The Stand
ABC (1994)
The first and best screen adaptation of my favorite book premiered on ABC Television thirty years ago today. The Stand mini-series aired from May 8 to May 12, 1994 and was nominated for six primetime Emmy awards.
One reason for the success of the original mini-series is the incredible score by W.G. Snuffy Walden. When I was in college, I had a study music playlist on my iPod that I'd listen to when I was reading or working on a paper. The first half of it was made up of instrumental tracks from Eluvium, The American Dollar, and other instrumental artists, and the second half was scores from movies like The Karate Kid and Flight Of The Navigator. Music from The Stand mini-series score was sandwiched in between. I listened to it so many times at the Wilkes University library that I can almost smell the place when I hear those songs today.
The only place that it's available to stream as a part of a subscription package is Apple TV, but it is available to purchase on Amazon Prime Video. The complete mini-series in HD is $9.99 with the standard definition selling for $4.99. My recommendation is to skip the streaming services altogether for this one and track down a copy to purchase on DVD. You can find it on Amazon and eBay for between $5 - $15 bucks, and it's worth it for the commentary track alone. It fills the entire 366 minute runtime of the mini-series, and it features Stephen King, director Mick Garris, editor Patrick McMahon, and actors Rob Lowe (Nick Andros), Ruby Dee (Mother Abigail), Miguel Ferrer (Lloyd Henreid), and Jamey Sheridan (Randall Flagg). Just be sure that you're getting the 1994 ABC mini-series and not the 2020 CBS mini-series. That one was pretty awful.
