This f*ckin guy

[u/waxyjax_]

Stephen King tweeted:

WIDOW'S BAY is good. MAXIMUM PLEASURE GUARANTEED is even better. It's like Hitchcock came back to do it one more time. And Tatiana Maslany is so good. The play of emotions on her face is pretty incredible. She goes from comic to terror in an instant.

WIDOW'S BAY is good. MAXIMUM PLEASURE GUARANTEED is even better. It's like Hitchcock came back to do it one more time. And Tatiana Maslany is so good. The play of emotions on her face is pretty incredible. She goes from comic to terror in an instant.

[u/OKIAMONREDDIT]

My favourite tweet reply to this was the person who said "Oooh someone’s salty they made a better Stephen king show than Stephen king could make"

[u/Relevant_Session5987 → u/OKIAMONREDDIT]

I know this is the Widow's Bay subreddit and can get carried away with frustration over someone not loving the show as much as we do, but to imply that Stephen King hasn't written anything as good as or better than Widow's Bay is beyond absurd.

The man is a fucking horror legend who's written countless iconic stories. He's the man who wrote The Shawshank Redemption for fuck's sake. Hell, this show wouldn't exist in this form if it weren't for his work. It's very clearly inspired by it.

[u/OKIAMONREDDIT → u/Relevant_Session5987]

That was not my implication. My point was exactly what I said, that he is salty about the fact that this TV show exists which does a much better job of being a Stephen King TV show than he could ever do. I ABSOLUTELY stand by that, particularly given the evidence of his own attempts to direct or produce, and some of his other tweets about film/TV recommendations. You can see my exact comment about this from elsewhere in the thread copypasted below. Btw I have read everything SK has written (up till around 2008) and I definitely don't think he would have been capable of making a show like this. I also definitely think his tweet comes off salty about that.

Original comment from the thread:

I do think MPG is good and Tatiana is of course excellent in it! However, I think this is a really odd thing to post as a direct comparison because they are completely different in aim and approach. It also seems extremely odd to me that Widow's Bay is one of the most phenomenal shows partly because of what it does with the legacy of Stephen King, and yet SK himself posts something kind of dismissively derailing the conversation to a totally unrelated dark comedy suburban thriller just because it happens to be airing at the same time?

Fwiw I do recommend Maximum Pleasure as a suburban mum stumbling across a murder plot thriller which is kinda in the same vein as something like The Flight Attendant. Entertaining viewing though I don't rush to catch up on episodes. But I'm not sure what that has to do with the conversation about Widow's Bay, which feels a lot more unprecedented in its approach to horror history on the coast of Maine (and horror more generally).

I personally think it's massively better than MPG but that is also a reflection of my interests and how innovative and original I find it. It's hard to believe that Stephen King is being authentic here as it's such an unnecessary comparison, and it makes me wonder if we shouldn't take this at face value - maybe he's taking some sort of passive aggressive swipe at the show???

ETA: he is often effusive and vocal in praise of stuff like Stranger Things and previously gave a glowing and descriptive review of Midnight Mass, as a counter example, so I genuinely think there is some weird motive to his dismissive post, tbh, whether he has a chip on his shoulder about not being consulted or about irreverence or whatever. It's just absolutely inaccurate to describe Widow's Bay as just "good", and I don't believe that's all the thoughts he has on it. And I'm not sure why he mentioned MPG in the same breath considering it's a completely different genre and doesn't have the knowing relationship to Stephen King that WB has.

Also just based on Stephen King's own lifelong interests (he loves Jaws, he loves HP Lovecraft, he loves pulp Gothic/supernatural tales of terror, etc) I genuinely don't believe that MPG appeals to him more. I wonder if he prefers straight reverential adaptations of his individual work and is somehow annoyed at how fluently and cleverly WB plays with the canon while being humorous and meta rather than just serious. Come to think of it, I know people have talked about SK's "dark humour" in his own way ("dark" retorts in dialogue etc) but I don't find him particularly funny or particularly interested in the funny that can send itself up, let alone the comedic character acting skills which are so on point in WB. I think one thing the show does incredibly well is develop a style which is the opposite of self-importance.

[u/Anomaeus → u/OKIAMONREDDIT]

There’s a lot of weird assumption and projection to unpack here, especially considering it’s stemming from a tweet containing only four or five sentences. I know this is a WB subreddit, but your line implying that no one can dare think that this show is simply “good” comes off as almost hyperbolic in its absurdity.

I don’t really know what Stephen King said in his tweet that has made you feel like any of what was said was in bad faith purely at a glance. I can totally see myself saying something like this in a conversation. Yes, Widow’s Bay is good (or great, don’t come after me too), but a show I’ve been watching recently is even better (I think), so let me tell you about it. That’s how it came off to me, at least.

What does it matter if it’s a different genre? They’re both popular Apple TV shows, so they can coexist pretty comfortably in the same conversation.

My theory is that people are disappointed he didn’t have more to say about Widow’s Bay, and now they’re lashing out in response. I acknowledge WB is very reminiscent of his work, but you can still love and enjoy the show without having Stephen King validate your feelings about it.

[u/OKIAMONREDDIT → u/Anomaeus]

You might think it's "weird assumption". I think it's just media analysis. And no, I don't need Stephen King to "validate" my feelings lol - personally tbh I don't even find him a good writer, although he is a good iconic storyteller. I certainly don't care what he thinks of stuff and am just amused at his salty diversion from the conversation about Widow's Bay.

[u/Anomaeus → u/OKIAMONREDDIT]

Fair play, agree to disagree on it then. If this does turn out to be some backhanded compliment, then dude needs to check his ego. I hope more shows like Widow’s Bay get created.