The Best Episodes of American Playhouse Season 9

Episode Rankings

1. #1 Fan Favorite
   

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   #1 - Sensibility and Sense

   S9:E11/24/1990

   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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   Director:David Hugh Jones

   Writer:Richard Nelson
2. 

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   #2 - Women and Wallace

   S9:E21/31/1990

   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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   Director:Don Scardino

   Writer:Unknown
3. 

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   #3 - The Wizard of Loneliness

   S9:E32/7/1990

   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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   Director:Jenny Bowen

   Writer:Nancy Larson
4. 

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   #4 - Zora Is My Name!

   S9:E42/14/1990

   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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   Director:Neema Barnette

   Writer:Ruby Dee
5. 

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   #5 - In a Shallow Grave

   S9:E52/21/1990

   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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   Director:Kenneth Bowser

   Writer:Kenneth Bowser
6. 

   4.0/10(3 votes)

   #6 - Andre's Mother

   S9:E63/7/1990

   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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   Director:Deborah Reinisch

   Writer:Terrence McNally
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7. 

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   #7 - The Wash

   S9:E73/21/1990

   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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   Director:Michael Toshiyuki Uno

   Writer:Philip Kan Gotanda
8. 

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   #8 - Triple Play

   S9:E83/28/1990

   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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   Directors:Johanna Demetrakas, Bryan Gordon, Richard Kletter

   Writers:Robert Gordon, Bryan Gordon, Richard Kletter
9. 

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   #9 - Break of Dawn

   S9:E94/11/1990

   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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   Director:Isaac Artenstein

   Writer:Isaac Artenstein
10. 

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    #10 - Prisoners of Inertia

    S9:E104/25/1990

    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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    Director:Jeff Scher

    Writer:Jeff Scher
11. 

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    #11 - Eat a Bowl of Tea

    S9:E115/2/1990

    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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    Director:Wayne Wang

    Writer:Judith Rascoe
12. 

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    #12 - All God's Dangers

    S9:E125/9/1990

    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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    Director:Michael Hadley

    Writers:Jennifer Hadley, Michael Hadley
13. 

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    #13 - Sidewalk Stories

    S9:E135/16/1990

    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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    Director:Charles Lane

    Writer:Charles Lane
14. 

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    #14 - Bloodhounds of Broadway

    S9:E145/23/1990

    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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    Director:Howard Brookner

    Writers:Howard Brookner, Colman deKay
15. 

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    #15 - Where the Spirit Lives

    S9:E156/6/1990

    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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    Director:Bruce Pittman

    Writer:Keith Ross Leckie
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    #16 - An Enemy of the People

    S9:E166/13/1990

    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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    Director:Jack O'Brien

    Writer:Arthur Miller
17. 

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    #17 - Separation

    S9:E176/27/1990

    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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    Director:Barry Davis

    Writer:Tom Kempinski
18. 

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    #18 - Hyde in Hollywood

    S9:E187/6/1990

    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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    Director:Gerald Gutierrez

    Writer:Peter Parnell