ill keep it short. the first episode is great. good pacing, suspense, and good backstory to give you information. however, after the first episode, the rest of the 3 episodes are slow, terribly paced, and the things people do just don't make any damn sense.i want you to know the ending, i really do. if anything, just to prevent you from wasting your time. a maniac, who seems out of place the entire series, tries to set off an explosion but some weird spirit of an old prophet stops him. it doesn't make sense as you read it here, and it makes even less sense in the context of the film. also, consider the prophet told 4 of the characters to go to the town to stop the bomb going off...but it was worthless, they didn't do anything. a whole episode about some epic journey, where many of them even died, just for some stupid spirit voice to stop a maniac who just randomly decided to bomb the city. its terrible, absolutely terrible.

I have read the novel numerous times and had never seen the TV miniseries .Noticed it was on The Horror Channel , read the reviews and thought fantastic .Wonders if The Horror Channel had edited it and cut things up because it did not make any sense . Unless you had read the novel then abrupt cuts from one scene to another would have left you perplexed.Great first 5 minutes or so and then rapidly down hill .Has none of the subtly or detail of the novel . Badly acted and nonsensical drivel . Did I see another version to the great reviews given here ?Has been led to believe a new series of movies based on the novel are being planned .They can not be worse than this stinker . Gave up half way through .

I like the story, read both the original and the extended version.I like a lot about it. For a book-to-TV thing, it's been done with respect. It's a bit like The Shining mini series. It follows the plot and works pretty well. However, I don't understand the cast. I like 2 people in that cast, and none of them are main characters. I've always been a fan of Shawnee Smith. She does an excellent job as the mean spirited nymphomaniac. Like in the Saw series, she has a penchant for playing unstable persons. I'm also a fan of her looks. The other character I like, is Ed Harris as the general. When it comes to the other roles, their looks, voices and so on, does just not work for me. Granted, I read both books first, so naturally, I created my own images.But all in all, worth a watch, and if you have read the book(s), have a look, it's OK.

I read the rave reviews before I sat down to spend six hours watching "The Stand". By the beginning of part 2, I had to stop and check IMDb to see if there was another version, and maybe I was watching the cheap one.The raves for the acting and casting baffle me most. Molly Ringwald is possibly the worst imaginable choice for such a pivotal role, and her acting throughout is embarrassingly awful. No one shines, but she stands out for all the wrong reasons.My initial impression seemed so out of sync with the majority here that I forced myself to watch it all and keep an open mind, but the outcome didn't change.It's tripe, people, acted and staged badly, and a total waste of six hours of your life. Read the book. It takes longer, but you'll get to do your own casting and staging, and you won't have to watch Ms. Ringwald.