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  • ABC
  • Mar 3, 2004
  • ABC
  • Mar 3, 2004

Summary Using the Danish miniseries "Riget" (a.k.a. "The Kingdom") as a point of inspiration, master of horror Stephen King gives Kingdom Hospital a unique and menacing American touch. Kingdom is a hospital whose bizarre population includes a brilliant surgeon who lives in the basement, a nearly blind security guard and a nurse who regularly fai...

  • ABC
  • Mar 3, 2004
  • ABC
  • Mar 3, 2004
Kingdom Hospital
Season 1
Season Premiere: Mar 3, 2004
Metascore Mixed or Average Based on 23 Critic Reviews
47
User Score Available after 4 ratings
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Summary Using the Danish miniseries "Riget" (a.k.a. "The Kingdom") as a point of inspiration, master of horror Stephen King gives Kingdom Hospital a unique and menacing American touch. Kingdom is a hospital whose bizarre population includes a brilliant surgeon who lives in the basement, a nearly blind security guard and a nurse who regularly fai...

Season Episodes

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Episode 1 • Mar 3, 2004 • 2 h
Thy Kingdom Come
Talented artist Peter Rickman is run over by a junkie and taken to a mysterious Maine hospital with quirky staff and a lot of supernatural phenomena.
Episode 2 • Mar 10, 2004 • 1 h
Death's Kingdom
Eccentric elderly psychic Sally Druse becomes convinced that Kingdom Hospital is haunted; meanwhile Peter gets a new roommate - the very same junkie who ran him over with his van.
Episode 3 • Mar 17, 2004 • 1 h
Goodbye Kiss
Dr. Hook starts to believe Sally. A vicious killer is brought in for treatment and music arrives with him. The Pompous Dr. Stegman faces the angry mother of his former patient, Mona, a little girl severely impaired by a botched surgery.
Episode 4 • Mar 24, 2004 • 41 m
The West Side of Midnight
A malevolent ghost resembling a hideous teenage boy begins to plot Peter's death using the killer. Sally comforts her dying friend and tries to learn the little ghost girl's name. Dr. Elmer loses his mother.
Episode 5 • Mar 31, 2004 • 41 m
Hook's Kingdom
Stegman attempts dangerous brain surgery on a street bum with a brain tumor. Meanwhile Dr. Hook shows Dr. Christine Draper a dark hobby of his which he keeps in the basement.
Episode 6 • Apr 8, 2004 • 42 m
The Young and the Headless
Dr. Stegman is hurt during his initiation into the Keepers of the Kingdom. Mary takes Peter into the netherworld of Swedenborgian Space to save the life of the giant anteater, Anubis, who originally saved him. The killer makes his move.
Episode 7 • Apr 15, 2004 • 40 m
Black Noise
A sleazy lawyer, who is being accused of statutory rape, suffers a heart attack and arrives in Kingdom Hospital. Sally contacts Peter and his wife. Dr. Elmer gets reprimanded for his severed head prank gone wrong.
Episode 8 • Apr 22, 2004 • 42 m
Heartless
Antubis decides to help the lawyer get a new donor heart with a little help from Otto's seeing eye dog, Blondi. Hook learns about the 1869 and the 1939 fires. Dr. Elmer and his crush Dr. Lona have an out of body experience.
Episode 9 • Apr 29, 2004 • 41 m
Butterfingers
An ex baseball player tormented for 15 years by his angry fans for costing the New England Robins the World Series in 1987 attempts suicide and becomes trapped in his own private hell in Swedenborgian Space. Mary and Peter try to help.
Episode 10 • Jun 24, 2004 • 41 m
The Passion of Reverend Jimmy
After a priest crucified like Jesus by some junkies apparently starts performing miracles after death, media frenzy begins as crowds gather to await for his resurrection. An earthshake traps Otto, Lona and Dr. Havens under some rubble.
Episode 11 • Jul 1, 2004 • 42 m
Seizure Day
Patients at Kingdom Hospital begin having inexplicable divine seizures. Malevolent spirit of Dr. Gottreich kills the hospital librarian. Hook obtains proof of Stegman's malpractice. Dr. Shwartzton warns Hook of an upcoming earthquake.
Episode 12 • Jul 8, 2004 • 41 m
Shoulda' Stood in Bed
Natalie Rickman and Mrs. Druse plan to gather their friends together to break into the spirit world. Meanwhile Stegman is humiliated when incriminating and embarrassing posters of his malpractice begin circulating.
Episode 13 • Jul 15, 2004 • 1 h 18 m
Finale
Chief of maintenance, Johnny B. Goode, finally appears. Peter, Sally, Hook and all their friends go back in time to learn the truth behind the deadly mill fire and prevent it. Evil ghost, Paul, convinces unhinged Stegman to shoot them all.
Episode 14 • Jul 15, 2004
Finale Part 1
Episode 15 • Jul 15, 2004
Finale Part 2

Top Cast

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Critic Reviews

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Metascore
Mixed or Average Based on 23 Critic Reviews
47
26% Positive
6 Reviews
35% Mixed
8 Reviews
39% Negative
9 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews

Critic Reviews

 View All
Metascore
Mixed or Average Based on 23 Critic Reviews
47
26% Positive
6 Reviews
35% Mixed
8 Reviews
39% Negative
9 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews
90
Apr 14, 2021
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]
By Matt Zoller Seitz FULL REVIEW
70
Apr 13, 2021
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.
FULL REVIEW
50
Apr 14, 2021
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]
FULL REVIEW
40
Apr 14, 2021
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 David Zurawik FULL REVIEW
37
Apr 14, 2021
By the time the first episode of Kingdom Hospital is over, viewers are likely already to have checked out. [2 March 2004, p.79]
By David Bianculli FULL REVIEW
30
Apr 13, 2021
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.
By Tom Shales FULL REVIEW
20
Apr 13, 2021
A spiritless ghost story whose EKG is flat from the get-go.
By Matthew Gilbert FULL REVIEW

User Reviews

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