The Dead Zone (TV series)

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The Dead Zone
Format Science fiction/Suspense
Created by Michael Piller
Shawn Piller
Starring Anthony Michael Hall
Nicole DeBoer
Connor Price
Country of origin Flag of the United States United States
Flag of Canada Canada[1]
No. of seasons 6
No. of episodes 80 (List of episodes)
Production
Running time approx. 45 minutes
Production
company(s)		 Crescent Entertainment (2002-2007)
Dead Zone Production (2002-2007)
Lionsgate Television (2002-2007)
The Lloyd Segan Company (2002-2007)
Modern Entertainment (2002-2007)
Piller2 (2002-2007)
Paramount Television (2002-2006)
CBS Paramount Television (2006-2007)
Broadcast
Original channel USA Network
Original run June 16, 2002 – September 16, 2007
External links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

The Dead Zone was 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 6 — billed as "the season that changes everything" — premiered on June 17, 2007.

The show was originally commissioned for UPN, but the network later dropped the show and it was picked up instead by USA.[2] The series was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada for its first five seasons. For the sixth season, production jumped across the country to Montreal.[3]

After six seasons, the series was canceled in December 2007.[4]

Contents

[edit] Plot

See also: List of The Dead Zone episodes

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

The cast of The Dead Zone
The cast of The Dead Zone

[edit] Starring

[edit] Recurring Guests

[edit] Former

[edit] Characters

  • 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). Whenever he undergoes one of his visions he has shown to be capable of manipulating the time localized around the vision, allowing him to stop, slow, reverse, or forward the time relative to himself within the vision, leaving him as the only one aware of his temporal alterations within it and thus allowing him to further examine the details from the past, future, and occasionally the present.
  • Sarah Bracknell Bannerman (played by Nicole DeBoer), 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 knew Johnny when they were children, and later taught at the same school as him. Sarah's mother died when she was a teenager, which strained her relationship with her father. As of the end of season 5, Sarah is pregnant with Walt's child. At the beginning of season 6, Sarah gives birth to Walt's daughter and names her Hope.
  • 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. In the novel, George Bannerman was the sheriff, and Walt Hazlett was the man Sarah married. At the beginning of season 6 episode "Heritage", Walt is killed in a fire at Faith Heritage Chapel. However, the character continued to pop up throughout season 6 in visions, flashbacks, and even briefly as a ghost. Walt was 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). The season 1 finale even featured a vision of an alternate reality where instead of a physical therapist, Bruce was a reverend who never met Johnny after waking up from his six-years long coma. And thus, with the absence of his guidance, this version of Johnny became unstable, deranged and driven mad by his abilities. 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. At the end of the Season 6 episode "Heritage" Purdy leaves Cleaves Mills after being involved in a fire that killed Walt Bannerman and Malcolm Janus at the Faith Heritage Chapel. Rev. Purdy is played by David Ogden Stiers.
  • Dana Bright was a sexy journalist for the Bangor Daily News. 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. After the death of Malcom Janus (see below), Johnny's visions of a Stillson-created apocalypse ceased, but after some further revelations they returned at the end of the season. 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. was played by Spencer Achtymichuk (Season 1-5) and now played by Connor Price(Season 6-). In the season six episode Big Top Johnny starts to believe that J.J. has powers, but J.J. appears to be covering up his innate abilities. During the Season Six finale, J.J. has his first actual vision when he sees Armageddon during a scuffle with Greg Stillson.
  • Malcolm Janus is a 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. At the beginning of season 6 episode "Heritage", Janus is killed in self-defense by Purdy at Faith Heritage Chapel. Janus was 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 league 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.
  • Anna Turner is the new "sheriff pro tem" of Penobscot County. She is currently investigating the final unofficial case of the recently-deceased Sheriff Walt Bannerman. Anna is played by Cara Buono.

[edit] Media

[edit] Music

  • 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 "Sleep Walk" a song by Santo & Johnny , which also featured in the Stephen King movie "Sleepwalkers."
  • 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 featured the song "By My Side" by INXS.
  • The Promos for Season 6 feature the song "Touch Me" by The Doors.

[edit] DVD Releases

Lions Gate Home Entertainment has released the first 5 seasons of The Dead Zone on DVD in Region 1, while Paramount Home Entertainment has released the first 4 seasons in region 2.

DVD Name Ep # Region 1 Region 2 Additional Information
Season 1 13 June 17, 2003 January 30, 2006
  • Genesis- The creators of the series explain how The Dead Zone came to be.
  • Writing-A featurette that takes you inside meetings with the writing staff as they outline each episode.
  • Music And Special Effects- An in-depth tour of The Dead Zone's amazing visual effects.
  • Never before seen interviews with various guest stars
  • Commentary on all 13 episodes.
Season 2 19 June 8, 2004 May 1, 2006
  • Production Commentary for all 19 episodes
  • The Making of an Episode
  • Cast & Crew Interviews
  • Never-before-seen interviews with directors and guest stars
  • Deleted Scenes
  • Storyboards
Season 3 12 June 7, 2005 Feb 12, 2007
  • Commentaries for all 12 episodes
  • Featurettes: HD Conversion and Wacky Caterers
  • Deleted Scenes
  • Short Film ("Five Minutes 'Til Mitch") Directed by John L. Adams with Intro.
Season 4 12 June 13, 2006 July 23, 2007
  • The production design of The Dead Zone featurette
  • Audio commentaries
  • Deleted scenes
Season 5 11 June 5, 2007
  • The Other side of the Camera explores the directorial debut of series stars Chris Bruno and John L. Adams.
  • A Day With JLA is a guided tour of a typical day on set with series star John L. Adams.
  • Audio Commentaries
Season 6 13 June 3, 2008
  • A New Home for The Dead Zone
  • All Aboard: Filming The Dead Zone
  • Audio Commentary on 4 Episodes

[edit] References

  1. ^ 2004 3rd Directors Guild of Canada Awards. The LA Times (2005). Retrieved on 2007-01-11.
  2. ^ Forecast 2002. Entertainment Weekly (Jan 25, 2002).
  3. ^ Dead Zone Changes Scenery. SCI FI Wire (2007). Retrieved on 2007-06-15.
  4. ^ Veteran USA sci-fi shows vaporized

[edit] External links