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The Worst Episodes of American Playhouse

Every episode of American Playhouse ranked from worst to best. Explore the Worst Episodes of American Playhouse!

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

    #1 - Northern Lights

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

    #2 - Oppenheimer (1)

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

    #3 - Oppenheimer (2)

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

    #4 - Oppenheimer (3)

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

    #5 - Oppenheimer (4)

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

    #6 - Oppenheimer (5)

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

    #7 - Oppenheimer (6)

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

    #8 - Oppenheimer (7)

    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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  9. American Playhouse Season 2 Episode 6 - The File on Jill Hatch (2)
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #9 - The File on Jill Hatch (2)

    S2:E6

    A decade-spanning look at marriage of a Black American soldier and a white British woman.

    Director:Alastair Reid
    Writer:Kenneth Cavander

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  10. American Playhouse Season 2 Episode 7 - The File on Jill Hatch (3)
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #10 - The File on Jill Hatch (3)

    S2:E7

    A decade-spanning look at marriage of a Black American soldier and a white British woman.

    Director:Alastair Reid
    Writer:Alex Mount

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  11. American Playhouse Season 2 Episode 9 - Verse Person Singular
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #11 - Verse Person Singular

    S2:E9

    Actor Richard Kiley takes on the personae of thirteen different characters as he reads his favorite poems written in the first-person.

    Director:Robert Deubel
    Writers:Richard Kiley, Stephen Vincent Benet, Robert Browning, Lewis Carroll, T. S. Eliot, Richard Eberhardt, Edwin Arlington Robinson, Edgar Lee Masters, Edgar Allan Poe, Rudyard Kipling, Henry Reed

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  12. American Playhouse Season 2 Episode 10 - Until She Talks
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #12 - Until She Talks

    S2:E10

    The story of a young woman imprisoned for declining to testify before a grand jury; comprised from real courtroom transcripts and based on the experiences of individuals jailed for their refusal to testify.

    Director:Mary Lampson
    Writer:Doris Baizley

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  13. American Playhouse Season 3 Episode 4 - Nothing But a Man
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #13 - Nothing But a Man

    S3:E4

    Railroad laborer Duff Anderson struggles to maintain his dignity and marriage to a preacher's daughter in the racially segregated South.

    Director:Michael Roemer
    Writers:Michael Roemer, Robert M. Young

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  14. American Playhouse Season 3 Episode 7 - Refuge
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #14 - Refuge

    S3:E7

    On a remote island off the coast of Maine, four people attempt to relax but the isolated refuge fails to protect them from their own insecurities and jealousies.

    Director:Huck Fairman
    Writers:Luther Sperberg, Huck Fairman

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  15. American Playhouse Season 3 Episode 8 - The Gin Game
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #15 - The Gin Game

    S3:E8

    Weller Martin and Fonsia Dorsey reside at a nursing home, and they strike up an acquaintance. Neither seems to have any other friends, and they start to enjoy each other's company. Weller offers to teach Fonsia how to play gin rummy, and engage in lengthy conversations about their families and their lives in the outside world.

    Director:Terry Hughes
    Writer:Unknown

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  16. American Playhouse Season 3 Episode 11 - Heartland
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #16 - Heartland

    S3:E11

    Miraculous occurrences happen to people throughout the world every day. God's Miracles presents personal experiences as well as unvarnished scientific and factual evidence, allowing the viewer to draw their own conclusions as to whether it is possible for God to grant miracles.

    Director:Richard Pearce
    Writers:William Kittredge, Beth Ferris

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  17. American Playhouse Season 3 Episode 15 - Concealed Enemies, Part II: Accusation
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #17 - Concealed Enemies, Part II: Accusation

    S3:E15

    A dramatized account of the actual events that led to the 1950 conviction of former U. S. State Department official Alger Hiss of perjury before a federal grand jury and his resulting imprisonment.

    Director:Jeff Bleckner
    Writer:Hugh Whitemore

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  18. American Playhouse Season 3 Episode 16 - Concealed Enemies, Part III: Investigation
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #18 - Concealed Enemies, Part III: Investigation

    S3:E16

    A dramatized account of the actual events that led to the 1950 conviction of former U. S. State Department official Alger Hiss of perjury before a federal grand jury and his resulting imprisonment.

    Director:Jeff Bleckner
    Writer:Hugh Whitemore

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  19. American Playhouse Season 3 Episode 17 - Concealed Enemies, Part IV: Verdict
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #19 - Concealed Enemies, Part IV: Verdict

    S3:E17

    A dramatized account of the actual events that led to the 1950 conviction of former U. S. State Department official Alger Hiss of perjury before a federal grand jury and his resulting imprisonment.

    Director:Jeff Bleckner
    Writer:Hugh Whitemore

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  20. American Playhouse Season 4 Episode 1 - Testament
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #20 - Testament

    S4:E1

    It's just another day in the small town of Hamlin until something disastrous happens. Suddenly, news breaks that a series of nuclear warheads has been dropped along the Eastern Seaboard and, more locally, in California. As people begin coping with the devastating aftermath of the attacks — many suffer radiation poisoning — the Wetherly family tries to survive.

    Director:Lynne Littman
    Writer:John Sacret Young

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  21. American Playhouse Season 4 Episode 4 - Tomorrow
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #21 - Tomorrow

    S4:E4

    A lonely farmer takes in a pregnant woman and looks after her. After she gives birth, tragedy strikes.

    Director:Joseph Anthony
    Writer:Unknown

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  22. American Playhouse Season 4 Episode 8 - Overdrawn at the Memory Bank
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #22 - Overdrawn at the Memory Bank

    S4:E8

    Computer programmer Aram Fingal's virtual vacation in the classic film Casablanca is removed by a totalitarian government and accidentally trapped in the virtual reality simulation. He must find a way out before he expires.

    Director:Douglas Williams
    Writer:Corinne Jacker

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  23. American Playhouse Season 4 Episode 16 - The Europeans
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #23 - The Europeans

    S4:E16

    The Countess Eugenia and her brother Robert, expatriate Americans who have grown up in Europe, return to prosperous relatives in New England. Eugenia hopes to make an advantageous marriage with a wealthy cousin. As Eugenia encounters obstacles, Robert finds his suit bearing fruit.

    Director:James Ivory
    Writer:Ruth Prawer Jhabvala

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  24. American Playhouse Season 4 Episode 17 - El Norte
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #24 - El Norte

    S4:E17

    Indigenous Guatemalan siblings Rosa and Enrique flee their village after a government massacre and undertake a perilous journey to the United States ('El Norte') seeking a new life, only to face new hardships as undocumented immigrants in Los Angeles.

    Director:Gregory Nava
    Writers:Gregory Nava, Anna Thomas

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  25. American Playhouse Season 4 Episode 21 - Paper Angels
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #25 - Paper Angels

    S4:E21

    Chinese immigrants are detained on Angel Island in 1915 during the Chinese Exclusion era. The new arrivals express their hopes and anxieties as they try to reconcile their Chinese heritage with their new lives in California.

    Director:John Lone
    Writer:Genny Lim

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Worst Episodes Summary

"Northern Lights" is the worst rated episode of "American Playhouse". It scored /10 based on 0 votes. Directed by Rob Nilsson, John Hanson and written by Rob Nilsson, John Hanson, it aired on 3/30/1982. This episode scored 0.0 points lower than the second lowest rated, "Oppenheimer (1)".