I've always felt television was better suited to King's work that most films, if for no other reason than the sheer volume of King's work involves such condensing on the screen that even the best film can rarely do justice to it. It's telling that the best film adaptations of King are either short works (Carrie, Stand by Me, The Shawshank Redemption, tHE mIST) or movies set in a single setting (Misery, The Green Mile which was also long enough to handle the subject) Overall the miniseries has handled it better, first in the ABC adaptations of the mid 1990s t0 2000S then in the limited series we've gotten both on HBO and other forms (DirectTV did a series of Mr. Mercedes that was more than fitting).

I honestly found both mini-series (1979 and 2003) lacking; the former because it was too bound to network TV; the latter too liberal in its adaptation. It comes as little shock this version is hardly better. It's surprising because MGM+ actually managed a decent adaptations of what amounts to the prequel Chapelwaite, which was an adaptation of Jerusalem's Lot. Salem's Lot as a universe has always been a good subject for King (both he and his wife considered writing sequels over the years) and considering that it's basically his reimagining of Dracula which has been done so well by basically everyone, the fact that no one can do a capable film version after more than 40 years is kind of shocking. Perhaps the traditional limited series would be more fitting to it - it worked for The Outsider.