The Best TV Shows Written by Stephen King, Ranked

Stephen King is known for churning out bulky books, but paperback isn’t all he is about. The author is a big fan of screen stories and has contributed his talents to this space. Over the years, King has served as a writer on various screen projects. He made his screenwriting debut with George A. Romero’s Creepshow in 1982 before writing the horror anthology film, Cat’s Eye in 1985.

In 1986, King would write and direct Maximum Overdrive, an adaptation of his short story “Trucks,” but it ended up being one of his biggest regrets. The movie performed dismally, earning him a Razzie nomination for Worst Director.

While King swore off directing again, he continued writing scripts. Today, there are several shows, either fully written by him, or featuring an episode written by him. Interestingly, some of the shows aren’t adaptations of his work. You’ll love them all, whether they are King inventions or projects he jumped on. Here are shows with the author’s storytelling input.

9

‘The Shining’ (1997)

The Shining

Release Date

April 27, 1997

Network

ABC

Directors

Mick Garris

Cast

• Steven Weber

  Playhouse Ghost #1

• Wil Horneff

  Stuart Ullman

• Courtland Mead

  Living Room Ghost

Stephen King’s hatred of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining is no secret. His dissatisfaction prompted him to make a TV adaptation of the same book. As is the case with the film, Jack Torrance takes a job at the Overlook Hotel, hoping to make an extra buck, only for supernatural forces to turn him into a deranged killer.

Fighting Kubrick

We’ll say it outright. This version is miles below Kubrick’s film in quality. Still, Steven Weber is as good as Jack Nicholson was in the role of Jack Torrence. In each scene, his facial expressions amplify the murderer’s underlying moral and sensitivity vacuum, making us hate him even more. Behind those icy stares, you glimpse at great shots of walls and furniture. But you’ll wish for more, even after learning that the Emmys nominated it for Best Miniseries.

8

‘Under the Dome’ (2014)

Under the Dome drops us to the fictional small town of Chester’s Mill, where a dome has suddenly covered the area, leaving residents cut off from the rest of the world. The military and the media quickly show up, and as everyone attempts to figure out what’s causing all this, the residents do their best to survive, with the limited resources they have.

Survival for the Cunning

It’s been over a decade since Under the Dome aired, yet it still feels as fresh as ever. Fans of Stephen King’s non-horror shows ought to jump on it, not only because it is well-plotted, but also because it perfectly captures the technical details of survival. These include protecting kids, finding food, befriending like-minded people. King only wrote the Season 2 premiere, which is arguably a good thing, since the story feels richer with the contributions of other writers. For example, the dome on the show stays for months rather than a week, allowing for extensive character development. However, some of the twists hardly make sense.

7

‘Lisey’s Story’ (2021)

Lisey’s Story follows Lisa “Lisey” Landon (Julianne Moore) as she copes with the death of her husband Scott. The famous fiction author left many unpublished manuscripts, yet Lisey isn’t interested in handing them over to anyone. Her actions trigger the ire of a deranged fan, who believes she is selfishly denying the world Scott’s genius. He thus starts stalking her.

King Loves Writing about Authors

Stephen King’s characters often exist in off-kilter scenarios where reality co-habits with absurdity. Here, he mostly eschews decipherable reality for fantasy and the supernatural. And the approach works well. Like Misery, the show is also a salient critique of toxic fandom and the lack of respect for privacy. You’ll love the main title design too, which earned the show a Primetime Creative Arts Emmy nomination.

6

‘Kingdom Hospital’ (2004)

Among Stephen King’s favorite horror movies is Lars von Trier’s The Kingdom. He loved the Danish absurdist supernatural horror film so much that he adapted it into Kingdom Hospital, a show set in a haunted hospital in Maine. The story follows Dr. Hook and other staff as they deal with strange occurrences linked to the hospital’s dark American Civil War past.

A Rare ‘Remake’ Move by King

King described the show as “the thing I like best out of all the things I’ve done” and by watching it, you can see that he enjoyed himself. He keeps most of the movie’s characters and adds a few new and exciting ones. The dialogue the author grants the hospital staff is also superb. King loved the original work so much that he traded its rights with Columbia Pictures in exchange for rights to his novella, Four Past Midnight.

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5

‘Rose Red’ (2002)

Rose Red

Release Date

2002 – 2001

Directors

Craig R. Baxley

The “haunted house” has always been a reliable formula on screen, and Stephen King gladly tapped into it. In Rose Red, university psychology professor, Dr. Joyce Reardon (Nancy Travis) leads a team of investigators to a haunted Seattle mansion known as Rose Red in an attempt to establish a link between science and paranormal phenomena. There, the team awakens the evil spirit possessing the house, and things turn deadly.

Dangerous Territory

Inspired by Shirley Jackson’s 1959 novel The Haunting of Hill House, King’s stark, stunningly written show lays bare all the disadvantages of curiosity. King originally conceived the idea as a movie, but chose to make it a miniseries to fit his detail-oriented writing style. “I’m a putter-in-‘er rather than a take-‘er-outer,” he said, so we got this magic. The author’s fans are also in for a treat since the miniseries contains references to various characters from his other works:

4

‘The Stand’ (1994)

Holy Corona! The Stand is set in a world where the superflu, “Captain Trips,” has wiped out most of humanity. The survivors split into two opposing factions, one led by pacifist Mother Abagail in Nebraska and another led by the sinister Randall Flagg in Las Vegas. With time, a few heroes set out to defeat Flagg.

Crowded But Fun

Nominated for six Emmys, The Stand is a winner. Stark cinematography, never-subsiding tension, and minimal scored music allow for gritty realism in a world that seems far removed from normal events. Characters also hit you from all corners. There are 125 speaking roles, but don’t worry. All of them are interesting.

3

‘The X-Files’ (1993-2018)

Stephen King wrote one episode for The X-Files: Season 5’s “Chinga.” In the monster-of-the-week story, FBI Special Agent Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) heads to Maine for a vacation weekend, only to end up investigating a bizarre case in which a murderous doll has caused several of its victims to inflict wounds on themselves.

Stephen King’s Chucky

With limited dialogue and various long, neatly choreographed shots, “Chinga” offers a serene visual voyage that feels unique even though killer doll stories are nothing new. The cinematographer encourages you to sip in simple moments that you’d usually ignore in other shows while also using the camera to romance the beauty of Maine’s lush parts. The writing isn’t exactly perfect, but average from King is better than much of what you’ll find elsewhere.

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2

Golden Years (1991)

Golden Years

Release Date

1991 – 1990

Directors

Kenneth Fink, Allen Coulter, Michael Gornick, Stephen Tolkin

In Golden Years, janitor Harlan Williams (Keith Szarabajka) is trapped in a routine existence until he starts suspecting that the scientists at the lab where he works might be up to something sinister. Before he can process it, he gets caught up in an explosion and, after surviving, he realizes he is “aging” in reverse. On top of that, he is being hunted by a secret organization known as “The Shop”.

Sci-Fi with a Splash of Horror

Shot on a shoestring compared to King’s other works, Golden Years doesn’t have excellent visuals but is boosted by a gripping story about desperation and relentlessness. There are enough twists to make the conspiracy make sense, while the amazing landscapes and one-liners pump up the level of enjoyment. This is one TV bender that triggers childlike glee, leaving you wondering whether you’ve aged in reverse like Williams.

1

‘Storm of the Century’ (1999)

Storm of the Century

4.5
/5

Release Date

February 14, 1999

Runtime

257 minutes

Director

Craig R. Baxley

Storm of the Century was also born from a fresh Stephen King screenplay rather than a book. In it, a stranger (Colm Feore) arrives and leaves a trail of terror after a massive blizzard traps the residents of Little Tall Island, Maine. He demands that the townspeople “Give me what I want, and I’ll go away.” But what does he really want?

The Storm Isn’t Over

With a budget of $35 million, Storm of the Century looks good. The magnificent, mobile camerawork allows for impossibly fluid shots. And as all that is happening, Stephen King, through his script, does his best to make us comprehend the insincerities of the human condition. Each episode averaged 19 million viewers, making this one of the author’s most successful TV adaptations.

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