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King of the Road - Entertainment Weekly
06 May 1994
Stephen King creates ''The Stand'' miniseries -- Sixteen years after it's publication, the renown author finally brings his end-of-the-world story to TV In a control room at the Utah Power & Light Company in Salt Lake City, labels like main generator 1 and primary fuel pump 10 mark panels of dials and flashing lights. But shock god Stephen King is the most powerful force in the gleaming chamber, which this Monday morning in March 1993 serves as the set for the ABC miniseries based on his doomsday novel, The Stand.
''Wanna hear a joke I made up?'' the megamillion-selling author asks.
Sure, Steve.
''What do you call canned fruit in Jell-O?''
He pauses and grins puckishly. ''Mormon soul food.'' He shambles off, chuckling and sipping his coffee.
Welcome to Salt Lake City, one of the blandest places on earth. ''The first day I was in Salt Lake City, I was wandering in a mall and found myself moving in time to 'Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head,' and I knew that I was in trouble,'' says Matt Frewer (Max Headroom), who plays a schizoid pyromaniac known as Trashcan Man. ''Everybody had this benign smile on their faces, but if you looked a little beyond that, you could see that my-brother's-my-cousin thing going on.''
Salt Lake City may seem too genial a setting for horrormonger King, but The Stand, airing May 8-12, is no mundane tale of terror. It's the eight-hour saga of a ''superflu'' virus that wipes out most of the world's population. The survivors split into two camps: the good folks, who congregate with 106-year-old Mother Abagail (Ruby Dee) in Boulder, Colo. (which Salt Lake City subs for), and the evil ones, who are drawn to devilish despot Randall Flagg (Jamey Sheridan) in Las Vegas.
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