Yup. Would have made for a fantastic limited series. 8-12 episodes, and not on cable TV, but on some venue where they allow you to show the darker things that happened in that book.
Really? The jury's still out for me since we're only half way through, but I'm not enjoying it nearly as much as I had hoped. If it were longer than eight episodes, I probably wouldn't still be watching.
I think I still prefer The Langoliers, The Shining, and The Stand, although I haven't watched some of those in close to 20 years, so maybe I'm looking at those through rose-colored glasses.
The Tommyknockers. I thought the book was one of King's weaker books, and the mini-series I don't remember improving it much. I mostly remember Traci Lords being out of her acting depth in that one, although she sure looked good.
I'll give you the Langoliers, primarily for nostalgia. I think 11.22.63 would have been more intriguing to me than the langoliers as a kid, but that show still scared the shit out of me and gave me nightmares.
Not trying to Throw Shade on the Langoliers, of course. They have that covered. Rimshot.
(with edits)
I'm pretty disappointed with the show to be honest.
However, I'm pretty disappointed with most of King's film adaptations.
I mean, most of his books are written pretty vividly with detail. They could easily be a straight film adaptation.
Unfortunately, whoever is in control of the creative process inevitability chooses to piss all over the source material.
I loved the first two episodes but then he got the partner and I was doing the 'ehhhh maybe I can deal with this' and then the partner starts talking with Maria and I had to give up :(
These are the exact same things that are giving me second thoughts about the show. I mean, I'm obviously going to see it through to the end. But they just keep adding plot lines that I don't really see as helpful/necessary, and removing plot lines from the book that I thought were important.
What pisses me off is that they used the excuse of "there's not enough time" to omit things from the book, then they go and stuff the show with irrelevant garbage.
When I have more time I'll find the interview that I'm referring to.
Yup. I've posted the same thing repeatedly.
I also have posted that the constant refrain of "they can't fit the whole book in the show" is a rude and dismissive way to belittle some very valid opinions about the way the book has been changed.
It wouldn't have even been that hard, although I would have made it two ten episode seasons. In one of the interviews, the show runner actually stated that Hulu told her the show could be as long or as short as she felt it needed to be.
Season 1: "Time - Itsa changin"
Episode 1: "Another time" - Exposition with Al ending with arrival in Derry.
Episode 2: "Derry" - Arrival in Derry ending with the bayonet.
Episode 3: "Halloween" - Jake and Bill's dialogue ending with going back through the rabbit hole to 1958.
Episode 4: "Derry Take 2" - Speed run from 1958 to the cabin.
Episode 5: ”Cribbage" - Cabin ending on the road to Florida.
Episode 6: "Florida" - All the events in Florida ending with the house burning down.
Episode 7: "Arrival" - Arrival in Dallas ending on the road to...
Episode 8: "Jodie" - Arrival in Jodie ending with "I'd like you to meet someone".
Episode 9: "Sadie" - picks up right where the previous episode left off ending with the phone call after the dance.
Episode 10: ”Of Mice And..." - Season 1 ends with the play.
Season 2: "Obdurate"
Episode 11: "New Year's Eve"
Episode 12: "The Accident"
Episode 13: "Benefit"
Episode 14: "Reno"
Episode 15: "Bay of Pigs"
Episode 16: "Clayton"
The rest will be two hour episodes.
Episode 17: "Benefit Take 2/Case" - Two hour episode. First hour: Sadie in the hospital/Sadie's Benefit. Second hour: The fight and the beating. Ends with Jake passing out in the street.
Episode 18: "Memories/11/21/63"
Episode 19: "11/22/63/JFK"
Episode 20: "Repercussions/Sacrifice"
Wow. Knowing that Hulu gave them the option of a longer show and she shortened it and butchered it anyway ... that just makes me sad.
And I love your breakout of the 2 season version. Although I might have ended season 1 with a cliff-hanger of a sorts the phone call ... and then pick up with Season 2 and "Of Mice And ..."
Yeah, it's really infuriating:
"I think the fact that I got to make it a series was a big deal, and I had a lot of freedom given to me by Bad Robot and Warner Bros and Hulu. They all said, take as much time as you need. However long it needs to be—it can be 12 hours, it can be whatever you want. And, so, at first, I was like, OK, it’s going to be this and it’s going to move really fast and it’s going to be four hours. And then I went away for a while and came back and was like, I think it’s going to be six hours. Then I went away again and I was like, I know it’s nine. That’s where we’ll stop—it’s nine. I actually was willing to do some heavy chopping to start with and then the more I dug into it, the more I thought I wanted to give everything its due but I always want to keep a pace."
She also wanted to cut Harry out completely:
"At that point, shaping the story's architecture becomes a little like cooking: You add a little bit here, subtract a little bit there. I admit that for a short time at the start, I was advocating to cut Jake's janitor friend, Harry Dunning -- I was worried that viewers would be saying "get to 1963!" But my co-executive producer Kathy Lingg questioned that idea so strongly, so passionately, I thought, OK, I'll go back to the book and figure out how to keep him. Which I'm very glad that I did, because the episode that focuses on Harry's backstory is one of my favorites"
[Source](http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-hulu-11-22-63-bridget-carpenter-showrunner-20160215-story.html)
She also didn't bother watching previous King miniseries prior to starting 11/22/63:
Stephen King material does really well as a miniseries, like It and The Stand, even Under the Dome. Was that instrumental in giving you guys the confidence or clout to take 11.22.63 out as a miniseries?
You know, I am going to confess that I have seen none of those. I saw It many years ago and I loved it. It was frightening but I have not seen The Stand. I didn’t see Under the Dome so I have nothing to compare it to in that way. I would say that I just have confidence, and I think everybody just had confidence in the material period. I think that they would have been open to making it open-ended, but I think that the story has such a definitive ending, I thought it would be most satisfying dramatically to go, “and we are done.”
[Source](http://www.slashfilm.com/11-22-63-bridget-carpenter-interview/)
That might not seem like a big deal, but by not doing that she failed to see what worked and what didn't work with those.
I am so happy and sad you solved this mystery for me. I have been ruminating on how the fuck did they fuck this production up so badly. Why is Bill impregnating Marina? What the fuck? Wait...
Bridget Carpenter is shit filmmaker. Everything makes sense now.
This is so infuriating to read this blahzay blah attitude towards production.
CUT HARRY DUNNG? ARE YOU FUCKING MENTAL?
I will try my best to finish the series. But the name Bridget Carpenter is on my shit list now. She had a chance to win a fucking Emmy right here.
TO think Jonathan Demme had this in his hands and didn't get to do it.
I get what you're saying, but the reason I went the way I did was to make season 1 upbeat and full of promise, so that season 2 starts with shit hitting the fan.
The play is really the peak of everything happy in the book, and after that things go down hill quick.
For a cliff hanger, I would maybe do a post credits scene showing Miz Ellie at her desk on the phone. She hangs up and the camera pans up and zooms to the desktop. The final shot of the season is of George's diploma and references.
I liked the resets in the book, but I think people might get bored seeing some of the same things over again in a tv show. Maybe not, though, but I just get the feeling it would grow old quickly.
Beauty is, they could have been as long or as short as the screenwriter wanted.
These could have been simple 25-35 minute episodes. No need to go for 45-60 minutes. Just another way of giving more screentime for Jake's personality.
I might come back to it once it ends but for now I'm too annoyed with it. I didn't have high hopes until I saw the first two episodes and then I got a little too excited and now been let down badly.
I liked the book, but I can also enjoy tuning in to this each week to see how the differences in this story unfold.
For example: reading Game of Thrones ruined the Red Wedding episode for me. It was a shock when reading but the episode was just spent waiting to see my husband's reaction. If 11/22/63 was 100% word-for-word it would probably lose some sparkle, as you know what is around every corner. Just my opinion.
I disagree. They took all of the heart out from the show. You could feel the love and the deep connections between the characters in the book.
In the show, it's basically, "you're divorced now? Awesome! Let's bang! Oh, yeah, I'm into some weird stuff, but you don't need to worry about it. Let's hope time doesn't fuck with us via the yellow card man."
Even if they stay true to the ending, it won't matter because we won't really feel the sacrifice he has to make.
Yup. At this point the ending can't be loyal to the book. Because the end of the book details Jake's emotional anguish and the decision he has to make - and that emotional anguish won't be nearly as deep or moving because the relationships are fucked.
Go to 42:15. He says "These are for you", and gives her flowers. And then he hands her a box of chocolates. His next words are "People, people want to think that, that's what life is like"....etc... A box of chocolates. Turn on captions might help.
So I'm watching it now, and stopped at that scene exactly, came to Reddit angry because he starts crying. HE DOESNT CRY YET.
Sorry if this seems random. I'm upset about that. I've enjoyed the series so far, but that made me upset.
The writers of this version of the story completely wrecked the book version. I honestly couldn't imagine that King is happy with this... So far they've completely made up scenes and completely changed several characters.
I get that not everything in a book is easily translatable to film/TV, but come on. Bill is NOT a main character in the novel and apparently the Dunnings moved from Maine to Kentucky somewhere in there writer's room. There are so many inconsistencies between this and the book so far that the only thing they share is the title.
I just started watching this and I was like, wtf Kentucky? Then I was like, WTF he's white? For some reason I always thought he was black in book even though I don't remember it specifically saying that.
> so superficial it misses the point the story is telling ("he's supposed to be friends with Deke! whaa"
The relationship between Deke, Mimi, Jake, and Sadie is one of the core elements of the story. It is EXACTLY the "point the story is telling". If you don't get that and you think that's superficial and not important, then you obviously don't get the book at all.
1 - Jake's relationship with Deke and Mimi ARE essential. They are the ones who support his relationship with Sadie among other things which I won't go into because they're spoilers. Short version is that their love and support is a huge part of what makes Jake have the realizations he has and take the actions he does. And what makes the decision he makes so bittersweet.
2 - You don't even have to "explore" the friendships, but drastically changing it so that Deke actively dislikes Jake and Mimi gives him the cold shoulder completely changes the whole story (as well as helping to make all of the characters completely unlikable - which is the exact opposite of the book).
3 - Without the human element and the relationship of the 4, all this is, is a story of how some guy goes into the past and tries to prevent an assassination, with a token romantic interest thrown in for female appeal. It's not Stephen King's story.
If you consider that to be "superficial" then, as I said, you didn't get the book at all.
*sigh*
And once again the dismissive "there's not enough time" argument.
You don't necessarily have to "flesh out" the characters but you could at least not make Deke so scornful of Jake and his relationship with Sadie or have Mimi give him the cold shoulder for kissing Sadie - which is exactly the OPPOSITE of what happens in the book, where Mimi practically throws them together and Deke tells him about the motel where they can go together.
But whatever. You consider the relationships "superficial" and not important, anyway. So .. eh.
And "Under The Dome" is by far the worst.
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Yup. Would have made for a fantastic limited series. 8-12 episodes, and not on cable TV, but on some venue where they allow you to show the darker things that happened in that book.
Why not cable? Things can get as dark as they want on HBO/Cinemax, FX, AMC, Showtime, etc...
Yeah I think he meant not on network tv
Ah, that makes more sense.
Absolutely. A lot of time I wasted that I'll never get back. 1st season was good.
Really? The jury's still out for me since we're only half way through, but I'm not enjoying it nearly as much as I had hoped. If it were longer than eight episodes, I probably wouldn't still be watching. I think I still prefer The Langoliers, The Shining, and The Stand, although I haven't watched some of those in close to 20 years, so maybe I'm looking at those through rose-colored glasses.
> The Langoliers I never saw The Langoliers but it is free on youtube.
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The Tommyknockers. I thought the book was one of King's weaker books, and the mini-series I don't remember improving it much. I mostly remember Traci Lords being out of her acting depth in that one, although she sure looked good.
I'll give you the Langoliers, primarily for nostalgia. I think 11.22.63 would have been more intriguing to me than the langoliers as a kid, but that show still scared the shit out of me and gave me nightmares. Not trying to Throw Shade on the Langoliers, of course. They have that covered. Rimshot. (with edits)
I'm pretty disappointed with the show to be honest. However, I'm pretty disappointed with most of King's film adaptations. I mean, most of his books are written pretty vividly with detail. They could easily be a straight film adaptation. Unfortunately, whoever is in control of the creative process inevitability chooses to piss all over the source material.
I loved the first two episodes but then he got the partner and I was doing the 'ehhhh maybe I can deal with this' and then the partner starts talking with Maria and I had to give up :(
These are the exact same things that are giving me second thoughts about the show. I mean, I'm obviously going to see it through to the end. But they just keep adding plot lines that I don't really see as helpful/necessary, and removing plot lines from the book that I thought were important.
What pisses me off is that they used the excuse of "there's not enough time" to omit things from the book, then they go and stuff the show with irrelevant garbage. When I have more time I'll find the interview that I'm referring to.
Yup. I've posted the same thing repeatedly. I also have posted that the constant refrain of "they can't fit the whole book in the show" is a rude and dismissive way to belittle some very valid opinions about the way the book has been changed.
It wouldn't have even been that hard, although I would have made it two ten episode seasons. In one of the interviews, the show runner actually stated that Hulu told her the show could be as long or as short as she felt it needed to be. Season 1: "Time - Itsa changin" Episode 1: "Another time" - Exposition with Al ending with arrival in Derry. Episode 2: "Derry" - Arrival in Derry ending with the bayonet. Episode 3: "Halloween" - Jake and Bill's dialogue ending with going back through the rabbit hole to 1958. Episode 4: "Derry Take 2" - Speed run from 1958 to the cabin. Episode 5: ”Cribbage" - Cabin ending on the road to Florida. Episode 6: "Florida" - All the events in Florida ending with the house burning down. Episode 7: "Arrival" - Arrival in Dallas ending on the road to... Episode 8: "Jodie" - Arrival in Jodie ending with "I'd like you to meet someone". Episode 9: "Sadie" - picks up right where the previous episode left off ending with the phone call after the dance. Episode 10: ”Of Mice And..." - Season 1 ends with the play. Season 2: "Obdurate" Episode 11: "New Year's Eve" Episode 12: "The Accident" Episode 13: "Benefit" Episode 14: "Reno" Episode 15: "Bay of Pigs" Episode 16: "Clayton" The rest will be two hour episodes. Episode 17: "Benefit Take 2/Case" - Two hour episode. First hour: Sadie in the hospital/Sadie's Benefit. Second hour: The fight and the beating. Ends with Jake passing out in the street. Episode 18: "Memories/11/21/63" Episode 19: "11/22/63/JFK" Episode 20: "Repercussions/Sacrifice"
Wow. Knowing that Hulu gave them the option of a longer show and she shortened it and butchered it anyway ... that just makes me sad. And I love your breakout of the 2 season version. Although I might have ended season 1 with a cliff-hanger of a sorts the phone call ... and then pick up with Season 2 and "Of Mice And ..."
Yeah, it's really infuriating: "I think the fact that I got to make it a series was a big deal, and I had a lot of freedom given to me by Bad Robot and Warner Bros and Hulu. They all said, take as much time as you need. However long it needs to be—it can be 12 hours, it can be whatever you want. And, so, at first, I was like, OK, it’s going to be this and it’s going to move really fast and it’s going to be four hours. And then I went away for a while and came back and was like, I think it’s going to be six hours. Then I went away again and I was like, I know it’s nine. That’s where we’ll stop—it’s nine. I actually was willing to do some heavy chopping to start with and then the more I dug into it, the more I thought I wanted to give everything its due but I always want to keep a pace." She also wanted to cut Harry out completely: "At that point, shaping the story's architecture becomes a little like cooking: You add a little bit here, subtract a little bit there. I admit that for a short time at the start, I was advocating to cut Jake's janitor friend, Harry Dunning -- I was worried that viewers would be saying "get to 1963!" But my co-executive producer Kathy Lingg questioned that idea so strongly, so passionately, I thought, OK, I'll go back to the book and figure out how to keep him. Which I'm very glad that I did, because the episode that focuses on Harry's backstory is one of my favorites" [Source](http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-hulu-11-22-63-bridget-carpenter-showrunner-20160215-story.html) She also didn't bother watching previous King miniseries prior to starting 11/22/63: Stephen King material does really well as a miniseries, like It and The Stand, even Under the Dome. Was that instrumental in giving you guys the confidence or clout to take 11.22.63 out as a miniseries? You know, I am going to confess that I have seen none of those. I saw It many years ago and I loved it. It was frightening but I have not seen The Stand. I didn’t see Under the Dome so I have nothing to compare it to in that way. I would say that I just have confidence, and I think everybody just had confidence in the material period. I think that they would have been open to making it open-ended, but I think that the story has such a definitive ending, I thought it would be most satisfying dramatically to go, “and we are done.” [Source](http://www.slashfilm.com/11-22-63-bridget-carpenter-interview/) That might not seem like a big deal, but by not doing that she failed to see what worked and what didn't work with those.
Why the hell would she ever even have considered 4 hours? OMG, I'm going to go bang my head on a wall now.
I am so happy and sad you solved this mystery for me. I have been ruminating on how the fuck did they fuck this production up so badly. Why is Bill impregnating Marina? What the fuck? Wait... Bridget Carpenter is shit filmmaker. Everything makes sense now. This is so infuriating to read this blahzay blah attitude towards production. CUT HARRY DUNNG? ARE YOU FUCKING MENTAL? I will try my best to finish the series. But the name Bridget Carpenter is on my shit list now. She had a chance to win a fucking Emmy right here. TO think Jonathan Demme had this in his hands and didn't get to do it.
I get what you're saying, but the reason I went the way I did was to make season 1 upbeat and full of promise, so that season 2 starts with shit hitting the fan. The play is really the peak of everything happy in the book, and after that things go down hill quick. For a cliff hanger, I would maybe do a post credits scene showing Miz Ellie at her desk on the phone. She hangs up and the camera pans up and zooms to the desktop. The final shot of the season is of George's diploma and references.
Oooh .. ok. I get that. Yeah. I can see that working well.
I liked the resets in the book, but I think people might get bored seeing some of the same things over again in a tv show. Maybe not, though, but I just get the feeling it would grow old quickly.
Cribbage, Flordia, Arrival, Jodie, Sadie, Ep 10 would be really really boring television episodes
Beauty is, they could have been as long or as short as the screenwriter wanted. These could have been simple 25-35 minute episodes. No need to go for 45-60 minutes. Just another way of giving more screentime for Jake's personality.
I might come back to it once it ends but for now I'm too annoyed with it. I didn't have high hopes until I saw the first two episodes and then I got a little too excited and now been let down badly.
I liked the book, but I can also enjoy tuning in to this each week to see how the differences in this story unfold. For example: reading Game of Thrones ruined the Red Wedding episode for me. It was a shock when reading but the episode was just spent waiting to see my husband's reaction. If 11/22/63 was 100% word-for-word it would probably lose some sparkle, as you know what is around every corner. Just my opinion.
Yeah. I"m pretty done with it. There have been some fantastic movie and TV adaptations of some of King's stuff ... this isn't one of them.
If the ending stays loyal to the book the last 2 episodes should pay off nicely.
I disagree. They took all of the heart out from the show. You could feel the love and the deep connections between the characters in the book. In the show, it's basically, "you're divorced now? Awesome! Let's bang! Oh, yeah, I'm into some weird stuff, but you don't need to worry about it. Let's hope time doesn't fuck with us via the yellow card man." Even if they stay true to the ending, it won't matter because we won't really feel the sacrifice he has to make.
Yup. At this point the ending can't be loyal to the book. Because the end of the book details Jake's emotional anguish and the decision he has to make - and that emotional anguish won't be nearly as deep or moving because the relationships are fucked.
Hence why the book opened with "I've never been a crying man." Sets up the whole theme of the book. The man has an emotional journey.
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Please... do tell.
Go to 42:15. He says "These are for you", and gives her flowers. And then he hands her a box of chocolates. His next words are "People, people want to think that, that's what life is like"....etc... A box of chocolates. Turn on captions might help.
So I'm watching it now, and stopped at that scene exactly, came to Reddit angry because he starts crying. HE DOESNT CRY YET. Sorry if this seems random. I'm upset about that. I've enjoyed the series so far, but that made me upset.
Not that Rose Red was an adaptation, really, but it will always be my favorite mini series. I looked forward to being scared each week.
The writers of this version of the story completely wrecked the book version. I honestly couldn't imagine that King is happy with this... So far they've completely made up scenes and completely changed several characters. I get that not everything in a book is easily translatable to film/TV, but come on. Bill is NOT a main character in the novel and apparently the Dunnings moved from Maine to Kentucky somewhere in there writer's room. There are so many inconsistencies between this and the book so far that the only thing they share is the title.
I just started watching this and I was like, wtf Kentucky? Then I was like, WTF he's white? For some reason I always thought he was black in book even though I don't remember it specifically saying that.
I would say the production value and acting is probably the highest I've seen in a King series. My favorite is Storm of The Century.
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> so superficial it misses the point the story is telling ("he's supposed to be friends with Deke! whaa" The relationship between Deke, Mimi, Jake, and Sadie is one of the core elements of the story. It is EXACTLY the "point the story is telling". If you don't get that and you think that's superficial and not important, then you obviously don't get the book at all.
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1 - Jake's relationship with Deke and Mimi ARE essential. They are the ones who support his relationship with Sadie among other things which I won't go into because they're spoilers. Short version is that their love and support is a huge part of what makes Jake have the realizations he has and take the actions he does. And what makes the decision he makes so bittersweet. 2 - You don't even have to "explore" the friendships, but drastically changing it so that Deke actively dislikes Jake and Mimi gives him the cold shoulder completely changes the whole story (as well as helping to make all of the characters completely unlikable - which is the exact opposite of the book). 3 - Without the human element and the relationship of the 4, all this is, is a story of how some guy goes into the past and tries to prevent an assassination, with a token romantic interest thrown in for female appeal. It's not Stephen King's story. If you consider that to be "superficial" then, as I said, you didn't get the book at all.
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*sigh* And once again the dismissive "there's not enough time" argument. You don't necessarily have to "flesh out" the characters but you could at least not make Deke so scornful of Jake and his relationship with Sadie or have Mimi give him the cold shoulder for kissing Sadie - which is exactly the OPPOSITE of what happens in the book, where Mimi practically throws them together and Deke tells him about the motel where they can go together. But whatever. You consider the relationships "superficial" and not important, anyway. So .. eh.