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Of all the great things about television, the greatest is that it’s on every single day. TV history is being made, day in and day out, in ways big and small. In an effort to better appreciate this history, we’re taking a look back, every day, at one particular TV milestone.
IMPORTANT DATE IN TV HISTORY: May 8, 1994
PROGRAM ORIGINALLY AIRED ON THIS DATE: Stephen King’s The Stand [Watch on Netflix.]
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: Want to hear a personal story? Too bad, you’re going to. In the spring of 1994, I was a grade-grubby, head-of-the-class little 8th grader who incongruously hated reading for pleasure. I’d diligently plow my way through the assigned reading lists, polishing off The Outsiders and the greater and lesser works of Paul Zindel, but I had little to no interest in reading on my own dime. Then, that spring, I saw a TV commercial for ABC’s upcoming miniseries of Stephen King’s The Stand, and it scared me so bad. Evil devil-men with red eyes, ominous crows, Laura San Giacomo — it was all too much for one wussy junior-high student to take. I hated that I was so scared of it.
Meanwhile, my dad was a huge Stephen King fan, with a shelf full of books that I’d often peruse. I was particularly fascinated/repulsed by the hardcover It, with its blood-red block letters and scaly green claw emerging from a sewer grate. Dad’s paperback copy of The Stand had long since shed its cover from repeated readings, but I couldn’t get over how long it was. 1,100+ pages — did people actually read that much? I hated that it looked so daunting.
So one day, in an act of teenage bravery (the kind of bravery that involves curling up on the couch with a good book), I picked up Dad’s copy of The Stand and started reading. My first grown-up novel at 1,100 pages, and I devoured it. It might still be my favorite book, just from the combination of enjoyment and nostalgia. I watched the miniseries afterwards, when it made it to VHS, and I was very satisfied.
I watched the mini-series again when it came to DVD, and it hadn’t aged very well. The Stand comes from an era where made-for-TV movies looked like made-for-TV movies. Now they all look like real movies, and everything from the old days looks like cheap garbage. I’d still recommend The Stand, though. The cast is fascinating in a very mid-’90s way. Gary Sinise juuust before his Oscar nomination for Forrest Gump. Molly Ringwald in her comeback bid (it didn’t take, but she did land an ABC sitcom called Townies) (that also didn’t take). Ruby Dee in the most Ruby Dee part you can imagine. Rob Lowe playing m-o-o-n (that spells “deaf and dumb”). It plays way kitschier than it intends to, but its shortcomings only make me more interested to see what this Josh Boone/Matthew McConaughey version could do with the material.
[You can watch The Stand on Netflix.]
Joe Reid (@joereid) is a freelance writer living in Brooklyn. You can find him leaving flowers for Mrs. Landingham at the corner of 18th and Potomac.
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