Stephen King is so emphatically the proverbial 800-pound gorilla that production companies are obliged not merely to place his name above that of a TV movie but also to include it as part of the title. The latest example of this presents a veritable "I dare you" to critics, who shun King generally,...

Even with Stephen King adapting his own novel, "Desperation" can't escape the curse that has hounded most of the author's made-for-TV productions, which have a peculiar tendency of starting out like gangbusters and drifting into nonsense.

During sweeps, everyone serves up death and plague. But only Stephen King really crawls under your skin.