document_title: Supporting characters on Will & Grace

question_text: who played karen's cousin barry on will and grace

question_tokens: who played karen 's cousin barry on will and grace

text: Supporting characters on Will & Grace

text: Supporting characters[edit]

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Actor
Character
Seasons

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

Leigh-Allyn Baker
Ellen

Tom Gallop
Rob

Molly Shannon
Val Bassett

Debbie Reynolds
Bobbi Adler

Steve Paymer
Steve

Gregory Hines
Ben Doucette

Marshall Manesh
Mr. Zamir

Laura Kightlinger
Nurse Sheila

Sydney Pollack
George Truman

Tim Bagley
Larry

Jerry Levine
Joe

Sara Rue
Joyce Adler

Lesley Ann Warren
Tina

Woody Harrelson
Nathan

Leslie Jordan
Beverley Leslie

Blythe Danner
Marilyn Truman

Eileen Brennan
Zandra

Charles C. Stevenson Jr.
Smitty

Rip Torn
Lionel Banks

Harry Connick, Jr.
Dr. Marvin 'Leo' Markus

Minnie Driver
Lorraine Finster

Jamie Kaler
Gary

Emily Rutherfurd
Joanne

Jon Fleming
Russell

Bobby Cannavale
Vince D'Angelo

Alec Baldwin
Malcolm Widmark

Mathew Botuchis
Dave

Bernadette Peters
Gin

text: Family members[edit]

text: Grace's family[edit]

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Dr. Marvin "Leo" Markus, portrayed by actor and singer Harry Connick, Jr., is a Jewish doctor and Grace's husband from the fifth season. Leo meets Grace Adler in Central Park while she is on her way to be artificially inseminated with gay best friend Will's baby. After Will finds out that Leo and Grace are dating, they have their biggest fight of the entire series, in which Will tells Grace to move out. Thanks to Jack and Karen's meddling, they forgive each other and Will accepts Grace's relationship. In November, 2002, Grace and Leo are married at a spontaneous group ceremony in Central Park, which was supposed to be broadcast on The Today Show. It was later revealed in the storyline that the ceremony was not legal, but the two officially marry at a ceremony soon after. Leo and Grace's relationship was a constant source of tension between Will and Grace, although they eventually achieved a certain accord with each other - Leo even commenting to Will at one point that he considered himself essentially married to both of them due to his ability to accept their close relationship. Leo's true first name is Marvin, as revealed by his mother at their wedding reception. According to The Nation Magazine, this was the first time in television history that a Jewish protagonist character had married inside the faith.[1] Grace immediately realizes she does not know as much about Leo as she expected. Their marriage fails after less than two years, when Leo reveals that he had a one-night stand while working in Cambodia for Doctors Without Borders. Leo admits his affair to Will first. Will then refuses to help Leo break the news to Grace. After Leo comes clean about his affair, Grace briefly considers continuing their marriage, but quickly decides she wants a divorce. Leo reappears during season eight, a little over a year after the divorce in the storyline, in the episode "Love Is in the Airplane." In the episode, he and Grace have a sexual encounter on an airplane after coincidentally ending up on the same flight to London, though Leo was to continue to Thailand. The result is Grace's pregnancy, as discovered in the season eight episode "The Definition of Marriage". A couple of months later Grace meets Leo, with the intention of telling him that she is pregnant with his baby, but he informs her that he is engaged to another woman, Kate. Consequently, Grace decides not to tell Leo about the pregnancy. In the series finale (May 2006) Leo tells a heavily pregnant Grace that he loves her. Leo has a job as a hospital researcher in Rome, Italy, and this is where Grace gives birth. After one year in Rome, Leo and Grace move back to Brooklyn, New York, where they raise their daughter, Laila, together.
Bobbi Adler, Grace's mother, is played by Debbie Reynolds. Bobbi is an actress and singer, although her performances are generally with the Schenectady Players and involve gender changing roles, in plays such as "Death of a Salesperson", "The Music Person" and "Queen Lear". She has a constant desire to meddle in the love lives of her daughters, is the creator of the Adler family "Told you so" dance, and can always be relied upon to have a song for every occasion. She has, in the past, shown a perfect willingness for Will and Grace to get married. It is mentioned in Season 9 episode "Rosario's Quinceañera" that she died.
Martin Adler, Grace's father, played by Alan Arkin and Robert Klein in Season 9[2]. Portrayed by his family as the stereotypical Jewish patriarch, Martin shows genuine affection for Grace, although remarks he has made suggest Joyce is his favorite. He has been known to pinpoint Grace's flaws without looking up from his Kojak and Baretta reruns.
Janet Adler, Grace's older sister, is played by Geena Davis. Janet lives in a van and designs jewelry. Her nickname for Grace is "Smudge". It is once implied that she has difficulties with her mother. In the episode "Lows in the Mid-Eighties", Will asks if Grace has another sister named Janet, to which Bobbi, Joyce, and Grace quickly answer "No!"
Joyce Adler, Grace's younger sister, is played by Sara Rue. It is suggested that Grace and Joyce had a not too friendly relationship growing up, and that Joyce was formerly a binge eater. She is often hostile to Grace, but one word from Will and she tends to giggle and act girlishly; it appears that she, like Grace before her, has a crush on Will.
Laila Markus, Grace and Leo's daughter, is played by Maria Thayer. Laila was conceived by Leo and Grace on an aircraft, during a period where her parents were divorced. She was going to be raised by Will and Grace, but her parents remarried shortly before her birth. She appears on screen only during the series finale.
Warren, played by Jesse Fremont Allis, is the imaginary son of Grace and Leo in a dream that Grace has during the last episode of season 8. Grace and Will raise 'their' son together.

text: Will's family[edit]

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Vince D'Angelo, played by Bobby Cannavale. An Italian-American police officer, Vince first met Will after giving Karen a ticket for speeding and they started dating after the subsequent hearing. Vince was friends with Joe and Larry and began Will's first long-term relationship in the series' run. Vince broke up with Will, requesting time alone after repeatedly losing his job. He re-encountered Will in season 8 and, during the funeral of Will's father, they acknowledged their mutual feelings, thus rekindling their romance. In the finale, Will and Vince are shown to raise a son, Ben, together. 11 years later in season 9 it was revealed that this was part of Karen’s dream.
Marilyn Truman, Will's mother, is played by Blythe Danner. A typical WASP, Marilyn regularly drinks, collects Lladró statues and treats them as if they were her children, and put up with her husband's regular affairs until their ultimate separation. She is not a fan of musical theater – once claiming that Les Misérables was unrealistic because "poor people don't sing that much" – but was impressed with Mamma Mia!. She does not like the jokes Grace and Karen make about Will's sexuality, saying, "Is that a gay joke? I don't like that."
George Truman, Will's father, is played by Sydney Pollack. While he and Will have a close loving relationship, of which both Jack and Grace are envious, it is eventually revealed that he had trouble dealing with telling others of his son's sexuality, initially telling his friends Will was married to Grace. He dies in season 8, only days after having a fight with Will in which he admitted he would rather that Will was not gay.
Sam Truman, Will's brother, is played by John Slattery in season one and Steven Weber in season 8. He had a falling-out with Will over comments Will made about his wife, but reconciled after he had a one-night stand with Grace. He eventually divorced his wife and gained full custody of their two children.
Paul Truman, Will's brother, is played by Jon Tenney. Paul never really came to terms with his brother's sexuality and often behaved like a childish bully, belittling and insulting Will.
Peggy Truman, Paul's wife and Will's sister-in-law, is played by Helen Slater. She was only shown in one episode and came off as waspish and suspicious of Grace's friendly behavior towards her own husband.
Tina, George's mistress, is played by Lesley Ann Warren. She began a relationship with George while he was still married to Marilyn, but was dismayed to learn that George was then seeing his ex-wife behind her back. Ultimately she and Marilyn come to an understanding, that they will share George between them without him knowing what is going on. This arrangement apparently ended not long before George's death.
Jordy Truman, Sam's son and Will's nephew, is played by Reed Alexander. Flamboyant Jordan incenses Will, since Marilyn is incredibly accepting of him even though she was not at first accepting of Will. His nickname is Jordy. He is perceived to be gay by the other characters, although he is still a child, because of his flamboyant nature, love of show tunes and musicals, along with his general disposition.
Casey Truman, Sam's daughter and Will's niece, is played by Kyla Dang. Casey was adopted by Sam and his ex-wife.
Ben Truman, Will and Vince's son, is played by Ben Newmark. Appearing only during the series finale, Ben was apparently born from a surrogate mother using Will's sperm.[3] Upon going to college, he meets and later marries Grace's daughter, Laila.

text: Karen's family[edit]

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Stanley "Stan" Walker, Karen's third husband (little is known about her first two), is a mostly unseen character. He is an obese man, and has worn a toupee since his teens. Stan has two children from a previous marriage to a woman named Kathy. Karen fell in love with him in the 1980s but they didn't marry until 1995. Stan was jailed for tax evasion in season four, and began an affair with a cafeteria worker named Lorraine (played by Minnie Driver), and – after his release in season five – continued the affair, ultimately separating from Karen because of it. He is reported to have died at the end of season five but, at the end of season seven, he reveals to Will that he had faked his own death and is hiding out with the aid of the government. He and Karen reconcile in season 8, but subsequently faced marital difficulties and divorce. Stan's popularity with fast food establishments leads to Pizza Hut taking out a full-page ad in the New York Times to congratulate him on his release from prison; Taco Bell also organize a flyover at his funeral. It is revealed in the series finale that Stan's riches were actually borrowed and that he had no real money of his own.
Mason Walker, Stan's son, is another unseen character. He is known to Karen as "the fat one". During one episode, Karen visits Mason during a swim try-out. She cheers and applauds and has a conversation with him until, at the end, she realizes she has been conversing with the wrong boy and not Mason after all.
Olivia Walker, Stan's daughter, is played by Hallee Hirsh. Although she has had fun times with Karen, such as sticking food to the floor to see how long Mason will spend trying to eat it, she also has problems with her stepmother.
Lois Whitley, Karen's mother, played by Suzanne Pleshette. A con artist who used Karen in her early schemes. They had been estranged for several years when they reconciled in season 4, with the help of Jack.
Virginia "Ginny" Delaney, Karen's sister, played by Bernadette Peters. In 1963, as a child, she was injured in a brutal game of Twister played with Karen.
Barry, Karen's cousin, is played by Dan Futterman. Originally a gay bookish homebody, Karen had Will and Jack bring him out of his shell to become an attractive person whom both Will and Jack fall for.
Sylvia Walker, Karen's mother-in-law, is played by Ellen Albertini Dow. She is a woman that 'strikes fear in her heart-facsimile'. A seemingly kind, but homophobic old woman, Sylvia appears in one episode to accompany Will and Jack to a club. In the beginning neither Will nor Jack wanted to babysit Sylvia, known as "Syl". She had been dumped on them by Karen, who then ditched her. Karen and Syl have a caustic relationship.
Sumner, Karen's nephew, is played by Paul Satterfield. Karen tries to keep him from dating Grace in season 3.

text: Rosario Inez Consuela Yolanda Salazar[edit]

text: Karen Walker's put-upon but faithful maid portrayed by actress Shelley Morrison. In 1985, Rosario met Karen Walker at a club, while working as a cigarette lady, and went to work for her as a maid, which was where she was working when the series began in 1998. Rosario and Karen are very close, but their relationship is love-hate. They are notorious for swapping insults. Rosario is just as feisty as Karen, and is one of the few people who manage to go head-to-head with her. A native of El Salvador, Rosario was a school teacher who received a bachelor's degree in clinical psychology from the University of Texas and who almost got a master's degree. She also attended business school. At some point, she moved to the Bronx, presumably while studying business; however, Karen makes a comment that she bought Rosario from Rosario's parents. While there, she also performed with a then-unknown Jennifer Lopez, including a production of "Tea for Two" at the Shalom Retirement Center. At one point, she was also paid to tape pornographic videos for Tommy Lee. Although she had been mentioned by Karen since the pilot episode, Rosario's first appearance was in the season 1 finale. Due to Karen's patronizing tone, we're made to think that Rosario doesn't speak English well. Rosario actually speaks English fluently, albeit with a thick accent, but is an illegal alien. To keep her in the country, Karen has her marry Jack McFarland, her gay friend, to get a green card. The marriage was later terminated at the end of season 2 when Rosario asked for a divorce in order to pursue other romantic interests. However, she maintained a close relationship with Jack (often echoing hers with Karen) and claimed to still think of him as family. In the series finale, Rosario was shown to have lived with Karen and Jack in the years after the show ended, growing older with them and possibly still working for them despite being in a wheelchair (though she states that she is only in the wheelchair due to a sprained ankle).

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text: Jack's family[edit]

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Judith McFarland, Jack's mother, is played by Veronica Cartwright. Despite the obvious clues, Judith did not learn about Jack's sexuality until he was 30. She was impregnated with Jack while at a swinger's costume and pool party.
Daniel McFarland, Jack's stepfather, is played by Beau Bridges. Daniel always had trouble relating to Jack, due to his own athleticism and Jack's lack thereof. Despite Jack's statements to the contrary, Daniel is shown to be a caring man who is at least recently trying to reconnect with Jack.
Joe Black, Jack's biological father. Never portrayed on screen, Joe was revealed to have attended a swingers costumed pool party during the 60s, where he was dressed as Richard Nixon. During the party he impregnated Judith, who was dressed as the rear end of a horse. He dies several years before Jack discovers that Daniel McFarland is not his biological father.
Elliott, Jack's son, is played by Michael Angarano. Shortly after learning of his biological father's death, Jack meets Elliott – his biological son created from sperm Jack donated at the age of 17. He is described by Will as, "Polite, sweet, and kind" which, he says, is the reason Karen initially dislikes him. His relationship with Jack is shown to be very close - Jack noting in one episode that he wants to avoid being the kind of father he had as he always regretted the fact that they never really connected. However, they have a brief rift when Elliott prepares to leave for college during the last season.
Bonnie, Elliott's mother, is played by Rosie O'Donnell. Initially, Bonnie did not want Jack to be included in Elliott's life. Bonnie was a lesbian, but was not open about her sexuality to Elliott. She felt jealous that Jack found it easy to be open with Elliott about his sexuality when she did not feel she could be.

text: Friends[edit]

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Rob and Ellen, Will and Grace's close friends, are played by Tom Gallop and Leigh-Allyn Baker. Ellen and Grace were best friends since college, as were Rob and Will, and the two couples regularly played charades and other games during dinner parties. Grace also sleeps with Rob in season one when they were both going through break-ups and felt emotionally vulnerable, a fact that didn't come up until Rob and Ellen's wedding some years later. The couple did get married, however, and have since had three children, the youngest named Roman (which is the name of Debra Messing's real-life son, born in 2004). Rob and Ellen want to separate, so that they could begin dating other people, and they announce their separation at a dinner date with Will and Grace. Grace makes them realize that they had worked at their marriage and they should remain together; and also keenly reminded them that no one else would have them. Rob and Ellen decided to give their marriage another chance.
Joe and Larry are Will, Jack and Grace's close friends, and are played by Jerry Levine and Tim Bagley. A gay couple, once party animals, Joe and Larry adopted a baby girl called Hannah in season three. Karen occasionally refers to them as "Mo and Mary", with "Mo" being a play on the word "Homo".
Val Bassett, a neighbor of Will and Grace, is played by Molly Shannon. Slightly unstable, and alcoholic, Val originally befriends only Will, until Grace eventually discovers some common interests with her. Both of them still consider her unstable, as does Jack, who found her as an uninvited guest in his bedroom. When Grace accidentally attends an AA meeting, she is seen there by Val, who coerces her to stay. Grace pretends to be an alcoholic for the "free food and therapy".
Beverley Leslie, played by Leslie Jordan, is an effeminate and very short "frenemy" of Karen's. Having a wealthy spouse, as Karen does, Karen and Beverley routinely find themselves traveling in the same society circle of the wealthy and elite. Their relationship is that of friends and enemies. Beverley's wife's name is Crystal and is considerably older than he is. His marriage seems to be held together purely out of his love of Crystal's money. Karen, Will, Grace, and Jack see Beverley as a closeted gay man. He is often seen with a younger attractive man named Benji who appears to be his lover, but Beverley tries to pass him off as a "business associate". When Beverley appears on screen he often catches the other characters by surprise. Sometimes his appearance comes after a character says something that could be comically associated with him. For instance, whilst discussing a dessert, Jack says, "I want something small and fruity, with ladyfingers," and Beverley enters. Beverley and Karen often trade insults, as Karen enjoys ridiculing him for his height. Whenever he appears on screen he can usually be heard saying 'Well, Well, Well' in an effeminate way. Crystal later dies and Beverley inherits the fortune. Some years later Karen's husband Stan loses his fortune, putting Karen's extravagant lifestyle in jeopardy. Beverley presumably spends several more years with Benji after Crystal's death, and then begins seeing a reluctant Jack, who only dated Beverley to support Karen's excessive spending habits, as she had done for him for so many years. During the series finale Beverley is swept off a balcony by a strong gust of wind and dies, leaving his estate in his will to Jack.
Rory, Toby, and Josh are friends of Jack who are never seen, but mentioned in various episodes. Early in Season 3 Rory is mentioned as being into Asian men. In Season 4 Josh, Toby and Jack watch a video of Will freezing up on camera talking about Stanley Walker, but Josh and Toby leave before Will gets home.

text: Love interests[edit]

text: Grace[edit]

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Nathan, played by Woody Harrelson. Nathan is Grace's neighbor in season 3, who becomes her boyfriend. They appear to be a good match, but early in Season 4 he abruptly proposes to her during sex and she becomes distraught at the unromantic nature of his proposal, forcing him to take it back and ask again in a more romantic way. For several days they are awkward around each other and, fearing that their relationship is over, Grace proposes to Nathan who reluctantly refuses and breaks up with her.
Ben Doucette, played by Gregory Hines, is introduced in mid-season 2. Grace sues him after he violates her contract of employment, firing her without reimbursement for expenses she incurred while decorating his house. Although at first he played Grace and Will, who was representing her, he eventually gave her the money voluntarily and hired Will to work at his renowned law firm. Grace and he disliked each other for the rest of the season, until the season finale when Ben showed her his more humane face, when Will invited him to dine with them. They then started a happy, semi-monogamous relationship that lasted for roughly six months, until they broke up early in Season 3 when they realized that they were not in love.
Josh, played by Corey Parker. A sweet, romantic New Age-y man whom Grace dates in season 2. Grace often has issues with him being far too affectionate and nice, to the point of being obnoxious. The two broke up because Jack confessed that he had slept with him.
Nick, played by Edward Burns. A greetings-card writer who falls for Grace when he meets her one Valentine's Day in season 7, after her divorce from Leo. Nick is the first guy Grace starts dating after her divorce with Leo. They decide to break up when he has to go out of the country to work on a screenplay he wrote.
Tom Cassidy, played by Eric Stoltz. An old friend of Grace's, now married, with whom she reunited briefly at the end of season 7. He asks her to help design his and his wife's hotel, yet she still feels chemistry with him and kisses him. She nearly takes it further, but feels guilty and breaks it off with him at the beginning of season 8.
Danny, played by Tom Verica, Grace's long-term boyfriend from roughly 1995–1998, whom she nearly marries in the pilot episode. She realizes, after Will advised her against the marriage, that Danny was too immature for her, and practically leaves him at the altar. They reunite at the end of season 1, much to Will's dismay. Yet again Grace decides that she does not love him and, after roughly a week (one episode), Grace breaks up with him off-screen.
Mark, played by Ken Marino, is another of Grace's partners in Season 3, "Three's a Crowd, Six is a Freakshow". She dumps him because he has 6 toes, although the actual 6th toe was not seen in the episode.

text: Will[edit]

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Barry, played by Dan Futterman. Karen sets up her hopeless cousin Barry with Will, shortly after he comes out. Will and Jack soon undertake a Pygmalion-esque attempt at turning Barry into a more confident gay man, ending when Will falls for Barry though Barry wants to play around before settling down.
James Hanson, played by Taye Diggs. Will meets James at a Manhattan theater and the two have an immediate connection. He later runs into James while on a trip to Los Angeles. James has recently discovered he is going to be deported back to Canada. Grace agreed to marry James so that he can acquire a green card in order to remain in the United States, thus giving James and Will's relationship a chance. However, Will soon discovers James was not who he thought he was, as James began showing himself to be self-centered. Will requests that Grace annul their marriage.
Matthew, played by Patrick Dempsey, is a sports reporter Will meets at a Banana Republic store while trying to help Jack woo him. Jack and Matt have little in common and Will instead finds himself in a relationship with him. They date for a while but Matt's refusal to come out leads to their break-up.
Scott, played by Branden Williams, is Will's 23-year-old date in two episodes in season 3, and works at a local video rental shop. Although they get along well together, Will feels self-conscious about dating Scott, who is quite a bit younger than he is. Will agrees to break it off with Scott if Grace agrees to dump Nathan. Grace agrees and Will breaks up with Scott, though Grace keeps on seeing Nathan.
Diane, played by Mira Sorvino & Lisa Borgnes, is a woman with whom Will has a drunken one-night stand in order to convince himself he was a 100% gay after leaving Grace. She is also one of Leo's exes. Both of these facts make Grace very jealous. Diane states that Will is much better in bed than Leo. Diane was shown briefly (though she had no lines) in the season 3 episode titled "Lows In the Mid-Eighties", but was played by a writer's assistant, Lisa Borgnes.
Claire, played by Megyn Price, is Will's high school friend and girlfriend, the first of the only two women Will has ever dated, the second being Grace. She lives in Paris and asks Will to donate sperm so that she can have a baby, but Will realizes that if he was going to donate sperm he wanted to donate it to Grace.
Michael, played by Chris Potter, is a mostly unseen character and is Will's lover of seven years. When the sitcom first appeared, he and Michael had recently broken up. Michael appears in the episode "Hey La, Hey La, My Ex-Boyfriend's Back", which aired on March 14, 2000. He is mentioned occasionally by Will and Grace, and more than once Will refers to him as the love of his life. In the early seasons of the show Will has a hard time letting him go.

text: Karen[edit]

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Lyle Finster, played by John Cleese. Lyle is the father of Stan's mistress, Lorraine. He becomes Karen's fourth husband for about 20 minutes until the couple realize how little they had in common outside of the bedroom.
Scott Woolley, played by Jeff Goldblum. Wooley is the man who lost to Karen for Student Body President and has spent his life hatching schemes to ruin her. Sadly, his schemes are often poorly thought out and eventually Grace realises that he doesn't hate Karen, he loves her. However, his attempts to woo her are as misguided as his previous ones. Woolley also has a dreadful sense of word-play (i.e. "The Scotty Mammoth", "Beam me up, Woolley"). He also changes his first name when using an alias, whereas most people change their last names.
Lionel Banks, played by Rip Torn. Banks is a bachelor who falls for Karen, under her alias Anastasia Beaverhausen, while Stan is in jail and tempts her into having an affair.
Malcolm Widmark, played by Alec Baldwin. Widmark is a government agent who helps Stan fake his death. He has a brief relationship with Karen before she reconciles with Stan, and Widmark goes on a government mission to Sri Lanka.

text: Jack[edit]

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Stuart Lamarack, played by Dave Foley, is a client of Will's who becomes Jack's longest relationship, until Jack cheats on him.
Jack has countless short-term lovers over the course of the series (and presumably long before and after), although most are never mentioned by name, or mentioned at all; it is constantly assumed, and not always stated, that he has multiple boyfriends in every episode. Due to Jack's promiscuity, and his habit of forgetting his boyfriends' names, it would be literally impossible to list all of his love interests over the course of the show. Will jokes that if he was to avoid every man that Jack has ever slept with, "That would leave me with...women!", Grace jokes that if everyone stopped working for every man that broke his heart "The city would shut down". Jack also comments that he goes on thousands of dates a year.

text: Other supporting characters[edit]

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Lorraine Finster, played by Minnie Driver, is Stan's mistress. She is a slutty prison cafeteria worker (and, it is implied, prostitute) who instantly forms a hatred of Karen. She was Karen's stepdaughter very briefly (for about 20 minutes) when Lyle, her father, marries Karen. Lorraine was unable to attend the wedding due to an aggressive strain of herpes that kept her from flying. According to the episode "The Accidental Tsuris" she was raised as a girl, despite being genetically male or perhaps a hermaphrodite. It is implied she was estranged from her father for several years and may have been born out of wedlock.
Harlin Polk, played by Gary Grubbs, is a major client of Will's in season one who ultimately fires him.
Mrs. Freeman, played by Jo Marie Payton, is an executive assistant at Doucette & Stein, her most commonly uttered phrase is "Mm-hmm" which is often said with sass.
Zandra Zoggin, played by Eileen Brennan, is Jack's crusty acting coach and a chain-smoking former Hollywood star. After Jack takes over her class, Zandra loses her interest in life and ends up in an actor's retirement village.
Dr. Jay Markus, played by Tom Skerritt, is Leo's father and Grace's eventual father-in-law. She meets him during brunch, thinking he is one of Leo's "old friends".
Eleanor Markus, played by Judith Ivey, is Leo's mother and a noted author of three books on theatre; she meets Grace during brunch alongside her husband. She also is the first to tell her new daughter-in-law her son's actual name, Marvin.
Mr. Stein, played by Gene Wilder, is the senior partner at Will's firm, an eccentric man who takes a liking to Will. He refers to Will as "Gay Will," but without at first realising that Will is actually gay. He and Karen are attracted to each other, but nothing comes of it. He is away from the office for some time prior to season 5 due to a mental breakdown and subsequent incarceration in a mental facility; having been referred to in the company letter-head as running "The London Office" in his absence.
Margot, played by Lily Tomlin, is a senior partner at Will's firm, who apparently takes over after Mr. Stein. She is also quite eccentric and sarcastic. She promotes Will to partner.
Dorleen, played by Parker Posey, is Jack's bitchy, chain-smoking boss during his brief tenure at Barneys New York.
Mr. Zamir, played by Marshall Manesh, is an obnoxious tenant in Will and Grace's building, with a tendency to take off his shirt and to steal Will and Grace's newspapers.
Benji, played by Brian A. Setzer, is Beverley Leslie's "business associate" and boytoy.
Joanne, played by Emily Rutherfurd, is a student of Zandra's acting class who becomes a devoted follower of Jack and his "McFarland method".
Russell, played by Jon Fleming, is a handsome, muscular student of Zandra's acting class who is often asked by Jack to take his shirt off when Jack is teaching the "McFarland method".
Julius, played by Neil Vipond, is Bobbi Adler's close friend and a pianist.
Gary, played by Jamie Kaler, is Will's coworker at Doucette and Stein.
Nurse Sheila, played by Laura Kightlinger, is a rather creepy nurse who works at the sperm bank (where Will visits, intending to donate sperm to his high-school friend Claire). She openly admits she is a whore in season 4 (when Will and Grace are planning to have a baby together), and thereafter seems to appear whenever Will goes into a hospital. She is pregnant in season 8 and attends birth-classes alongside Grace. Her brother, a doctor played by guest-star Jack Black (Kightlinger's real-life former boyfriend), claims he would be "tappin' that big time" if they weren't related.
Dave, played by Mathew Botuchis, is the only openly straight worker at OutTV, the gay network where Jack works in the last seasons. Jack is unimpressed with his heterosexuality and instead refers to him as Elizabeth.
Jamie, played by John Ducey, is the station manager at OutTV.
Tim, played by Mark Harelik, is a member of Senior Management at OutTV.
Jimmy, played by Sam Pancake, is a colleague of Jack's at OutTV.
Smitty, played by Charles C. Stevenson Jr, is a bartender who regularly serves Karen at different establishments. She has been known to call other bartenders "Smitty", even when they tell her it isn't their name. If Karen is depressed Smitty will tell her a tragic story about his own life, which she will laugh at thinking it is a joke.

text: Guest stars playing one-time characters[edit]

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Shohreh Aghdashloo, as Pam, an incompetent Iranian hired by Grace who she then fires upon realizing Pam is Jewish and thus she 'doesn't owe (her) anything'.
Rosanna Arquette, as Julie, a masseuse who lives in the same building as Leo and Grace.
Orson Bean, as Professor Joseph Dudley, a gay former literature professor of Will and Grace.
Jason Biggs, as Baby Glenn, a former local celebrity and a guest at Will's auction.
Roscoe Lee Browne, as Linus, owner of a landmark gay bookstore about to be turned into a gym.
Jack Black (uncredited), as Dr. Isaac Hershberg. He examines Karen and is also the brother of the occasionally seen nurse Sheila, played by show writer and Black's girlfriend at the time, Laura Kightlinger.
Richard Chamberlain, as Clyde, an elderly man who Will brings to game night, much to Grace's chagrin
Glenn Close, as Fannie Lieber (a play on celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz), a noted photographer who takes Will and Grace's picture.
Joan Collins, as Helena Barnes, a designer with whom Grace competes for a job, and a nemesis of Karen's.
Macaulay Culkin, as Jason Towne, a lawyer representing Karen in her divorce from Stan.
Tim Curry, as Marion Finster, Lyle Finster's brother.
Matt Damon, as Owen, Jack's heterosexual rival, pretending to be gay to vie for a spot in the Manhattan Gay Men's Chorus.
Kristin Davis, as Nadine, Vince's straight female friend – the same as Grace is to Will.
Ellen DeGeneres, as Sister Louise, a nun to whom Will sells Grace's uncle's old car.
Michael Douglas, as Gavin Hatch, a somewhat closeted gay police detective who becomes attracted to Will and has issues with seeing food stuck in people's teeth.
Christine Ebersole, as Candy Pruitt, another of Karen's rivals.
Edie Falco, as Deirdre, one of a pair of lesbian real-estate "flippers".
Victor Garber, as Peter Bovington, a former actor now working as a doorman.
Andy García, as Milo, a restaurateur, and lover of Karen's, who fails to phone Karen after their date and is confronted by Grace.
Sara Gilbert, as Cheryl who, like Will, is a Barry Manilow fanatic, a.k.a. "fanilow".
Seth Green, as Randall Finn, a former child star.
Clark Gregg, as Cameron, Jack's wealthy boyfriend who becomes Grace's client.
Neil Patrick Harris, as Bill, the leader of a group of so-called "former" lesbians and gays.
Alex Kapp Horner, as Alice Robinson, one of Grace's former classmates.
Peter Jacobson, as Paul Budnik, an overbearing guy who Will dates but is more fond of his dog.
Kathryn Joosten, as the owner to a cabin Grace finds money in.
Stacy Keach, as Wendell Schacter, a former colleague of Jack's who usurps his acting class.

Piper Laurie, as Sharon Timmers, the best friend of Professor Joseph Dudley.
Michele Lee, as Lucille, one of the lesbians who ended up dancing with both Will & Jack.
Hal Linden, as Alan Mills, an elderly gay man who befriends Will and bestows expensive gifts upon him.
Natasha Lyonne, as Gillian, Grace's intern who decides to turn into the spitting image of Karen.
Madonna, as Liz, Karen's roommate.
Lee Majors, as Burt Wolfe, a friend of Grace's father.
Camryn Manheim, as Psychic Sue.
Jason Marsden, as Kim, a friend of Leo's.
Dylan McDermott, as Tom, a boyfriend of Will's who is very closely attached to his elderly mother.
Michael McDonald, as a Don, a student in a cooking class Will takes and dates his brother.
Julian McMahon, guy in an elevator who Grace flirts with.
Demi Moore, as Sissy, Jack's former babysitter.
Nick Offerman, as a plumber that Karen has sex with on Thanksgiving when Stan asks her to be sexually active while he is still in jail.
Offerman appeared in season 9 as Jackson Boudreaux, a celebrity chef who meets Will and Grace at a cooking class, and begins a sexual relationship with both of them.
Sharon Osbourne, as a bartender in No Sex N' in the City.
Peter Paige, as a gay Immigration and Naturalization Service officer whom Jack tries to convince his marriage with Rosario is real.
Scott Patterson, as Grace's former high school crush in "Das Boob".
Sara Paxton, as Melanie, the head cheerleader at Elliot's school.
Luke Perry, as Aaron, a "hot gay nerd" bird-watcher on whom Jack develops a crush.
Jeremy Piven, as Nicholas, Grace's ex. who asks Grace if she wants to join him in a threesome with his current lover.
Chita Rivera, as Lenore, one of the lesbians who ended up dancing with Will & Jack.
Brandon Routh, as Sebastian, a stud whom Alan Mills replaces Will with, after the two have a falling out over Will's misinterpretation of their relationship.
Chloë Sevigny, as Monet, a wealthy bisexual real-estate agent who falls for Will.
Nicollette Sheridan, as Dr. Danielle Morty, a fellow doctor who wanted Leo sexually.
Jamie-Lynn Sigler, as Ro, Vince's lesbian sister.
Britney Spears, as Amber Louise, a conservative Christian and a "hardcore lesbian" as she describes herself, and a co-host to Jack on his talk show.
Wendie Jo Sperber, as April, Grace's short-lived housekeeper.
Sharon Stone, as Georgia Keller, Will and Grace's therapist.
Larry Sullivan, as Robert, Will's ballet dancing boyfriend on the holiday episode "Jingle Balls".
Wanda Sykes, as Cricket, a woman Karen offers to pay to deliver a child for her.
Tamlyn Tomita, as Naomi, half of the couple that takes Will and Grace out all night.
Rip Torn, as Lionel Banks, a man with whom Karen almost cheats on Stan with during his incarceration.
Stuart Townsend, as Edward, Karen's pansexual pastry chef, who ends up "sexing" Will, Karen, and Rosario.
Tracey Ullman, as Anne, the instructor of a couples cooking class that Will, Jack, and Jack's boyfriend Stuart attend.
Steve Valentine, as Kai, half of the couple that takes Will and Grace out all night.
Steven Weber, as Will's brother Sam.

text: Guest stars playing themselves[edit]

text:
Kevin Bacon
Candice Bergen
Sandra Bernhard
Cher
Katie Couric
John Edward
Jennifer Lopez

Rudy Galindo
Hall & Oates
Deborah Harry
Janet Jackson
Elton John
James Earl Jones

Matt Lauer
Stone Phillips
Josh Lucas
Patti LuPone
Barry Manilow
Martina Navratilova

Bebe Neuwirth
Al Roker
George Takei
Rip Taylor


document_title: British North America Acts

question_text: where did the british north america act take place

root

text: British North America Acts

text: Constitutional change[edit]

text: Canada dates its history as a country to the British North America Act, 1867, which came into effect on July 1, 1867. However, Canada was not established as fully independent, since the United Kingdom retained legislative control over Canada and full control over Canadian foreign policy. Canada did not have any foreign embassies until its first one was established in Washington, D.C., in 1931. Until 1949, changes to the British North America Acts could be made only by the British parliament. The British North America (No. 2) Act, 1949, gave the Parliament of Canada the power to make limited constitutional amendments, but full Canadian control over the constitution was not achieved until the passage of the Canada Act 1982. This long delay was in large part due to the inability to agree upon a procedure for making constitutional amendments that was acceptable to all of the provinces, in particular the Province of Quebec.

text: Because of this, all British North America Acts dated before 1949 were passed by the British Parliament, while some of those dated after 1949 were passed by the Canadian Parliament. When Canada patriated its constitution with the passage of the Canada Act of 1982, the existing British North America Acts were either repealed, or "modernized" and retitled as "Constitution Acts" in Canada, collectively called the Constitution Acts 1867 to 1982.

text: French-language versions[edit]

text: The fifteen BNA Acts enacted by the United Kingdom Parliament do not have official French-language versions. Only the English version is official. The five BNA Acts enacted by the Canadian Parliament do have official French-language versions, and the English-language and French-language versions are equally authoritative (as with all legislation enacted by the Canadian Parliament).

text: The French Constitutional Drafting Committee produced translations of all the British North America Acts, pursuant to section 55 of the Constitution Act, 1982, but these were never enacted by Parliament to make them official.[1]

text: Individual Acts[edit]

text: The different Acts of this series are distinguished by appending the year of their enactment. BNA Acts were passed in 1867, 1871, 1886, 1907, 1915, 1916*, 1930, 1940, 1943*, 1946*, 1949, 1949 (No. 2)*, 1951*, 1952*, 1960, 1964, 1965, 1974, 1975 and 1975 (No. 2). Those marked with (*) have since been repealed. Five of the British North America Acts were enacted by the Parliament of Canada; namely those of 1952, 1965, 1974, 1975, and 1975 (No. 2). The other fifteen were enacted by the Imperial Parliament in London.

text: The first Act, the British North America Act, 1867 created the self-governing (internally) Dominion of Canada. The remaining acts dealt with a variety of topics, though the majority were concerned with modifying the representation in Parliament or in the Senate of Canada as the country enlarged and changed [1886, 1915, 1943, 1946, 1952, 1974, 1975, 1975 (No. 2)], adding the newer Provinces of Manitoba, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Newfoundland. Other topics include modifying the country's boundaries (1871, 1949), transfer payments (1907), temporary changes due to two world wars (1916, 1943), federal-provincial powers (1930, 1964), power over changes in the constitution [1949 (No. 2)], the creation of new social programs (1951, 1964), and mandatory retirement ages in the Canadian government (1960, 1965)

text: British North America Act, 1867[edit]

text: The Act, also known as the BNA Act, comprises a major part of the Constitution of Canada. The Act entails the original creation of a federal dominion and sets the framework for much of the operation of the Government of Canada, including its Federal structure, the House of Commons, the Senate, the justice system, and the taxation system. In 1982, this Act was renamed the Constitution Act, 1867, with the patriation of the constitution (having originally been enacted by the Parliament of the United Kingdom). Amendments were also made at this time: section 92A was added, giving the Provinces greater control over non-renewable natural resources.

text: British North America Act, 1871[edit]

text: This Act gave Canada the power to establish new provinces and territories, and to change provincial boundaries with the affected province's consent. The act recognized the creation of the Province of Manitoba, and also the incorporation of Rupert's Land and the Northwest Territories into Canada. This Act also allowed the Canadian parliament and the legislatures of Ontario and Quebec to redraw the boundaries of the Province of Ontario and the Province of Quebec in order to include parts of these land acquisitions, specifically in northern (Arctic) Canada around Hudson Bay.[2] In 1982, this Act was renamed the Constitution Act, 1871.

text: British North America Act, 1886[edit]

text: This Act gave parliament the authority to allow the Territories of Canada to have representation in the Canadian Senate and Canadian House of Commons.[3] In 1982, this Act was renamed the Constitution Act, 1886.

text: British North America Act, 1907[edit]

text: This Act regulated transfer payments by the Federal government to the smaller provinces to support their legislatures and governments. The funds transferred were set at between C$100,000 and $250,000 depending on the province's population with an extra $100,000 a year for ten years to British Columbia.[4] In 1982, this Act was renamed the Constitution Act, 1907.

text: British North America Act, 1915[edit]

text: This Act expanded the Canadian Senate by giving the Western Canadian provinces 24 senators, the same number that had been guaranteed to Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritime Provinces. This Act also guaranteed Newfoundland six senators should that British domain ever join the Confederation – which it did in 1949. Finally, this act amended section 51 of the British North America Act of 1867 to guarantee that no province would have fewer members of the House of Commons than of the senate.[5] In 1982, this Act was renamed the Constitution Act, 1915.

text: British North America Act, 1916[edit]

text: This Act extended the duration of the 12th Canadian Parliament through October 1917, beyond the normal maximum of five years. The extension was carried out due to World War I.[6] This Act was repealed by the Statute Law Revision Act, 1927.[7]

text: British North America Act, 1930[edit]

text: This Act gave the newer provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan rights over certain natural resources found in federally controlled lands.[8] In 1982, this Act was renamed the Constitution Act, 1930.

text: British North America Act, 1940[edit]

text: This Act gave the Federal government jurisdiction over Unemployment Insurance thus allowing such a program to be established on a national level.[9] An earlier attempt to create an Employment and Social Insurance Act during the Great Depression had been ruled to be unconstitutional, since unemployment assistance was judged by the courts to be a provincial responsibility. In 1982, this Act was renamed the Constitution Act, 1940.

text: British North America Act, 1943[edit]

text: This Act delayed redistribution of seats in the Canadian House of Commons until the end of World War II.[10] This Act was repealed in 1982, as being completely outdated and obsolete.

text: British North America Act, 1946[edit]

text: This Act adjusted the formula for distributing seats in the Canadian House of Commons among the provinces and territories.[11] This Act was repealed in 1982, as having been superseded.

text: British North America Act, 1949[edit]

text: This Act allowed for the entry of Newfoundland as Canada's tenth province. This Act was renamed the Newfoundland Act when the Canadian Constitution was patriated from the United Kingdom in 1982.

text: This Act should not be confused with the British North America (No. 2) Act 1949 (see below).

text: British North America (No. 2) Act, 1949[edit]

text: This Act granted Canada limited powers to amend its own constitution. The Parliament of Canada was thereafter allowed to amend the Canadian constitution in many areas of its own jurisdiction without first obtaining the consent of the British Parliament. However, the approval of the British Parliament was still needed for wider constitutional changes, such as those involving areas of provincial and Federal responsibilities. Therefore, this Act can at best be considered a "partial patriation" of the Canadian Constitution.

text: This Act was repealed in 1982 with the full patriation of the Canadian Constitution from the United Kingdom, and with the incorporation of a new, comprehensive procedure for amending the Constitution.

text: This Act is not to be confused with the British North America Act, 1949 later renamed the Newfoundland Act in 1982 - which confirmed the terms of union between Newfoundland and Canada and which made Newfoundland the tenth province.

text: British North America Act, 1951[edit]

text: This Act gave the Federal government the power to pass legislation concerning Old Age Pensions, while also recognizing the rights of provincial legislatures to do so.[12] While the Canadian Parliament had established an Old Age Pension program in 1927, this was administered by the provinces and jointly funded by them. This Act of the British Parliament allowed the Federal government of Canada to administer and operate its own pension plan and allowed it to pass the Old Age Security Act.[13] This Act was repealed in 1982, since it had been superseded.

text: British North America Act, 1952[edit]

text: This was the first of the British North America Acts to be enacted by the Canadian Parliament (rather than by the British Parliament). That had been made possible under the provisions of the British North America (No. 2) Act, 1949.

text: This Act changed the number of seats in the House of Commons and it also limited the number of seats that a province could lose due to redistribution based on the national census to 15% of its previous number of seats. This Act also gave the Yukon Territory its own Member of Parliament.[14] This Act was repealed in 1982 as having become obsolete and superseded.

text: British North America Act, 1960[edit]

text: This Act instituted a mandatory retirement age of 75 for all superior court judges.[15] In 1982, this Act was renamed the Constitution Act, 1960.

text: British North America Act, 1964[edit]

text: This Act extended the Federal government's jurisdiction over pensions to include those of survivor's benefits and disability benefits while continuing to allow the Provinces to have their own pension programs.[16] This amendment to the BNA Act made the Canada Pension Plan possible. In 1982, this Act was renamed the Constitution Act, 1964.

text: British North America Act, 1965[edit]

text: This was the second of the British North America Acts to be enacted by the Parliament of Canada. This was made possible by the provisions of the British North America (No. 2) Act, 1949.

text: This Act established a mandatory retirement age of 75 for all members who appointed to the Canadian Senate in future. Those who had been appointed before the passage of this Act were exempted.[17] In 1982, this Act was renamed the Constitution Act, 1965.

text: British North America Act, 1974[edit]

text: This was the third of the British North America Acts to be enacted by the Parliament of Canada. This had been made possible by the provisions of the British North America (No. 2) Act, 1949.

text: This Act changed the rules for the redistribution of seats in the Canadian House of Commons so that Quebec was allocated the fixed number of 75 seats, while the number of seats allocated to each of the other provinces would always be determined based upon the sizes of their populations in comparison with that of Quebec. However, the Provinces continued to be guaranteed to have at least as many members of the House of Commons as they had Senators.[18] In 1982, this Act was renamed the Constitution Act, 1974.

text: British North America Act, 1975[edit]

text: This was the fourth of the British North America Acts to be enacted by the Parliament of Canada. This had been made possible by the provisions of the British North America (No. 2) Act, 1949.

text: This Act increased the number of representative from the Northwest Territories in the Canadian House of Commons, from one to two members.[19] In 1982, this Act was renamed the Constitution Act (No. 1), 1975.

text: British North America Act (No. 2), 1975[edit]

text: This was the fifth of the British North America Acts to be enacted by the Parliament of Canada.

text: This Act increased the number of seats in the Canadian Senate from 102 to 104, and it allocated one seat to the Yukon Territory and one to the Northwest Territories.[20] In 1982, this Act was renamed the Constitution Act (No. 1), 1975.

text: Canada Act 1982[edit]

text: This final Act of the British Parliament regarding Canada had a different name, since it renamed all of the unrepealed earlier British North America Acts, amended some of them, and repealed all others, patriated all remaining legislative and constitutional powers to Canada, and included the Constitution Act, 1982 as its schedule. It is the only UK legislation to be enacted in both English and French. It was signed by Elizabeth II and Pierre Trudeau.


document_title: NFL Honors

question_text: who is the mc of the nfl honors

question_tokens: who is the mc of the nfl honors

text: NFL Honors

text: List of ceremonies[edit]

text:
Ceremony
Date
MVP winner
Viewers
Rating
TV network
Host
Venue

1st Annual
February 4, 2012
Aaron Rodgers
3.524 million
2.2
NBC
Alec Baldwin
Murat Theatre, Old National Centre, Indianapolis, Indiana

2nd Annual
February 2, 2013
Adrian Peterson
3.8 million
0.9
CBS
Alec Baldwin
Mahalia Jackson Theater, New Orleans, Louisiana

3rd Annual
February 1, 2014
Peyton Manning
3.15 million
0.9
Fox
Alec Baldwin
Radio City Music Hall, New York City

4th Annual
January 31, 2015
Aaron Rodgers
4.70 million
1.2
NBC
Seth Meyers
Phoenix Symphony Hall, Phoenix, Arizona

5th Annual
February 6, 2016
Cam Newton
4.58 million
1.1
CBS
Conan O'Brien
Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, San Francisco, California

6th Annual
February 4, 2017
Matt Ryan
3.2 million
TBD
Fox
Keegan-Michael Key
Wortham Theater, Houston, Texas

7th Annual
February 3, 2018
Tom Brady
TBD
TBD
NBC
Rob Riggle
Northrop Auditorium, Minneapolis, Minnesota

tag: table

text: Categories and awards[edit]

text:
AP NFL Most Valuable Player Award
AP Coach of the Year Award
AP NFL Offensive Player of the Year Award
AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award
Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Year Award (formerly Pepsi MAX Rookie of the Year)
AP Offensive Rookie of the Year Award
AP Defensive Rookie of the Year Award
AP Comeback Player of the Year Award
GMC Never Say Never Moment of the Year
NFL.com Fantasy Player of the Year Award
Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award
Art Rooney Award
FedEX Air & Ground NFL Players of the Week
Don Shula NFL High School Coach of the Year Award
Bridgestone Performance Play of the Year
Greatness on the Road Award
Salute to Service Award
Deacon Jones Award
Madden Most Valuable Protectors Award (2011; no longer presented at the NFL Honors)

tag: ul


document_title: Under the Dome (novel)

question_text: who made the dome in under the dome

question_tokens: who made the dome in under the dome

text: Under the Dome (novel)

text: Plot summary[edit]

text: At 11:44 a.m. on Saturday, October 21, of an unspecified year (but somewhat later than 2012, as a faded bumper sticker references Barack Obama's 2012 re-election campaign)[1][2] the small Maine town of Chester's Mill is abruptly and gruesomely separated from the outside world by an invisible, semipermeable barrier of unknown origin. The immediate appearance of the barrier causes a number of injuries and fatalities, and traps former Army Captain Dale "Barbie" Barbara—who is trying to leave Chester's Mill because of a local dispute—inside the town.

text: Police Chief Howard "Duke" Perkins is killed instantly when his pacemaker explodes when he gets too close to the dome. This removes the last significant opposition to James "Big Jim" Rennie, used car salesman and the town's Second Selectman. Big Jim exerts significant influence on Chester's Mill and seizes the opportunity to use the barrier as part of a power play to take over the town.

text: Big Jim appoints one of his cronies, the incompetent Peter Randolph, as the new police chief. He also begins expanding the ranks of the Chester's Mill Police with questionable candidates, including his son, Junior Rennie, and his friends. Junior has frequent migraines caused by an as-yet undiscovered brain tumor which has also begun affecting his mental state; unknown to Big Jim, Junior was in the process of beating and strangling a girl (Angie McCain) to death when the barrier appeared and has killed another girl (Dodee Sanders) by the time Big Jim places him on the police force.

text: Elsewhere in Chester's Mill, Col. James O. Cox (who is stationed outside of the Dome) calls Julia Shumway, the editor of the local newspaper, and has her carry a message to Barbie to contact him. Cox then asks Barbie to act as the government's agent to bring down the Dome, as it has come to be known. Drawing similarities to Barbie's Army specialization in locating enemy munitions factories, Cox gives him the task of locating the Dome's power source, which is believed to be somewhere in the town. Cox is also able to foresee the small-town political ramifications of such a situation. By virtue of a Presidential order, Barbie is reinstated in the U.S. military and brevetted to the rank of Colonel. Barbie is also presented with a decree granting him authority over the township. However, small town politics being what they are, this action is not well received by Big Jim and his band of renegade police officers. Around this time, Brenda Perkins, Duke's widow, discovers a file on her husband's computer that lists Big Jim's moneystealing schemes.

text: As Big Jim covertly encourages and orchestrates unease and panic among the townspeople to build up his grab for power, Barbie, Julia and some other townspeople attempt to stop things from spiraling out of control. After crossing Rennie's path on several occasions, Barbie is framed and arrested for four murders. He is accused of killing Reverend Lester Coggins, who laundered money for Rennie's large-scale methamphetamine operation, and Duke's widow Brenda Perkins, who were both murdered by Big Jim, as well as Angie and Dodee. While Barbie is in jail, other residents track the source of the Dome, using a Geiger Counter, to an abandoned farm; the device they find in the middle of the farm's orchard is strongly indicated to be extraterrestrial in origin. The restrictions issued by Rennie become more severe, and the police force grows more abusive, galvanizing the town and eventually leading some residents to break Barbie out of jail, killing Junior seconds before he can murder Barbie.

text: The semi-organized resistance flees to the abandoned farm, where multiple people touch the strange object and experience visions. They not only conclude that the device was put in place by extraterrestrial "leatherheads" (so named for their appearance), but that specifically they are juveniles who have set up the Dome as a cruel form of entertainment, a sort of ant farm used to capture sentient beings and allow their captors to view everything that happens to them.

text: On an organized "Visitors Day"—when people outside the Dome can meet at its edge with people within—Big Jim sends Randolph and a detachment of police to take back control of his former meth operation from Phil "Chef" Bushey, who is stopping Rennie from covering up the operation as well as hoarding the more than four hundred tanks of propane stored there (Chef wants it all, explaining, "I need it to cook"). Big Jim underestimates Chef's capacity for self-defense and meth-induced paranoia; he, as well as the now-ostracized head selectman Andy Sanders (whom Chef has introduced to meth use), defend themselves and the meth lab with assault rifles. Many are killed in the ensuing gunfight and Chef, who is mortally wounded, detonates a plastic explosive device he has placed in the meth production facility. The ensuing explosion, combined with the propane and meth-making chemicals, unleashes a toxic firestorm large enough to incinerate most of the town.

text: More than a thousand of the town's residents are quickly incinerated on national television, leaving alive just over 300 individuals who gradually die out as the toxic air restricts their breathing. Among the survivors are the twenty-eight refugees at the abandoned farm, an orphaned farm boy hiding in a potato cellar, and Big Jim and his informal aide-de-camp, Carter Thibodeau, in the town's fallout shelter. Big Jim and Thibodeau eventually turn on each other over the limited oxygen supply (and Big Jim's worry that Thibodeau may act as a witness against him if they survive); Big Jim stabs and disembowels Thibodeau, only to die several hours later when hallucinations of the dead send him fleeing into the toxic environment outside. The survivors at the barn begin to slowly asphyxiate, despite efforts by the Army to force clean air through the walls of the Dome.

text: Barbie and Julia go to the control device to beg their captors to release them. Julia makes contact with a single female leatherhead, no longer accompanied by her friends and thus not under peer pressure. After repeatedly expressing that they are real sentient beings with real "little lives", and by sharing a painful childhood incident with the adolescent alien, Julia convinces the leatherhead to have pity on them. The Dome rises slowly and vanishes, allowing the toxic air to dissipate and finally freeing what is left of the town of Chester's Mill.

text: Characters[edit]

text: Main characters[edit]

text:
Dale "Barbie" Barbara – A former Army lieutenant (initially referred to as a former captain by Colonel Cox), Barbara became a drifter after separating from the Army. Trapped within feet of the edge of the Dome, witnessing a woodchuck cut in half by the event, Dale was attempting to flee the town after a confrontation with Junior Rennie and his friends. Dale soon becomes the U.S. government's choice to run Chester's Mill. This causes more tension between Dale, Big Jim, and Junior, causing the two to frame Dale for the murders they commit. One of the 26 survivors of the Dome.
Julia Shumway – A cynical woman who owns and edits The Democrat (despite being a Republican), the town's local newspaper. Julia often feels the need to prove a point and expose those she sees around her. Julia becomes the conduit between Colonel Cox and Dale Barbara via her cell phone. Julia and Dale have a budding romantic relationship. Both Dale and Julia are gutsy and tough, brave enough to try any chance they might have for survival. Julia comes from a family of news executives; the newspaper is a family concern. She was groomed early for success and was viewed by her peers as a "goody-two-shoes". A confrontation with her classmates in fourth grade caused her to rethink her status and changed the course of her academic career; however, this same confrontation is key in helping her formulate a plan to end the siege. One of the 26 survivors of the Dome.
James "Big Jim" Rennie – A power-obsessed second selectman of Chester's Mill based on Dick Cheney,[3] owner of a used car dealership and the biggest crystal meth lab on the east coast. When Chief Perkins is killed on Dome Day, Big Jim becomes the de facto leader of Chester's Mill. He is owed favors by virtually every person of authority in town, and is rubber stamped by Andy Sanders, the grieving and incompetent first selectman, and Pete Randolph, the new, incompetent town police chief. Big Jim directly controls both Andy and Pete through most of the story. Big Jim murders Lester Coggins, Brenda Perkins, and Carter Thibodeau during his time under the Dome. His actions make him responsible for the deaths of many others. Presumed dead from heart failure in the town's emergency shelter.
James "Junior" Rennie – Junior is a smalltown thug and son of the most influential man in Chester's Mill. After he is deputized, he recruits new police officers for his father. Junior gradually devolves from a violent (but somewhat sane) thug to a paranoid, angry sociopath, suffering from a brain tumor disguising itself as migraines. He particularly hates Dale Barbara, who laid a beating on Junior and his friends even though they outnumbered him. Dale could have had Junior arrested for assault, but Dale was an outsider and Junior's father was Big Jim. Junior murders Angie McCain early in the story, and Angie's friend Dodee Sanders a short time later when she stops by the McCain house. He later molests the corpses of the two women, referring to them as his "girlfriends" in his delusional state. He slowly becomes more delusional as the novel progresses and his tumor becomes more debilitating. Eventually Junior comes to the false conclusion that Barbara has poisoned him and sets out to kill him. He later murders special deputies Stacey Moggins, Rupe Libby, and Mickey Wardlaw by shooting them, before being killed himself by Jackie Wettington.
Eric "Rusty" Everett – A kind-hearted physician assistant at Cathy Russell Hospital. Rusty is married to Linda Everett, a police officer, and has two young daughters, Janelle and Judy. His children are the first of many to experience seizures and prophetic visions from the device that generates the Dome. After the town's doctor dies, Rusty tends to those that are ruined in the chaos that erupts after the Dome's arrival, maintaining a cool, optimistic attitude in a time of stress. Rusty is arrested for threatening Big Jim, but escapes and helps the other survivors. One of the 26 survivors of the Dome.
Joseph "Scarecrow Joe" McClatchey – A 13-year-old student at Chester's Mill Middle School. Joe is a dedicated skateboarder along with his two friends, Norrie Calvert and Benny Drake. Mature and intelligent beyond his years, Joe is one of the first in town to seek answers for the cause of the Dome rather than try to establish a semblance of order. He organizes a protest at the Dome's wall—assisted by Norrie and Benny—and manages to rally the town before an incident calls the entire protest off. He later becomes a valuable ally of Dale Barbara, assisting him in providing a video feed during the incident early in the book where the government sends a missile to try to destroy the Dome. Afterward, he continues to make an effort to find answers to the Dome with his friends, and is among the group that finds the alien generator in the town's back fields. One of the 26 survivors of the Dome.

text: Minor characters[edit]

text: The novel contains an expansive cast of minor characters while maintaining a rather small circle of central players.

text:
Brenda Perkins – Brenda is the wife of the late Chief Perkins, who was killed on Day One under the Dome when he approached the surface of the Dome and his pacemaker exploded. Brenda is instrumental in uncovering Big Jim's dirty laundry due to her knowledge of her husband's secret files. These files detail Big Jim's illegal activities. Brenda is a friend of Barbie's. After passing a copy of the files to Andrea Grinnell, she confronts Big Jim. Big Jim murders Brenda when she confronts him with the evidence regarding his criminal activities.
Frank DeLesseps – Frank is a friend of Junior Rennie. He is engaged to Angie McCain and never suspects that Junior could have killed her. He becomes a special deputy at the request of Big Jim and Junior Rennie and is a participant in the gang-rape of Sammy Bushey. While keeping a vigil at the bedside of the injured Georgia Roux (an accessory to the rape), Frank is shot to death by Sammy.
Carter Thibodeau – Carter is a friend of Junior Rennie, and so is recommended for special deputy. He participates in the gang-rape of Sammy Bushey and is Georgia Roux's boyfriend until her death. Unlike his peers, Carter is intelligent and cunning. Carter becomes Big Jim's personal bodyguard for a short time. Carter shoots Andrea Grinnell to death at the special town meeting before the giant explosion. Eventually he is killed by Big Jim in the town's fallout shelter after Carter attempted to kill Big Jim in order to preserve oxygen.
Melvin Searles – Another friend of Junior Rennie, Melvin becomes a special deputy at the request of Big Jim Rennie, after Junior recommends him. Melvin is another participant in the rape of Sammy Bushey. Melvin is killed by the explosion started by Phil Bushey and Andy Sanders.
Georgia Roux – Georgia is the girlfriend of Carter Thibodeau. Georgia becomes a special deputy at the request of Big Jim Rennie, after Junior recommends her. She is a participant in the rape of Sammy Bushey by egging the rapists on. She is admitted to the hospital after receiving facial injuries in the Food City riot. A cowering Georgia is shot dead by Sammy Bushey out of revenge.
Andy Sanders – Andy is the town's first selectman. He is also widower of Claudette Sanders and the father of Dodee Sanders. Andy has been a puppet to Big Jim Rennie for a long time prior to the Dome and exerts no power. Andy first finds that Claudette has been killed when her plane crashes into the Dome. This immediately destroys any will or motivation he may have had left, causing Andy to follow Big Jim unquestioningly. Upon hearing news of losing his daughter as well, he is about to commit suicide. He changes his mind after an emergency phone call, then joins forces with The Chef. Andy becomes hooked on crystal meth, and later defends the radio station along with The Chef. During the raid on the station, Andy kills Peter Randolph, Roger Killian, Stewart Bowie and Fernald Bowie before he is willingly killed in the explosion detonated by Chef.
Phil "Chef" Bushey – As far as most of the citizens of Chester's Mill are concerned, Phil Bushey has disappeared. He is the estranged husband of Sammy Bushey and father of Little Walter Bushey. Big Jim and some others know that Phil has become "The Chef" and is holed up at the Christian radio station, charged with cooking vast amounts of crystal meth, hence his name. During the raid on the station, Phil kills Freddy Denton, Aubrey Towle, Stubby Norman and others. Phil presses the button which triggers the explosion that destroys himself and the town.
Peter Randolph – Pete becomes Chief of Police after Duke Perkins' death. He is fairly simple minded and is easily manipulated by Big Jim, who secretly considers Pete his idiot. It is through Pete that Big Jim is able to expand and control the Mill's police force. Pete is executed by Andy Sanders during the raid on the radio station.
Ollie Dinsmore – Ollie is the son of Alden & Shelley Dinsmore and older brother of Rory Dinsmore. Ollie must survive the death of his parents and brother while under the Dome. He amazingly survives the fire in the Dome by hiding under a pile of potatoes in a cellar with an oxygen tank. When the oxygen runs out, the army provides giant fans which allow small amounts of air to enter the dome, allowing Ollie to survive. One of the 26 survivors of the dome.
Romeo "Rommie" Burpee – Romeo is married to Michela Burpee. He is the owner of Burpee's department store, and assists in breaking Barbie and Rusty out of prison, as well as getting Dale up to the alien device using resources from his store. Romeo is initially motivated by long ago lover Brenda Perkins' murder. One of the 26 survivors of the dome.
Jackie Wettington – A police officer on the original Chester's Mill force, she is fired once Big Jim brings enough of his own recruits. Jackie assists in breaking Barbie and Rusty out of prison. She also kills Junior Rennie once Junior has completely snapped. One of the 26 survivors of the dome.
Piper Libby – Reverend of the First Congregational Church in Chester's Mill. Despite her position, she no longer believes in God. One of the 26 survivors of the Dome.
Linda Everett – Another police officer from the original force, she is fired because she is married to Rusty Everett. Her two daughters are Janelle and Judy Everett. One of the 26 survivors of the dome.
Thurston Marshall – Professor at a university and acting doctor at the hospital. Partner of Carolyn Sturges, temporary father figure to Aidan & Alice Appleton. Dies from asphyxiation inside the dome, shortly before it was lifted.
Carolyn Sturges – Graduate assistant at a university, partner of Thurston Marshall and temporary mother figure to Aidan & Alice Appleton. Killed by a stray bullet fired by Freddy Denton at the town hall meeting.
Alice Appleton – Separated from her mother due to the dome, older sister of Aidan Appleton, is cared for by Thurston Marshall and Carolyn Sturges whilst under the dome. One of the 26 survivors of the dome.
Aidan Appleton – Separated from his mother due to the dome, younger brother of Alice Appleton, is cared for by Thurston Marshall and Carolyn Sturges whilst under the dome. Dies from asphyxiation shortly before the dome was lifted.
Sammy Bushey – Wife of Phil "Chef" Bushey and mother of Little Walter Bushey. She sells marijuana and other drugs and is involved with Dodee Sanders before Sanders' murder. Later on, she is raped by Frank DeLesseps, Carter Thibodeau and Melvin Searles while Georgia Roux eggs them on. She kills DeLesseps and Roux at a hospital as revenge before killing herself.
Angie McCain - Daughter of LaDonna and Henry McCain, she was a waitress at Sweetbriar Rose. She was engaged to Frank DeLesseps, she was known as the town flirt. She is murdered by Junior Rennie.
Lester Coggins – Reverend of Christ the Holy Redeemer Church in Chester's Mill. In stark contrast to Piper Libby, he is devout to the point of insanity, frequently flagellating himself for his sins. He assists in Big Jim Rennie's meth ring, but is overcome by guilt after the Dome falls and attempts to convince Rennie to come clean. Rennie bludgeons him with a guilded baseball and with the help of Junior Rennie blames the murder on Dale Barbara.
Freddy Denton – Police officer, one of the first to take the changes in his stride, kills "Clover" Libby (Piper Libby's pet dog) as she mauls a fellow Special Deputy, and Carolyn Sturges. He is killed by Phil "Chef" Bushey.
Dodee Sanders - Daughter of Claudette and Andy Sanders. She was a waitress at Sweetbriar Rose and was in a relationship with Samantha Bushey. Julia Shumway delivers the news to her that her mother had died. She went to Angie McCain's house to visit her where Junior Rennie murders her.
Rose Twitchell – Owner of the Sweetbriar Rose, the local cafe. Sister of Dougie Twitchell and Andrea Grinell, and employer of Dale Barbara. One of the 26 survivors of the dome.
Andrea Grinnell – Town's third selectman and recovered Oxycontin addict near the end of the novel. She is the wife of Tommy Grinnell, and the sister of Dougie Twitchell and Rose Twitchell. Finds the "Vader File" on Big Jim, and begins a proclamation against him during the town hall meeting, where she planned to assassinate Big Jim. After dropping her purse due to withdrawal, Aidan spots her pistol and innocently proclaims, "That lady has a gun!" Killed by Carter Thibodeau.
Ernie Calvert – Retired Supermarket manager, father-in-law of Joanie Calvert and grandfather of Norrie Calvert. Helps break Barbie and Rusty out of prison, dies due to lack of oxygen shortly before the dome was lifted.
Stacey Moggin – Dispatcher at the police station, a supporter of Dale Barbara and had planned to assist in his break-out but is killed by Junior Rennie.
"Sloppy" Sam Verdreaux – The town drunk, a heavy-smoker for years. He is (temporarily) the least affected by the toxic air in the Dome and assists Barbara and Shumway in making contact with their dome captors. He dies from the effects of the ill air shortly after the dome was lifted.
Benny Drake – A teenager and close friend of Joseph McClatchey. He helps Joe and Norrie Calvert search for the cause of the dome. Has a mutual crush on Norrie. He died due to lack of oxygen shortly before the dome was lifted.
"Audrey" Everett – The Everett's golden retriever. She alerts "Rusty" Everett to his daughter Janelle's seizures. She dies due to lack of oxygen shortly before the dome was lifted.
Norrie Calvert – The daughter of Joan Calvert and granddaughter of Ernie Calvert, she forms a close friendship with Joe McClatchey and Benny Drake.
Colonel James Cox – Former superior of Dale Barbara and overseer of Dome surveillance/eradication, Cox attempts to control the events under the Dome from the outside to no success.

text: Other minor characters, including many who are introduced just prior to being killed, appear throughout the book, including a mention of Lee Child's Jack Reacher.[4] Other human survivors are Dougie Twitchell, Ginny Tomlinson, Gina Buffalino, Harriet Bigelow, Janelle Everett, Judy Everett, Pete Freeman, Tony Guay, Claire McClatchey, Joanie Calvert, Alva Drake, Little Walter Bushey and Lissa Jamieson. Julia Shumway's dog 'Horace' also survives.

text: Writing[edit]

text: In January 2008, Time magazine quoted King as saying he would "be killing a lot of trees" with his next novel.[5] The first draft was completed in late August 2008, with the manuscript weighing 19 lb (8.6 kg).[6] King has stated the novel is twice as long as his most recent, Duma Key, at "over 1,500 pages in manuscript",[6] and "deals with some of the same issues that The Stand does, but in a more allegorical way".[7] King also described the novel as "very, very long", adding: "I tried this once before when I was a lot younger and the project was just too big for me."[8] King read from the first draft at "The Three Kings" reading event that was held on April 4, 2008 at the Library of Congress, which was broadcast by C-SPAN as part of their Book TV series on May 4, 2008.[9]

text: The Cannibals connection[edit]

text: Under the Dome is a partial rewrite of a novel King attempted to write first in 1972 under the same title and then a second time in 1982 as The Cannibals.[10] As King stated on his official site, these two unfinished works "were two very different attempts to utilize the same idea, which concerns itself with how people behave when they are cut off from the society they've always belonged to. Also, my memory of The Cannibals is that it, like Needful Things, was a kind of social comedy. The new Under the Dome is played dead straight."[11] From the material originally written, only the first chapter is included in the new novel.[12]

text: According to Stephen J. Spignesi's 1998 book The Lost Work of Stephen King,[13] The Cannibals (originally titled Under the Dome) is an unpublished unfinished 450-page handwritten novel written in 1982, while King was filming Creepshow. This work later served as inspiration to King's new novel Under the Dome. In 1982, King said: "I've got about four-hundred-and-fifty pages done and it is all about these people who are trapped in an apartment building. Worst thing I could think of. And I thought, wouldn't it be funny if they all ended up eating each other? It's very, very bizarre because it's all on one note. And who knows whether it will be published or not?" In Douglas E. Winter's book The Art of Darkness, Stephen King is also quoted, talking around the time of Creepshow, about the origins of Under the Dome: "I worked on a book called The Cannibals—I had started it five years before, but it was called Under the Dome then. It didn't get finished either time."[14]

text: On September 15, 2009, Stephen King's official site posted a 61-page facsimile excerpt from King's original novel The Cannibals, consisting of the first four chapters of the original typescript.[15] A further 63 pages were posted on October 4. The excerpts served to also document how long ago King had had the idea of being under a dome:

text: Several Internet writers have speculated on a perceived similarity between Under the Dome and The Simpsons Movie, where, [...] Springfield is isolated inside a large glass dome [...]. I can’t speak personally to this, because I have never seen the movie, and the similarity came as a complete surprise to me...although I know, from personal experience, that the similarity will turn out to be casual. For the doubters, this excerpt [from The Cannibals] should demonstrate that I was thinking dome and isolation long before Homer, Marge, and their amusing brood came on the scene."[16]

text: Environmental and political undertones[edit]

text: Regarding the theme of Under the Dome, King said:[17]

text: From the very beginning, I saw it as a chance to write about the serious ecological problems that we face in the world today. The fact is we all live under the dome. We have this little blue world that we've all seen from outer space, and it appears like that's about all there is. It's a natural allegorical situation, without whamming the reader over the head with it. I don't like books where everything stands for everything else. It works with Animal Farm: You can be a child and read it as a story about animals, but when you're older, you realize it's about communism, capitalism, fascism. That's the genius of Orwell. But I love the idea about isolating these people, addressing the questions that we face. We're a blue planet in a corner of the galaxy, and for all the satellites and probes and Hubble pictures, we haven't seen evidence of anyone else. There's nothing like ours. We have to conclude we're on our own, and we have to deal with it. We're under the dome. All of us.

text: Speaking to Time and The New York Times Book Review regarding the novel's politics, King said:[18][19]

text: I was angry about incompetency. Obviously I'm on the left of center. I didn't believe there was justification for going into the war in Iraq. And it just seemed at the time, that in the wake of 9/11, the Bush Administration was like this angry kid walking down the street who couldn't find whoever sucker punched him, and so turned around and punched the first likely suspect. Sometimes the sublimely wrong people can be in power at a time when you really need the right people. I put a lot of that into the book. But when I started I said, "I want to use the Bush–Cheney dynamic for the people who are the leaders of this town." As a result, you have Big Jim Rennie, the villain of the piece. I got to like the other guy, Andy Sanders. He wasn't actively evil, he was just incompetent—which is how I always felt about George W. Bush. I enjoyed taking the Bush–Cheney dynamic and shrinking it to the small-town level. The last administration interested me because of the aura of fundamentalist religion that surrounded it and the rather amazing incompetency of those two top guys. I thought there is something blackly humorous in it. So in a sense, Under the Dome is an apocalyptic version of The Peter Principle.

text: Release[edit]

text: The paperback edition of Just After Sunset, released on September 29, 2009, included an excerpt from the novel.[20] An excerpt was published in the November 6, 2009 issue of Entertainment Weekly.[21]

text: The preliminary dust jacket cover art was released to online retailers like Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble with the words "cover to be unveiled". In late August 2009, it was revealed that the real cover would be unveiled on October 5, 2009, with parts of it being shown on September 21, 25, and 28. The cover art design for Under the Dome is said to be a departure from King's previous illustrated covers, using a combination of illustration, photographs, and 3D renderings.[22] The final jacket design was released in two variations: with white lettering; and with the less common dark gray lettering.

text: Stephen King held a book signing at The Magic Lantern movie theater in Bridgton, Maine, the town that the fictitious Chester's Mill is modeled after, and made several TV appearances discussing the similarity between the real town and the fictional one. “I live 18 miles out of town and I’ve lived there for a long time,” said King. “I looked at the police station, that’s the police station in the book. I just used the geography, the lake; everything is there.”[23] King was a Bridgton resident for nearly five years. It also served as the model for the town in The Mist. On the day of the release, Stephen King was in New York City at The TimesCenter to promote the book.[16]

text: In mid-October, Under the Dome became one of the highly discounted book preorders on Amazon.com, Wal-Mart, and Target, sparking a "price war" between the retailers. The price for Under the Dome and several other high-profile hardcover books to be released in November 2009, typically around US$25, was set at just US$9 (a discount of nearly 75 percent off on a new hardcover). Later, Wal-Mart lowered the price to US$8.98 and included free shipping. Target's price was set at US$8.99.[24][25]

text: Viral marketing[edit]

text: A number of viral marketing websites for popular locations referenced in Under the Dome were created to publicize the book, including Big Jim Rennie's Used Cars, the Sweet Briar Rose Diner, the Chester's Mill Democrat Newspaper, and others. A site was created for the Town of Chester's Mill, which provides links to all points of interest. An alternate reality game also took place utilizing all of these sites, beginning at the blog of Scarecrow Joe, one of the characters in the novel.

text: Limited editions[edit]

text: A Collector's Edition (limited to 25,000 copies) and a Signed Edition (limited to 1,500 copies) were published by Scribner concurrently with the regular trade edition. These editions feature a dust jacket without any lettering, a removable band with author name and title, printed endpapers with the map of the town in color (regular edition contains a black and white map in the book's front matter), 27 illustrations by The New Yorker cartoonist Matthew Diffee, a ribbon marker, and also contain a deck of cards with the Diffee illustrations. These editions are printed on specialty paper with different binding.[26]

text: A signed and numbered UK edition, published by Hodder & Stoughton, sold exclusively by both Hatchard's Bookshop and Waterstones, was limited to 500 copies. It included the 4-color endpapers, the 27 trading cards illustrated by cartoonist, Matthew Diffee, and was packaged in a slipcase.[27]

text: Reception[edit]

text: The author Dan Simmons, to whom Stephen King sent the manuscript for Under the Dome as a gift, commented on it on May 5, 2009, calling the novel "huge, generous, sprawling, infinitely energetic [...], absolutely enjoyable and impressive."[28] Publishers Weekly reviewed the novel on September 11, 2009, calling it "formidably complex and irresistibly compelling." The review said the book contains "themes and images from King's earlier fiction, and while this novel doesn't have the moral weight of, say, The Stand, nevertheless, it's a nonstop thrill ride as well as a disturbing, moving meditation on our capacity for good and evil".[29] In a review for The Plain Dealer, Daniel Dyer calls Under the Dome "a massive cautionary novel", saying it is "busy, ambitious, overlong but addictively munchable, [and] fundamentally a novel about human cruelty, animated by our desires for power, pleasure and sex."[30] USA Today called the novel "propulsively intriguing", "staggeringly addictive", and stated that "[r]eaders can wallow in this glorious novel's metaphoric and oh-so au courant messages about U.S. domination, freedom of the press, torture and environmental abuse, but they also can come to this novel just for the story."[31] The Los Angeles Times called Under the Dome "impressive", containing "lucid prose and chilling precision."[32] Janet Maslin's review for the New York Times said that Under the Dome "has the scope and flavor of literary Americana." Maslin says, "Hard as this thing is to hoist, it’s even harder to put down."[33] Ted Anthony of The Associated Press states that "Under the Dome is one of those works of fiction that manages to be both pulp and high art, that successfully—and very improbably—captures the national zeitgeist at this particularly strange and breathless period in American history."[34] On November 9, 2009, the author Neil Gaiman in his blog stated that "Under the Dome was one of my favourite books of the year so far."[35]

text: James Parker of the New York Times noted in his review of Under the Dome that the novel contains lines that are "stinkers", which made him feel "the clutch of sorrow." Regarding King's "pulp speed" output, James Parker noted: "We shouldn’t be too squeamish about the odd half-baked simile or lapse into B-movie dialogue."[36] The review in the New York Post states that Under the Dome "shares some of The Stand’s faults, like a left-field disaster [...] that works almost as a Diabolus Ex Machina, randomly wiping out half the cast. In both novels, the climactic "battle"—if you can really call it that—pales to the buildup. King is better at characters and situations than causes and reasons. But at least The Stand feels like a saga [...]. I won’t reveal the secret of the Dome, except to say that the payoff is more Star Trek (original series) than epic."[37] John Dugdale, in a review for The Sunday Times wrote: "King's inability to raise his game—to relinquish the methods of his more straightforward tales of the paranormal—prevents you taking his socio-political vision seriously. The simple division of characters into goodies and baddies, the use of magic, the homespun style, the sentimental ending, the vital role played by a dog in defeating the forces of evil—all of these belong in fiction for older children, not the grown-up novels he's bent on emulating."[38]

text: Television adaptation[edit]

text: Shortly after the release of the book, it was announced that Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks Television would be developing a cable miniseries based on the novel. Spielberg and King were announced as executive producers.[39] Showtime was to broadcast the miniseries.[40] Brian K. Vaughan was hired to adapt the book.[41] On November 29, 2012 it was announced that a 13-episode adaptation of Under the Dome would premiere on CBS in the summer of 2013. Under the Dome was an instant success for the network; the premiere in June 2013 broke the record as the most-watched summer drama premiere on any television network since 1992, with the "Pilot" episode reaching over 13 million views. Vaughan wrote the first episode, which was directed by Niels Arden Oplev. Neal Baer will serve as showrunner and executive producer along with Stephen King, Darryl Frank, Justin Falvey, Brian K. Vaughan and Stacey Snider.[42] It premiered on June 24, 2013.[43] A second 13-episode season was announced with Stephen King writing the first episode. The finale of season 2 aired to 7.1 million viewers on September 22, 2014, leaving the story open for a third season which was renewed on October 8, 2014.[44] The show concluded on the 10th of September 2015.