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Skeleton in the Closet

'Bag of Bones' joins long list of Stephen King TV adaptations

"Bag of Bones," a new two-part miniseries set to air on A&E this Sunday (Dec. 11) and Monday (Dec. 12), is the latest adaptation of a Stephen King novel or story to make it to television. The miniseries is based on King's 1998 novel, widely regarded as one of his better works from that period, in which writer Mike Noonan (played by Pierce Brosnan), still grieving for his wife four years after her death, encounters supernatural occurrences around his lake house and dark secrets in the nearby town.

We have yet to see the film but remember "Bag of Bones" as a solid King effort, filled with his trademarks (a writer as the main character, a small town with big nasty secrets, some outsized ghostly manifestations at the end) yet also making use of more literary allusions than he had in the past. The film is directed by Mick Garris, who has pretty much made a career of adapting King for screens big and small with films like "Sleepwalkers" and "Riding the Bullet," and miniseries such as "The Stand," "The Shining" and "Desperation."

While plenty of movies have been made from King's books, he's been a frequent favorite of TV networks and producers as well: there have been around a dozen major King-based productions on television, some of them based on his published work and others created originally for TV. There has also been a heap of short stories adapted for shows like "The Twilight Zone" and "Monsters" which we won't get into here. But as you prepare to sit down for "Bag of Bones" (and as diehard King fans, we'll be doing just that), here's an overview of the man's long dance macabre with the small screen:

"Salem's Lot" (1979 and 2004): King's introduction to TV was based on one of his earliest and best novels, and became one of his earliest and best adaptations. Directed by Tobe Hooper ("The Texas Chain Saw Massacre"), the 1979 version of King's vampire epic is a bit dated-looking now but still packs a surprisingly creepy punch and boasts a terrific cast (David Soul, James Mason and Ed Flanders among them). Fans of the book were disappointed in the many changes to King's text, especially the portrayal of king vampire Barlow as a Nosferatu knockoff, but the two-part CBS production's reputation has grown over the years.

The 2004 version (which aired on TNT) raised eyebrows upon its initial release, yet also holds up quite well on its own terms. Although some seemingly pointless changes are made to the main character Ben Mears (a very good Rob Lowe), this version is actually more faithful in many ways to the book, restoring greater importance to the character of Father Callahan (James Cromwell) and casting the excellent Rutger Hauer as a Barlow much closer to King's.

"It" (1990): King's mammoth, time-shifting novel (more than 1,100 pages) about an ancient entity lurking in the sewers of a small Maine town and preying on the fears of its victims got a two-part treatment from ABC in which the two parallel timelines -- one set in 1960 and the other in 1990 -- were each featured on a different night. In both, a gang of friends known as the Losers' Club must defeat It, personified as a frightening clown called Pennywise, Tim Curry's performance as the latter is the undisputed highlight of "It," and his presence permeates the show with an air of dread that the climatic vision of It's true form -- more or less a giant spider -- can't match.

"Sometimes They Come Back" (1991): A TV movie based on a story from King's classic "Night Shift" collection, "Sometimes" stars Tim Matheson as a high school teacher haunted by the spirits of some thugs from his teen years. A fair short story is expanded into a less memorable 90-minute film, which inexplicably led to two sequels -- proving that they do indeed come back.

"Golden Years" (1991): This seven-part original miniseries from King (the eighth episode never aired, leading producers to change the cliffhanger ending in later video releases) stars Keith Szarabajka as an elderly janitor who begins aging backward ("Benjamin Button," anyone?) after being exposed to a secret government experiment. Szarabajka has to be one of the most uncharismatic leading men of all time, and the entire show was deadly dull: We felt like we were counting off the years as we watched.

"The Tommyknockers" (1993): One of King's most unfocused novels (he admitted in later years to being high on cocaine while writing it) doesn't fare much better in this two-part ABC adaptation. A crashed alien ship unearthed in the wood near the town of Haven, Maine, begins to come to life, causing malevolent changes in the townspeople. Numerous liberties were taken with King's book, which was quite bizarre to begin with, and many of the more allegorical aspects of his tale were jettisoned in the TV version, leaving this as a rather low-rent alien-invasion tale.

"The Stand" (1994): ABC doubled down with King for this four-part, eight-hour (six without commercials) adaptation of his beloved post-apocalyptic epic. Boasting a teleplay by King himself and marking his first collaboration with Garris, "The Stand" can't overcome some of its TV restrictions (sitcom stars in supporting roles, chintzy visual effects) but has a lot of heart and some truly great moments. The cast is mixed (Gary Sinise, Ruby Dee, Rob Lowe, Miguel Ferrer and Ray Walston are great; Molly Ringwald and Jamey Sheridan fail in key roles as Frannie Goldsmith and the embodiment of evil Randall Flagg), but large sections of "The Stand" still hold up.

"The Langoliers" (1995): Something of a disappointment after "The Stand," this two-part version of King's suspenseful novella also had the dubious challenge of visualizing interdimensional Pac-men who chew up time after we've left it behind. It was as silly onscreen as it was on the page. Some of the mystery and terror is sustained, but the one bland airport location gets tiresome.

"The Shining" (1997): Long dissatisfied with Stanley Kubrick's 1980 film, King penned this three-part adaptation of his classic novel for ABC, with Mick Garris directing, Yes, it's more faithful to the book in many, many ways, but the shadow of Kubrick's version (a horror masterpiece on its own terms) hangs too long over this -- especially poor Steven Weber, whose more compassionate Jack Torrance cannot erase memories of Jack "Here's Johnny!" Nicholson.

"Storm of the Century" (1999): King wrote this original three-parter for ABC and probably should have trimmed it down to two. The first hour or so is great, and so is a lot of the last hour, but the movie takes way too long to get to the point. Colm Feore ("Thor") is outstanding as the mysterious, demonic stranger Andre Linoge, who offers the residents of snowbound Little Tall Island a terrible choice.

"Rose Red" (2002): Like "Storm of the Century," King's original three-part script about a vast haunted house in Seattle feels long ... way too long. "Rose Red" is a misfire on almost every level, with a humdrum, incoherent story, flat pacing and an atrocious lead performance from Nancy Travis as a psychic investigator. Easily the worst -- but surprisingly, not the last -- of King's productions for ABC: The network also bankrolled "Kingdom Hospital," his misguided adaptation of Danish filmmaker Lars Von Trier's "The Kingdom."

"Desperation" (2006): Originally envisioned as a movie, King wrote this three-hour adaptation of his own novel for ABC and got Mick Garris to direct. "Desperation" follows the novel pretty closely, detailing how a random group of strangers find themselves battling an ancient being in the titular desert town. A good cast and some decent chills, and for once you only need one night to watch the damn thing.

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Don Kaye covers film, TV and entertainment for MSN.com

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