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Created by the father-son team of Michael and Shawn Piller, "The Dead Zone," based on Stephen King's novel of the same name, focuses on teacher Johnny Smith (Anthony Michael Hall), who awakened from a six-year coma with psychic powers.
Over three seasons, Johnny has used his powerful visions -- triggered most often by touching people or objects -- to solve mysteries, find missing people and even, in one episode, track terrorists for the government.
At the same time, Johnny deals with his ever-increasing fame, or notoriety, and with the personal cost of having awakened to realize his fiancee, Sarah (Nicole de Boer), had married local sheriff Walt Bannerman (Chris Bruno) and was raising Johnny's son, J.J. (Spencer Achtymichuk), as a Bannerman.
Other people in Johnny's life are his former physical therapist and close pal, Bruce Lewis (John L. Adams), and Rev. Gene Purdy (David Ogden Stiers), a powerful preacher with ambitions for Johnny and legal problems of his own.
Ironically, since the merger of Universal Television and NBC, "Medium" and "The Dead Zone" are corporate siblings.
"I don't know how I feel about [the success of 'Medium']," says Lloyd Segan, executive producer of "The Dead Zone." "It's a question often asked, and I never have a good answer for it. I'm thrilled for them, because any television show that succeeds as well they have is terrific. But there's a part of me that goes, 'Gee, they're getting all these accolades when we've been doing it for so long. What, we're the orphan child?'"
"I'll be a company guy for a second here," Hall says. "We're all under the same umbrella. This is America. There's room for everybody, right?"
Anyone visiting the show's official site at www.usanetwork.com can download this season's "bible," created by Michael Piller as a guide for writers pitching script ideas. It outlines just what Johnny's powers are and, more importantly, aren't ("No ghosts," "No exorcisms," "No magic" etc.).
Piller, who worked on three "Star Trek" sequels, beginning with "The Next Generation," also reveals what he considers a key story element.
"My favorite kind of stories," Piller writes, "explore what it's like to be Johnny Smith -- what it's like to live with these powers, the moral and ethical dilemmas a psychic might face ... ."
The biggest moral dilemma facing Johnny concerns Bible salesman-turned-politician Greg Stillson (Sean Patrick Flanery), a character from King's novel. In the book, Johnny turns assassin when a vision convinces him that Stillson will one day be responsible for a nuclear holocaust.
The same is true in the series, but in the serialized nature of television, Johnny's violence becomes more of a long-simmering obsession. The situation turned explosive in last season's cliffhanger, when Johnny's girlfriend, Rebecca Caldwell (Sarah Wynter), became convinced that Stillson murdered her sister. Also knowing about Johnny's visions of destruction, Sarah headed to Washington, D.C., to take him out.
In the season premiere, Johnny fights fate and a future version of himself to stop Rebecca from committing murder and being killed herself.
"This season," Segan says, "we amp up the Armageddon story. Greg Stillson comes back in a roar."
"The Stillson arc," Hall says, "leads to a Chappaquiddick-type episode. Unlike Chappaquiddick, the female character will survive." Chappaquiddick was a 1969 incident in which now-U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy drove off a Massachusetts bridge, which resulted in the drowning of passenger Mary Jo Kopechne.
According to Hall, Stillson is headed "toward the White House. I don't know if it's vice presidential or what."
Other story lines involve a female psychic (Jennifer Finnigan); a visit by Sarah's father (Ed Asner); the return of journalist Dana Bright (Kristen Dalton), whose investigation of Johnny turned into a love affair; and an appearance by Danny Masterson ("That '70s Show").
There's also a look into the history of Johnny's seldom-mentioned father.
"I'll let you wait," Hall says about that. "It's a powerful episode."
The show is filming 22 episodes to be split into two 11-episode summer runs. In between, says Segan, there's a holiday surprise for fans of "The Dead Zone" and USA's mystery series "Monk."
"This year, USA came to us and said, 'We'd really like to do a Christmas episode.' So 'Monk' is doing one, and 'The Dead Zone,' and they're going to run them on the same night in December."
It is puzzling to me that King - at least to my knowledge - has never commented on the series. It is so well done that King would be gratified to see such a successful adaptation of one of his works.
Now you can get a complete wrap-up of Broken Circle, the season premiere of The Dead Zone on their official site and here is a description of this week’s episode, The Collector:
This week, Johnny's visions of a young girl's abduction lead him on a life-and-death race to find "the Collector" - a disturbed man who kidnaps young women and attempts to indoctrinate them to be their most "perfect self." It's a race against time to save an innocent girl before the kidnapping spirals into murder.
Lilja
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http://www.Liljas-Library.com
USA Network kicked off the fourth season of its hit supernatural thriller The Dead Zone Sunday (10 p.m. ET/PT). And to help new viewers catch up, Lions Gate has just released the DVD of Zone's third season.
The first episode drew 3.5 million viewers, just above last season's average. USA has ordered 22 new episodes to air this summer and next.
Dead Zone- based on characters from the Stephen King best seller - focuses on the paranormal powers of Smith, who awakened from a six-year coma with the ability to see into the past and future through visions triggered by touch.
Smith is played by Anthony Michael Hall, 37, the former brat-packer who was a teen fave in The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles and Weird Science. The Dead Zone, he says, "has transformed my career."
Woven throughout the series has been the ongoing mystery surrounding Smith and a young congressman named Greg Stillson (Sean Patrick Flanery). Johnny foresees Stillson as being involved in Armageddon.
That story line continues this season, says Hall, who adds that viewers can expect him to become involved with a woman who has psychic abilities of her own. Ed Asner and Danny Masterson will guest star, he says.
Since its healthy first season, which averaged more than 4 million viewers a week, the show has been considered a cult hit. A TV trend toward the eerie has followed, with last season's surprise NBC hit Medium and USA's own The 4400 joining Dead Zone on Sundays.
The Dead Zone's "curiosity factor is huge," Hall says. The goal: "We have these three H's - humor, heart and horror." Whether it's science fiction or a supernatural thriller (as he prefers to describe the show) doesn't matter, Hall says. "The heart is the key thing."
It was great to see it again, though--I missed
that show. Glad it's back.
Thanks for the info.