(S01E08) While I haven't been overwhelmed by every episode of Nightmares and Dreamscapes, for the most part I think they picked decent stories to base the episodes on. I would have liked to seen more of Stephen King's older short stories represented, but I guess the producers lost my phone number or they forgot to call and ask me which stories I would have picked.

Anyway, I would not have picked "You Know They Got a Hell of a Band" as one of the stories. One of my favorite things about Stephen King's short stories is how outlandish they can be, but this one, about a couple that winds up in a small town inhabited by dead rock stars, was just silly. I thought maybe they could turn that into something kind of fun and goofy for television, but instead they played it straight, which really wasn't the best approach.

(S01E05) "The Road Virus Heads North," from Stephen King's collection Everything's Eventual, is a pretty straightforward horror tale, especially for King. That doesn't mean it's a bad story, but it seems like the kind of spooky campfire tale that would come easily to him, and this TV adaptation moves along rather quickly, just like the story itself. The living painting that chronicles the journey of the madman within it is based on an actual painting owned by King.

Tom Berenger plays a horror novelist named Richard Kinnell who lives in Derry, Maine (the same fictional town where King's novels IT and Insomnia take place). King uses part of his story to poke fun at people who ask him the same two questions over and over: Where do you get your ideas? And do you ever scare yourself? Kinnell encounters those questions when he attends a book signing where rabid fans cheer and crowd around him as if he's a rock star rather than just a writer. He has other things on his mind however, because he just received his first colonoscopy and it's possible he has cancer. On his drive back home he stops off at a yard sale and purchases a painting of a crazy-looking driver with scraggly hair driving a car across a bridge. The painting is titled "The Road Virus Heads North" (natch) and the woman who sells it to him explains that the kid who painted it was a depressed coke-addled genius who painted several other paintings much more horrific than this one, but burned them all on the front lawn before hanging himself with a chain in the garage.

Last week's winners:

1 star to corbett: "After the office Christmas party, I didn't know how to say... 'I'm sorry I gave you gonorrhea.'"
2 stars to Toby OB: "Coming soon in a DVD boxed set for 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show': the "lost" episode, in which Mary Richards declares her true feelings for Ted Baxter....."
3 stars to orimental: "Sir, these were sent by your children to be put on your grave. Where would you like me to place them?"

This week, a scene from the first episode of Nightmares & Dreamscapes:

I'm a fan of Stephen King's writing, though more specifically, I enjoy his short stories. I've read a few of King's larger works, but sometimes I just need a quick beginning-to-end read in one night, and books like 'Skeleton Crew,' 'Night Shift' and 'Nightmares & Dreamscapes' fit the bill nicely.

TNT has a new series debuting next week that pays homage to several of King's short works, titled Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King. Though the title matches that of one of King's compilations of short stories, there are episodes covering stories from other books of King's as well.

Case in point, the premiere episode, 'Battleground,' comes from King's 1978 book, 'Night Shift.' Does the episode do the 10-page story justice? Read on for my thoughts.

TNT will be premiering two new series and the season opener of another this summer without commercial interruptions. The two new shows, Saved and Nightmares and Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King, will eschew commercials for product placement and on-air promotions. Saved is being sponsored by Dodge and Quiznos, but no sponsor has been announced for Nightmares and Dreamscapes. In addition, the second season opening of The Closer, which will make up a drama block along with Saved, will also premiere sans commercials, but sponsored by Audi. AOL (which owns TV Squad) will also be integrated into the storylines of both Saved and The Closer.

The idea of a commercial-free episode is nice and all, but I'm somewhat wary of this if the "product placement" or "brand integration" or whatever you want to call it gets too out of hand and distracts from the story. I guess we'll have to wait and see if they can make it as seamless as it needs to be. If not, I'm willing to accept a few commercial breaks.

Chris also picked this story up earlier over on Ad Jab.