Pat Hingle, Elliott Gould, John Durbin, Stanley Anderson, Lisa Thornhill, and Garris' wife Cynthia appear in supporting roles.

Several notable writers and filmmakers working in the horror genre cameo in the miniseries' ballroom scene, and King himself appears as an orchestra conductor.

It was a ratings hit, being in the top 20 of daily viewership numbers for all three episodes; acclaimed by critics for its careful pacing, makeup, depth, sound editing and creepy atmosphere; and won two Primetime Emmy and two Saturn Awards.

However, retrospective critics have viewed the miniseries less fondly, declaring it boring and unfocused, and comparing it unfavorably to Kubrick's film version.

Now, nursing a life of sobriety and pulling in work as a writer, Jack takes on the job of looking after the Overlook Hotel, a large colonial building in a picturesque valley in the Colorado Rockies.

Upon entering the Overlook and meeting its head cook, Dick Hallorann, Danny discovers that his psychic powers grant him a form of telepathy.

The ghosts also appear to Jack, led by Delbert Grady, the Overlook's former steward who murdered his entire family and killed himself at the hotel's command.

Several of Garris' colleagues who work in the horror genre cameo in the miniseries' ballroom scene, such as David J. Schow, Christa Faust, P. G. Sturges, Richard Christian Matheson, and Frank Darabont.

[8] Weber accepted the offer because he was a fan of the Mick Garris-directed miniseries for The Stand and found the script he read to be "multi-layered" and relatable.

[11] Aside from the motive behind the creation of the miniseries, the 1997 rendition featured an important set piece that helped to inspire the original story: The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado.

Mead "wasn't scared" as he had acted previously in horror films like Hellraiser: Bloodline (1996);[10] John Durbin enjoyed the "madness" he got to portray with his character of Horace Derwent;[10] and Stanley Anderson, who accepted the part of Delbert Grady based on his disappointment with the Kubrick version, tried to play the character "real" but with "a sense of distance to [his] view of the other and the world, so it comes out as irony or wryness.

[13] A special-effects-predominant ballroom sequence wasn't in the final version, where Gage Creed and his orchestra "run like tallow," in King's words.

[citation needed] The Shining opened to overwhelming praise from critics when it aired in 1997,[15] which included a ten-out-of-ten review from TV Guide.

[16] The miniseries' "carefully" and "masterfully crafted" pacing was highlighted by several reviewers,[17][18] including Ray Richmond of Variety, who also noted its "edge-of-your-seat creepiness" and "surprising emotional complexity and depth.

The site's critics consensus reads, "Stephen King's televisual adaptation of his own novel is more faithful than its cinematic counterpart, but unfortunately this miniseries is hobbled by a drab literalism of the text and cheesy effects that diminish the scares.