Monsters is an American syndicated horror anthology television series which originally ran from October 22, 1988 to April 26, 1991 and reran on the Sci-Fi Channel during the 1990s.
The series grew out of Tales from the Darkside, the previous project by producer Richard P. Rubinstein and his company Laurel Entertainment. Unlike Tales from the Darkside, which sometimes featured science fiction and fantasy stories, Monsters was strictly horror-based. As the name implies, most episodes feature a different monster with which the story was concerned, from the animatronic puppet of a fictional children's television program to mutated, weapon-wielding lab rats.
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Synopsis
In the show's self-referencing title sequence, a suburban family of monsters look for something to watch on television before finally settling on Monsters, their favorite show. Each episode is a standalone tale, and feature a variety of monsters from vicious man-eating plants to friendly aliens from outer space.
Monsters is generally considered a horror anthology, but the show was about monsters, whether in a horror context or not. Producer/creator Richard P. Rubinstein said he wanted the show to be "a mixture of fun and scare", and for the monsters to be creatures of fantasy and fairy tales rather than more realistic menaces such as serial killers.
