The color, settings and lavish social detail are mainly what distinguishes this enterprise—an adventure well worth an hour’s viewing, though its resolution is a bit cryptic, as sagas that belong to a category called “Amazing Stories” are wont to be.

The first episode of Amazing Stories, which is all that Apple made available, is OK, but doesn't merit its A-list adjective.

That's about the best compliment one can offer about this episode: it's nice. The stakes are pretty low and it's easy enough to guess the outcome, twists and all, because you've probably seen some version of this sort of show before, and not necessarily with softly lit, tender sex scenes with a Scotsman.

Nice, also determinedly dull.

You’re waiting and waiting for some Black Mirror whiplash twist that never comes. Instead, all that you’re given is the sort of dopey, tapioca time-travel romance we’ve all seen before. ... The show doesn’t know what it wants to be yet—or even get who it’s supposed to be for.

The fact that Apple and Amblin decided to launch the series with this slice of bland, middlebrow mediocrity hardly augurs well. In an oversaturated market, Apple TV+ has hardly set the entertainment world alight. It will need to do much better than such featherlight, forgettable fare if it’s going to give Netflix any sleepless nights.

At the end of the day, it’s tricky to judge an entire anthology series based on a single episode, especially when the trailers hinted at more effects-heavy (and hopefully, more “amazing”) stories to come soon. But as it stands, Amazing Stories is not a good enough reason to subscribe to yet another streaming service. Where the original 80s show was bold and boundary-pushing, the first episode of the reboot feels like a safe story that pales in comparison to similar tales of romance that transcend time.