I thought that they did a decent job of making The Stand miniseries. They had some really solid actors, with the exception of Molly Ringwald as Fran. IMO, she "Sofia'd" the damn thing. The most surprising was Rob Lowe as Nick, who did an outstanding job. I think it was his first big acting job after the video scandal, so everyone was sort of waiting to rip him apart, but couldn't!

The book, as Lilo correctly pointed out, is a far richer experience and the characters are more fleshed-out. However, given King's propensity for background and detail, which couldn't possibly be captured in a TV miniseries.