Posted by Jonathan Klotz | Published
Throw a rock and you'll hit Stephen King. Welcome to Derry, The Shining, IT, Carrie, Sadness, Red Rosethere are over 80 films alone, and nearly as many television shows. It is understandable that some may fall through the cracks. State Hospital is a unique story as it is adapted from a Dutch series, The Kingdom by Lars von Trier, but the version that aired on ABC in 2004 was developed by King. You can tell because now a hospital with criminals is located in Maine, or rather, you couldn't tell, if they broadcast it anywhere.
State Hospital By Stephen King Working In Trauma
Another clue that Stephen King was involved is the addition of the story of Peter Rickman (Jack Coleman, you know him from Heroes), an artist trapped in a coma following a car accident. Unconscious, Rickman is trapped between the world of the living and the dead, which turns out to be the heavily haunted State Hospital. King was only a few years removed from the horrific accident that nearly killed him, and you can tell he's still working through the trauma.
The king has finished State Hospital near the well. There are secret societies, dark history connected to the world in which the hospital is built, and many medical scenes that would seem common in any hospital drama. There are hook ups, or rather attempts, it turns out that the cold doesn't make a great dinner date, white collar crime, work jealousy, everything found in a medical drama, but there are also headless corpses, a monster demon, and a world-ending disaster that must be stopped.
This series has only 13 episodes, and it tells a complete story. State Hospital it wouldn't be a continuous series. That's a good thing considering the uneven tone of the show that feels like it's missing something. There aren't enough jokes despite the offbeat set-up, and there's never enough scares even with a lot of horror. Sticking to the middle it's an excellent series that is completely unremarkable.
Creative Swing And A Lady
Considering the quality of some of Stephen King's adaptations, it is surprising to put it above about a dozen of the worst, but watch. State Hospital it will make you think that everything, from the story to the gameplay, is a little off. Audiences at the time thought the same, with the pilot starting off with anemic ratings before the entire series was delayed due to the NBA Finals, resulting in a lame end to the Summer soap.
State Hospital tone and movement are not supported and there is not much need for online series these days. At least it tried something different. Layering supernatural madness on top of staid medical drama is a formula that should work. The biggest problem behind the series was not Stephen King, a man who often pushes forward with ideas whenever possible, but the network: ABC. Network television only lets you get away with so much, and in this case, it wasn't enough.
State Hospital it is available on out-of-print DVD, but not available on all streaming services due to its complex production. Lars Von Trier owns part of it, there are many companies and international broadcasting rights involved, all that even before trying to clear the barriers to obtaining music licenses. If it is available again, remove 10 hours from the schedule and indulge. A creative miss will always be funnier than some creative or derivative procedural genius we've seen hundreds of times.
