This over long TV mini series from Stephen King is a complicated multi character story of the effects of a contained virus being loosed upon the unsuspecting American public and its after effects.It is broken down into four distinctive chapters. The first, "The Plague" is the best of the lot. It deals of the lethal virus spreading across the country killing most of the population. There are those who are immune to the virus, notably Stu Redman (Gary Sinese) whose story is the focus of this part.Part 2, "The Dream" is where things get really weird. Many of the survivors begin to experience dreams in which they emerge from a corn field to be confronted by Mother Abigail Freemantle (Ruby Dee) who is a self proclaimed messenger of God. She counsels them and invites them to come to her. This is the "good" side. On the "evil" side is one Randall Flagg (Jamie Sheridan) an agent of the devil who can change shapesat will and has a closet full of scary faces.Part 3. "The Betrayal" deals with jilted suitor Harold Lauder (Corin Nemac) who has been seduced by the evil Nadine Cross (Laura San Giacomo) into betraying his love Frannie Goldsmith (Molly Ringwald) who has become involved ...and pregnant with Redman as well as betraying the rest of the group led by Redman which includes the deaf/dumb Nick Andros (Rob Lowe), his slightly retarded Tom Cullen (Bill Fagerbakle), Glen Bateman (Ray Walston) and Larry Underwood (Adam Storke) among others. Harold builds an explosive device and........................................Part 4. "The Stand" is the final showdown between good and evil. Mother Abigail has sent four men on a pilgrimage to confront the evil Flagg. In the meantime his assistant Lloyd Henreid (Miguel Ferrer) is preparing for the confrontation. A weird ally, The Trashcan man arrives on the scene with a big surprise for all.The first part of the story concerning the spread of the lethal virus, had the most potential. When it degenerates into the supernatural, it for me, gets a little ridiculous. The climax in Part 4 is rather unlikely given the situation. And Jamie Sheridan in a Kris Kristoffersom fright wig is more than a little over the top. The rest of the large cast does what it can in an impossible situation.Watch for Ed Harris as a General and Kathy Bates as a radio announcer in the first part. The producers would have done well to have cast these two performers to bigger parts. And yes, Stephen King has a part as one of the good people.

I never would have imagined putting Gary Sinese and Molly Ringwald together as a (romantic) couple, but for some mysterious reason it seems to have worked really well. I found myself quite moved in a couple of places, which was a nice surprise.I was also amazed at how perfectly cast Laura San Giacomo was as 'Nadine.' Very scary, almost too scary like it was real life, not acting. Corin Nemac was also good as 'Harold,' the unsuspecting victim of her super scariness.

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 .

Before I give my review, I'd like to state that "The Stand" is my all- time favorite book. Unlike most fans of the book however, I didn't read the book until about seven or eight years ago. I had seen the mini- series a few times on television a few years prior to reading the book, and had really enjoyed it. One day while reading up on the film, I clicked on the IMDb movie message board. Fellow fans of the film were discussing how good the film was, and how well it followed the novel. Needless to say, I was intrigued by this. Therefore, I scraped together fifteen bucks, gave it to my Aunt, (who I live with) and told her to pick me up a copy at the local bookstore. Soon after she gave it to me, I began reading it. I couldn't put it down after that, so I took it with me everywhere! After reading the book, I decided to give the mini-series another watch, and surprisingly, I still liked it! Even more so than I had before. It took a long time for an adaptation of "The Stand" to get made. After filming "Creepshow" George Romero and Stephen King were going to collaborate again, on a film adaptation of "The Stand" Unfortunately, trimming the novel down into one screenplay proved to be too difficult a task for King, therefore Screenwriter Rospo Pallenberg was brought in to write a new script. After the script was finished, and filming was to begin, Warner Brothers backed out of the project at the last minute. Some time after, ABC offered Stephen King the chance to turn his novel into an epic four-part TV Mini-series. King accepted, The Mini-series was made, and premiered on May 8th 1994. It received critical praise, and has even acquired a large fan base. As for the screenplay for the film that never was: It's not bad. However in my opinion, it fails to capture the depths of the many characters. If you're curious, it's definitely worth a read though. Do a Google search, and you'll find it somewhere. As for the TV Mini-series: This was much better! It's well written, well shot, and well acted! Granted, some of the dark, intense, scenes in the novel are cut or trimmed, (It was a Made-for-Television production after all.) but it is still highly enjoyable, and very well done. I also must give it high praise for it's usage of certain music. Including, but not limited to: "Don't fear the reaper" by Blue Oyster Cult and "Don't dream it's over" by A Crowded House. Whether you've read the novel and never seen the mini-series before, or if you're just interested in watching a dark, apocalyptic, tale of good versus evil, give this a watch. I'd suggest you read the novel first, but even if you haven't, you'll enjoy this either way.