Paraise for the Dead Zone

Mercury News

Entering its fourth season, ``The Dead Zone'' has developed into a very dependable bit of entertainment: a well-told tale of the supernatural with a decent cast headed by Anthony Michael Hall as powerful psychic Johnny Smith. This season's premiere episode takes off from where last season's cliffhanger ended, with Smith on the run from a trumped-up murder charge. He's also still trying to stop the murder of an evil congressman, Greg Stillson (Sean Patrick Flanery). Meanwhile, Smith's visions are becoming more and more apocalyptic. Paired with ``The 4400,'' which made its debut as a weekly series last week, ``The Dead Zone'' gives USA a very nice block of fantasy entertainment on Sunday nights.

-- Charlie McCollum