On balance no. Too many issues and creative choices that fail to land. The non-linear narrative massively shortchanges the road trip sections of the novel, all of the Vegas centred characters are cartoonishly evil & impossible to take seriously, the omnipresent bacchanalia in the Vegas casino becomes laughable the more it goes on, entire set-pieces from the novel are either changed for the worse or missing completely Spoiler Larry & Rita’s escape from Manhattan via the tunnel, Stu’s breakout from the CDC centre , the list goes on - I’ve posted at length about them earlier in the thread. It’s not all bad though. Jovan Adepo portrays a much more nuanced and arguably better Larry Underwood, and I enjoyed Brad William Henke’s take on Tom Cullen compared to the 90s mini-series. The physical depiction of Captain Trips/Tubethroat on the infected is much more impressive than in the original series. Otherwise the 90s series bests the newer in all other areas, even with it’s own issues and limitations.
I've stated throughout this thread why it is terrible, and how it went off the rails from the jump...especially by removing all suspense by starting the damn show in Boulder. No comparison to the novel, or even the original mini-series that, while flawed, was at least watchable. I'm even more disappointment because I loved the book and was looking forward to an updated and more modern take on it (with updated effects etc). The showrunners screwed the pooch - badly.
The double chin victims was a bit laudable. They should have became zombies. also old lady / mother ..whoopie Goldberg was more scary than Flag/ Skarsgard.
I read the expanded version two years ago during the Covid lockdown. The first chapter or two was eerily similar to what was actually happening at the time. Of course, that didn't last long. I never watched the first film adaption, and I'm sure as hell never going to watch this recent one. Whoopi Goldberg as Mother Abigail? Billy Joel on the soundtrack? No thanks, sounds like my worst nightmare. Think I'll reread the book.
Lloyd’s & Trashcan Man’s characters in this were some of the worse novel to TV interpretations I’ve ever seen.
You should give the original a chance. It's not great but it is well worth watching. There's a good copy of it on YouTube.
