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.

11 of 26 photo by ABC

61The Stand (ABC, 1994)

Based on the novel The Stand (1978)

[tied for #14] This first attempt at filming The Stand, which aired as a four-part, eight-hour miniseries on ABC in May 1994, was slightly better than the more recent adaptation, and it even collected six Emmy nominations. King himself wrote the teleplay for director Mick Garris (who had previously adapted King's Sleepwalkers to the big screen), and the massive ensemble cast included Rob Lowe, Molly Ringwald, Gary Sinise, Miguel Ferrer, Laura San Giacomo, Ray Walston, Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis, ALF's Max Wright, Parker Lewis Can't Lose star Corin Nemec, Max Headroom's Matt Frewer, directors John Landis and Sam Raimi, and even Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

“The Stand is an impressive piece of work. It has a convincing, realistic look, relentless pacing, strong performances and a sense of grandeur as well as humor and irony.” —David Zurawik, Baltimore Sun

Where To Buy