Every Stephen King TV Show, Ranked Worst to Best

by Jason Dietz, Metacritic Features Editor – June 3, 2021

Originally a reluctant convert to television, best-selling horror author Stephen King has seen over two dozen projects bearing his name reach the small screen over the past 40+ years, from Salem's Lot to the just-launched Lisey's Story. While most of these have been adaptations of King's novels and stories, a few were wholly new projects written by the author directly for TV. Some have been deeply mediocre at best, but quite a few of King's TV shows have received a warm welcome from critics.

In the gallery on this page, we rank every Stephen King series from worst to best by Metascore, reflecting the critical consensus at the time of each show's debut. Miniseries are included alongside conventional TV shows, but made-for-TV movies are excluded.

1 of 26 photo by ABC

47 Rose Red (ABC, 2002)

Written directly for television

[tied for #24] ABC's final Stephen King miniseries was also its worst. Directed by Craig R. Baxley and scripted by King himself, this three-night haunted house tale set in Seattle starred Nancy Travis, Julian Sands, Matt Keeslar, and Melanie Lynskey. (Also starring was David Dukes, who died suddenly in real life just one day before he was to film his death scene in the miniseries.) King borrowed elements from Shirley Jackson's novel The Haunting of Hill House (and its 1963 film adaptation as The Haunting), and was also inspired by California's Winchester Mystery House, but his original plans to make Rose Red as a feature film fizzled out when Jan de Bont remade The Haunting into a 1999 theatrical release, causing King to bring the project to ABC instead.

Many reviewers found the series overlong. But the tepid critical response didn't prevent Rose Red from drawing over 18 million viewers when it first aired.

“With its sluggish six hours stretched over three nights, the ABC miniseries is a case of way too little story occupying way too much prime-time space.” —Mark Dawidziak, Cleveland Plain Dealer

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