I awoke this morning to a “Kingdom Hospital” marathon on SciFi channel.

It took me quite a few minutes to realize what I was watching. At first, I assumed it was just some whacked out episode of “The Outer Limits” that took place in a hospital. It was a really eerie scene of homeless men cackling at a doctor parking his car. But then in the next scene, I saw Andrew McCarthy’s doctor character appear and I knew exactly what it was. No TiVo information button necessary. =)

“Kingdom Hospital” is Stephen King’s take on the danish television mini-series, “Riget” and “Riget II” , which was created by Lars Von Trier. Trier later went on to garner international exposure from his next project, Breaking the Waves, which probably led to King discovering the series. King’s adaptation was criticized by viewers of the original. Apparently he trimmed all the humor bits and emphasized the mystery/horror elements. But would you expect anything less? I suppose not.

I tried to watch a few episodes when it premiered on NBC in 2004, but I ended up distracted and bored. Now, thanks to SciFi channel, viewers can give “Kingdom Hospital” another go. I swear if it’s got anything to do with sci-fi or horror, that channel will add it to their programming, even if it didn’t make the cut on network television. Sometimes I love their choices, while others I’m just kind meh about like this show.

You can rent or buy “Riget” and “Kingdom Hospital” on dvd today, if you’re curious to find out more.