'Under the Dome' by Stephen King
Wikipedia

Stephen King’s novel “Under the Dome” will be the basis for a CBS miniseries running in the summer of 2013. The network ordered 13 episodes of the straight-to-series show, which will be about what happens when a small New England town is sealed off from the rest of civilization by a mysterious glass dome that appears out of nowhere.

“This is a great novel coming to the television screen with outstanding auspices and in-season production values to create a summer programming event,” Nina Tassler, president of CBS entertainment, said in a statement, according to TV Guide. “We’re excited to transport audiences ‘under the dome’ and into the extraordinary world that Stephen King has imagined.”

Naturally, publisher Simon and Schuster will rerelease the paperback version of the book in April 2013. The plot is often compared to the dome idea put into place by “The Simpsons Movie,” but King has said he had the idea floating around in his head for years, even attempting an earlier version of the novel earlier in his career. The series show, which originally was a Showtime project, will retain King as an executive producer, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The project is perceived by some as CBS’ attempt to cash in on the apocalyptic genre after the success of AMC’s “The Walking Dead” and most recently “Revolution” on NBC.

“Under The Dome,” the novel, recounts the internal struggle under the dome over which faction of the townspeople should be in charge. Among the characters are a corrupt auto dealer and his posse (which King said was based on President George W. Bush and his cabinet) pitted against a drifter and town chef.

Entertainment Weekly warned readers not to expect a retelling of the novel, though, with early reports that adaptation writer Brian K. Vaughan, who was involved in “Lost,” is using King’s book only as a starting point for the series. The events in the book take just a week, not exactly the formula for a long-running TV show.

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