

Beginning in 1971, the long-run Masterpiece Theatre drama anthology series brought British productions to American television. Ida Lupino was brought on board as the de facto fourth star, though unlike Powell, Boyer, and Niven, she owned no stock in the company.Īmerican television networks would sometimes run summer anthology series which consisted of unsold television pilots. It was successful enough to be renewed and became a weekly program from the second season until the end of its run in 1956. It ran on alternate weeks only during the first season, alternating with Amos 'n' Andy. CBS liked the idea, and Four Star Playhouse made its debut in fall of 1952. The fourth star was initially a guest star. When Russell and McCrea backed out, David Niven came on board as the third star. Powell had intended for the program to feature himself, Charles Boyer, Joel McCrea, and Rosalind Russell. The stars would own the studio and the program, as Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz had done successfully with Desilu studio. ĭick Powell came up with an idea for an anthology series, Four Star Playhouse, with a rotation of established stars every week, four stars in all. In the history of television, live anthology dramas were especially popular during the Golden Age of Television of the 1950s with series such as The United States Steel Hour and The Philco Television Playhouse. Fritz (1984–85) (broadcast in "3D-Sound" stereo) Mystery Theater (1974–82) (created by Himan Brown of Inner Sanctum Mysteries).The Zero Hour (1973–74) (hosted by Rod Serling).Beyond Midnight (1968–69) (South African).The Creaking Door (1964–65) (South African).However, genre series produced since 1962 include: The final episode of Suspense was broadcast on September 30, 1962, a date that has traditionally been seen as marking the end of the old-time radio era. X Minus One (1955–58) (revival and continuation of Dimension X).Sleep No More (1952–56) (featured Nelson Olmsted narrating his own adaptations of stories).ABC Mystery Theater (1951–54), anthology, crime and mystery series.Dimension X (1950–51) (featured adapted stories by authors including Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury and Kurt Vonnegut).
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Many popular old-time radio programs were anthology series.

Anthologiai were collections of small Greek poems and epigrams, because in Greek culture the flower symbolized the finer sentiments that only poetry can express.

The word comes from Ancient Greek ἀνθολογία ( anthología, "flower-gathering"), from ἀνθολογέω ( anthologéō, "I gather flowers"), from ἄνθος ( ánthos, "flower") + λέγω ( légō, "I gather, pick up, collect"), coined by Meleager of Gadara circa 60 BCE, originally as Στέφανος (στέφανος ( stéphanos, "garland")) to describe a collection of poetry, later retitled anthology – see Greek Anthology. Some anthology series, such as Studio One, began on radio and then expanded to television. These usually have a different cast in each episode, but several series in the past, such as Four Star Playhouse, employed a permanent troupe of character actors who would appear in a different drama each week. Lux Radio Theatre ad art featuring Joan CrawfordĪn anthology series is a radio, television, video game or film series that spans different genres and presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short.
