Premiering today on CBS All Access - looks good!
Previous thread on the 1994 miniseries: The Old 'The Stand' Mini-series casting and a couple of observations
And see:
From the previews I am not feeling Whoopi as Mother Abigail. I like/loved her in other roles but not from what I have seen so far in this one.
Definitlly going to check it out, loved the book and the the original series.
Just what we need to escape from the reality of the past year; a miniseries about an apocalyptic plague. 
The Stand is my favorite book of all time. I first read it as a sophomore in high school and gave reread it a dozen or more times. I last read it as the covid situation and quarantine was first breaking out so it is fresh in my mind.
I also enjoyed the original mini series even though it’s been years since I seen it.
I loved this first episode. The hour flew by and left me wanting more!
There have been a lot of criticisms of the casting and changes in characters for this series. I’m looking at it as a different timeline or alternative reality from the book. That being said the characters that we were introduced seem to fill their role well.
I love the fact that Harold seems to be more lost in the beginning than he was in the book. This is me even more poignant by his possible redemption at the end of the episode but of course he turns his back on that and embraces the dark man.
Gary Sinise will always be Stu Redmond to me but the new actor who is playing him is very good. I really enjoyed the interactions between him and the doctor, much better than the ones in the book lol.
The small Easter eggs hidden throughout this episode relating to the book were very cool. Freddy’s pie made me pop. I just wish we could have seen somebody with their face in their bowl of soup lol
The little segment at the end where we see The walking Man hitchhiking was very cool I just wish they would have played Don’t fear the reaper!
Over all I enjoyed this episode and can’t wait till next week.
This remake has been in the works for quite a while, and filming wrapped before COVID hit the news.
I’ve heard that the final episode is an epilogue that wasn’t in either book. THAT should be interesting.
Wow, I was looking forward to this, but it seems to be getting thrashed—5.8 at IMDB, which is abysmal for a series, and 55% from critics/29% (!) from audiences at RT. Granted, it’s still early, and especially audience scores seem to trend negative early on, but still—anybody have any idea why those low scores?
This looks like the sort of thread that might generate spoilers, since you are comparing to the old version. So I changed the title. Let me know if your prefer another solution.
I liked it a lot- though I agree that Stu =Gary Sinise but I did like the touches with the pie. It has been a long time since I have seen the original tv series but Franny having to get her dad to his grave was straight out of the book and made me feel a little faith going forward. At first I wasn’t sure about Harold but part of that is the same complaint I had with the original series- Harold is supposed to be fat, acne-laden and frankly, gross. It probably hard to get the physical transformation he had in the books right on screen but once the bicycle helmet came off , I felt that he was sufficiently cringe-worthy to start with. I don’t love Whoopi Goldberg as Mother Abigail- she’s just not old enough but I’ll go along with it for now. All in all I was happy with it- I liked the touch of the boot holding the chamber door open for Campion to make his escape and definitely happy with their casting choice for the Walking Dude.
I enjoyed this quite a bit. Several reviews I read did not like the change to a more non linear structure so I was nervous going in but I found it worked just fine and focusing on a few characters at a time is probably a good idea anyway.
Something else: The Stand is my favorite novel. I’ve read it at least a dozen times and it was only after watching this that I realized how ahead of it’s time it was on toxic Incel Nerd culture.
The change is fine - thanks.
Whenever I see a massive number of 0 scores at IMDb (link to rating distribution below), especially after just one episode, I figure it’s not just the quality of the show at fault, but also something more personal - in this case, maybe some of it is a strong emotional attachment to the source material? I’ve read the book at least half a dozen times, both versions, and I have strong mental pictures of what it looks like.
I’m not saying it’s a good show, but a zero is a pretty strong statement.
I’m going to watch it tonight so I haven’t seen it yet but my expectations are already set. I too read the book more than twice and viewed the original series a dozen times so expectations are high, especially since I was already geared up to see it last March when they canceled it.
I’m sure the visual updates will be great, but it’s the character development that I will be following and judging it on.
I really enjoyed the casting for the characters, Harold and Fran are so much better than the original miniseries, but I hated the non-linear timeline. I don’t understand what purpose it served to tell the story that way. It just seemed needlessly convoluted and confusing, not what you want in the first episode. The characters are all separate in their own stories and then suddenly they’re all together in Boulder and Stu & Fran are a couple, with no explanation of any of their journeys to get there or why they all are at the same place!? I would think if you were not already familiar with the story it would be so hard to follow because of the idiotic timeline structure.
How much of the show is spent showing the collapse of civilization? because that is the reason i love The Stand, it doesn’t skip that part.
I’m also disliking the non-linear plot; it’s way overused. I could see starting with the body cleanup in Boulder and then flashing back to proceed chronologically from the beginning, but these time skips don’t serve a point. It feels like they want to show as little of the collapse of civilization as they can to skip straight into the post-apocalypse (ala Fear the Walking Dead.) Also some stuff is (unintentionally) coming across as hilarious, like scientists not bothering with masks or the generic President sounding presidential.
I love the book and I was prepared to hate this new series because I just assume I will not like new things or things that are different from the book. But I liked the first episode and I will keep watching. The time jumping didn’t bother me but I can see why other people might not like it, especially if you don’t already know the chronology of the story. I liked the scene where Campion locked down the lab and then escaped. I am also sketpical of Whoopi in this role but I’ll give her a shot. The guy who plays Harold seems perfect so far because he really encapsulates the role of a creepy weirdo (and I think it’s good that he’s not fat in this version, because Stephen King in his novels relies too hard on fatphobia and having “the fat guy” be shorthand for a bad character).
Ive only seen a breakdown video of the first ep, but man…good job! Looks much better then what i expected.
I concur with your assessment. If I didn’t know the story already I would have been confused but I am liking it so far. I like that the CDC were not total dicks.
I’ve not yet started this, but I have fond memories of the '90s miniseries, and the book is one of my favorites. I’ll definitely be tuning in. Although, I must say I’m struggling to picture Alexander Skarsgård as Randall Flagg. The Flagg from the book was 6’6" and had a face like El Capitan. Alexander Skarsgård…doesn’t.
He’s a terrific young actor, but I’d be very impressed if he’s able to pull this one off.
I read an interview given by Owen Teague, who plays Harold Lauder. He talks about going into the incel culture on the internet to gain insights to be able to become the character. It’s a good read.