'The Stand' CBS: In 2020, Stephen King epic falls flat

As a story of a world-gutting flu pandemic, Stephen King’s “The Stand,” whose second, superior miniseries adaptation begins Thursday on CBS All Access, could not be more timely. That a 2008 Harris poll named it America’s fifth favorite book “of all time” makes my picking up this heavy tome no more likely, given that the top ten 10 also included two novels by Dan Brown, along with “Gone With the Wind” and “Atlas Shrugged.” I will say that on its own terms it works well, and where it seems silliest it is following the map only as King drew it. Among them are the oh so good and good-looking Frannie Goldsmith and Stu Redman, characters you know even before they share a scene are destined to be together ; rejected, revengeful, nerdy creep Harold Lauder ; recovering wayward pop singer Larry Underwood ; philosophical, somewhat older guy ; Tom Cullen, self-described as “42 years old and mentally disabled,” but with, you know, heart; deaf drifter Nick Andros ; teacher with a semi-feral kid in tow Nadine ; and luckless weirdo jailbird Lloyd Henreid, headed for an executive spot in the Randall organization. Indeed, it plays it up in obvious, often cornball ways, opposing the ceaseless bump and grind of Flagg’s “New Vegas,” with its MA-14 sex and drugs and violence and, yes, rock ’n’ roll — come for the moral outrage, stay for the flimsy lingerie — with the down jackets and work boots, acoustic guitars and food-truck coffee of the Boulder Free Zone.