Here’s an idea I wish some television producer would run with.

In this golden age of television I would love to see a new kind of variety show based on well-loved or undiscovered short stories. I imagine a show that would take cues from the old Twilight Zone presenting short episodes sometimes narrated directly, sometimes simply acted. An episode of the show might include more than one story around a theme, somewhat like This American Life.

The stories would be kept as absolutely close to the original writing as possible, eschewing embellishment in favor of preserving the author’s voice. The stories could be acted by a rotating cast of high and low-profile actors and potentially directed by similarly varied directors.

This concept could be particularly interesting for non-traditional networks like Netflix. The short form (especially of individual stories) would be easily shared and the ideas infectiously viral.

I would call the show Anthology and Stephen O'Regan has already produced a pilot based on Terry Bison’s short story They're Made of Meat.

Read on for the video.