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.

6 of 26 photo by ABC

50 The Tommyknockers (ABC, 1993)

Based on the novel The Tommyknockers (1987)

[#20] The success of the It miniseries in 1990—the first King TV adaptation in over a decade—encouraged ABC to adapt additional King books throughout the '90s. Up first was this two-night take on King's 1987 sci-fi novel starring Jimmy Smits and Marg Helgenberger. The novel, which follows a Maine writer who discovers a bit of an alien spaceship in her backyard, is widely considered one of King's worst, and the miniseries wasn't much better despite several changes made to the story.

“A witless and suspense-free adaptation of one of King's sloppiest, most negligible and overwritten tomes.” —Matt Roush, USA Today

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