According to Comic Book Resources, AppleTV+’s reboot of the 1980s Spielberg anthology series Amazing Stories (licensed to NBC by TSR Inc., currently licensed to NBC by Experimenter Publishing/me, with Apple signing a production deal), Amazing Stories: The Reboot (which did/did not have Spielberg’s involvement) is making something of a comeback on the AppleTV+ streaming service:
Per FlixPatrol, Amazing Stories is the No. 3 most-watched show on the Apple TV Store in the United States. The show, released in 2020, is a reboot of Steven Spielberg’s 1985 show of the same name. The title comes from Hugo Gernsback’s sci-fi magazine launched in 1926, the first devoted solely to the genre. Gernsback is commonly referred to as the “father of science fiction.”
When asked how that translates into actual viewers, Gemini responded
“An exact number of viewers cannot be calculated because Apple does not publicly release raw viewership data or specific transaction numbers for the charts in the Apple TV Store or Apple TV+ app. However, industry data from sources like Nielsen and FlixPatrol provide a clear understanding of what a “No. 3 most-watched show” means in terms of relative audience size and tracking metrics.
1. It Reflects a Point-Based Popularity RankingThe Apple TV Store’s “Top Charts” operate on a weighted system rather than a live tracker of individual human beings.The Metric: Rankings are compiled daily using a mix of active user engagement, recent purchase or rental velocity, and streaming interactions (such as search intent and watchlist additions) over a rolling window.
The Value: Third-party aggregators track these positions by assigning points based on chart performance (e.g., 10 points for No. 1, 8 points for No. 3). For example, global tracking data from FlixPatrol shows that a top-three show on Apple TV typically pulls in 600 to 900 daily tracking points across its regional chart cycles.2. Estimated Audience Size in the United StatesWhile Apple’s overall domestic subscriber base sits at roughly 45 to 48 million U.S. viewers, the actual audience for a single hit show is a fraction of that. Based on historical data leaked or verified through third-party metrics: The Baseline: A premiere or highly ranked episode of an Apple TV top-three hit generally translates to 1 million to 3.5 million unique U.S. viewers over its first 31 days.
The “Minutes Viewed” Equivalent: When an Apple show performs well enough to break into the broader Nielsen Top 10 Streaming Charts, a top-three ranking on Apple’s native platform correlates to roughly 350 million to 600 million minutes viewed weekly nationwide.3. Knowing the Difference: Apple TV Store vs. Apple TV+The phrase “Apple TV Store” can refer to two slightly different charts within Apple’s ecosystem, which alters the underlying volume:Apple TV+ Originals: If the chart is for Apple’s premium streaming subscription (featuring hits like Severance or Pluribus), No. 3 indicates elite platform performance, representing a massive portion of Apple’s active weekly subscribers. The iTunes/VOD Store: If the chart is for third-party digital purchases and rentals, No. 3 means the show has experienced a sudden, heavy spike in individual transaction volume (buy/rent clicks) within the last 24 to 48 hours.
So, nice, but nothing really earth-shattering.
What’s going on?
Gemini suggests that it might be TikTok showing “tear-jerker” clips or (and I think this more likely) “accidental traffic” owing to searchers for for “Gordon Ramsay’s Amazing Stories“.
What a world, huh?
Regardless of why, I do believe the question still remains: was the original show and the reboot every really Science Fiction? Fable, yes. Fantasy, certainly. Allegory? Parable? Myth? Stories told around the campfire? Yes, all of them. But Science Fiction? Hardly ever.
Ghosts? Not SF
Time Travel? When not handled like “By His Bootstraps” – not SF (just a convenient trope to move characters from one place to another)
Ghost trains? Horror, maybe. Not SF
Artists having the power to draw technology that becomes real? Not SF – unless mediated through a device such as the Krell’s “civilization without instrumentality” machine (which is itself basically a computer, an analog to digital signal converter and very, very advanced 3D printers).
Rather than scattershot, lets do the entire first season of the original show:
1. A “Ghost Train” shows up 75 years after a character caused it to derail. NOT SF
2. A Meteor makes a person “magnetic”: NOT SF
3. A courier riding from the Alamo in 1836 appears before 1985 tourists at the Alamo. NOT SF
4. Baby Frankenstein’s monster wants a glass of water. NOT SF
5. Animator materializes landing gear for a bomber in WWII. NOT SF
6. A nightclub magician with psychic powers…NOT SF
7. Science Fair students build a SETI receiver (could be SF). Discover aliens beaming to Earth. NOT SF
8. An illusionist has a pack of magic cards and…NOT SF
9. Emotions go on a cruise vacation. NOT SF
10. A new TV set allows the user to bring fictional characters into the real world. NOT SF.
11. Santa Clause gets arrested. NOT SF
12. Paintings become real through emotion. NOT SF
13. A Babysitter uses voodoo…NOT SF
14. A soldier performs miracles…NOT SF
15. A drunk cheats death…NOT SF
16. An ancient tree troll….NOT SF
17. Porn stars move into a haunted house. NOT SF
18. A recovering coma patient has ESP. NOT SF
19. A horror novelist is haunted by supernatural visions. NOT SF
20. A woman believes she is secretly being filmed for an unknown audience. NOT SF
21. A Toupee drives its wearer to murder. NOT SF
22. A custom doll causes the purchaser to search for the woman it is modeled on*. NOT SF
23. A college janitor discovers he can absorb knowledge from the classrooms he cleans. NOT SF
24. A grandfather dies, but hangs around as a ghost. NOT SF
Now I get that my synopsis are jaundiced and negatively couched, but that doesn’t change the plots, none of which are based on actual scientific knowledge nor plausible extrapolation thereof. Some of them are good entertaining “stories”, but only a mere handful come anywhere close to SF themes or concepts, while the vast majority promote things about as far from science as you can get…ghosts, gnomes, ESP, voodoo, while many of them COULD be the premise for an SF story, IF their backgrounds were modified by, at the very least, handwavium. For one example; the toupee could have an advanced computer interface built into it.
(*Note this was a REJECTED by the Twilight Zone, Richard Matheson teleplay.)
This is why I think that the sudden uptick in sales and rentals of the 2020 reboot is likely the result of looking for an opportunity to watch Gordon Ramsey castigate and humiliate morons.
And that isn’t science fiction either.
Steve Davidson is the publisher of Amazing Stories.
Steve has been a passionate fan of science fiction since the mid-60s, before he even knew what it was called.
