TVSquad

New Amsterdam, FOX's upcoming midseason drama about an immortal man living in modern day New York City, has some fans of a certain 2002 novel wondering if the plot is as distinct as the show's creators say it is.

Pete Hamill's novel, Forever, centers on a man named Cormac O'Connor who is granted eternal life and dwells in Manhattan. New Amsterdam also centers on an immortal man living in Manhattan.

Hamill does not intend to sue over the similarities, claiming the legal fees wouldn't be worth it. Still, he points out similarities between the two characters: O'Connor still bears the scar that "killed" him, and Amsterdam's body is similarly ravaged with scars; O'Connor uses his infinite time on earth to teach himself piano, and Amsterdam does the same; O'Connor must find his true love in order to find peace, and Amsterdam must also find his soul mate in order to grow old again.

As we all know, the Stephen King / Peter Straub novel The Talisman is being made into a six-part miniseries for TNT for the 2008 season.

Now TNT has told advertisers that the Stephen Spielberg-produced miniseries could also become a regular series in 2009.

The original novel, the first collaboration between King and Straub, focused on a young boy named Jack Sawyer who flips back and forth between two worlds: our world and a mystical but malevolent world known as the Territories as he attempts to secure the titular talisman that may save his dying mother. A sequel, Black House, followed many years later. Both stories also tie into King's larger Dark Tower series, which may also be developed for television.

Rumors about Steven Spielberg helming an adaptation of The Talisman, the novel by Stephen King and Peter Straub, have been circulating for almost as long as the book itself has been in print, almost three decades. Last year reports began to pop up again that a film adaptation was in the works, but still nothing. Now, however, it's official: Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy will be executive producing the six-hour adaptation for DreamWorks Television, set to air on TNT in the summer of 2008. Ehren Krueger (Arlington Road, The Ring, The Brothers Grimm) is penning the script.

The novel focuses on Jack Sawyer, a young boy who sets out on a quest to find the titular talisman, a magic artifact that may save his mother, who is dying of cancer. Jack flips back and forth between parallel worlds, his own reality and another called "the Territories." This novel, along with its sequel, 2001's Black House, also ties into King's seven-part Dark Tower series, as does a large portion of his other works.

Desperation, the ABC movie based on Stephen King's novel of the same name, will be airing opposite the American Idol finals on FOX, and King is none too happy about it. He's been touting the series on his site for awhile, claiming it's one of the best adaptations of his work. Both shows will air tomorrow night. As a gentle warning to his fans, King wrote, "Those of you who don't [watch Desperation], and watch American Idol instead...well, just remember: I have strange powers. I have been watching you all for some time through your computers. (This is actually a power conferred upon me by the Bush Administration.) I watch you when you eat, I watch you when you sleep, and I watch you when you undress. In regard to this last comment, some of you need more stylish underwear, but never mind; the point is, I will know if you watch American Idol and if something bad happens to you, it will be your own fault."

I have a love/hate relationship with Stephen King. I've read all of his early work, and all together I've probably consumed about ninety-five percent of his total output. I think The Onion's Tasha Robinson put it best when she described King as "a populist yarn-spinner of the highest order." The man writes big, weird stories and he does it well and without pretension. In a way, he's the U2 of literature, a creature often stigmatized for the crime of simply being popular. Sometimes I love him, and sometimes he lets me down. It's kind of a marriage in its own way, and even when he doesn't live up to my expectations, I still have a soft spot for the big galoot.

Translating his work to other mediums, however, is always a crap shoot at best. King's novels allow one to get inside his head, but without King guiding you along and lighting the way, what works on paper can just seem downright trite or silly on screen. With the exception of The Stand (and even that wasn't flawless) his made-for-TV movies tend to (what's the word kids use these days?) oh yeah, they "suck."

So will Desperation, the ABC movie based on his 1996 novel, be any good? When I mentioned it back in June King seemed really excited about the talent assembled for it, so I'll give it the benefit of the doubt and approach with rare optimism. It hits the airwaves on May 18 at 8 p.m.