Drama1966–1970CBS

The Best Episodes of CBS Playhouse

Every episode of CBS Playhouse ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of CBS Playhouse!

Best episode
S1E1 The Glass Menagerie
8.926 votes
Worst episode
S2E1 The People Next Door
7.016 votes
Top season
Season 3
8.6avg
Binge time
19h 28m
13 episodes
BestEpisodes
WorstEpisodes
BestSeasons
AllEpisodes

Seasons3

All123

Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
    Click to reveal
    CBS Playhouse Season 1 Episode 1 - The Glass Menagerie
    8.9/10(26 votes)

    S1:E1

    An aging Southern Belle complicates life for her ambitious son and crippled daughter because of her own warped views of what life should be.

    Director:Michael Elliott
    Writer:Tennessee Williams

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  2. CBS Playhouse Season 3 Episode 2 - Sadbird
    8.9/10(20 votes)

    S3:E2

    Alex Miller, perilously close to 30, has the kind of square respectability he's always shunned. Due to the fizzure of an underground-art scheme, Alex is in debt to a loan shark to the tune of $4,000. To pay it off, he is forced to enter the 9 to 5 world, taking a job at the Ajax Toy Company. Alex means to quit when the debt is paid, but finds he can't; his particular genius is well suited to the toy game, a fact that the firm's owner is quick to acknowledge with handsome rewards. Then, too, there's Carol Brandt, a unique creature totally unlike the girls Alex usually gets involved with.

    Directors:Paul Bogart, William A. Graham
    Writer:George Bellak

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  3. CBS Playhouse Season 2 Episode 4 - Shadow Game
    9.0/10(1 votes)

    S2:E4

    The employees in a high-powered New York business office are stranded on the 50th floor when the power fails during the 1965 East Coast blackout. A small party is begun, and truths about the career and personal ambitions of the workers begin to emerge.

    Director:Paul Bogart
    Writer:Loring Mandel

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  4. CBS Playhouse Season 3 Episode 1 - Appalacian Autumn
    8.3/10(9 votes)

    S3:E1

    In the Appalachian town of Harper's Gap, West Virginia, the mines are closed, the community on welfare, but not for the Harper family. Rome steals coal from the closed, dangerous mines rather than take charity. Into this dying town comes Joe Borden, a VISTA worker who sees hope in Rome's son Hugh, a potter. From Hugh's talent, Joe envisions a way to bring industry back to Harper's Gap.

    Director:William A. Graham
    Writers:Earl Hamner, Jr.

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  5. CBS Playhouse Season 1 Episode 3 - Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
    7.9/10(11 votes)

    S1:E3

    Follows a carpenter who has built his own home, but is now too old and infirm to live on his own, and is sent to live in an old age home against his desires.

    Director:George Schaefer
    Writer:Loring Mandel

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  6. CBS Playhouse Season 1 Episode 2 - The Final War of Olly Winter
    7.5/10(14 votes)

    S1:E2

    Olly Winter, an African-American Master Sergeant in the Vietnam War, is walking back to allied-controlled land following a battle with the Viet Cong. Along the way, he meets a Vietnamese girl, an orphaned infant, and a dog.

    Director:Paul Bogart
    Writer:Ronald Ribman

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

    7. Trending NowTRENDING NOW

    The 20 WORST Episodes of CBS Playhouse

    READ
  7. CBS Playhouse Season 2 Episode 1 - The People Next Door
    7.0/10(16 votes)

    S2:E1

    Comfortable New York suburbanites Arthur and Gerrie Mason discover one night that their seemingly perfect 16-year-old daughter Maxie has been using LSD. Arthur immediately suspects his 17-year-old son Artie of supplying the drug to his sister, and kicks him out. Whereupon a confused Gerrie seeks advice from high school principal David Hoffman, whose family has their own problems. Very sensibly, he advises love and understanding on part of the parents, which all but goes out the window when Maxie confesses that not only has she been tripping for some time now, but is also sexually active and on the pill.

    Director:David Greene
    Writer:J.P. Miller

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  8. CBS Playhouse Season 1 Episode 4 - Dear Friends
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S1:E4

    After 15 years together, Michael and Lois Graves contemplate divorce. Their friends—three other couples—try to repair their relationship, and ultimately observe the connections that they themselves have.

    Director:Paul Bogart
    Writer:Reginald Rose

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  9. CBS Playhouse Season 1 Episode 5 - My Father and My Mother
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S1:E5

    Ned, a New York editor struggling as a husband and parent, looks back and learns about the difficulties his own parents faced in life.

    Director:George Schaefer
    Writer:Robert J. Crean

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  10. CBS Playhouse Season 1 Episode 6 - Secrets
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S1:E6

    Following a chance encounter that brings him face to face with his past, conservative businessman Bryan Gray goes in search of Janet Ferguson, an actress with whom he had a relationship many years before. His unwillingness to share private aspects arouses the suspicion of wife Doris, who is determined to know all of his secrets and the motivations behind them.

    Director:Paul Bogart
    Writer:Tad Mosel

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  11. CBS Playhouse Season 2 Episode 2 - Saturday Adoption
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S2:E2

    Rich Meridan is white, well-to-do and off to law school so he can make more money. Macy Stander is Black, a cut above poverty and young enough to dream and hope for a better life. Both youths are stifled: one has too much, the other too little.

    Director:Delbert Mann
    Writer:Ron Cowen

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  12. CBS Playhouse Season 2 Episode 3 - The Experiment
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S2:E3

    Wilson Evans is a free-spirited young scientist who compromises his liberal views to accept a lucrative job with a high-tech chemical corporation.

    Director:Robert Butler
    Writer:Ellen M. Violett

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  13. CBS Playhouse Season 3 Episode 3 - The Day Before Sunday
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S3:E3

    Annamae Whiteley is a brash and fortyish department-store executive from Tulsa, Oklahoma. She's flying East to her niece's prep school graduation and a reunion with her family. On the plane, she meets Jesse Rothenberg, an attractive divorcée also attending the graduation. However, any developments in their relationship must be deferred, as Annamae faces family problems only she can cope with.

    Director:Paul Bogart
    Writer:Robert J. Crean

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

Best Episodes Summary

"The Glass Menagerie" is the best rated episode of CBS Playhouse. It scored 8.9/10 from 26 votes. Directed by Michael Elliott and written by Tennessee Williams, it aired on December 8, 1966.

Keep going

Browse CBS Playhouse by season

If you like CBS Playhouse