History Series / TheDeadZone

** Played with some with Sarah and Dana (seasons 1 and 2). [[GirlNextDoor Sarah,]] a brunette, Johnny's old ChildhoodFriendRomance, is Betty, but she's married now. [[MsFanservice Dana]], the [[HeroesWantRedheads redhead]], is more like a typical Veronica.

* AlternateContinuity: The series is implied to be this compared to the book. The closest the show had gotten to the book was the Season 2 episode "Zion", which showed [[ItsAWonderfulPlot what would have happened]] [[ForWantOfANail if Bruce hadn't been around.]] Things don't play out ''exactly'' how they did in the book, [[ButterflyOfDoom as Stillson doesn't try and use someone as a human shield,]] [[TheBadGuyWins meaning Johnny dies without bringing him down]].

** Sarah could be dealing with her own inverted version: The sensitive NiceGuy Johnny as Betty, and the RatedMForManly Walt as Veronica.

* RatedMForManly: Walt, resulting in in-universe comparisons to Creator/JohnWayne.

With the help of Sarah, her husband Walt, and physical therapist Bruce, Johnny begins using his abilities to help solve crimes. However, his attempts to do good are complicated by intermittent visions of apocalyptic events brought about following the future election of congressional candidate Greg Stillson (Creator/SeanPatrickFlanery).

** Alex becomes the Anticipator later when a clue she leaves for Johnny leads him to a fancy restaurant. She cranks this trope UpToEleven: she has prepared for him a sports coat he likes, but pretends not to; she has ordered his favorite foods, and she begins rambling about what he'll think of the meal.

* CutenessProximity: Sarah, upon seeing the baby Johnny found in "Grains of Sand". [[FriendToAllChildren Maternal instinct]] [[UpToEleven on overdrive.]]

* AbsenteeActor:
** For a show with only four main cast members it's surprisingly rare to find episodes featuring all three, Creator/NicoleDeBoer (Sarah), Creator/ChrisBruno (Walt), and Creator/JohnLAdams (Bruce)! Usually just one or two of them -- there are even episodes where none of the three are featured! The only cast member to appear in every single episode is Anthony Michael Hall.
** Sarah in particular is noticeably absent for most of Season 5 -- seemingly due to Nicole De Boer starring in a MadeForTVMovie at the time. In Season 6, Bruce is PutOnABus, seemingly out of a desire to cut production costs.

** The Christopher Wey arc of Seasons 2 and 3 seems to be building up to some major revelations about what leads to Armageddon. Ultimately, however, [[spoiler:the mental and physical strain of these "super-visions" causes Johnny to throw away his cane at the beginning of Season 4, thus severing contact with Wey and his own future self.]]
** More blatantly was how the promise of an epic fate-of-the-world final duel in the Season 5 finale between [[spoiler:Johnny and Janus]] was unceremoniously thrown away in the first episode of Season 6, which has [[spoiler:Janus killed in a fire and Armageddon seemingly prevented, just like that.]] The worst part was this is presumably part of what led to the declining ratings of the season.

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:They manage to break up Stillson and Sarah, but by doing that TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt is put back on track; it had previously been averted.]] Thanks both to a WGA strike and declining ratings, this cliffhanger is not resolved. Potentially a BittersweetEnding, as [[spoiler:Johnny's father notes that if Johnny doesn't marry Sarah the world will end. Just before he dies, he tells Johnny that Sarah still loves him, despite the rift.]] Further, an arc over the course of the season has culminated in [[spoiler:JJ discovering his own "dead zone" abilities -- which may be even more powerful than Johnny's.]] As such, the fact that [[spoiler:Sarah and Johnny are on the path to reconciliation in the final scene]] implies that things might be on the right track, after all.

* ManipulativeBastard: Johnny always has good intentions, but he's not afraid to use his knowledge of the future to manipulate those around him for the best possible outcome. Among other things, he uses his knowledge of a rape victim's past to prevent her from imprisoning an innocent man and sabotages a police raid on a bank currently being robbed to prevent them from accidentally killing everyone inside.

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Sheriff Bannerman

* SeriesContinuityError: Season 3's twelfth episode reveals that Johnny's dead zone is killing him; without brain surgery to operate (and remove his psychic ability), he will die. He has been experiencing blackouts, memory loss and debilitating headaches. Season 3 ends with Johnny collapsed in his house from his condition. Season 4 opens with Johnny in the hospital. He checks himself out, never gets the surgery, experiences no further blackouts, never mentions the surgery, and is shown to be in perfect health once again by the next episode with no explanation whatsoever.