sitting.
6
‘Genius’ (2017 – )
Created by Kenneth Biller and Suzan-Lori Parks
Let no one say that National Geographic can’t make narrative shows as legendary as their documentaries. For proof, one needn’t look any further than Genius, a docudrama about the life and achievements of history’s greatest minds. Albert Einstein, Pablo Picasso, Aretha Franklin, Martin Luther King Jr., and Malcolm X are all figures that the show has focused on throughout its four seasons.
Docudramas like this one can sometimes run the risk of feeling over-didactic, like a Wikipedia page brought to the small screen. Thankfully, the people behind Genius know precisely how to avoid these pitfalls. By focusing on the most human, flawed sides of these legendary historical figures, the series manages to feel more like a true celebration of their legacy full of artistic merit, than just a glorified documentary.
5
‘Alfred Hitchcock Presents’ (1955 – 1962)
Created by Alfred Hitchcock
Known as the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock is a silver-screen legend without equal. Throughout his decades-spanning, highly prolific career, he constantly pushed multiple genres forward — most notably, the mystery thriller. What some Hitchcock initiates may not know, however, is that he was also an icon of television, thanks to Alfred Hitchcock Presents, a show that portrays different horror and suspense stories.
Cinephiles who love Alfred Hitchcock will likely already have seen Alfred Hitchcock Presents; and if they haven’t, they have no idea what they’re missing out on. Through its seven excellent seasons, the series offers everything that made Hitchcock’s movies so magical in bite-sized pieces. Airing just at the peak of the filmmaker’s creative power (he released films as iconic as Vertigo and Psycho during this era), the show is full of gripping stories that are impossible to look away from.
4
‘True Detective’ (2014 – )
Created by Nic Pizzolatto
HBO has made multiple of the greatest TV shows of all time, and even then, few are as amazing as True Detective. Legendary stars like Matthew McConaughey, Colin Farrell, Mahershala Ali, and Jodie Foster have been leads in different seasons of this iconic police procedural. It follows police investigations that unearth the personal and professional secrets of those involved, both within and outside the law.
True Detective is one of the best psychological thrillers on television, thanks to its exceptional actors, brilliant directing, and shockingly sharp and philosophical writing. Very rarely are crime shows such profound explorations of the darkest corners of human nature, and although none of the series’s seasons have ever come close to the level of quality of season one, True Detective is still a can’t-miss show for fans of the genre.
3
‘Black Mirror’ (2011 – )
Created by Charlie Brooker
Black Mirror is a show that needs no introduction. One of the highest-rated anthology TV series on Rotten Tomatoes, this long-running British show portrays sharp, suspenseful, techno-paranoid sci-fi dramas that tap into the collective fear of the modern world and all of its chaos. It’s a simple enough general theme, but the show is so skillful at reinventing itself and exploring creative premises that it very rarely gets stale or repetitive.
At best, Black Mirror‘s stories can be imaginative, fearsome, shocking, and deeply thought-provoking. At worst, they’re still highly creative and fairly entertaining. Pair that with some incredible casting of television’s greatest stars, as well as elite production qualities that make each episode feel fresh and exciting, and you get what’s unsurprisingly many TV fans’ favorite anthology series.
2
‘Fargo’ (2014 – 2024)
Created by Noah Hawley
One of the best TV adaptations of movies, Noah Hawley‘s Fargo (inspired by Joel and Ethan Coen‘s movie of the same title) is a dark comedy as exceptional as the film it’s based on. It follows many chronicles of deception, intrigue, and murder in and around frozen Minnesota. In one mysterious way or another, these tales always lead back to the town of Fargo, North Dakota.
Not very many anthology series can brag about each of their seasons being great. Fargo is one such show. A comedy of errors full of philosophical insights and intelligently written characters, Fargo is one of the best crime shows of all time. Each of the stories the show tells is just as enthralling as the others, and the technical prowess on display in each episode is quite commendable.
1
‘The Twilight Zone’ (1959 – 1964)
Created by Rod Serling
Anthology series come and go, but there’s one that still reigns supreme as the most influential and iconic that the genre has ever seen: Rod Serling‘s The Twilight Zone, by far one of the best sci-fi shows of all time. Walking the lines between fantasy, sci-fi, and horror —sometimes all three simultaneously —, it’s about ordinary people who find themselves in perplexingly extraordinary situations, which they each try to solve in ways that usually results in fascinating tales.
Almost every single episode of The Twilight Zone brings something of tremendous value to the table, making each of the show’s 5 seasons and 156 episodes worth watching. As purely entertaining as it can be, though, The Twilight Zone also offers plenty of thought-provoking themes and messages that feel far ahead of their time even today. As far as anthology series go, this is as good as it gets.
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