First off, let me say I read the book by Stephen King, AND I saw the original movie with Christopher Walken. Book gets a 10, Walken movie gets a 9, this series gets a 7 bordering on 8, totally due to shortcomings in the continuity and plot resolution. WARNING SPOILERS FOLLOW: For one, I see no excuse for replacing the actor who played JJ in the final season of only 13 episodes. I also see ZERO reason for killing off Walt. And perhaps WORST of all, the last episode titled DENOUEMENT provides anything BUT resolution, leaving the ultimate question of the series as to "How will Johnny avert Armageddon?" totally up in the air. This series reminds me of the XFILES in that it truly SHINES when it serves up an independent episode with its own inherent plot rather than meandering down the soap opera of conspiracy and Armageddon which becomes increasingly convoluted as the seasons progress. There are several episodes in the series which I would give a ZERO if I could, most notably the series FINALE which resolves NOTHING, and the idiotic episode where the US government uses Johnny to fight terrorists, and the obligatory major yawn of a boxing episode. But thankfully there are MORE episodes which deserve a 10 in their own right, than there are duds. I give a special tip of the hat to ANTHONY MICHAEL HALL who truly shines as Johnny. At the beginning I thought it might be difficult to get the image of that elephant lamp out of my head from THE BREAKFAST CLUB, but Mr. Hall proved he has range as an actor. Also a much appreciated bonus in the eye candy category when Jennifer Finnegan shows up as an occasional guest star starting in Season 4. THE DEAD ZONE is another example of a show which ended far too soon. Truly an IDEAL premise for a TV series. I will NEVER begin to understand how NFL football can be around until the end of time but a great series like this only runs for 6 seasons, and only half seasons at that.
Review of The Dead Zone
