# Amazing Stories (2020 TV series)
**Amazing Stories** is an American anthology television series that premiered on Apple TV+ on March 6, 2020, reimagining the 1985–1987 NBC anthology series created by [Steven Spielberg](https://www.edgepedia.org/steven-spielberg). Each episode is a self-contained tale of fantasy, science fiction, or wonder, produced by [Universal Television](https://www.edgepedia.org/universal-television) and Amblin Television and executive produced by Spielberg alongside showrunners Eddy Kitsis and Adam Horowitz.[1](https://www.apple.com/tv-pr/originals/amazing-stories//) • [2](https://amblin.com/tv/amazing-stories-2/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Premiere | Friday, March 6, 2020, exclusively on Apple TV+[3](https://www.apple.com/tv-pr/news/2020/01/apple-announces-premiere-date-for-steven-spielbergs-amazing-stories-and-unveils-first-look-image/) |
| Season 1 | 5 episodes, roughly 51 minutes each, released weekly through April 3, 2020[2](https://amblin.com/tv/amazing-stories-2/) • [4](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/amazing-stories-2020) |
| Showrunners | Eddy Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, known for *Lost* and *Once Upon a Time*[3](https://www.apple.com/tv-pr/news/2020/01/apple-announces-premiere-date-for-steven-spielbergs-amazing-stories-and-unveils-first-look-image/) |
| Episode directors | Chris Long, Mark Mylod, Michael Dinner, Susanna Fogel, and Sylvain White[2](https://amblin.com/tv/amazing-stories-2/) |
| Production | Universal Television and Amblin Television; executive producers Spielberg, Darryl Frank, Justin Falvey, Kitsis, Horowitz, Chris Long, Don Kurt, and David H. Goodman[1](https://www.apple.com/tv-pr/originals/amazing-stories//) |
| Reception | 41% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer (34 reviews); Metascore 51 on Metacritic[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/amazing_stories) • [6](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/amazing-stories-2020/) |
| Status | Ended after one season[7](https://www.tvmaze.com/shows/28723/amazing-stories) |
## Spoilers
### Episodes
The five-episode first season aired weekly on Fridays:[2](https://amblin.com/tv/amazing-stories-2/)
1. **The Cellar** (March 6, 2020). Sam, while helping to fix up an aged Iowa farmhouse, finds a time portal in its storm cellar and is carried back to the year 1919.
2. **The Heat** (March 6, 2020). Best friends Tuka and Sterling share a bond that transcends the physical world as they follow their dreams after tragedy strikes.
3. **Dynoman and the Volt** (March 20, 2020). An awkward young boy and his grandfather gain superpowers from a novelty ring ordered from a comic book 60 years earlier.
4. **Signs of Life** (March 27, 2020). A mother awakens from a six-year coma without memories, and her teenage daughter Alia struggles to reconnect with her.
5. **The Rift** (April 3, 2020). A World War II pilot crashes in modern-day Ohio, and a young widow and her stepson are swept into his search for home.
The cast included [Dylan O'Brien](https://www.edgepedia.org/dylan-obrien), Victoria Pedretti, Josh Holloway, Sasha Alexander, Kerry Lynne Bishé, Edward Burns, and [Robert Forster](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-forster), whose appearance was his final role before his death in October 2019.[3](https://www.apple.com/tv-pr/news/2020/01/apple-announces-premiere-date-for-steven-spielbergs-amazing-stories-and-unveils-first-look-image/)
## Development
The revival traces to 2015, when [NBCUniversal](https://www.edgepedia.org/nbcuniversal) began developing a reboot of the series Spielberg created for NBC, which ran two seasons from 1985 to 1987 and totaled 45 episodes.[8](https://amazingstories.com/2020/03/amazing-stories-amazing-stories-tv-show-timeline/) • [9](https://amblin.com/steven-spielberg/) [Bryan Fuller](https://www.edgepedia.org/bryan-fuller) was attached as showrunner from October 2015, while the project shifted from NBC to Apple in 2017. Fuller exited over creative differences in February 2018; reporting at the time said he had wanted a darker, *Black Mirror*-style show while Apple aimed for something more family friendly.[10](https://www.thewrap.com/amazing-stories-premiere-victoria-pedretti-the-cellar-apple-tv-plus-reboot-eddy-kitsis-adam-horowitz-steven-spielberg/) • [11](https://www.macrumors.com/2018/05/22/apple-amazing-stories-executive-producers/)
**New showrunners.** In May 2018, Kitsis and Horowitz, known as writers on *Lost* and creators of *Once Upon a Time*, signed on as executive producers and showrunners, starting from scratch without reading Fuller's work.[12](https://www.screendaily.com/news/edward-kitsis-adam-horowitz-join-amazing-stories-as-eps/5129591.article) • [10](https://www.thewrap.com/amazing-stories-premiere-victoria-pedretti-the-cellar-apple-tv-plus-reboot-eddy-kitsis-adam-horowitz-steven-spielberg/) Apple had ordered 10 episodes at that point.[11](https://www.macrumors.com/2018/05/22/apple-amazing-stories-executive-producers/) The showrunners said they had direct access to Spielberg throughout production: "Every story, every cut, we got to go to Steven with everything," Kitsis told TheWrap.[10](https://www.thewrap.com/amazing-stories-premiere-victoria-pedretti-the-cellar-apple-tv-plus-reboot-eddy-kitsis-adam-horowitz-steven-spielberg/) Apple announced the premiere date and first-look image at the Television Critics Association winter press tour on January 19, 2020.[3](https://www.apple.com/tv-pr/news/2020/01/apple-announces-premiere-date-for-steven-spielbergs-amazing-stories-and-unveils-first-look-image/)
## Reception
Apple released only the premiere episode to critics in advance, with an embargo that lifted the morning of the March 6 debut.[13](https://www.theringer.com/2020/03/09/tv/amazing-stories-steven-spielberg-apple-tv-plus-episodic-anthology) Reviews were mixed. The season scored 41% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer from 34 reviews, with a critics consensus that the show "feels more like a dated retread than a heartfelt reboot," and 52% on the audience Popcornmeter.[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/amazing_stories) On Metacritic it received a Metascore of 51, "mixed or average," based on 14 critic reviews, with 13 of 14 rated mixed and one positive; the user score was 4.8 out of 10.[6](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/amazing-stories-2020/)
Critics repeatedly compared the show's tone to the 1980s original. [The Wall Street Journal](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-wall-street-journal)'s Dorothy Rabinowitz praised its "color, settings and lavish social detail" (80), while CNN's Brian Lowry called the premiere "OK, but doesn't merit its A-list adjective" (60).[14](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/amazing-stories-2020/critic-reviews/) Collider's review argued the first episode "feels like a safe story" compared with the bolder original (40).[14](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/amazing-stories-2020/critic-reviews/) A Guardian piece published the following week used the show as a case study in a broader argument that episodic television anthologies had grown increasingly inessential.[15](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/mar/12/lame-lazy-lifeless-have-tv-anthologies-lost-their-way)
## Context in the anthology format
The series arrived amid a wave of anthology revivals, including reboots of *The Twilight Zone*, and commentators framed it against *Black Mirror*, the leading 21st-century episodic anthology.[15](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/mar/12/lame-lazy-lifeless-have-tv-anthologies-lost-their-way) The Ringer's Alison Herman argued the show was further evidence that the per-episode anthology format is poorly suited to television, noting that Spielberg's involvement was largely behind the camera, with the revival's opening sequence borrowing the retro graphics and [John Williams](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-williams) theme music of the original.[13](https://www.theringer.com/2020/03/09/tv/amazing-stories-steven-spielberg-apple-tv-plus-episodic-anthology) The show was not renewed, ending after its single five-episode season.[7](https://www.tvmaze.com/shows/28723/amazing-stories)
## References
1. [Amazing Stories, Apple TV Press](https://www.apple.com/tv-pr/originals/amazing-stories//)
2. [Amazing Stories (2020), About the New Series, Amblin](https://amblin.com/tv/amazing-stories-2/)
3. [Apple announces premiere date for Steven Spielberg's "Amazing Stories," Apple TV Press, January 19, 2020](https://www.apple.com/tv-pr/news/2020/01/apple-announces-premiere-date-for-steven-spielbergs-amazing-stories-and-unveils-first-look-image/)
4. [Amazing Stories (2020), JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/amazing-stories-2020)
5. [Amazing Stories, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/amazing_stories)
6. [Amazing Stories (2020) Reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/amazing-stories-2020/)
7. [Amazing Stories, TVmaze](https://www.tvmaze.com/shows/28723/amazing-stories)
8. [Amazing Stories & Amazing Stories TV Show Timeline, AmazingStories.com](https://amazingstories.com/2020/03/amazing-stories-amazing-stories-tv-show-timeline/)
9. [Steven Spielberg, Amblin](https://amblin.com/steven-spielberg/)
10. [Apple's 'Amazing Stories' Bosses on Why They Needed Victoria Pedretti to Open Their Reboot, TheWrap](https://www.thewrap.com/amazing-stories-premiere-victoria-pedretti-the-cellar-apple-tv-plus-reboot-eddy-kitsis-adam-horowitz-steven-spielberg/)
11. ['Once Upon a Time' Co-Creators to Work on Apple's 'Amazing Stories' Reboot, MacRumors](https://www.macrumors.com/2018/05/22/apple-amazing-stories-executive-producers/)
12. [Edward Kitsis, Adam Horowitz join 'Amazing Stories' as EPs, Screen Daily](https://www.screendaily.com/news/edward-kitsis-adam-horowitz-join-amazing-stories-as-eps/5129591.article)
13. [The Problem With the Episodic Anthology, The Ringer](https://www.theringer.com/2020/03/09/tv/amazing-stories-steven-spielberg-apple-tv-plus-episodic-anthology)
14. [Amazing Stories (2020) critic reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/amazing-stories-2020/critic-reviews/)
15. [Lame, lazy, lifeless: have TV anthologies lost their way?, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/mar/12/lame-lazy-lifeless-have-tv-anthologies-lost-their-way)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Scripted television and comedy series › Adapted and franchise screen series › Reboots, revivals, and spin-off series*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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