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The Best Episodes of American Playhouse Season 1

Every episode of American Playhouse Season 1 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of American Playhouse Season 1!

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American Playhouse is an anthology television series periodically broadcast by Public Broadcasting Service in the United States.

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
    American Playhouse Season 1 Episode 15 - Weekend
    10.0/10(1 votes)

    S1:E15

    A drifting, affluent couple spend a weekend at their country home, where the husband cheats on his complacent wife as they host guests for their son's first birthday.

    Director:Paul Bogart
    Writer:Ann Beattie

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  2. American Playhouse Season 1 Episode 7 - For colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf
    8.1/10(93 votes)

    S1:E7

    Nameless women identified by color (e.g., Lady in Red, Lady in Blue) share their experiences with racism, sexism, abuse, and abandonment, ultimately finding strength and sisterhood.

    Director:Oz Scott
    Writer:Ntozake Shange

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  3. American Playhouse Season 1 Episode 9 - Fifth of July
    8.0/10(159 votes)

    S1:E9

    Ken Talley is 32, strong, goodlooking and a Vietnam vet with both legs shot off seven years earlier. His lover Jed is bigger and stronger, a gardner, a good listener. On Independence Day 1977, Ken's home in Lebanon Missouri is visted by his army buddies. Much of their past relationships, pre- and post-Vietnam, must be pulled up and examined before any of them can decide their future.

    Directors:Kirk Browning, Marshall W. Mason
    Writer:Lanford Wilson

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  4. American Playhouse Season 1 Episode 1 - The Shady Hill Kidnapping
    7.8/10(22 votes)

    S1:E1

    John Cheever's comedy of a supposedly kidnapped five-year-old boy. At first, the police aren't interested until a ransom note is discovered. Then the town goes into action to support the finding of Toby.

    Director:Paul Bogart
    Writer:John Cheever

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  5. American Playhouse Season 1 Episode 16 - Private Contentment
    7.7/10(19 votes)

    S1:E16

    A young soldier attends his mother's funeral just before he's shipped out to serve in World War II.

    Director:Vivian Matalon
    Writer:Reynolds Price

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  6. American Playhouse Season 1 Episode 4 - Who Am I This Time?
    7.6/10(918 votes)

    S1:E4

    Shy hardware store employee Harry Nash decides to step out of his comfort zone, and takes part in a local amateur theatre troupe, where he becomes the character he plays—literally. Helene Shaw is new in town, a lonely itinerant telephonist. On a whim, she auditions for and gets the part of Stella in the troupe's production of A Streetcar Named Desire, opposite Harry's Stanley. Before anyone realizes the growing affection between the two, Helene falls in love with the charming brute, unaware of the man Harry really is.

    Director:Jonathan Demme
    Writer:Neal Miller

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  7. American Playhouse Season 1 Episode 10 - The Great American Fourth of July and Other Disasters
    7.6/10(273 votes)

    S1:E10

    Teenage Ralph recounts the Fourth of July and similar chaoses with his family and friends. Based on the writings of Jean Shepherd.

    Director:Richard Bartlett
    Writer:Jean Shepherd

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  8. American Playhouse Season 1 Episode 13 - Medal of Honor Rag
    7.6/10(18 votes)

    S1:E13

    A Medal of Honor-winning Vietnam vet has difficulty readjusting to civilian life, and turns to a psychiatrist for help when he finds himself descending to robbery.

    Director:Lloyd Richards
    Writer:Tom Cole

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  9. American Playhouse Season 1 Episode 17 - My Palikari
    7.6/10(51 votes)

    S1:E17

    A middle-aged Greek immigrant visits his native village, with his American-born son in tow. The elder finds that the place he remembered as paradise on Earth now seems like a desolate wasteland, while the son, who has mede this journey reluctantly, falls in love with his ancestral homeland.

    Director:Charles S. Dubin
    Writers:George Kirgo, Leon Capetanos

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  10. American Playhouse Season 1 Episode 11 - Pilgrim, Farewell
    7.5/10(59 votes)

    S1:E11

    A woman suffering from terminal cancer determines to resolve several relationships in her life, especially with her daughter.

    Director:Michael Roemer
    Writer:Michael Roemer

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  11. American Playhouse Season 1 Episode 14 - Working
    7.2/10(81 votes)

    S1:E14

    A musical following American workers from diverse backgrounds, from gravediggers to studio heads, exploring their feelings, frustrations, and search for meaning in their jobs.

    Directors:Kirk Browning, Stephen Schwartz
    Writers:Stephen Schwartz, Nina Faso

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  12. American Playhouse Season 1 Episode 5 - Any Friend of Nicholas Nickleby Is a Friend of Mine
    7.0/10(52 votes)

    S1:E5

    The arrival in a small town of a stranger who calls himself 'Charles Dickens' makes a magical and lasting change in the lives of an imaginative 12-year-old boy and a loving young woman.

    Director:Ralph Rosenblum
    Writer:Mary Trimble

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  13. American Playhouse Season 1 Episode 8 - Echoes and Silences
    7.0/10(16 votes)

    S1:E8

    In search of Carl Sandburg, actor John Cullum travels to the poet's native home, Galesburg, IL, speaking with close friends and family. Through a remarkable recently discovered trove of period photographs of Galesburg, the small-town America of Sandburg's childhood – the horse carriages, the ice-man delivering ice, a Fourth of July celebration – is revived in vivid detail.

    Director:Perry Miller Adato
    Writer:Paul Shyre

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  14. American Playhouse Season 1 Episode 25 - The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez
    7.0/10(1164 votes)

    S1:E25

    In 1901, Mexican American farmer Gregorio Cortez is forced on the run from Texas Rangers, evading a massive manhunt on horseback for days following a heated misunderstanding leads to the death of a lawman.

    Director:Robert M. Young
    Writers:Robert M. Young, Victor Villaseñor

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  15. American Playhouse Season 1 Episode 3 - Seguin
    6.3/10(55 votes)

    S1:E3

    In 19th-century Texas, soldier Juan Nepomuceno Seguin fought at the Alamo and became a highly respected politician to insure better living conditions for his people. Frustration arose when American ranchers move into the flatlands bringing prejudice and bigotry against the Mexican populations.

    Director:Jesús Salvador Treviño
    Writer:Jesús Salvador Treviño

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  16. American Playhouse Season 1 Episode 6 - Come Along with Me
    6.1/10(88 votes)

    S1:E6

    Recently widowed Mabel Lederer sells all her belongings and leaves home to start a new life. Mabel believes she has powers to see into the future and to conduct seances. She changes her name to 'Angela Motorman' and moves into a boarding house where she interacts with the strange residents.

    Director:Joanne Woodward
    Writers:Neal Miller, June Finfer, Joanne Woodward

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  17. American Playhouse Season 1 Episode 2 - King of America
    4.2/10(29 votes)

    S1:E2

    Hot-tempered Greek immigrant Andreas arrives in 1915 America, and finds work on a railroad. However, after giving his corrupt foreman Mekakis a savage beating, Andreas flees and makes his way west.

    Director:Dezsö Magyar
    Writer:B. J. Merholz

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  18. American Playhouse Season 1 Episode 12 - Northern Lights
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S1:E12

    On a North Dakota wheat farm at the turn of the 20th century, Ray Sorenson builds his world around childhood sweetheart Inga. Then Ray sees his plans come apart when the bank forecloses on his family's farm.

    Directors:Rob Nilsson, John Hanson
    Writers:Rob Nilsson, John Hanson

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  19. American Playhouse Season 1 Episode 18 - Oppenheimer (1)
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S1:E18

    1938: Robert Oppenheimer meets and decides to marry the hard-drinking, much-divorced Kitty, although his friends and relatives dislike her.

    Director:Barry Davis
    Writer:Peter Prince

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  20. American Playhouse Season 1 Episode 19 - Oppenheimer (2)
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S1:E19

    1942: America is at war. Now in charge of the top-secret Manhattan Project, Oppenheimer's left-wing politics mean that he's constantly under surveillance by the FBI and others.

    Director:Barry Davis
    Writer:Peter Prince

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  21. American Playhouse Season 1 Episode 20 - Oppenheimer (3)
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S1:E20

    1943: Oppenheimer is appointed director of Los Alamos, but his past Communist associations alert the FBI. Meanwhile, his extramarital relationship with the neurotic Jean Tatlock comes to a tragic end.

    Director:Barry Davis
    Writer:Peter Prince

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  22. American Playhouse Season 1 Episode 21 - Oppenheimer (4)
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S1:E21

    Summer 1944: With the death of President Roosevelt, the future of the Manhattan Project seems doubtful. Oppenheimer finds himself more and more at loggerheads with Teller.

    Director:Barry Davis
    Writer:Peter Prince

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  23. American Playhouse Season 1 Episode 22 - Oppenheimer (5)
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S1:E22

    May 1945: The European war is over but the conflict with Japan rages on. Oppenheimer discusses the almost completed atomic bomb with the Secretary of War. However, his colleagues have misgivings.

    Director:Barry Davis
    Writer:Peter Prince

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  24. American Playhouse Season 1 Episode 23 - Oppenheimer (6)
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S1:E23

    1949: A few years after the war, Oppenheimer finds himself regarded as a security risk, and must face the HUAC committee.

    Director:Barry Davis
    Writer:Peter Prince

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  25. American Playhouse Season 1 Episode 24 - Oppenheimer (7)
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S1:E24

    December 1953: Oppenheimer's examination by the committee proves disastrous and his career with the AEC is finished, whilst that of his rival Teller flourishes.

    Director:Barry Davis
    Writer:Peter Prince

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Season 1 Ratings Summary

"Weekend" is the best rated episode of "American Playhouse" season 1. It scored 10/10 based on 1 votes. Directed by Paul Bogart and written by Ann Beattie, it aired on 4/20/1982. This episode is rated 1.9 points higher than the second-best, "For colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf".