The streaming anthology format — series in which each episode is a discrete narrative with a different cast and setting — has, after several years of uneven programming, produced several recent shows that demonstrate what the format can do when the production commitment matches the editorial ambition.

What works in the format

What works is the discipline that the form requires. Episodes have to be self-contained; the narrative must complete in the running time; each entry has to justify itself without leaning on the cumulative engagement that serial drama relies on.

What fails

What fails, in the less successful examples, is uneven episode quality. The form is not forgiving: a single weak episode in an eight-episode anthology degrades the audience's commitment to the remaining episodes more than a comparable weak hour in a serial drama would.

The recent successes

The recent successes — specific shows from the major streaming platforms over the past eighteen months — have produced anthology runs of unusual consistency. Each episode of the most successful shows is the kind of one-hour film that the broader feature-film market has, with notable consistency, been losing.

The verdict

The anthology format is, on the strength of the recent work, one of the more interesting current developments in television production. The form deserves the audience attention that the most consistent shows have been receiving.