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.

21 of 26 photo by TNT

71Nightmares & Dreamscapes (TNT, 2006)

Based on short stories from Nightmares & Dreamscapes (1993) and other collections

[#5] TNT's second King series (following the 2004 remake of Salem's Lot) was an eight-episode episodic anthology series, with each hour depicting a different Stephen King short story (mostly, but not entirely, drawn from the titular collection). Stars (who each appeared in just a single episode) included William H. Macy, William Hurt, Ron Livingston, Samantha Mathis, Henry Thomas, Kim Delaney, Tom Berenger, and Steven Weber. Given King's abundant output, an anthology would seem the perfect format for bringing the author's work to the small screen, but TNT canceled the series after one season despite relatively strong ratings and positive reviews. If you are looking for just one episode to sample, critics greatly enjoyed the dialogue-free opening hour, "Battleground," which featured effects by Jim Henson's Creature Shop. (Subsequent episodes were a bit more hit-and-miss.)

“If Stephen King had written 'The Twilight Zone,' it would have looked like this.” —Scott d. Pierce, Deseret News

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