The Dead Zone (TV series)

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The Dead Zone
Genre	science fiction/suspense
Running time	approx. 45 minutes
Creator(s)	Michael Piller Shawn Piller
Starring	Anthony Michael Hall Nicole DeBoer Chris Bruno John L. Adams
Country of origin	United States
Original channel	USA Network
Original run	June 16, 2002–present
No. of episodes	67
IMDb profile

The Dead Zone is an American science fiction/suspense series starring Anthony Michael Hall as Johnny Smith, who discovers he has developed psychic abilities after a coma. The show, credited as "based on characters" from Stephen King's 1979 novel The Dead Zone, first aired in 2002 and is produced by Lions Gate Television and CBS Paramount Television for the USA Network. Season 5 of the series started airing June 18, 2006.

The series is filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast and Characters 3 Character Descriptions 4 Episodes 4.1 Season 1 4.2 Season 2 4.3 Season 3 4.4 Season 4 4.5 Season 5 5 Notes and Trivia 5.1 Deviations from King's novel 6 External links

[edit] Plot

Small-town teacher Johnny Smith is involved in a car accident that leaves him comatose for six years. After regaining consciousness, Johnny begins having visions of the past and future triggered by touching items or people; doctors attribute the visions to activity in a previously unused "dead zone" of his brain that is attempting to compensate for the impaired function of the portions injured in the accident. Johnny also learns that his fiancée, Sarah, gave birth to his son in the interim following the accident, but has since married another man.

With the help of Sarah, her husband Walt, and physical therapist Bruce, Johnny begins using his abilities to help solve crimes. However, his attempts to do good are complicated by intermittent visions of apocalyptic events brought about following the future election of congressional candidate Greg Stillson.

[edit] Cast and Characters

• Anthony Michael Hall - Johnny Smith
• Nicole DeBoer - Sarah Bracknell Bannerman
• Chris Bruno - Sheriff Walt Bannerman
• John L. Adams - Bruce Lewis
• David Ogden Stiers - Rev. Gene Purdy
• Kristen Dalton - Dana Bright
• Sean Patrick Flanery - Greg Stillson
• Bill Mondy - Deputy Roscoe
• Spencer Achtymichuk - Johnny 'JJ' Bannerman
• Martin Donovan - Malcolm Janus
• Frank Whaley - Christopher Wey
• Sarah Wynter - Rebecca Caldwell
• Jennifer Finnigan - Alex Sinclair

[edit] Character Descriptions

• Johnny Smith is a retired schoolteacher who, as a result of a car accident, has developed psychic abilities. He is played by Anthony Michael Hall. An encounter with a carnival trickster in the first episode (before the car accident) makes it clear Johnny already has some psychic abilities. However, after the coma, their nature changes from intuition to visions, the latter requiring urgent action, even when personally inconvenient, whereas earlier he only uses his ability on a carnival trickster to amuse his date (Sarah Bracknell).

• Sarah Bracknell Bannerman is Johnny's former fiancée and the mother of his biological son, J.J.; she married Walt Bannerman during Johnny's coma, and the two are raising the child together. Sarah is played by Nicole DeBoer.

• Sheriff Walt Bannerman The relationship between Johnny and Walt is initially very rocky, as Johnny often feels that Walt stole Sarah from him. However, since then as Johnny displays his powers more and more often in law enforcement situations, Johnny becomes an asset to Walt and the two become friends. The name Walt Bannerman is a combination between the name George Bannerman and Walt Hazlett. George Bannerman was the sheriff in the book, and Walt Hazlett was the man Sarah married, so the show took the first name of her real husband and the last name of the Sheriff, and that produced the husband's name. Walt is played by Chris Bruno.

• Bruce Lewis is a physiotherapist who helps Johnny regain his strength after his coma. Bruce is an open-minded spiritual junkie as a result of a religious upbringing by his pastor father; he is Johnny's best friend and frequently his voice of reason, and may very well be the reason for the divergence in this series when compared to the novel or 1983 movie (Johnny never tried to kill Greg Stillson before the election). Bruce is played by John L. Adams.

• Rev. Gene Purdy is another original character in the series, a religious leader and head of a prestigious university and foundations funded by Vera Smith, Johnny's mother. Johnny always speculated that Purdy's interest in Vera was for financial gain; however, his powers allow him to discover that Purdy had been in love with her for more than 35 years. Upon Vera's suicide over the grief of the loss of her son, Purdy covered up the incident and made everyone believe she died of a heart attack, thus preserving her dignity in the public eye. Purdy has long been involved with somewhat shady dealings, but is always in the constant service of God. His devotion sometimes clouds his judgment and has even gone as far as to cover up a murder to protect better interests. Rev. Purdy is played by David Ogden Stiers.

• Dana Bright was a journalist for the Bangor Daily Times. She covered much of Johnny's early work and later became romantically linked with him; she was also in a relationship with Gene Purdy. Dana left the show for some time and her absence was not explained until the 4th episode of the 5th season, "Articles of Faith". Because of her coverage of Johnny, she was able to move on up to reporting for a Boston television station, choosing her career ambitions above her increasingly complex relationship with Johnny. At the end of that episode when she leaves, it is shown that both harbor, to some degree, feelings for each other. Whether she will appear again in the future is unknown. She is played by Kristen Dalton.

• Greg Stillson is a mentally unstable politician who has taken many illegal steps to secure an election. Upon meeting with Johnny Smith, it became clear that he would become responsible for an apocalyptic event that Johnny has seen in his visions and is trying to prevent. Greg is played by Sean Patrick Flanery.

• Deputy Roscoe works for Walt. He is usually first on the scene and very dependable. He is played by Bill Mondy.

• Johnny "J.J." Bannerman is the biological son of Johnny and Sarah. Sarah was pregnant when Johnny had his accident and she ultimately married Walt Bannerman, who raised J.J. as his own son. As of the third season, Walt and Sarah have told J.J. that Johnny is his real father, and Johnny has taken on more fatherly duties. J.J. is played by Spencer Achtymichuk.

• Malcolm Janus is an power-broker who believes that Greg Stillson is "destined for great things." His ultimate goal is to place Stillson in the White House. He also gave Rev. Purdy a global sphere of influence, in return for financial support of Stillson's campaigns. He is apparently a member of the Illuminati, as he wears a ring with their symbol. Janus is played by Martin Donovan.

• Christopher Wey is a man from the future who has been comatose since 2003. He wakes after the apocalypse to discover that he has a "dead zone" similar to Johnny's, and that he can communicate with the present-day Johnny when both are in contact with the head of his cane. He is revealed to be in legion with a future Johnny Smith and J.J. Wey is played by Frank Whaley.

• Rebecca Caldwell is a child psychiatrist who met Johnny during his investigation of the murder of her sister Rachel. She has since become his girlfriend and at one point in time, found out that Greg Stillson may have been responsible for her sister's murder and will be responsible for the upcoming apocalypse. As of the third-season finale she has purchased a gun in an attempt to assassinate Stillson. She was stopped by Johnny and discovered that Stillson did not kill Rachel. She left Johnny, seeking to sort things out for herself. She is played by Sarah Wynter.

• Alex Sinclair is a female psychic who discovered her "dead zone" when she was stung by a swarm of bees (presumably "killer bees") as a child and became hyper-allergic to bee stings and products. She first appears in the fourth season episode "Double Vision" where she and Johnny track down a sniper together. At the end of the episode, it's clear that she and Johnny have developed feelings for each other but she decides that she's not ready to pursue the relationship. She does later appear in the fourth season Christmas episode "A Very Dead Zone Christmas" where the idea of her and Johnny getting together is further explored. Alex is played by Jennifer Finnigan.

[edit] Episodes

[edit] Season 1

0. Unaired Pilot

1. Wheel of Fortune (1)
2. What It Seems (2)
3. Quality of Life
4. Enigma
5. Unreasonable Doubt
6. The House
7. Enemy Mind
8. Netherworld
9. The Siege
10. Here There Be Monsters
11. Dinner with Dana
12. Shaman
13. Destiny

[edit] Season 2

1. Valley of the Shadow
2. Descent (1)
3. Ascent (2)
4. The Outsider
5. Precipitate
6. Scars
7. Misbegotten
8. Cabin Pressure
9. The Man Who Never Was
10. Dead Men Tell Tales
11. Playing God
12. Zion
13. The Storm
14. Plague
15. Deja Voodoo
16. The Hunt
17. The Mountain
18. The Combination
19. Visions

[edit] Season 3

1. Finding Rachel (1)
2. Finding Rachel (2)
3. Collision
4. The Cold Hard Truth
5. Total Awareness
6. No Questions Asked
7. Looking Glass
8. Speak Now
9. Cycle of Violence
10. Instincts
11. Shadows
12. Tipping Point (1)

[edit] Season 4

1. Broken Circle (2) (Formerly known as "Tipping Point (2)")
2. The Collector (1)
3. Double Vision
4. Still Life
5. Heroes & Demons
6. The Last Goodbye
7. Grains of Sand
8. Vanguard
9. Babble On
10. Coming Home
11. Saved
12. A Very Dead Zone Christmas (holiday special)

[edit] Season 5

1. Forbidden Fruit
2. Independence Day
3. Panic
4. Articles of Faith
5. The Inside Man
6. Lotto Fever
7. Symmetry
8. Vortex
9. Revelations
10. Into the Heart of Darkness (2)
11. The Hunting Party

[edit] Notes and Trivia

• The Sony Playstation 2 game Ratchet: Deadlocked was referenced in Season 4's holiday special (fittingly, it is the fourth game in the series).
• Anthony Michael Hall was cast after executive producer Michael Piller saw his performance in Pirates of Silicon Valley.
• The cane Johnny uses previously appeared (with a different head) in two other King adaptations; it was carried by Stu Redman in The Stand and by Andre Linoge in Storm of the Century.
• It is suggested that Bruce's friendship with Johnny in the series is a key factor to many of the changes from the original book and movie. In the second-season episode "Zion", Bruce has a vision of an alternate reality where he chose another career path and did not help Johnny recover after he woke from his coma. In this reality Johnny tries to kill Greg Stillson just as he does in the original book and movie.
• The season 4 episode "Babble On" leads viewers to believe that Johnny's father had similar visions, which eventually resulted in his being institutionalized. However, by the end of the episode, it is revealed that a young Johnny was the originator of the visions on which his father was acting. The pilot and the original book suggest Johnny had visions before his accident.
• References to sleep: In the pilot episode, "Wheel of Fortune," the music class practices the song "Mr. Sandman." In the same episode, Johnny and Sarah make out in his car to "Sleepwalker," a song by Santo & Johnny featured in the Stephen King movie "Sleepwalkers."
• The show's creator, Michael Piller, also co-created "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" (1993), of which Nicole DeBoer was also a cast member.
• Michael Moriarty was originally cast in the role of Reverend Eugene 'Gene' Purdy.
• Jack Nicholson is a fan of the show and was asked to play the character of Joe/Death in the episode "Ascent". Unfortunately, he was committed to promoting About Schmidt (2002) at the time.
• In a piece of quirky casting, the season two episode "Playing God" featured Ally Sheedy in a supporting role. Series star Anthony Michael Hall starred together in the 1980s John Hughes classic teen flick The Breakfast Club, portraying fellow high school students in detention. "Playing God" reunites these two actors once again as Johnny attends his high school reunion and meets up with Sheedy's character, a potential love interest of his from his high school days.
• Started originally as a pilot for UPN in the Fall of 2001 which never aired. When UPN decided not to pick the series, the cable USA network took it on.
• The cabin in the episode "The Mountain" was originally built for the film Freddy vs. Jason (2003)
• In the episode "Dead Men Tell Tales", the casino logo is the same picture as the drum and wall painting in "Shaman".
• Anthony Michael Hall is the only actor to appear in every episode.
• The theme song from Seasons 1-3 is "New Year's Prayer" by Jeff Buckley.
• The new theme song since Season 4 is "Dead Zone Epic" by "Blues Saraceno".
• The Promos for Season 4 featured the song "Brace Yourself" by Howie Day.
• The Promos For Season 5 feature the song "By My Side" by INXS.
• The first 4 seasons are available on DVD in the US, and the first 2 in Europe. In the US, the DVD rights are held by Lions Gate Home Entertainment, while Paramount Home Entertainment holds international rights.
• There are several scenes, during the opening credits, that never appear in any episode of the show.
• As of Season 5, the primary Dead Zone web site features blogs by both several of the creators, and even blogs written by Johnny himself. Each entry in Johnny's blog corresponds to the events of the last episode, giving readers insight to Johnny's feelings in the aftermath of the episodes' events.

[edit] Deviations from King's novel

• Johnny's coma is moved from the 1970s to the period 1996-2002, and is lengthened from four and a half years to six.
• Walt Bannerman is an amalgamation of two characters: the sheriff and Sarah's husband.
• Sarah's son was fathered by Johnny and raised by Walt as his son; in the book, the child is Walt's.
• Johnny's mother dies from suicide, not a stroke; his father died in a mental hospital prior to the accident. In the book, his father actually survives him and is neither crazy nor has visions.
• New characters include physical therapist Bruce Lewis, Johnny's sidekick; and the Rev. Gene Purdy, Johnny's legal guardian. Sarah and Walt also take more prominent roles, instead of leaving Johnny alone for months or years at a time.
• Though Greg Stillson is mentioned in the pilot episode (in a conversation Reverend Purdy has on the phone), he does not appear onscreen until the final episode of the first season; as of the end of Season 5, Johnny has neither shot him nor planned to do so (outside of visions).
• With the introduction of Malcolm Janus, it becomes evident that Stillson is a pawn of more sinister forces. In the novel and film, Stillson brought about the apocalypse himself in an act of self aggrandization.
• Through visions, Johnny receives help from a man (Wey) in the post-apocalyptic future. In this future, it is learned that J.J. and Johnny survive Armageddon, but Johnny has become more cold-hearted and vicious. There is nothing that parallels this in the novel.
• In the show, Johnny and Sarah's relationship is much more serious prior to the accident; they were engaged, and had been friends since early childhood. In the novel, they went to the same college, but did not actually meet until they began to teach at the same school. Johnny's accident occurred on their third date, just after Sarah had decided to make the relationship more serious.
• Johnny's abilities are somewhat different in the novel; with two notable exceptions, in the novel he does not have visions. Instead, he gets "flashes"; he just knows something, with a cold hard certainty. They are also more eerie, as when the flashes come he goes into an odd sort of trance that tends to frighten those around him and his touch when getting these flashes discomforts and alarm those he is touching. It makes him more of an outcast and more eager to deny the ability than is the case in the TV show.
• Johnny has no middle name in the novel, and is specifically refered to at least once as "Johnny-no-middle-initial-Smith"; in the episode "Vortex," Johnny gives his middle name as "Robert."

[edit] External links

• Official USA Network site
• The Dead Zone at the Internet Movie Database
• The Dead Zone on TV Squad
• French fan site about the show
• The Dead Zone TV Fansite