Steven Spielberg's 'Amazing Stories' went on air between 1985 and 1986. In all 45 episodes were made. "'Amazing Stories' is not only a forum for entertainment," he explained, "but it's also a way to get people started. Not only new writers and directors, but new film editors, new camera operators, new directors of cinematography." Steven confessed, "I like TV...I've grown up with TV...TV is not this vast desert some people say it is...TV is a wonderful format for creative expression...TV is a wonderful training ground for people who want to be storytellers. It's a wonderful learning tool."
"Television," Steven maintained, "is known as a producer's medium. Directors normally act as traffic cops because of the time constraints in producing series. But since we've had so much lead time, the director has been in charge, even in some areas of casting." However he stressed, "The directors are in charge as long as they don’t go over budget." The reason for the lead time was because "when I produced 'Duel' for ABC in 1971, I became a nervous wreck when doing last-minute editing. I literally was on roller skates going from one editing room to another right before air time."
Of 'Amazing Stories', Steven emphasized, "...We're not breaking any new ground since the anthology series goes back to the early days of television. We're simply updating the style and refining it a bit...The shows really vary, and you really have to sample 2 or 3 to see how they compare to earlier anthologies...We’re going to tell stories. It's that simple. The format will change each week. The stories will be scary, serious, silly, family-oriented and avant-garde...I wanted the shows to have humor. I wanted them to be very suspenseful. I wanted some to be scary. I wanted some to be frivolous in their wit and imagination and kind of off-the-wall, and yet I didn't want all of these adjectives to apply to just one show...I contributed 16 of the story ideas (in the first season). The remaining 8...I simply asked talented friends to use their imaginations."
Up against 'Murder, She Wrote' and 'MacGyver', 'Amazing Stories' finished the 35th most popular program on television in the first season attracting an average 23% share of the audience. "We never expected 'Murder, She Wrote' to be so strong," Brandon Tartikoff acknowledged. "I guess we've seen how tough it is for an anthology series to get traction." It was noted 'Amazing Stories' debut without fanfare. Steven reasoned, "I would like the series to hold on for a while, rather than start off wow, wow, wow. I'd like the wow factor to grow, the way word of mouth affects the movie box office. I hope you'll tune back in despite the 'what-was-that?' week." On reflection, Brandon begged to differ, "If I could do it all over, I would have taken the first 5 or 6 episodes and trotted them out on the press tour and gotten off on a better foot with the people who write about television." Producer David Vogel recounted, "(The first season) many of the stories depended on a balance between story and visual gimmickry...In a theater, you can create magic. On television, when sight and sound are limited, the visual leaps of faith are limited. (In the last season), we'll concentrate more strongly on character."
In its last season, 'Amazing Stories' went up against baseball and 'Scarecrow and Mrs. King'. From the outset, Brandon made known, "We'll lose some men to baseball, but we'll get kids and women 18 to 49. 'Scarecrow' doesn't compete for a young audience. It gets rural women 35 plus – in television parlance, 'old women'. If the winds blow right, 'Amazing Stories' should be in the Top 30 over the summer." It didn't. 'Amazing Stories' finished the season ranked 62 out of the 104 programs shown on network television. But all was not lost, "We're in the business of giving audiences to advertisers. They come to us asking for women 18 to 49 and adults 25 to 54. Among women 18 to 49, 'Amazing Stories' was 13th and 'Murder, She Wrote' was 21st. Among adults 25 to 54, 'Amazing Stories' was 7th and 'Murder, She Wrote' was 10th."
