IT (Tommy Lee Wallace, 1990, USA)
IT is Tommy Lee Wallace’s quintessential 2-part 1990 ABC miniseries. Noteworthy not only in the history of horror but also in the history of the TV miniseries as a genre, the ratings success of IT launched a series of major TV adaptations of Stephen King works throughout the 1990s, including The Stand , The Shining , The Langoliers , and many others. IT proved the model was possible, in an era when horror - particularly horror involving children - on mainstream television was rather unheard of. The production history of IT is as storied as a Hollywood production. Originally, George A. Romero of Night of the Living Dead fame, was set to adapt, but he lost interest when a multi-episode version was to be condensed into a shorter version. Director Tommy Lee Wallace (once John Carpenter’s right-hand man) and screenwriter Lawrence D. Cohen (who wrote Carrie ) came to disagreements about the second act in particular, which was subject to many revisions by Wallace. As with the Muschietti ad...
