Dead Zone Trivia

There was a Dead Zone pilot that was used to sell the series but UPN turned it down and the pilot never aired. Luckily, for fans, the USA network decided to pick it up.

The Dead Zone TV show was loosely based on a 1979 novel written by author, "Stephen King" and on a 1983 film of the same title starring Christopher Walken.

Michael Moriarty ("Law and Order") played the role of Reverend Purdy in the unaired pilot and Kendall Cross played the role of Dana Bright.

There was a drum and wall painting in episode #12, "Shaman" that looked exactly like the casino logo used later in episode #23, "Dead Men Tell No Tales".
Anthony Michael Hall is the only cast member to have appeared in every single episode. Anthony was one of the nine original members of the "brat pack" in the 1980s, along with Demi Moore, Rob Lowe, Molly Ringwald, Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Mare Winningham, Andrew McCarthy, James Spader, John Cusack and Ally Sheedy. He was the youngest cast member ever on the series, "Saturday Night Live".

Johnny Smith's cane also appeared in the 1994 TV miniseries, "The Stand". It also was used in the 1999 TV miniseries, "Storm of the Century". The head of the cane was changed, however.

You might remember Nicole de Boer as Ezri Dax on the series, "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine". Some, however, feel her biggest contribution to date was in a starring role in the sci-fi movie, "Cube". The movie was about a group of people who wake up and find themselves in an enclosed area with several other people and they have no idea how they got there. The movie deserved better promotion than it got.

The Best Movie Adaption of a Stephen King Novel

I loved The Dead Zone for a lot of reasons:

One, Christopher Walken gets to play a very sympathetic character and really makes it work. Even when Walken is playing a total maniac, you still like the guy.

Two, this is probably the best adaption of a Stephen King book to hit the screen. 'SALEM'S LOT was a TV movie that looked like a TV movie, and THE SHINING was the best-looking but least-scariest horror film ever. The rest are just a mess. Ironically, the worst screenplay adaption was, in my opinion, done by Mr. King himself: PET SEMETARY was an ugly hack job of one of his finest novels!

Three, Director David Cronenberg did a great job directing (and probably restraining himself!). By having Johnny Smith's visions hit him in violent jump-cuts instead of the dream-like pages of the novel, the movie really gives a visual edge to the dead zones.

Four, the rest of the cast is fun to watch, from Herbert Lom to Tom Skerritt to Anthony Zerbe.

And Five, the maniacal would-be president played by a frothing Martin Sheen is probably closer to his real personality than the one he plays on "The West Wing."