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 (e.g., 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: Anthology Film, Animation Tropes.
Examples:
Classic Compilations:
- The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show
- Tom and Jerry
- Casper the Friendly Ghost
- Most of the early Cartoon Network lineup, as in the early days it was essentially MTV for short cartoons.
- The Bob Clampett Show
- The Tex Avery Show
- The Chuck Jones Show
- Toon Heads
- Popeye. In previous decades, anthologies of Popeye cartoons would have unique live-action hosts with different gimmicks
- From 1983 to 1997, the Disney Channel had a few shows in this format for showcasing its theatrical shorts from the 1920s to the '50s, such as Donald Duck Presents.
- After the channel was split into three separate blocks in 1997, Disney created an early morning cartoon anthology series called The Ink and Paint Club
that focused on a different subject matter each episode. It was discontinued in 2002, after Disney decided to stop airing their "classic" programming on the network.
- After the channel was split into three separate blocks in 1997, Disney created an early morning cartoon anthology series called The Ink and Paint Club
- Rolfs Cartoon Time
- Stay Tooned
- Woody Woodpecker Show
- The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show
- The Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show
- The Mouse Factory: A 1970s syndicated series where classic Disney cartoons were shown, with each show hosted by a different guest star and costumed versions of Disney characters.
- The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends: A British animated series from the early 90's which usually has two stories combined into one episode based on the stories by Beatrix Potter.
- Totally Tooned In
Newer Sketch Show Style:
- Tiny Toon Adventures
- Animaniacs
- When production began on the Spin-Off Pinky and the Brain, production was already under way 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
- The Busy World of Richard Scarry - The show was known for having two episodes taking place in Busytown sandwiching an episode that takes place in a certain part of the world.
- 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 Device. Before that, it was known as Mickey Mouse Works, 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 had a show called "Cartoonistute", created by Craig McCracken and Rob Renzetti, that fit this format. Two were greenlit into their own series: Regular Show and Uncle Grandpa. The latter initially came out as the spinoff Secret Mountain Fort Awesome before becoming its own series.
- And CN previously did What A Cartoon! Show, with some of the showcased shorts later becoming "Cartoon Cartoons". Dexter's Laboratory, Cow and Chicken, The Powerpuff Girls Courage the Cowardly Dog, Johnny Bravo Sheep in the Big City, Mike, Lu & Og, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, Codename: Kids Next Door, and Whatever Happened to... Robot Jones? were all born from it. The short Larry & Steve became Fox's Family Guy. Non-Cartoon Cartoon (but still CN series) Megas XLR also came out from it.
- The Fairly OddParents!, ChalkZone, and My Life as a Teenage Robot were all spin-offs of the Nickelodeon anthology program Oh Yeah! Cartoons.
- Nickelodeon later did "Random! Cartoons", which gave us Fanboy and Chum Chum, Bravest Warriors (which became a web series instead), and, most famously, Adventure Time (which aired on Cartoon Network instead).
- Disney Channel did one that called "Shorty McShorts' Shorts". Nothing came out of it except the short-lived SheZow (which didn't air on Disney Channel at all!).
- 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 'n 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.
- Maxie's World, a 1989 series that also featured episodes from Beverly Hills Teens and the animated Punky Brewster.
- Saturday Supercade
- Super Sunday was a 1985 anthology that was best known for introducing the series Jem.
- Several Hanna-Barbera shows were anthologies, starting with The Huckleberry Hound Show. Others included The New Hanna-Barbera Cartoon Series (Lippy the Lion and Hardy Har Har, Touchè Turtle, and Wally Gator), Magilla Gorilla, Peter Potamus, The Cattanooga Cats, CB Bears, Space Stars, The Kwicky Koala Show 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 Shnookums & Meat Funny Cartoon Show.
- The Mr. Men Show
- Anime example: Mankatsu, an hour-long series comprised of several segments, all based on the various works of Monkey Punch.
- Curbside - An unsuccessful pilot revolving around shorts starring Terrytoons characters, the framing device consisting of a talk show hosted by Heckle and Jeckle.
- Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids.
