The
Stephen King-inspired 1983 feature film
The Dead Zone makes the transition from big screen to small in this opening episode of the TV series of the same name. Awakening from a coma six years after a car crash, teacher Johnny Smith (
Anthony Michael Hall) discovers that the world he knew has all but evaporated: His wealthy mother Vera (Anna Hagan) has died, leaving her fortune to ruthlessly ambitious televangelist Gene Purdy (
David Ogden Stiers); and his fiancée, Sarah (Nicole de Boer), has married Sheriff Walt Bannerman (Chris Bruno), who does not suspect that his son, J.J., is actually Johnny's offspring. And, oh yes: The modest gift of ESP enjoyed by Johnny before his accident has blossomed into full-fledged psychic powers, enabling him to predict people's futures and read their thoughts merely by touching them. After experiencing the first of many second-sight visions, Johnny tries to reunite a Vietnamese mother with her grown child. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide