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The Best Episodes of American Playhouse Season 9

Every episode of American Playhouse Season 9 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of American Playhouse Season 9!

Binge this in 1d 3h•Peaking at 8.1/10

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 9 Episode 1 - Sensibility and Sense
    8.1/10(72 votes)

    S9:E1

    Three friends, once bonded over their radical beliefs in the 1930s, reunite after becoming estranged over a book one of them wrote.

    Director:David Hugh Jones
    Writer:Richard Nelson

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  2. American Playhouse Season 9 Episode 4 - Zora Is My Name!
    7.7/10(165 votes)

    S9:E4

    A celebration of the life of Zora Neale Hurston, who was born at the turn of the 20th-century and grew to be an important voice with her written portrayals of Black American life in the rural south of the 1930s and 40s, and the stories, songs and folklore that were her heritage and inspiration.

    Director:Neema Barnette
    Writer:Ruby Dee

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  3. American Playhouse Season 9 Episode 2 - Women and Wallace
    7.5/10(21 votes)

    S9:E2

    After his mother's suicide, Wallace Kirkman struggles in his relationships with the women in his life.

    Director:Don Scardino
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. American Playhouse Season 9 Episode 3 - The Wizard of Loneliness
    6.4/10(29 votes)

    S9:E3

    After his mother dies and father goes to fight in World War II, young Wendall Oler moves in with his aunt and uncle in the countryside. Lonely, he starts believing he has superpowers. Then a 'dead' man shows up.

    Director:Jenny Bowen
    Writer:Nancy Larson

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  5. American Playhouse Season 9 Episode 6 - Andre's Mother
    4.0/10(3 votes)

    S9:E6

    Katherine Gerard has lost her son Andre to AIDS. At his memorial service, we follow Katherine confronting the death of her son, the anguish of his lover Cal Porter, and, in flashbacks, the key moments of denial and miscommunication with those closest to her.

    Director:Deborah Reinisch
    Writer:Terrence McNally

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  6. American Playhouse Season 9 Episode 5 - In a Shallow Grave
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S9:E5

    Disfigured WWII veteran Garnet Montrose returns from Guadacanal and enlists a drifter to court his former sweetheart through letters, leading to a complex love triangle with unexpected romantic developments.

    Director:Kenneth Bowser
    Writer:Kenneth Bowser

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  7. American Playhouse Season 9 Episode 7 - The Wash
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S9:E7

    Nobu Matsumoto is a neglectful husband. Not the most loving man. His wife Masi gradually encounters a widower, a kind, gentle figure. She eventually makes the transition to leave her husband and go to this fellow.

    Director:Michael Toshiyuki Uno
    Writer:Philip Kan Gotanda

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  8. American Playhouse Season 9 Episode 8 - Triple Play
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S9:E8

    A trio of short films by Chanticleer Films and Columbia Pictures: Ray's Male Heterosexual Dance Hall (an older widower accidentally stumbles into a lively, eccentric male dance class in a desolate mall, finding a new lease on life); Teach 109 (futuristic surgeons practice their skill on androids designed to imitate patients, but Dr. Garrett sees this as pointless since she cares little about fake robotic patients; however, her latest patient changes her mind); and Homesick (a young boy named Sam navigates family changes during the 1920s).

    Directors:Johanna Demetrakas, Bryan Gordon, Richard Kletter
    Writers:Robert Gordon, Bryan Gordon, Richard Kletter

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  9. American Playhouse Season 9 Episode 9 - Break of Dawn
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S9:E9

    In 1930s Los Angeles, Mexican immigrant Pedro J. González becomes a pioneering Spanish-language radio star before being wrongly convicted and imprisoned at San Quentin.

    Director:Isaac Artenstein
    Writer:Isaac Artenstein

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  10. American Playhouse Season 9 Episode 10 - Prisoners of Inertia
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S9:E10

    Indecisive newlyweds get into a series of misadventures while on a day trip from Manhattan to Hoboken, New Jersey.

    Director:Jeff Scher
    Writer:Jeff Scher

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  11. American Playhouse Season 9 Episode 11 - Eat a Bowl of Tea
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S9:E11

    An American-Chinese man brings over his wife from China to America, but the challenges of making a living and adjusting to a new life, plus the attentions of a gambler threaten their marriage.

    Director:Wayne Wang
    Writer:Judith Rascoe

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  12. American Playhouse Season 9 Episode 12 - All God's Dangers
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S9:E12

    Ned Shaw recounts his life as an illiterate Black tenant farmer born into a society of former slaves and slaveholders. The story ends in December 1932 when he courageously stood his ground against white deputy sheriffs who were attempting to seize a neighbor's livestock.

    Director:Michael Hadley
    Writers:Jennifer Hadley, Michael Hadley

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  13. American Playhouse Season 9 Episode 13 - Sidewalk Stories
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S9:E13

    A New York City street artist rescues a baby girl after her father is murdered. He then sets off to find the mother, but has to first learn how to care for the child. Ultimately, he ends up in a horse-drawn chase for the murderers.

    Director:Charles Lane
    Writer:Charles Lane

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  14. American Playhouse Season 9 Episode 14 - Bloodhounds of Broadway
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S9:E14

    On New Year's Eve 1928, in the New York underworld, a gambler sells his body to science, a gangster needs a transfusion, and a gambler is on the run

    Director:Howard Brookner
    Writers:Howard Brookner, Colman deKay

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  15. American Playhouse Season 9 Episode 15 - Where the Spirit Lives
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S9:E15

    In 1937, a young First Nations girl named Ashtecome is kidnapped along with several other children from a village as part of a deliberate Canadian policy to force First Nations children to abandon their culture in order to be assimilated into white Canadian/British society. Taken to a boarding school where she's forced to adopt Western Euro-centric ways and learn English, often under brutal treatment, she has the support of one sympathetic white teacher.

    Director:Bruce Pittman
    Writer:Keith Ross Leckie

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  16. American Playhouse Season 9 Episode 16 - An Enemy of the People
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S9:E16

    When a scientist learns that his town's lucrative springs present a serious health threat, the community refuses to listen to him.

    Director:Jack O'Brien
    Writer:Arthur Miller

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  17. American Playhouse Season 9 Episode 17 - Separation
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S9:E17

    When neurologically ill American actress Sarah calls emotionally crippled English playwright Joe, they begin a very special relationship conducted through trans-Antlantic phone calls. In order to face reality, both must overcome their conditions.

    Director:Barry Davis
    Writer:Tom Kempinski

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  18. American Playhouse Season 9 Episode 18 - Hyde in Hollywood
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S9:E18

    In 1939, closeted director/actor Julian Hyde finds himself targeted by vicious and unscrupulous attacks by a gossip column by the name of Hollywood Confidential.

    Director:Gerald Gutierrez
    Writer:Peter Parnell

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Season 9 Ratings Summary

"Sensibility and Sense" is the best rated episode of "American Playhouse" season 9. It scored 8.1/10 based on 72 votes. Directed by David Hugh Jones and written by Richard Nelson, it aired on 1/24/1990. This episode is rated 0.4 points higher than the second-best, "Zora Is My Name!".