Amazing Stories: The Cellar

March 8, 2020 7:32 AM - Season 1, Episode 1

While restoring an old Iowa farmhouse, Sam discovers a time portal in the storm cellar that transports him to 1919.

The show is streaming now on Apple TV+, with new episodes released every Friday. The first season will consist of 10 episodes.

posted by KTamas (10 comments total)

This is the mid-1980s TV series created by Steven Spielberg, right?
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 2:53 PM on March 8, 2020

Well, it's a reboot of it, but yes.
posted by KTamas at 5:56 AM on March 9, 2020

I think I basically agree with the AV Club review of this: "...it feels oddly out of time, like it’s attempting to pick up where it left off without any acknowledgment that 30-plus years have elapsed, let alone ways TV storytelling has evolved in the interim." It did teach me the word "derecho" but besides that it seemed exceedingly by-the-numbers and more like something I'd expect from the Hallmark channel than an ostensibly "prestige TV" outlet.
posted by whir at 8:24 AM on March 9, 2020 [1 favorite]

"...it feels oddly out of time, like it’s attempting to pick up where it left off without any acknowledgment that 30-plus years have elapsed, let alone ways TV storytelling has evolved in the interim."

I remember thinking that about it in the 80s.
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 12:49 PM on March 9, 2020

Yes, this episode would have been hackish in the 80s, now it just seems sad, like maybe they got a frustrated advertisement director.
posted by Marticus at 8:00 PM on March 9, 2020

I remember thinking that about it in the 80s.

IIRC that was the principle behind it though, wasn't it? Itself a reboot of theater serials?
posted by rhizome at 10:08 PM on March 10, 2020

On the one hand, they're still probably (maybe) interesting stories to modern kids just like the 80's reboot was interesting to me as a kid, but as an adult with 30 years additional TV experience and stories under my belt.. Yeah, I found it hard to get interested.

That said, I'm sort of fuzzy on anthologies anyway? Inside No 9, Black Mirror, Electric Dreams, there's always like one or two episodes a season that is particularly interesting, with the balance being too thin for an hour long show.
posted by Kyol at 9:12 AM on March 12, 2020

I remember looking forward to the original series pilot. Spielberg and SF, should be fantastic, right?

Hour-long episode. Old-timer talking about a ghost train set to arrive. No, there's no train coming, say skeptics, especially not a ghost train. Oh but there is, says the old-timer. They banter about this for the next 55 minutes and then by gosh the ghost train arrives and that's it.

I should have spent that hour doing homework.
posted by kurumi at 2:17 PM on March 13, 2020 [2 favorites]

The next two were more entertaining, at least? Still fairly well worn stories, but told with a bit more heart than the first episode was.
posted by Kyol at 11:17 AM on March 23, 2020

If the first one put you off following up, anyway. It's a bad time for the spring TV drought, is what I'm saying.
posted by Kyol at 11:20 AM on March 23, 2020