Apple and Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment agreed this Thursday to reboot the 1980s sci-fi series Amazing Stories as the tech giant’s first piece of original content. The first season of the show will have 10 episodes and it will be directed by Bryan Fuller.
The show, whose rights belonged to Universal Television as a division of ComcastCorp.’s NBCUniversal, will presumably be produced next year and it might air toward the end of 2018 or the beginning of 2019. Knowing Apple’s obsession with efficiency, we most likely might get to see it next year.
Other than that, the details of the agreement are still unknown and the production schedule remains a mystery for now. Cupertino held some other cards close to its chest in the weeks preceding Thursday’s announcement, but those pilots might not see the light of day after all.
The budget for 'Amazing Stories' will be more than $5 million an episode https://t.co/QL86HjY4TD
— Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) October 10, 2017
Amazing Stories might bring amazing ratings
Amazing Stories was an original, sci-fi anthology series that ran for two seasons on NBC between 1985 and 1987. The half-hour format was widely popular among TV fans at the time, but the show ultimately couldn’t compete against others that aired in the same timeslot.
However, now seems to be a perfect time for a revival of the genre. The success of serialized anthologies like Black Mirror among both fans and critics have earned it accolades across the board, and the newer seasons of the show have even found a home in the streaming giant Netflix.
Apple’s slate of original TV shows could be off to a strong start if the Amazing Stories reboot becomes a hit. Industry leaders and fans alike have high expectations of the sci-fi drama, with Bryan Fuller at the helm and probably an all-star catalog of guest appearances for each episode.
Which other shows is Apple juggling?
Netflix invests roughly $6 billion a year in original programming, but Apple’s incursion will probably be more methodic. They won’t try to prove their worth to anyone but themselves, and surely names like Spielberg and Fuller can attract top talent on their own to the new platform.
Prior to this announcement, there were rumors of a morning show featuring Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston. By the looks of it, the show would have been a drama despite its apparent talk show fascia, but it is unknown if it is still on the cards for Apple.
Ryan Murphy’s Ratched was poached by Netflix before Apple could close a deal with the creator since they offered two seasons upfront and a renewal of the streaming deal of American Horror Story. Time will tell how well Apple does in the entertainment business, but for now, things look promising.
Source: The Wall Street Journal
