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comments The Stand, Stephen King s epic journey of 1,152 pages, has enthralled millions. This is proven in the fact that back in the day millions of commuters enthusiastically carted around paperback versions of this doorstop around with them on public transportation, on walks and on trips. Read it and you ll get it: once you re well inside of the story, it is hard to put it down and walk away.
The same can t be said of subsequent attempts to bring it to screen, first in 1994 on ABC and again in 2020 on CBS All Access. But then, that s a common feature among TV adaptations of King s work. The best are watchable due to outstanding components as opposed to the work as a whole; HBO s The Outsider comes to mind. Similarly I have no qualms with Hulu s recent adaptation of 11.22.63. The lesser of them are . . . disappointing, if not complete jokes, like ABC s Rose Red.
Screenshot: CBS Television Studios
I’ll admit, when I read
The Stand back in high school I didn’t expect to live through it years later. Hell, when I volunteered to review CBS’ adaptation the pandemic hadn’t hit yet. As a result, my review might be a little more intense than I initially planned.
It’s weird to watch a show about a terrifying pandemic, while you’re in a terrifying pandemic, and then the ads pop up and the people in the ads mostly act like things are normal. It’s weird to watch a show that opens with people clearing dead bodies out of a room, and the disposal crew are mostly wearing N-95 masks, but then one dude is just wearing a bandanna, and my whole brain screams: “
Bright Eyes members scored new ‘The Stand’ adaptation
Stephen King epic post-apocalyptic novel
The Stand begins airing today (12/17) on streaming service CBS All Access. The nine-episode limited series stars
James Marsden (Stu Redman),
Whoopi Goldberg (Mother Abagail), and the score was composed by two members of
Bright Eyes:
Mike Mogis and
Nate Walcott. Both have extensive discographies beyond their work with Bright Eyes, and they ve composed a score together before, too, for the 2014 film adaptation of
The Fault in Our Stars.
With a very contagious and deadly pandemic, known as Captain Tripps, as one of its main focuses,
The Stand feels more relevant than ever in 2020, although how this adaptation will rank against the 1994 ABC adaptation starring Gary Sinise, Adam Storke, Molly Ringwald, Rob Lowe, Miguel Ferrer, Laura San Giacomo, Jamey Sheridan, and others remains to be seen. You can watch the trailer below.
Every time a book as popular as
The Stand is adapted for screen, two questions emerge: Will it satisfy the built-in fanbase? And will it also work for viewers who are new to the story? In its very first installment, the CBS All Access iteration of one of King’s most popular books isn’t really succeeding in either endeavor. It’s, of course, far too early to condemn its efforts entirely. And
The Stand’s pilot does check a lot of important boxes of the genre while also putting forth at least one intriguing character arc. But it still feels like too much is missing to make it really stand out as a memorable pilot.