The Dead Zone

The Dead Zone -
USA Network Television






Anthony Michael Hall is Johnny Smith (pictured above), a psychic who awoke from a deep coma with abilities he never had before. Based on the Stephen King novel, "The Dead Zone" is in its sixth season. The basic story is the same: Johnny helps people by predicting and averting their dire futures. And he's better than a police lie detector at reading people's past alibis too, so he's pretty helpful to Sheriff Walt Bannerman (Chris Bruno), at least in the first few seasons.

Hall is likeable and strong as Smith, finally shedding his earlier adolescent typecasting (remember "Sixteen Candles" and "Weird Science"? And then remember him buffing up for "Edward Scissorhands"? Please don't say you're too young!) Unfortunately though, the overall show is a little boring. The dialogue gets too maudlin sometimes and it just doesn't grab the attention the way the original book does. To be fair, the novel is one straight story and the series has to stretch out several episodes in several seasons. Still, the writers don't quite make it interesting enough, in spite of placing Johnny and gang in different and sometimes dangerous situations every week.

So you're not really missing much, although it's not terrible. It's more of a show you'll watch if it's on, but will be fine if it gets preempted for some reason.

Directors:
Jon Cassar
James A. Contner

Writers:
Joel Metzger (writer)
Katie Wech (staff writer) (2007)

Primary Cast:
Anthony Michael Hall ... Johnny Smith (75 episodes, 2002-2007)
Chris Bruno ... Sheriff Walt Bannerman (58 episodes, 2002-2007)
John L. Adams ... Bruce Lewis (53 episodes, 2002-2007)
Nicole de Boer ... Sarah Bracknell Bannerman (50 episodes, 2002-2007)
David Ogden Stiers ... Rev. Gene Purdy (37 episodes, 2002-2007)
Bill Mondy ... Deputy Roscoe (31 episodes, 2002-2006)


Read the original Stephen King book:
The Dead Zone (Signet)