Stuck "Under the Dome"

After recently finishing Stephen King's autobiographical work, On Writing, completed after the accident that nearly took his life, I was intrigued to try one or two of his novels. I haven't ventured into that realm yet, but the husband had taped the much-hyped Under the Dome, which is a 13-part mini-series based on King's 2009 novel of the same name. So we watched it.

While watching the first episode on the first of July, as the dome descends (?) on the town and splits a cow in half lengthwise (not really looking like the inside of a cow, but plenty graphically bloody--more like freshly ground hamburger) I was hooked. It turns out that nearly 17 million viewers watched with me.

After watching the second episode, I don't know whether to love it or leave it--or King. I recently re-watched a bit of Carrie and felt the same way. Why do I need to watch this stuff?

 I grew up with Little Women and Little House on the Prairie and no television at home until I was 17! Then we could watch Lassie and What's My Line--at least on Sundays--and it was a big step when my father graduated to Gunsmoke.

 I grew up with the (previously documented) violence of seeing a dying sow's throat slit, a warm pigeon gutted, and a pet pig taken to market for slaughter, but not the scary violence of science fiction, or vampire, terrorist or axe-murderer-type movies. I now am tentatively game for such things.

Strangely, I am looking forward to the third episode of Under the Dome on Monday night. We might tape it, but I will watch. Will you?