Posted in: CW, Preview, TV | Tagged: bleeding cool, book, cw, novel, revelations, short story, stephen king, the cw, The Revelations of ‘Becka Paulson

Revelations: The CW Developing Stephen King Short Story Series Adapt

Published Tue, 21 Jul 2020 14:09:39 -0500

by Ray Flook

Last updated Tue, 21 Jul 2020 14:12:31 -0500

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Famed author Stephen King's total domination of the pop culture landscape continued on the television front, with The CW announcing on Tuesday that the network has placed Revelations (working title) into development. The one-hour drama is based on King's 1984 short story "The Revelations of 'Becka Paulson" and stems from writer Maisie Culver (Last Man Standing, Breaking In, Men At Work), Katie Lovejoy (Dead Inside, Miranda's Rights), and Warner Bros. TV. After accidentally shooting herself in the brain with a nail gun, a Pollyanna-ish Becca Paulson is recruited by an over-it Jesus to be his "chosen one" in stopping the apocalypse. In order to save the world, Becca will have to prove that our deeply backward planet Earth is redeemable — starting with her quirky midwestern hometown. Written by Culver, Revelations (w/t) is executive produced by Lovejoy, with Culver co-executive producing and Warner Bros. TV serving as the studio.

Originally published in Rolling Stone and then republished in the 1991 collection I Shudder at Your Touch, "The Revelations of 'Becka Paulson" was released with a simple overview: "'Becka Paulson is receiving messages – 'revelations' – from a 3-D picture of Jesus which sits atop her television and tells her about her husband Joe's infidelity." In 1997, the short story was adapted into an episode of The Outer Limits revival, starring Catherine O'Hara as Becka Paulson, John Diehl as Joe, Bill Dow as Doc Fink, Marilyn Norry as Flo, Steven Weber as 8×10 Man, Barry Mickelson as Doctor, Jon Chardiet as Moss, and Preston Maybank as Hank (though it swapped a nail gun for a real gun, and Jesus with something a little vaguer and less "controversial"). The character of Becka Paulson actually made an appearance in another of King's work, showing up in 1987's The Tommyknockers. While both versions of Paulson's story end pretty much the same way, her source of powers in The Tommyknockers actually originated from an alien craft that crashed in the Maine wilderness.