Stephen King is a fan of Apple TV’s hit new horror show renewed for season 2.
Having written the likes of Carrie, Salem’s Lot, The Shining, Doctor Sleep, IT, Pet Sematary, and Cujo, the iconic author is known as the King of Horror. This makes him one of the best authorities when it comes to judging stories that belong to this genre, including television shows. A perfect example is From, the MGM+ horror series that has gradually become a massive hit, and King’s praise early on helped it gain more recognition.
Now, King is praising Apple TV’s Widow’s Bay. The horror-comedy series has become a word-of-mouth hit, and it was renewed for season 2 ahead of the season 1 finale. The story sees Mayor Tom Loftis (Matthew Rhys) attempting to turn the titular island into the next Martha’s Vineyard, only to discover that the residents were right about it being haunted.
On X, King declared that Widow’s Bay is “good.” However, he used the majority of the post to sing the praises of another new Apple TV show, the comedy crime thriller Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed, which he believes is “better.” He compared the latter series to the work of Alfred Hitchcock and highlighted the impressive lead performance from Tatiana Maslany. Check out King’s review below:
WIDOW’S BAY is good. MAXIMUM PLEASURE GUARANTEED is even better. It’s like Hitchcock came back to do it one more time. And Tatiana Maslany is so good. The play of emotions on her face is pretty incredible. She goes from comic to terror in an instant.
Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed features Maslany as a divorced mother and fact-checker named Paula Sanders, who witnesses a webcam model being brutally beaten. Her investigation into the truth leads to a chain of chaotic events while she also deals with her job and a custody battle for her daughter, Hazel (Nola Wallace). Jake Johnson plays her ex-husband, Karl, who is nothing like the actor’s usually likable characters, and he carries a dark secret about Paula’s past.
With a 93% critics’ score and 85% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed has been generally well-received, especially when it comes to Maslany’s standout performance. That being said, Widow’s Bay reviews are even better. It has a 97% Tomatometer score and 93% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and has made more of a splash in popular culture, further elevated by in-depth praise from filmmaker Guillermo del Toro and video game creator Hideo Kojima.
Beyond the two shows being on Apple TV and having come out around the same time, Widow’s Bay and Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed walk a fine line between tension and comedy. King makes it clear that he appreciates both, but he prefers the latter’s approach, with the comparison to Hitchcock being the ultimate compliment. It is also worth noting that while King is best known for his horror, he has written plenty of crime thrillers, including Mr. Mercedes, Finders Keepers, End of Watch, The Outsider, Holly, and Never Flinch.
In Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed, Maslany, Johnson, and Wallace’s co-stars are Jessy Hodges, Jon Michael Hill, Charlie Hall, Kiarra Hamagami Goldberg, Dolly de Leon, Murray Bartlett, and Brandon Flynn. In Widow’s Bay, Rhys is joined by Stephen Root, Kate O’Flynn, Kevin Carroll, Dale Dickey, Kingston Rumi Southwick, Katherine Callan, Jeff Hiller, and Toby Huss. Katie Dippold created the horror-comedy series while David J. Rosen created the crime thriller.
Widow’s Bay and Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed are now streaming on Apple TV.
- Release Date
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April 28, 2026
- Network
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Apple TV
- Showrunner
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Katie Dippold
- Directors
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Sam Donovan, Andrew DeYoung, Hiro Murai, Ti West
- Writers
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Alberto Roldán, Neil Casey, Kelly Galuska, Colton Dunn, Dave Harris, Katie Dippold, Mackenzie Dohr