In our world, we take on all the pain, and all the joy, of another, instantly.
Why it is hard sci-fi
The 1995 reboot. The show keeps the anthology format and the rule about a single idea per episode. The reboot leans more heavily on near-future technology, including cloning, neural interfaces, and corporate experimentation. The shows production budget is mid-range and several episodes commit to ideas that the original would have struggled to render. The shows quality is uneven across seasons but the rule survives.
Science inside it
Cloning, neural-interface medicine, lifespan extension, virtual-reality immersion as a punitive measure, and a recurring set of episodes on the legal status of synthetic persons. The shows one consistent strength is in the small-scale procedural episodes where the technology is a single new affordance and the rest of the world is the present.