To find a network drama that bears sustained comparison to ABC's Kingdom Hospital, you'd have to go all the way back to 1990, when the same network premiered David Lynch's "Twin Peaks." Alternately random and brilliant, the 15-hour, limited-run series "Kingdom Hospital" has a similarly indescribable vibe. Set in a huge Maine hospital, it plays like a cross of "M*A*S*H," "Six Feet Under" and "The Shining." King, his talented ensemble cast and his capable director, Craig R. Baxley, have created one of the creepiest locales in TV history. But they don't limit themselves to mere spookiness. They go wherever they please, and their brazen confidence demands that we follow along. [3 March 2004, p.39]

For ABC, Kingdom Hospital is a high-stakes experiment. It is meant to run for 13 episodes, just like an HBO series. It won't be back next season. You're meant to watch it now and admire its daring and imagination. There is much to admire but a lot of padding, too.

When it isn't beating us about the head with the "supernatural," Stephen King's Kingdom Hospital has the potential to be a pretty good television show. Unfortunately, this new ABC series muddies a solid human story with the usual, a whole lot of ominous words disappearing from walls and ghosts appearing in hallways, and the unusual but ineffectual, a talking anteater who communicates on behalf of the undead. [3 March 2004, p.C1] Instead of being allowed to feel characters' fear, we're shown all the supposedly scary things right away. They become as familiar as the medical staff, just a touch more menacing than Ed Begley Jr. ("St. Elsewhere") as a cynical administrator.[3 March 2004, p.C1]

Beyond Rickman, however, the series offers little more than a stale buffet of recycled King ghouls and refried hospital types from every dark medical drama that ever aired from M*A*S*H to ER. Chief among these characters is Dr. Hook (Andrew McCarthy), the cynical, anti-authority neurosurgeon who operates on Rickman. Call him Hawkeye. Tonight's two-hour pilot works to a limited extent only because of the Rickman story line. The big question is where can the miniseries go during the next 10 weeks? [3 March 2004]

By the time the first episode of Kingdom Hospital is over, viewers are likely already to have checked out. [2 March 2004, p.79]

At least "Twin Peaks" was fascinating when it first began. Kingdom Hospital is not. It's just more simplistic horror hash from a tired and shameless old slinger. If only he would pick up the pace, and things would actually happen.

A spiritless ghost story whose EKG is flat from the get-go.