The Best Episodes of CBS Playhouse

Episode Rankings

1. #1 Fan Favorite
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   #1 - The Glass Menagerie

   S1:E112/8/1966

   Story about an African American soldier in Vietnam. It focuses on the past and present of a war-weary GI who, after 20 years of professional soldiering, begins a quest for life. Master Sergeant Olly Winter, winding up a long career, is serving as an advisor in Vietnam. When his platoon is ambushed by the Viet Cong, Olly, the only survivor, sets out on the long trek back to safety. Along the way he picks up company, a young Vietnamese girl, her dog, and an orphaned baby. The girl doesn't understand English, but Olly talks to her--and himself about the wars he's seen, his family, and the life he plans to lead 'If I get out of here alive.'

   Director:Paul Bogart

   Writer:Unknown

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   Director:Paul Bogart

   Writer:Unknown
2. 

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   #2 - The Final War of Olly Winter

   S1:E21/29/1967

   When carpenter Peter Schermann needed a home, he built it with his own hands. And the house, like Peter, was strong; solid as a tree. But now he's old, too old. His children have no room for him. Peter winds up in a rest home--where he angrily rebels. He resents being treated as if he were senile or crippled. And he is offended by the empty atmosphere of waiting for death. Loring Mandel's compassionate drama follows Peter's lonely, courageous struggle to find a life in a world that has shut him out.

   Directors:George Schaefer, Paul Bogart

   Writer:Unknown

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   Directors:George Schaefer, Paul Bogart

   Writer:Unknown
3. 

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   #3 - Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night

   S1:E310/17/1967

   After 15 years of marriage, Michael and Lois Graves have decided to pack it in. No bitterness or tears; just a divorce. Their friends think it's childish. They invite the couple to dinner, where blind to their personal motives, they hope to talk Mike and Lois out of splitting up. What they ultimately do to themselves is quite another story.

   Directors:George Schaefer, Paul Bogart

   Writer:Reginald Rose

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   Directors:George Schaefer, Paul Bogart

   Writer:Reginald Rose
4. 

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   #4 - Dear Friends

   S1:E412/6/1967

   Ned, a New York magazine editor, tries to escape the responsibilities of his rocky marriage, the neediness of his two teen daughters and especially the agony of putting his autistic son into an institution by thinking back on his boyhood in Massachusetts. As he returns to that life as an adult—walking into scenes of the 1940s with his parents as an adult—he realizes that life always was a challenging proposition. The boomeranging back and forth in time presented Schaefer and Gene Hackman, in his most outstanding TV performance, with enormous demands.

   Directors:George Schaefer, Paul Bogart

   Writer:Unknown

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   Directors:George Schaefer, Paul Bogart

   Writer:Unknown
5. 

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   #5 - My Father and My Mother

   S1:E52/13/1968

   After 21 years, Doris Gray learns that her husband holds a secret. She knows Bryan has nothing to hide, but fear and circumstance urge her to panicky speculations that wedge them apart. (90 mins)

   Directors:George Schaefer, Paul Bogart

   Writer:Unknown

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   Directors:George Schaefer, Paul Bogart

   Writer:Unknown
6. 

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   #6 - Secrets

   S1:E65/15/1968

   No description available

   Director:Paul Bogart

   Writer:Unknown

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   Director:Paul Bogart

   Writer:Unknown
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7. 

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   #7 - The People Next Door

   S2:E110/15/1968

   Story about a typical, white, middle-class suburban family, the Masons, and the problems that arise from the drug use of their daughter Maxie.

   Director:David Greene

   Writer:J.P. Miller

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   Director:David Greene

   Writer:J.P. Miller
8. 

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   #8 - Saturday Adoption

   S2:E212/4/1968

   This contemporary drama about idealism and indifferent reality puts the accent on youth; the leading players are young unknowns, and the playwright, 23-year-old Ron Cowen, is the youngest writer to be commissioned by CBS. Rich Meridan is white, well-to-do and wondering. He's about to enter law school so he can make a lot of money. Rich isn't sure if that's what he wants from life--but that's what his parents want. As he puts it, 'I never got a chance to choose. I had everything before I could hope to have it.' Macy Stander is black, a cut above poverty and in the seventh grade. He's young enough to dream, but his outlook is too bleak for him to risk the disappointment: 'The things you think about aren't gonna come true.' Both youths are stifled--Rich by having too much, Macy by having too little. They meet when Rich, clumsily but earnestly seeking to make a worthwhile contribution, offers to work as an unpaid tutor to ghetto youths. His pupil is Macy, caught between the distant glitter

   Director:Delbert Mann

   Writer:Unknown

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   Director:Delbert Mann

   Writer:Unknown
9. 

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   #9 - The Experiment

   S2:E32/25/1969

   Douglas got his first big break when he was cast in the pivotal role of the free-spirited scientist who compromises his liberal views to accept a lucrative job with a high-tech chemical corporation.

   Director:Paul Bogart

   Writer:Unknown

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   Director:Paul Bogart

   Writer:Unknown
10. 

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    #10 - Shadow Game

    S2:E45/7/1969

    The power failure that blacked out the Northeast in 1965 provides a key dramatic element in this play, set in the 50th-floor offices of Cohalen and Associates. The business day is ending when the power failure occurs, stopping elevators and office machines, and trapping some of the workers in semidarkness. Candles are found, liquor and ice are gathered from the executive suites, and a quiet party begins. As the evening progresses and inhibitions are swept away, the stranded workers begin to reveal themselves in unexpected ways. The drama focuses on--Saul Novick, embittered because his clients are being stolen by Peter Hoyt, an aggressive colleague who claims that the firm's owner approves of interoffice piracy. Art Richardson, a cautious junior partner enjoying a brief liaison with one of the secretaries. Jerry Arnot, slipping in stature and making pathetic efforts to regain lost ground. And Novick's girl friend Jess, unsure of herself and their relationship.

    Director:Paul Bogart

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Paul Bogart

    Writer:Unknown
11. 

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    #11 - Appalacian Autumn

    S3:E110/7/1969

    The specter of rural American poverty forms the backdrop for the third-season premiere of CBS Playhouse. The play is set in the Appalachian town of Harper's Gap, West Virginia. The mines are closed; the community is on welfare. But not Rome Harper and his 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.

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    Director:William A. Graham

    Writers:Earl Hamner, Jr.
12. 

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    #12 - Sadbird

    S3:E212/1/1969

    An engrossing drama by TV veteran George Bellak pictures the coming of age of Alex Miller, a man perilously close to 30, and the kind of square respectability he's always shunned. Because an underground-art scheme fizzled, Alex is in debt to a loan shark to the tune of 4000 dollars. 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.

    Director:William A. Graham

    Writer:George Bellak

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    Director:William A. Graham

    Writer:George Bellak
13. 

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    #13 - The Day Before Sunday

    S3:E32/10/1970

    Robert Crean's perceptive script focuses on Annamae Whiteley, a brash and fortyish department-store executive from Tulsa, Oklahoma. The unmarried lady is flying East to her niece's prep school graduation and a reunion with her family. On the plane, she meets Jesse Rothenberg, a divorced gentleman she finds vastly attractive. Jesse is also going to the graduation, but any developments in their relationship must be deferred: Annamae faces family problems that only she can cope with.

    Director:Paul Bogart

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Paul Bogart

    Writer:Unknown