STORM OF THE CENTURY (1999)

King's first original miniseries, the three-part "Storm of the Century" is actually somewhat underrated, if far too long at six hours. Its first third is suspenseful and atmospheric, while its final hour is riveting, with an unusually downbeat and bitter ending. But getting there is the problem: the story feels stretched to the breaking point and the casting is weaker than usual. Once again, however, the villain comes through:  Colm Feore is mesmerizing as the demonic stranger who comes to a snowbound Maine island and demands, "Give me what I want and I'll go away."  How 'bout a shorter pic?

SOMETIMES THEY COME BACK (1991)

Based on a tale from King's 1977 collection, "Night Shift," this two-
hour CBS TV-movie starred Tim Matheson ("National Lampoon's
Animal House") as a teacher haunted by the ghosts of three teen thugs who blamed him for their deaths years earlier in a train accident. One of the few television versions of his work that King was not directly associated with, "Sometimes ..." had that movie-of-the-week feel and is generally forgotten now -- although it somehow spawned a direct-to-video sequel!

THE SHINING (1997)

King, never a fan of Stanley Kubrick's 1980 film, controversially decided to adapt his book the way he thought it should be done.  He and frequent collaborator Mick Garris came up with a six-hour miniseries that was scrupulously faithful to the book in plot and incident (with the exception of a new, "heartwarming" epilogue that is downright embarrassing), yet felt bizarrely padded (see the "Harry Potter" movies for the same problem). And as hard as Steven Weber tries as doomed writer Jack Torrance, there's no way he can make you forget Jack Nicholson's immortal "Heeeeeeeere's Johnny!"

THE LANGOLIERS (1995)

ABC followed up "The Stand" with this four-hour adaptation of one of King's strangest novellas, in which a plane, its crew and passengers get thrown out of the space-time continuum, confronting creatures who "eat" each second of reality after we've left it behind. If you have trouble grasping that, try watching it. Some of King's concepts simply don't translate well to the screen -- no matter how hard the filmmakers try, the monsters here just look like giant Pac-Men. Entertaining in a campy way, with a nutty performance from Bronson Pinchot, but hard to swallow nonetheless.

KINGDOM HOSPITAL (2004)

King's 13-part adaptation of Lars von Trier's ("Dogville") Danish miniseries is set in a peculiar hospital populated by truly eccentric characters and situated on some metaphysically unstable ground (i.e. it's haunted). King makes von Trier's original cult hit even weirder by working a talking anteater and even his own 1999 life-threatening collision with a pickup truck into the story. Surely the most unusual offering of its kind since "Twin Peaks" (which it resembles), "Kingdom Hospital" was perhaps too odd for both the network and audience, both of which cut off life support early in its run.

ROSE RED (2002)

King's first major "haunted house" tale since "The Shining," "Rose Red" wilts almost from the start. Nancy Travis is irritatingly shrill as psychologist Joyce Reardon, who leads a team of dysfunctional psychic researchers into a giant, cursed Seattle mansion. The location exteriors and interior sets are superb, but King says nothing new about the idea of "the evil place," which he handled so masterfully with his Overlook Hotel. Interesting fact: this was first developed for Steven Spielberg to direct.  From the "Maybe It Was Really Haunted file": actor David Dukes died during production -- with only his death scene left to film.

GOLDEN YEARS (1991)

King's first attempt at a season-long series lasted a paltry seven episodes. Keith Szarabajka starred as Harlan, an elderly janitor who begins getting younger after being sprayed with a chemical at a secret lab. He hits the road with his aging wife, pursued by shadowy government agents. "'The Fugitive' with gray hair whiskers'" idea never really took off, and the crawling pace made the viewer feel as if he or she was putting on the years that Harlan was shedding.  The "Golden Years," in this case, were mercifully short.