I'm not quite sure what makes anthology series particularly zeitgeist-y right now. After all, TNT already aired their Stephen King anthology series Nightmares and Dreamscapes and ABC, well, dumped their sci-fi series Masters of Science Fiction on Saturday nights during the summer, so why has NBC announced not one, but two anthology series in the last 24 hours? Beats me.

The Peacock has ordered 13 episodes of a horror anthology entitled Fear Itself, which is essentially a version of Showtime's Masters of Horror that has been reworked for network television. The series, from Masters of Horror producers Lionsgate and Industry Entertainment, will air next summer.

As for NBC, it seems that they are looking to less expensive business models in order to justify ordering scripted programming for the warmer months: "It's less expensive than the traditional license fees we pay," said Ben Silverman. "That's allowing us to open up original programming to work across the whole year. There are different ways to get scripted shows on the air all year round.

Like its forebear, which ran for two seasons on cabler Showtime, Fear Itself will feature top-notch horror writers and directors; the series' title was changed to avoid comparisons with the original series and to broaden the audience without limiting the types of stories they could tell.

Likewise, NBC is developing an untitled romantic comedy anthology series from Sex and the City writer Cindy Chupack and executive producer JoAnn Alfano (30 Rock), which each week would feature between one and three stories and an animated segment, joined together via a common theme. Stories would focus on tales of love, with no limitations on the age, race, class, or orientation of the couples.

Is the American public so tired of serialized dramas and appointment television that network anthologies just make sense again? Or would the viewing community rather visit each week to see characters change and grow? I'm not entirely sure. Stay tuned as NBC attempts to find out.

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Jace is an LA-based television development and acquisitions exec who watches way too much television for his own good and would love a TiVo for every room in the house. (He’s halfway there.) His blog, Televisionary, can be found at televisionaryblog.com.

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