Apple TV+ Review: 'Amazing Stories' gets off to a middling start

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in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited March 2020
About a year after headlining the event that debuted the Apple TV+ service, "Amazing Stories," executive produced but not directed by Steven Spielberg, is rolling out one episode at a time with a very slow start.

Apple TV Plus Amazing Stories starring Victoria Pedretti and Dylan O'Brien
Victoria Pedretti and Dylan O'Brien in Amazing Stories (courtesy of Apple)


Even before Apple officially announced the launch of Apple TV+, the company began touting that some big creative names would be producing high-profile shows for their new content effort. And one of those names, going back to 2017, was one of Hollywood's most powerful and revered filmmakers, Steven Spielberg.

The Wall Street Journal reported, in October of that year, Apple had reached a deal for a revival of Amazing Stories, the Spielberg-created anthology series that aired for two seasons on NBC between 1985 and 1987.

Spielberg appeared on stage at Apple's "It's Showtime" keynote in March 2019, when Apple TV+ was formally announced, along with Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Aniston, J.J. Abrams, Big Bird and others. Spielberg, that day, talked about how an old magazine, also called Amazing Stories, was his first-ever exposure to science fiction.

"It's the universal human trait to search for meaning, so in these disconnected stories, we think the audience will find that one compelling narrative that will make the first season of Amazing Stories into a single thematic experience for them, and I hope for all of you too," Spielberg said at the Steve Jobs Theater, in what he said was the first time he had ever visited Apple.



Amazing Stories has finally arrived on Apple TV+ March 6. Based on the one episode AppleInsider has viewed, it's a promising premise with room to grow. However, there are more than a few reasons for concern.

Into The Cellar

Dylan O'Brien in Amazing Stories (Courtesy of Apple)
Dylan O'Brien in Amazing Stories (Courtesy of Apple)


The first episode of Amazing Stories, "The Cellar," is decent, if somewhat forgettable. It's directed by series television veteran Chris Long, whose credits include The Americans and The Mentalist, and written by Jessica Sharzer. "The Cellar" is an epic romance, set across generations and eras and incorporating time travel.

Dylan O'Brien (from The Maze Runner) and Micah Stock star as Sam and Jacob, a pair of brothers in the present day, who are working to restore a rundown old farmhouse in Iowa.

We see O'Brien's character fiddling with a Tinder-like app, indicating that he's love-crazy, but it doesn't take long before he's transported to a time way before Tinder. A circuit breaker in the basement of the old house sends him back a hundred years in time, to the same house. There, in 1919, he falls in love with Evelyn (Victoria Pedretti), a woman of that time who's facing an unhappy impending marriage, starting up the first of the time travel-based missed connections.

While the 57-minute episode gets off to something of a slow start, it picks up once the romance does. It can be difficult to tell a story about lovers separated by time periods or dimensions, but this episode pulls it off. There's even a fine punchline at the end, involving a famous old baseball card.

The premiere episode has its virtues, starting with the solid promise and the romantic chemistry between the leads. Visually, however, it's not exactly dazzling.

Also, Amazing Stories arrives just a week after the premiere of AMC's Dispatches From Elsewhere, another anthology series with oddball elements. Thanks mostly to the visual inventiveness, that's not a comparison that's especially favorable to Amazing Stories.

Where's Steven?

Steven Spielberg at the Apple keynote in Cupertino in the spring of 2019
Steven Spielberg at the Apple keynote in Cupertino in the spring of 2019.


An Amazing Stories revival had been in the works as early as 2015, originally at NBC, with Hannibal's Bryan Fuller running it. But Fuller exited shortly after Apple took over development, with the Once Upon a Time team of Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz taking over as show runners.

While Steven Spielberg is one of several credited executive producers and the show bears the logo of his company Amblin Television, he is not the showrunner of Amazing Stories, nor is he credited with writing or directing any of the episodes.

Spielberg directed two episodes of the 1980s version of Amazing Stories, including the pilot, and received "story by" credits on several others. And while other episodes of the original series were directed by big names like Robert Zemeckis and Brad Bird, all of the directors of the new series are lesser-known television veterans. There's not a great deal of star power in front of the camera, either.

While certainly more positive and less dystopian, Amazing Stories is similar structurally to The Twilight Zone. That classic series was also recently rebooted by a streaming service, CBS All Access. And like Amazing Stories, that show made a big-time filmmaker (Jordan Peele) the face of its marketing efforts, even though he wasn't the showrunner and he didn't direct any of the episodes.

Servant, the Apple TV+ show that debuted last year, used M. Night Shyamalan's name in most of its marketing materials, even though he wasn't the showrunner. However, Shyamalan did direct two episodes, including the pilot, and Servant felt very much, both visually and thematically, like Shyamalan's work. "The Cellar" doesn't feel particularly Spielbergian.

Beyond questions related to Spielberg's level of involvement, the series consists of five episodes, down from the ten that were originally reported back in 2017. In a break from the Apple TV+ model to date, the service is releasing one episode a week out of the gate, rather than debuting all at once or several at once, even though an Apple press release in January had stated that all five episodes would debut on March 6.

Unlike every other series on the service since its launch, Apple only made one episode available to the press in advance, while also placing the embargo on review publication on the day of the show's release, rather than the week before, as it has for nearly every other show. Apple has not been advertising the show heavily, and most of the chatter online about the series seems to be coming from Dylan O'Brien fan accounts.

And, while Apple has quickly given second seasons to several of its early crop of original shows, it has not yet done so for Amazing Stories.

It's unknown whether the change in release plans is due to a lack of confidence in the show on Apple's part, or to episodes not being completed on time, or some other reason. But embargoes for reviews lifting on the release date of the show or product is almost never a positive sign.

More Stories to come

Robert Forster and Tyler Crumley in Amazing Stories (Apple)
Robert Forster and Tyler Crumley in "Amazing Stories" (Apple)


It's likely too early to write off Amazing Stories. Subsequent episodes will arrive on Apple TV+ each Friday between March 13 and April 3.

The second episode, "The Heat," follows a pair of high school track stars (E'myri Crutchfield and Hailey Kilgore) trying to overcome tragedy. The one episode likely to draw the most attention is the third, "Dynoman and the Volt," which features the final performance by the respected character actor Robert Forster, who passed away last October.

In the opening six months of Apple TV+, has clearly managed to get into business with some impressive names. But whether it's Oprah, M. Night Shyamalan or J.J. Abrams, that doesn't mean those names are the primary creative voice behind their projects.

As for Amazing Stories, it seems destined to join such Apple TV+ series as Servant, For All Mankind and See, in which for whatever virtues they possess, they never became part of the larger cultural conversation.

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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 23
    BeatsBeats Posts: 3,073member
    So Spielberg has nothing to do with this reboot? WTF is the point of having him on stage front and center?

    Terrible start for Apple TV+.
    razorpitchemengin1flyingdp
  • Reply 2 of 23
    razorpitrazorpit Posts: 1,796member
    My family and I have been watching the original Amazing Stories via the NBC app. They hold up well. So much that they keep my 11 year olds attention span. The only issue I have are the number of commercials NBC injects in to them. I haven't timed it but I swear it takes longer to watch the episodes now than it did 35 years ago.  :s

    I hope this revised series recaptures the magic of the original, with or without Spielberg.

    If he has noting to offer and doesn't want to be a part of it then maybe that's better for us. I'd rather him out of it completely than to stick around and be surrounded by a bunch of yes people a la Lucas and the Star Wars 
    prequels. Then again we could get a bunch of people who have no clue what Amazing Stories is or should be and get the type of hot garbage that was the last three Star Wars films...
    randominternetperson
  • Reply 3 of 23
    The basic problem with AppleTV+ is that the company approached it with the idea of throwing a bunch of money at creative people who have already made it decades ago and don’t have the hunger anymore. Oprah, Jen Aniston, Spielberg, etc... It’s all just tired stuff and incredibly safe. Of course they want the money, they all have expensive lifestyles to maintain. Apple is never going to have the same kind of creative success that Netflix has unless they really separate this division from the rest of the company.  They would be much better served owning a studio that is not called “Apple” that produces exclusive/non-exclusive content for them. This company could make creatively riskier and more interesting films and TV shows and not worry if the plot/themes will reflect on how people perceive iPhones and macs and the rest of the company.
    flyingdp
  • Reply 4 of 23
    eightzeroeightzero Posts: 3,056member
    razorpit said:
    My family and I have been watching the original Amazing Stories via the NBC app. They hold up well. So much that they keep my 11 year olds attention span. The only issue I have are the number of commercials NBC injects in to them. I haven't timed it but I swear it takes longer to watch the episodes now than it did 35 years ago.  :s

    I hope this revised series recaptures the magic of the original, with or without Spielberg.

    If he has noting to offer and doesn't want to be a part of it then maybe that's better for us. I'd rather him out of it completely than to stick around and be surrounded by a bunch of yes people a la Lucas and the Star Wars prequels. Then again we could get a bunch of people who have no clue what Amazing Stories is or should be and get the type of hot garbage that was the last three Star Wars films...
    Your "holds up well" comment rings true on a lot of things. There really is a lot of content out there worth exploring, and there are many, many choices available at the public library, with the additional benefit that these collections on DVD carry no ads.
    razorpit
  • Reply 5 of 23
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,844member
    A review based on....one episode? Even Curb Your Enthusiasm's new season wasn't great in one episode. I didn't think Mythic Quest got going until ep3, which seems to be my observation -- shows get going at 3 episodes or so. But if AS was reduced from 10 eps to 5, that's a bummer.
    edited March 2020 pscooter63lolliver
  • Reply 6 of 23
    BeatsBeats Posts: 3,073member
    A review based on....one episode? Even Curb Your Enthusiasm's new season wasn't great in one episode. I didn't think Mythic Quest got going until ep3, which seems to be my observation -- shows get going at 3 episodes or so. But if AS was reduced from 10 eps to 5, that's a bummer.

    If this is Twilight Zone style then it should get going from the first episode as each one is a separate story.
    gatorguyflyingdpCloudTalkin
  • Reply 7 of 23
    I agree, starts slow but escalates in the second half. I was pretty happy with the story structure. The time traveling picks off where the movie Somewhere in Time didn't go. 

    The reviews in the 1980s are similar to this review. While this reviewer says this story “is not exactly dazzling,” the 1980s reviewers complained the stories “are not that amazing.” So, the title of the show is once again going to work against them, no matter how good the episodes are.

    It’s not true that review embargo’s necessarily signify a bad sign! The Walking Dead and many shows have embargos. 

    Okay, so no big names are not being attached to the episodes. I’m not going to be snotty. Plenty of first rate television programs with actors and directors not from the movie industry.


    StrangeDayslolliver
  • Reply 8 of 23
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,844member
    I just watched the trailer, Spielberg is listed as executive producer. Was he previously promised as director?
  • Reply 9 of 23
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,844member
    The basic problem with AppleTV+ is that the company approached it with the idea of throwing a bunch of money at creative people who have already made it decades ago and don’t have the hunger anymore. Oprah, Jen Aniston, Spielberg, etc... It’s all just tired stuff and incredibly safe. Of course they want the money, they all have expensive lifestyles to maintain. Apple is never going to have the same kind of creative success that Netflix has unless they really separate this division from the rest of the company.  They would be much better served owning a studio that is not called “Apple” that produces exclusive/non-exclusive content for them. This company could make creatively riskier and more interesting films and TV shows and not worry if the plot/themes will reflect on how people perceive iPhones and macs and the rest of the company.
    Funny — first people complain that Spielberg isn’t involved enough, then people complain he’s too involved. Hmm. What’s the common theme? Oh, complaining. 
    lolliver
  • Reply 10 of 23
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,844member
    We just watched the first episode -- it was definitely entertaining, and right on par with what I'd expect from a rebooted AS episode. As usual, the panic and handwringing is dramatic and unnecessary. 
    lolliver
  • Reply 11 of 23
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    I just watched the trailer, Spielberg is listed as executive producer. Was he previously promised as director?
    If you go back to the stage event it was strongly implied that he would be intimately involved but to answer your question I'm not aware of him being announced as the director of any of the distinct episodes.
    edited March 2020
  • Reply 12 of 23
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,844member
    gatorguy said:
    I just watched the trailer, Spielberg is listed as executive producer. Was he previously promised as director?
    If you go back to the stage event it was strongly implied that he would be intimately involved but to answer your question I'm not aware of him being announced as the director of any of the distinct episodes.
    If you go back and watch the episode he’s the very first closing credit (full screen and solo, no less) and he’s the executive producer — that’s intimately involved. I don’t know what the complaining is about... To suggest he isn’t involved with his own legacy project because he isn’t directing is absurd and ignores how hollywood works. It’s like suggesting Ridley Scott wasn’t involved with his legacy project Blade Runner 2049 because he only produced and didn’t direct. Producing is being involved. (Sometimes producers are even opening credited after the writer, indicating higher rank.)

    🤷‍♂️
    edited March 2020 lolliver
  • Reply 13 of 23
    Beats said:
    So Spielberg has nothing to do with this reboot? WTF is the point of having him on stage front and center?

    Terrible start for Apple TV+.
    Spielberg created the 80s TV version of Amazing Stories so Apple had to pay him to use the name.  They are only using him as a pawn to claim their shows are great, as the article pointed out that none of the other big names mentioned or featured on stage had anything to do with the shows.  All of Apple’s shows sound incredibly boring.  No one is raving about anything on AppleTV+. 
  • Reply 14 of 23
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    gatorguy said:
    I just watched the trailer, Spielberg is listed as executive producer. Was he previously promised as director?
    If you go back to the stage event it was strongly implied that he would be intimately involved but to answer your question I'm not aware of him being announced as the director of any of the distinct episodes.
    If you go back and watch the episode he’s the very first closing credit (full screen and solo, no less) and he’s the executive producer — that’s intimately involved. I don’t know what the complaining is about... To suggest he isn’t involved with his own legacy project because he isn’t directing is absurd and ignores how hollywood works. It’s like suggesting Ridley Scott wasn’t involved with his legacy project Blade Runner 2049 because he only produced and didn’t direct. Producing is being involved. (Sometimes producers are even opening credited after the writer, indicating higher rank.)

    🤷‍♂️
    This is what the AI article is noting:
    While Steven Spielberg is one of several credited executive producers and the show bears the logo of his company Amblin Television, he is not the showrunner of Amazing Stories" and that's not what some were expecting based on Apple's stage event and the attention they gave Spielberg. Of course it was for the PR as many of us recognize, but you know how some folks read more into and have a different takeaway, probably just as Apple intended, right? That's what good PR does.
  • Reply 15 of 23

    I just watched the trailer, Spielberg is listed as executive producer. Was he previously promised as director?
    Nope.  He is one of many EPs because he created the original show in the 80s. That’s all.  He has no involvement except to appear on stage a year ago to talk about it because Apple paid him a lot of money.  
  • Reply 16 of 23
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,844member
    Beats said:
    So Spielberg has nothing to do with this reboot? WTF is the point of having him on stage front and center?

    Terrible start for Apple TV+.
    Spielberg created the 80s TV version of Amazing Stories so Apple had to pay him to use the name.  They are only using him as a pawn to claim their shows are great, as the article pointed out that none of the other big names mentioned or featured on stage had anything to do with the shows.  All of Apple’s shows sound incredibly boring.  No one is raving about anything on AppleTV+. 
    You're on drugs. Besides starring in it, Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon own the production company that produced the show, but they're "not involved"? Speilberg is the primary post-credits credit as the executive producer but he is "not involved" according to...who? You? 

    You haven't even seen the shows, but you pretend to be qualified to critique them. How odd. Hate on elsewhere, dude.
    edited March 2020 lolliver
  • Reply 17 of 23
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,844member

    gatorguy said:
    gatorguy said:
    I just watched the trailer, Spielberg is listed as executive producer. Was he previously promised as director?
    If you go back to the stage event it was strongly implied that he would be intimately involved but to answer your question I'm not aware of him being announced as the director of any of the distinct episodes.
    If you go back and watch the episode he’s the very first closing credit (full screen and solo, no less) and he’s the executive producer — that’s intimately involved. I don’t know what the complaining is about... To suggest he isn’t involved with his own legacy project because he isn’t directing is absurd and ignores how hollywood works. It’s like suggesting Ridley Scott wasn’t involved with his legacy project Blade Runner 2049 because he only produced and didn’t direct. Producing is being involved. (Sometimes producers are even opening credited after the writer, indicating higher rank.)

    ߤ禺wj;♂️
    This is what the AI article is noting:
    While Steven Spielberg is one of several credited executive producers and the show bears the logo of his company Amblin Television, he is not the showrunner of Amazing Stories" and that's not what some were expecting based on Apple's stage event and the attention they gave Spielberg. Of course it was for the PR as many of us recognize, but you know how some folks read more into and have a different takeaway, probably just as Apple intended, right? That's what good PR does.
    Showrunner is a thing. Director is a thing. And so is executive producer. At the least he's a financier, at the most he's the top guy in charge. Like Jonny Ive, whom plenty of you haters like to blame for all of Apple's design decisions. Spielberg gets a sole credit for executive producer in the post-credits (despite there being several others), where he gets the entire frame to himself -- the biggest credit you can get -- before it switches to the smaller names that share the credit screen with other people. "But it's just PR!" Uh, no. Y'all are grasping at straws here and have literally no idea what you're talking about. Even if he were to only be a financial executive producer (which we don't know), you'd better believe he's not going to attach his name to his legacy without reviewing it to ensure it's not crap. You get to do that when you're paying for it. 

    And I take it you haven't even watched the show. LOL. Like I said, we watched it and thought it was entertaining and exactly what I'd imagine for the franchise. 7.3 on IMDB.

    But have at it, let's pretend this is a new controversy, show your "concern", do some handwringing, blah blah...Some old crap.
    edited March 2020 lolliver
  • Reply 18 of 23
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,844member


    I just watched the trailer, Spielberg is listed as executive producer. Was he previously promised as director?
    Nope.  He is one of many EPs because he created the original show in the 80s. That’s all.  He has no involvement except to appear on stage a year ago to talk about it because Apple paid him a lot of money.  
    Happy to review your evidence of this. What are you offering as proof to back up your pure conjecture? I live in "Hollywood South", many of my friends are involved in big productions on a regular basis. The level of involvement of an executive producer can vary based on what they personally want to do. So how well do you know Spielberg? How closely do you work together and what did he tell you of his level of involvement?

    And again, have you even bothered to watch the show you're whining about not being good? I have. It was good. 7.3 on IMDB so far. The Morning Show is 8.4, which is even better. As reference, Mad Men, which is also very good, is 8.6.

    But please, tell us more about how you don't like any of the shows you haven't watched. Never gets old with you whiners.
    edited March 2020 lolliver
  • Reply 19 of 23
    Mike WuertheleMike Wuerthele Posts: 6,858administrator
    the monk said:
    I agree, starts slow but escalates in the second half. I was pretty happy with the story structure. The time traveling picks off where the movie Somewhere in Time didn't go. 

    The reviews in the 1980s are similar to this review. While this reviewer says this story “is not exactly dazzling,” the 1980s reviewers complained the stories “are not that amazing.” So, the title of the show is once again going to work against them, no matter how good the episodes are.

    It’s not true that review embargo’s necessarily signify a bad sign! The Walking Dead and many shows have embargos. 

    Okay, so no big names are not being attached to the episodes. I’m not going to be snotty. Plenty of first rate television programs with actors and directors not from the movie industry.


    Review embargoes are common. Review embargoes lifting on the first day of availability -- on in this case, four hours after the show appears on Apple TV+ -- are not.
    gatorguy
  • Reply 20 of 23
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member

    gatorguy said:
    gatorguy said:
    I just watched the trailer, Spielberg is listed as executive producer. Was he previously promised as director?
    If you go back to the stage event it was strongly implied that he would be intimately involved but to answer your question I'm not aware of him being announced as the director of any of the distinct episodes.
    If you go back and watch the episode he’s the very first closing credit (full screen and solo, no less) and he’s the executive producer — that’s intimately involved. I don’t know what the complaining is about... To suggest he isn’t involved with his own legacy project because he isn’t directing is absurd and ignores how hollywood works. It’s like suggesting Ridley Scott wasn’t involved with his legacy project Blade Runner 2049 because he only produced and didn’t direct. Producing is being involved. (Sometimes producers are even opening credited after the writer, indicating higher rank.)

    ߤ禺wj;♂️
    This is what the AI article is noting:
    While Steven Spielberg is one of several credited executive producers and the show bears the logo of his company Amblin Television, he is not the showrunner of Amazing Stories" and that's not what some were expecting based on Apple's stage event and the attention they gave Spielberg. Of course it was for the PR as many of us recognize, but you know how some folks read more into and have a different takeaway, probably just as Apple intended, right? That's what good PR does.
    And I take it you haven't even watched the show. LOL. Like I said, we watched it and thought it was entertaining and exactly what I'd imagine for the franchise. 7.3 on IMDB.
    I didn't comment on the shows quality at all so you made a good try at misdirection but that's all it was. And no I haven't watched it which has nothing to do with how involved Spielberg is or how compelling the program. I've decided to let my subscription lapse and pick it up again in a few months to binge-watch. IMO the service is ramping up fairly slow and I won't miss anything by skipping a few months.
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