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Stephen King on the Small Screen

 

In this follow up to Stephen King on the Big Screen, Mark Browning turns his critical eye to the much-neglected subject of the best-selling author’s work in television, examining what it is about King’s fiction that makes it particularly suitable for the small screen.

By focusing on this body of work, from the highly successful The Stand and The Night Flier to the lesser-known TV films Storm of the Century, Rose Red, Kingdom Hospital, and the 2004 remake of Salem’s Lot, Browning is able to articulate how these adaptations work and, in turn, suggest new ways of viewing them. This book is the first written by a film specialist to consider King’s television work in its own right, and it rejects previous attempts to make the films and books fit rigid thematic categories. Browning examines what makes a written or visual text successful at evoking fear on a case-by-case basis, in a highly readable and engaging way. He also considers the relationship between the big and small screen. Why, for instance, are some TV versions more effective than movie adaptations and vice versa? In the process, Stephen King on the Small Screen is able to shed new light on what it is that makes King’s novels so successful and reveal the elements of style and approach that have helped make King one of the world’s best-selling authors.


190 pages | 7 x 9 | © 2011

Culture Studies

Film Studies

Media Studies


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Reviews

"This is an utterly fascinating study of a literary icon and his treatment on TV. Superb, finely detailed, and well-written. A must-read for any King fan, and it compliments Stephen King on the Big Screen by the same author. Outstanding."—Booksmonthly

Booksmonthly

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1: Vampires
    It
    Salem’s Lot
    A Return to Salem’s Lot
    The Night Flier

Chapter 2: Stalk and Slash?
    Children of the Corn (1984)
    Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice
    Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest
    Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering
    Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror
    Children of the Corn VI: Isaac’s Return 
    Children of the Corn 7: Revelation
    Children of the Corn (2009)

Chapter 3: Monsters vs Aliens
    The Tommyknockers
    Needful Things
    The Langoliers
    The Mist

Chapter 4: Sometimes They Come Back
    Sometimes They Come Back
    Sometimes They Come Back... Again
    Sometimes They Come Back... For More
    Ghosts
    Rose Red
    Kingdom Hospital
    Riding the Bullet
Chapter 5: Apocalypse Now
    The Stand
    Storm of the Century
    Desperation

Chapter 6: Tales of the Unexpected
    Quicksilver Highway
    Nightmares & Dreamscapes
    Battleground
    Crouch End
    Umney’s Last Case
    The End of the Whole Mess
    The Road Virus Heads North
    The Fifth Quarter
    Autopsy Room Four
    They’ve Got One Hell of a Band
    Golden Years
    Thinner
    
’Chinga’ (episode of The X Files)

Conclusion
References

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