The Television Anthology Tradition, Explained
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Long before the anthology format became associated with any single genre, early television relied heavily on anthology style programming generally, presenting a new self contained story each week under a consistent umbrella title rather than following the same recurring characters across an entire ongoing season of episodes.
This structure suited television's earliest production realities particularly well, since it allowed different writers, directors and performers to rotate through a single series without requiring the deep continuity that character driven drama would eventually come to depend on so heavily as the medium itself continued to mature over time.
The anthology tradition never fully disappeared, resurfacing periodically whenever creators wanted the freedom to explore a fresh premise without long term commitment. Its persistence across decades suggests a genuine, ongoing appetite among both writers and audiences for stories that can simply begin and end within a single sitting.