Animated series featuring a collection of short subjects. Often uses recycled material that was originally intended for an adult, movie-going audience and can result in controversy and censorship (ie: All the Warner Brothers' cartoons from the 1930s to 1950s that were recycled on the various Bugs Bunny shows).
Recent shows that are made for the anthology format can vary the relative lengths of the shorts under their umbrella, and can vary which short series are shown episode to episode. For a more rigid structure, see
Three Shorts, a variant on this format.
Note that modern, packaged AA shows use the conventions and devices of
Sketch Comedy quite liberally. Shows of this type occasionally devote their entire time slot to one single story, or do the entire show with a single theme.
See also:
Animation Tropes.
Examples:
Classic Compilations:
- Tiny Toon Adventures
- Animaniacs
- When production began on the Spin-Off Pinky and the Brain, production was already underway on segments for Animaniacs starring the two lab mice. Those were collected as anthology episodes, along with a few classic segments from previous seasons of Animaniacs. Most of the show proper followed a full-length half-hour format.
- Garfield and Friends
- Freakazoid!! - Did about half its episodes in AA form, and the rest as full-length episodes.
- Histeria - Sketches revolved around the historical lesson du jour.
- House of Mouse does this with a Framing Story. Before that, it was known as Mickey Mouseworks, which was a straight-up anthology.
- Disney previously did Raw Toonage, with the series Marsupilami, Bonkers and Totally Tasteless Videos (the last one, completely random shorts) and a wraparound (which starred guests such as Scrooge McDuck and Sebastian.
- Cartoon Network is in the process of developing a show called "Cartoonistute" created by Craig McCraken and Rob Renzetti that fits this format.
- The Fairly OddParents, ChalkZone, and My Life as a Teenage Robot were all spin-offs of the Nickelodeon anthology program Oh Yeah! Cartoons.
- KaBlam!, better known for its spin-off Action League Now, was an anthology show of animated shows. It had four-to-five recurring sketches each week.
- The Comic Strip, a daily 1987 series featuring four different "series": "Mini Monsters," "Karate Kat," "Street Frogs" and "Tiger Sharks," each on a rotating business. Two were shown per day.
- The Wacky World of Tex Avery
- My Little Pony And Friends aired in this format. First was My Little Pony, and then one of three other shows. My Little Pony was the only segment to get aired every week. The other properties, Glo Friends, Moondreamers, and The Potato Head Kids (yes, really) alternated each week.
- Maxies World a 1989 series that also featured episodes from Beverly Hills Teens and the animated Punky Brewster.
- Super Sunday a 1985 anthology that was best known for introducing the series Western Animation/Jem.
- Several Hanna-Barbera shows were anthologies, starting with Huckleberry Hound. Others included The New Hanna-Barbera Cartoon Series (Lippy & Hardy, Touchè Turtle, and Wally Gator) Magilla Gorilla, Peter Potamus, The Cattanooga Cats, CB Bears, and 1985's The Funtastic World Of Hanna-Barbera (which ran as three separate half-hour shows but were all under the same umbrella title).
- The Schnookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show.
- The Mr. Men Show
