ABC taps into King connection for movie ‘Red Rose’ tie-in seen as pivotal to ‘Diary’

TV long has been a brand-name medium, from its early days of “Texaco Star Theater,” “Colgate Comedy Hour” and “The Gillette Cavalcade of Sports” to the present.

ABC and Bangor’s own Stephen King have enjoyed a fruitful partnership over the past dozen years, and a miniseries or movie starting with the phrase “Stephen King’s” has almost become a rite of spring on the Alphabet Network. There have been critical hits (“The Stand,” “It”) and misses (“The Langoliers”), but King’s name usually guarantees a ratings bonanza.

So how do the suits at ABC fill that insatiable need for Stephen King product between last spring’s miniseries “Stephen King’s Rose Red” and the series “Kingdom Hospital,” tentatively set for early next year? They take the “Rose Red” tie-in novel, “The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer,” written by King’s friend and band-mate Ridley Pearson, and turn it into a two-hour movie, airing at 9 tonight.

As the title suggests, the film tells how the haunted Seattle mansion Rose Red came to be, told from the viewpoint of Ellen Rimbauer (played by Lisa Brenner). It follows the twisted marriage of the spirited Ellen to the womanizing industrialist John Rimbauer (Steven Brand) and shows how she evolves from a submissive wife to a woman possessed by the dark forces inhabiting her home.

Standing alone, the film is a decent little thriller. But can it stand alone? The problem is that, since it was an afterthought, “Diary” covers much the same ground that was synopsized in flashback scenes in “Rose Red,” adding little that’s new. For the 18.5 million viewers who saw the miniseries, there will be a real sense of been there, done that.

But, hey, it’s only two hours, and it airs after many series have wrapped up their seasons. It’s not like the producers have to worry about viewers returning for the next part of a miniseries. Catch ’em, count ’em, turn ’em loose.