The star chews the scenery in "Stephen King's Rose Red," and it's a perverse feat: The scenery is the star. A hog of a house dominates the miniseries and overwhelms unfortunate human co-stars.

In Alfred Hitchcock's "Rebecca," the Manderley country estate was a star, but it gave enough acting space to Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine and Judith Anderson, the imposing Mrs. Danvers. Manderley wasn't a show-off.

The sprawling Seattle mansion called Rose Red just doesn't know when to quit. Phantoms under rugs chase visitors. Walls rearrange themselves. "It eats my relatives!" a man whines.

It consumes time, too. The lumbering production, which King wrote for television, drags on for six hours. Four would have sufficed, but struggling ABC needs epic help from proven draw King.

So the miniseries airs at 9 p.m. Sunday, Monday and Thursday, the first night of the February sweeps.

King is definite that Rose Red, the house, is bad. "Rose Red," the miniseries, is dreadful.

The thrills that King works so hard to set up are lost in the ever-changing floor plan. He resorts to tired tricks, such as spirits materializing before commercial breaks. He creates no one compelling to wander through this "House & Garden version of Frankenstein's monster."

Psychology prof Joyce Reardon (Nancy Travis) wants scientific proof of paranormal events at Rose Red. She's less a mad scientist than a tedious careerist who squabbles childishly with a...