History Trivia / SalemsLot

* SignatureScene: The confrontation between Mike Ryerson and Jason Burke after Mike succumbs to the vampire infection. Creator/LewAyres and especially Creator/GeoffreyLewis play the scene to the hilt. With the added glowing eyes on Lewis, it remains one of the most terrifying scenes in the miniseries.
** The scene where Danny Glick tries to get Mark Petrie to open his window after Danny has turned is equally signature.

* ExecutiveVeto: The original manuscript had Jimmy Cody get eaten alive by rats controlled by Barlow, but Doubleday refused to publish it and King had to rewrite it so that he was instead impaled by knives. (In his nonfiction book on horror, ''Danse Macabre'', King writes that he later came to agree this was for the best, as in hindsight he found the death-by-rats scene too similar to [[Literature/NightShift "Graveyard Shift"]].)

* ExecutiveVeto: The original manuscript had Jimmy Cody get eaten alive by rats controlled by Barlow, but Doubleday refused to publish it and King had to rewrite it so that he was instead impaled by knives.

* ApprovalOfGod: Although this adaptation differs dramatically in a lot of different areas from the novel -- notably in the depiction of chief vampire Mr. Barlow -- Creator/StephenKing approved of it.

* PlayingAgainstType: Comedic actor Creator/FredWillard, in a rare dramatic role as Larry Crockett.

* PlayingAgainstType: A rare dramatic role for comedy actor Fred Willard.

* ApprovalOfGod: Although this adaptation differs dramatically in a lot of different areas from the novel - notably in the depiction of chief vampire Mr Barlow - Creator/StephenKing approved of it.
* AwesomeDearBoy: Creator/JamesMason jumped at the chance of playing a servant of evil, loving the script. This was fortunate as he was producer Richard Kobritz's first choice for the role of Mr Straker.

* UncreditedRole: Creator/NancyMcKeon appears in an uncredited role as one of the students in the school play rehearsal scene.

** Creator/GeorgeARomero was originally approached to direct a feature film version, but after the announcements of ''Film/Dracula1979'' and ''Film/Nosferatu'', Creator/WarnerBros decided to turn it into a TV MiniSeries. Romero dropped out, feeling he wouldn't be able to make the film the way he wanted to with the restrictions of network television.

* UncreditedRole: Nancy [=McKeon=] appears in an uncredited role as one of the students in the school play rehearsal scene.

** Mike Ryerson is around 27 in the novel; he's played by 44-year-old Geoffrey Lewis.

* DawsonCasting: Mike Ryerson is around 27 in the novel; in the 1979 miniseries he's played by 44-year-old Geoffrey Lewis.
* ExecutiveVeto: The original manuscript for the novel had Jimmy Cody get eaten alive by rats controlled by Barlow, but Doubleday refused to publish it and King had to rewrite it so that he was instead impaled by knives.
* StillbornFranchise:: King played with the idea of writing a sequel for years, at one point mentioning a possible opening with Callahan working at a soup shelter and a vagrant coming in telling him that it's not over at "the Lot". In the end, there was no sequel (apart from the short story "One for the Road", published in ''Literature/NightShift'') and King ended up continuing Callahan's story in ''Literature/TheDarkTower''.

* ExecutiveMeddling: The original manuscript for the novel had Jimmy Cody get eaten alive by rats controlled by Barlow, but Doubleday refused to publish it and King had to rewrite it so that he was instead impaled by knives.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: King played with the idea of writing a sequel to '''Salem's Lot'' for years, at one point mentioning a possible opening with Callahan working at a soup shelter and a vagrant coming in telling him that it's not over at "the Lot". In the end, there was no sequel (apart from the short story "One for the Road", published in ''Literature/NightShift'') and King ended up continuing Callahan's story in ''The Dark Tower''.

* ExecutiveMeddling: The original manuscript for the novel had Jimmy Cody get eaten alive by rats controlled by Barlow, but Doubleday refused to publish it and King had to rewrite it so that he was instead impaled by knives. and King had to rewrite it so that he was instead impaled by knives.

* DawsonCasting: Mike Ryerson is around 27 in the novel; in the mini-series he's played by 44-year-old Geoffrey Lewis.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: King played with the idea of writing a sequel to '''Salem's Lot'' for years, at one point mentioning a possible opening with Callahan working at a soup shelter and a vagrant coming in telling him that it's not over at "the Lot". In the end, there was no sequel (apart from the short story "One For The Road" mentioned above) and King ended up continuing Callahan's story in ''The Dark Tower''.