American Playhouse

American Playhouse
Genre Anthology
Directed by
Composer David Amram
Country of origin United States
Original language English
No. of seasons 13
Production
Production companies KCET, South Carolina Educational Television, WGBH, WNET
Original release
Network PBS
Release January 12, 1982 –
December 22, 1993

American Playhouse is an American anthology television series periodically broadcast by Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).

Overview

It premiered on January 12, 1982, with The Shady Hill Kidnapping, written and narrated by John Cheever and directed by Paul Bogart. Its final broadcast, In the Wings: Angels in America on Broadway, a rerun of a behind-the-scenes look at Tony Kushner's award-winning play in two parts, aired on January 1, 1994.

The series proved to be the springboard for the careers of numerous performers, including David Marshall Grant, Laura Linney, A Martinez, Conchata Ferrell, Eric Roberts, Lynne Thigpen, John Malkovich, Peter Riegert, Lupe Ontiveros, Ben Stiller, and Megan Mullally.

As part of WGBH's development of the Descriptive Video Service (DVS), American Playhouse was one of the first U.S. television programs to air with audio description for the visually impaired on the Secondary audio program (SAP). After trialing the system during previous seasons, the 1990 season was the first to offer it as part of their wider rollout of DVS, initially through 32 member stations.

Episodes

Season 1 (1982)

No.
overall		 No. in
season		 Title Directed by Written by Original air date
1 1 "The Shady Hill Kidnapping" Unknown Unknown January 12, 1982
2 2 "King of America" Unknown Unknown January 19, 1982
3 3 "Seguin" Unknown Unknown January 26, 1982
4 4 "Who Am I This Time?" Unknown Unknown February 2, 1982
5 5 "Any Friend of Nicholas Nickleby Is a Friend of Mine" Unknown Unknown February 9, 1982
6 6 "Come Along with Me" Unknown Unknown February 16, 1982
7 7 "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf" Unknown Ntozake Shange February 23, 1982
8 8 "Carl Sandburg: Echoes and Silences" Unknown Unknown March 2, 1982
9 9 "Fifth of July" Unknown Unknown March 9, 1982
10 10 "The Great American Fourth of July and Other Disasters" Unknown Unknown March 16, 1982
11 11 "Pilgrim, Farewell" Unknown Unknown March 23, 1982
12 12 "Northern Lights" Unknown Unknown March 30, 1982
13 13 "Medal of Honor Rag" Unknown Unknown April 6, 1982
14 14 "Working" Unknown Unknown April 13, 1982
15 15 "Weekend" Unknown Unknown April 20, 1982
16 16 "Private Contentment" Unknown Unknown April 27, 1982
17 17 "My Palikari" Unknown Unknown May 4, 1982
18 18 "Oppenheimer (1)" Unknown Unknown May 11, 1982
19 19 "Oppenheimer (2)" Unknown Unknown May 18, 1982
20 20 "Oppenheimer (3)" Unknown Unknown May 25, 1982
21 21 "Oppenheimer (4)" Unknown Unknown June 1, 1982
22 22 "Oppenheimer (5)" Unknown Unknown June 8, 1982
23 23 "Oppenheimer (6)" Unknown Unknown June 15, 1982
24 24 "Oppenheimer (7)" Unknown Unknown June 22, 1982
25 25 "The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez" Unknown Unknown June 29, 1982

Season 2 (1983)

No.
overall		 No. in
season		 Title Directed by Written by Original air date
TBA 1 "The Skin of Our Teeth" Unknown Unknown January 18, 1983
TBA 2 "Miss Lonelyhearts" Unknown Unknown January 25, 1983
TBA 3 "Family Business" Unknown Unknown February 1, 1983
TBA 4 "Keeping On" Unknown Unknown February 8, 1983
TBA 5 "The File on Jill Hatch (1)" Unknown Unknown February 15, 1983
TBA 6 "The File on Jill Hatch (2)" Unknown Unknown February 22, 1983
TBA 7 "The File on Jill Hatch (3)" Unknown Unknown March 1, 1983
TBA 8 "For Us the Living: The Medgar Evers Story" Unknown Unknown March 22, 1983
TBA 9 "Verse Person Singular" Unknown Unknown March 29, 1983
TBA 10 "Until She Talks" Unknown Unknown April 5, 1983
TBA 11 "Wings" Unknown Unknown April 26, 1983
TBA 12 "The Rothko Conspiracy" Unknown Unknown May 3, 1983

Season 3 (1984)

No.
overall		 No. in
season		 Title Directed by Written by Original air date
TBA 1 "The Ghost Writer" Unknown Unknown January 17, 1984
TBA 2 "Pudd'nhead Wilson" Unknown Unknown January 24, 1984
TBA 3 "True West" Unknown Unknown January 31, 1984
TBA 4 "Nothing But a Man" Unknown Unknown February 7, 1984
TBA 5 "Popular Neurotics" Unknown Unknown February 14, 1984
TBA 6 "The Cafeteria" Unknown Unknown February 21, 1984
TBA 7 "Refuge" Unknown Unknown February 28, 1984
TBA 8 "The Gin Game" Unknown Unknown March 6, 1984
TBA 9 "Haunted" Unknown Unknown March 20, 1984
TBA 10 "The Killing Floor" Unknown Unknown April 10, 1984
TBA 11 "Heartland" Unknown Unknown April 17, 1984
TBA 12 "City News" Unknown Unknown April 24, 1984
TBA 13 "Hughie" Unknown Unknown May 1, 1984
TBA 14 "Concealed Enemies (1)" Unknown Unknown May 7, 1984
TBA 15 "Concealed Enemies (2)" Unknown Unknown May 7, 1984
TBA 16 "Concealed Enemies (3)" Unknown Unknown May 8, 1984
TBA 17 "Concealed Enemies (4)" Unknown Unknown May 9, 1984

Season 4 (1984–1985)

No.
overall		 No. in
season		 Title Directed by Written by Original air date
TBA 1 "Testament" Unknown Unknown November 26, 1984
TBA 2 "A Matter of Principle" Unknown Unknown December 3, 1984
TBA 3 "Solomon Northup's Odyssey" Unknown Unknown December 10, 1984
TBA 4 "Tomorrow" Unknown Unknown December 17, 1984
TBA 5 "Go Tell It on the Mountain" Unknown Unknown January 14, 1985
TBA 6 "Noon Wine" Unknown Unknown January 21, 1985
TBA 7 "The Joy That Kills" Unknown Unknown January 28, 1985
TBA 8 "Overdrawn at the Memory Bank" Douglas Williams Corinne Jacker February 4, 1985
TBA 9 "The Star-Crossed Romance of Josephine Cosnowski" Unknown Unknown February 11, 1985
TBA 10 "Some Men Need Help" Unknown Unknown February 18, 1985
TBA 11 "Charlotte Forten's Mission: Experiment in Freedom" Unknown Unknown February 25, 1985
TBA 12 "Breakfast with Les and Bess" Unknown Unknown March 11, 1985
TBA 13 "Nightsongs" Unknown Unknown April 15, 1985
TBA 14 "Under the Biltmore Clock" Unknown Unknown April 22, 1985
TBA 15 "Displaced Person" Unknown Unknown May 6, 1985
TBA 16 "The Europeans" Unknown Unknown May 13, 1985
TBA 17 "El Norte" Unknown Unknown May 20, 1985
TBA 18 "Three Sovereigns for Sarah (1)" Unknown Unknown May 27, 1985
TBA 19 "Three Sovereigns for Sarah (2)" Unknown Unknown June 3, 1985
TBA 20 "Three Sovereigns for Sarah (3)" Unknown Unknown June 10, 1985
TBA 21 "Paper Angels" Unknown Unknown June 17, 1985
TBA 22 "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" Unknown Unknown June 24, 1985

Season 5 (1986)

No.
overall		 No. in
season		 Title Directed by Written by Original air date
TBA 1 "The Rise and Rise of Daniel Rocket" Unknown Unknown January 20, 1986
TBA 2 "The Roommate" Unknown Unknown January 27, 1986
TBA 3 "Valentine's Revenge" Unknown Unknown February 3, 1986
TBA 4 "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1)" Unknown Unknown February 10, 1986
TBA 5 "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (2)" Unknown Unknown February 17, 1986
TBA 6 "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (3)" Unknown Unknown February 24, 1986
TBA 7 "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (4)" Unknown Unknown March 3, 1986
TBA 8 "Tell Me a Riddle" Unknown Unknown March 17, 1986
TBA 9 "The Little Sister" Unknown Unknown April 7, 1986
TBA 10 "The House of Ramon Iglesia" Unknown Unknown April 14, 1986
TBA 11 "A Flash of Green" Unknown Unknown April 21, 1986
TBA 12 "Damien" Unknown Unknown April 28, 1986
TBA 13 "Rocket to the Moon" Unknown Unknown May 5, 1986
TBA 14 "A Case of Libel" Unknown Unknown May 12, 1986
TBA 15 "Painting Churches" Unknown Unknown May 19, 1986
TBA 16 "Roanoak (1)" Unknown Unknown May 26, 1986
TBA 17 "Roanoak (2)" Unknown Unknown June 2, 1986
TBA 18 "Roanoak (3)" Unknown Unknown June 9, 1986
TBA 19 "Sunday in the Park with George" Unknown Unknown June 16, 1986

Season 6 (1987)

No.
overall		 No. in
season		 Title Directed by Written by Original air date
TBA 1 "All My Sons" Unknown Unknown January 19, 1987
TBA 2 "The Prodigious Hickey" Unknown Unknown January 26, 1987
TBA 3 "The Wide Net" Unknown Unknown February 2, 1987
TBA 4 "Smooth Talk" Unknown Unknown February 9, 1987
TBA 5 "A Mistaken Charity" Unknown Unknown February 16, 1987
TBA 6 "Eleanor: In Her Own Words" Unknown Unknown March 9, 1987
TBA 7 "The Innocents Abroad" Unknown Unknown March 23, 1987
TBA 8 "Story of a Marriage (1)" Unknown Unknown April 6, 1987
TBA 9 "Story of a Marriage (2)" Unknown Unknown April 13, 1987
TBA 10 "Story of a Marriage (3)" Unknown Unknown April 13, 1987
TBA 11 "A Case of Libel" Unknown Unknown May 4, 1987
TBA 12 "Charley's Aunt" Unknown Unknown May 11, 1987
TBA 13 "Gal Young 'Un" Unknown Unknown May 18, 1987
TBA 14 "The House of Blue Leaves" Unknown Unknown May 25, 1987
TBA 15 "Blue Window" Unknown Unknown June 1, 1987
TBA 16 "Dottie" Unknown Unknown June 8, 1987
TBA 17 "Waiting for the Moon" Unknown Unknown June 15, 1987

Season 7 (1988)

No.
overall		 No. in
season		 Title Directed by Written by Original air date
TBA 1 "Strange Interlude (1)" Unknown Unknown January 18, 1988
TBA 2 "Strange Interlude (2)" Unknown Unknown January 19, 1988
TBA 3 "Strange Interlude (3)" Unknown Unknown January 20, 1988
TBA 4 "The Return of Hickey" Unknown Unknown February 3, 1988
TBA 5 "Lemon Sky" Unknown Unknown February 10, 1988
TBA 6 "The Revolt of Mother" Unknown Unknown February 17, 1988
TBA 7 "Pigeon Feathers" Unknown Unknown February 17, 1988
TBA 8 "Billy Galvin" Unknown Unknown February 24, 1988
TBA 9 "A Flash of Green" Unknown Unknown March 23, 1988
TBA 10 "Journey Into Genius" Unknown Unknown April 6, 1988
TBA 11 "Suspicion" Unknown Unknown April 20, 1988
TBA 12 "The Trial of Bernard Goetz" Unknown Unknown May 11, 1988
TBA 13 "The Land of Little Rain" Unknown Unknown June 1, 1988
TBA 14 "I Never Sang for My Father" Unknown Unknown June 15, 1988
TBA 15 "Native Son" Unknown Unknown June 29, 1988
TBA 16 "The Big Knife" John Jacobs Unknown July 27, 1988

Season 8 (1989)

No.
overall		 No. in
season		 Title Directed by Written by Original air date
TBA 1 "A Raisin in the Sun" Unknown Unknown February 1, 1989
TBA 2 "Ask Me Again" Unknown Unknown February 8, 1989
TBA 3 "Stacking" Martin Rosen Unknown February 15, 1989
TBA 4 "My American Cousin" Unknown Unknown February 22, 1989
TBA 5 "Love and Other Sorrows" Unknown Unknown March 1, 1989
TBA 6 "Stand and Deliver" Unknown Unknown March 15, 1989
TBA 7 "The Silence at Bethany" Unknown Unknown March 22, 1989
TBA 8 "Life Under Water" Unknown Unknown April 12, 1989
TBA 9 "The Diaries of Adam and Eve" Unknown Unknown April 26, 1989
TBA 10 "The Meeting" Unknown Unknown May 3, 1989
TBA 11 "A Walk in the Woods" Unknown Unknown May 10, 1989
TBA 12 "Big Time" Unknown Unknown May 17, 1989
TBA 13 "The Thin Blue Line" Unknown Unknown May 24, 1989
TBA 14 "Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss" Unknown Unknown May 31, 1989
TBA 15 "Imagining America" Unknown Unknown June 7, 1989

Season 9 (1990)

No.
overall		 No. in
season		 Title Directed by Written by Original air date
TBA 1 "Sensibility and Sense" Unknown Unknown January 24, 1990
TBA 2 "Women & Wallace" Unknown Unknown January 31, 1990
TBA 3 "Zora Is My Name!" Unknown Unknown February 14, 1990
TBA 4 "Andre's Mother" Unknown Unknown March 7, 1990
TBA 5 "Bloodhounds of Broadway" Unknown Unknown May 23, 1990
TBA 6 "Hyde in Hollywood" Unknown Unknown July 6, 1990

Season 10 (1991)

No.
overall		 No. in
season		 Title Directed by Written by Original air date
TBA 1 "Into the Woods" Unknown Unknown March 15, 1991
TBA 2 "The Grapes of Wrath" Unknown Unknown March 22, 1991
TBA 3 "Three Hotels" Unknown Unknown March 29, 1991
TBA 4 "The Sunset Gang" Unknown Unknown April 5, 1991
TBA 5 "Hot Summer Winds" Unknown Unknown May 22, 1991
TBA 6 "The Hollow Boy" Unknown Unknown June 12, 1991

Season 11 (1992–1993)

No.
overall		 No. in
season		 Title Directed by Written by Original air date
TBA 1 "Fool's Fire" Unknown Unknown March 25, 1992
TBA 2 "Tales from Hollywood" Unknown Unknown October 19, 1992
TBA 3 "Tru" Unknown Unknown November 23, 1992
TBA 4 "Andre's Mother" Unknown Unknown January 17, 1993
TBA 5 "Fires in the Mirror" Unknown Unknown April 28, 1993
TBA 6 "In the Wings: Angels in America on Broadway" Unknown Unknown June 11, 1993
TBA 7 "La Carpa" Unknown Unknown June 16, 1993
TBA 8 "Porgy and Bess" Unknown Unknown October 6, 1993
TBA 9 "Tales of the City" Unknown Unknown November 15, 1993
TBA 10 "Hallelujah" Unknown Unknown December 22, 1993

Season 12 (1994)

No.
overall		 No. in
season		 Title Directed by Written by Original air date
TBA 1 "Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City" Unknown Unknown January 10, 1994
TBA 2 "The Sunset Gang" Unknown Unknown March 21, 1994
TBA 3 "Long Shadow" Unknown Unknown August 26, 1994
TBA 4 "Break of Dawn" Unknown Unknown September 9, 1994
TBA 5 "La Carpa" Unknown Unknown September 23, 1994

Season 13 (1995–1996)

No.
overall		 No. in
season		 Title Directed by Written by Original air date
TBA 1 "The Making of Angels and Insects" Unknown Unknown January 2, 1995
TBA 2 "Fires in the Mirror" Unknown Unknown February 3, 1995
TBA 3 "Blown Sideways Through Life" Unknown Unknown July 19, 1995
TBA 4 "Drawn from the Memory" Unknown Unknown October 30, 1995
TBA 5 "The Beans of Egypt, Maine" Unknown Unknown August 11, 1996
TBA 6 "Passion" Unknown Unknown September 29, 1996

Notable cast

Accolades

Some of the productions won multiple Emmys: one from Robert Morse in Tru, Outstanding Children's Program for Displaced Person and technical achievements for The Meeting alongside many nominations.

Academy Award recognitions included El Norte's nomination for Best Original Screenplay, a Best Actress nod for Jane Alexander in Testament and a Best Actor nod for Edward James Olmos in Stand and Deliver.

Golden Globe recognitions included 3 for Stand and Deliver (two for Olmos ( Leading Actor) and Diamond Phillips (Supporting Actor) and one for Best Motion Picture - Drama).

American Playhouse also won a Peabody Award in 1990.

Legacy

Episodes like Nothing But a Man, The Thin Blue Line, El Norte and Stand and Deliver were each inducted into the National Film Registry.

Overdrawn at the Memory Bank was featured as an episode of the cult science fiction series Mystery Science Theater 3000.