7.1/10116 votes#1 - Forbidden Area
Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 10/4/1956
Why are so many B-99 bombers from Hibiscus Air Base crashing or simply disappearing? Colonel Price comes up with a terrifying explanation, but will anyone believe him?
Director: John Frankenheimer
Writer: Pat Frank
- 8.4/10335 votes
#2 - Requiem for a Heavyweight
Season 1 Episode 2 - Aired 10/11/1956
An over-the-hill heavyweight boxing champion who suffers from the ravages of years of head trauma is exploited by his manager, despite the efforts of a compassionate young woman who tries to help him recover his self-respect.
Director: Ralph Nelson
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votes
#3 - Sizeman and Son
Season 1 Episode 3 - Aired 10/18/1956
The happy atmosphere in Mr. Sizeman's factory is disrupted by an argumentative newcomer - his son.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votes
#4 - Rendezvous in Black
Season 1 Episode 4 - Aired 10/25/1956
A woman is inexplicably killed on a street-corner. What has this to do with other deaths around the city?
Director: John Frankenheimer
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votes
#5 - The Country Husband
Season 1 Episode 5 - Aired 11/1/1956
After a near-death experience, a businessman starts to re-think his life, and wonders about leaving his wife.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votes
#6 - The Big Slide
Season 1 Episode 6 - Aired 11/8/1956
A vaudeville comic becomes a silent film star.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votes
#7 - Heritage of Anger
Season 1 Episode 7 - Aired 11/15/1956
A wealthy industrialist has trouble with his sons.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 7.2/1019 votes
#8 - Eloise
Season 1 Episode 8 - Aired 11/22/1956
It's not so much that Eloise is a mischievous child, but the darnedest things do happen when she's around.
Director: John Frankenheimer
Writer: Leonard Spigelgass
- NaN/100 votes
#9 - Confession
Season 1 Episode 9 - Aired 11/29/1956
When a much-admired community leader dies, a journalist starts to investigate his life - and finds he was not the man he seemed.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votes
#10 - Made in Heaven
Season 1 Episode 10 - Aired 12/6/1956
When Zachary and Elsa separate, each seems tempted to start a new love affair.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votes
#11 - Sincerely, Willis Wade
Season 1 Episode 11 - Aired 12/13/1956
A wealthy mill owner finances the education of a clever, but poor, young man.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votes
#12 - The Family Nobody Wanted
Season 1 Episode 12 - Aired 12/20/1956
A true story, it follows a pastor and his wife through forties beginning with one biological child, Donny. But the upheaval of the war years results in a number of mixed raced children that the Doss family adopt until they have 12 children.
Director: John Frankenheimer
Writer: N/A
- 6.2/1040 votes
#13 - Massacre at Sand Creek
Season 1 Episode 13 - Aired 12/27/1956
An investigation into a massacre of Native Americans.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votes
#14 - Snowshoes: A Comedy of People and Horses
Season 1 Episode 14 - Aired 1/3/1957
Some racetrack Johnnies are talking between races when one wonders if you can hypnotize a horse into thinking it's a champion. The idea sets in motion a series of hilarious events.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votes
#15 - The Ninth Day
Season 1 Episode 15 - Aired 1/10/1957
Events in the aftermath of World War Three.
Director: John Frankenheimer
Writer: N/A
- 6.8/1016 votes
#16 - So Soon to Die
Season 1 Episode 16 - Aired 1/17/1957
Down on his luck, war hero Lionel Amblin contemplates committing a murder.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votes
#17 - The Star Wagon
Season 1 Episode 17 - Aired 1/24/1957
An inventor, pondering on how he might differently have arranged his life, invents a time machine and decides to make a few changes.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votes
#18 - The Greer Case
Season 1 Episode 18 - Aired 1/31/1957
When a rich woman dies without signing her new will, all kinds of problems ensue.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 8.2/1016 votes
#19 - The Miracle Worker
Season 1 Episode 19 - Aired 2/7/1957
The story of Anne Sullivan's struggle to teach the blind and deaf Helen Keller how to communicate.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 7.9/10286 votes
#20 - The Comedian
Season 1 Episode 20 - Aired 2/14/1957
Sammy Hogarth, a vaudeville comedian who now has his own TV show, is a ruthless egomaniac who demands instant obedience from his staff and heaps abuse on those in lesser positions than his. His most vituperative behavior, however, is reserved for his weak-willed brother, Lester, whom Sammy has hired as his assistant but whom he really uses as his whipping boy.
Director: John Frankenheimer
Writer: Rod Serling
- NaN/100 votes
#21 - One Coat of White
Season 1 Episode 21 - Aired 2/21/1957
A newly-widowed woman goes on a trip to Europe and meets a French artist.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votes
#22 - The Blackwell Story
Season 1 Episode 22 - Aired 2/28/1957
In the 19th century, Elizabeth Blackwell determines to become a doctor.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 8.0/1012 votes
#23 - Invitation to a Gunfighter
Season 1 Episode 23 - Aired 3/7/1957
A gunfighter is terrorizing a small western town. The townspeople finally pool their money to a hire another gunfighter to drive him out of town. The townsfolk thought they had it bad until they handed the reigns over to the new terror. Pooling their money again, this time to hire Jeffers to get rid of Dancer.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 8.1/1022 votes
#24 - The Last Tycoon
Season 1 Episode 24 - Aired 3/14/1957
A movie producer is slowly working himself to death.
Director: John Frankenheimer
Writer: N/A
- 6.7/1016 votes
#25 - The Hostess with the Mostes'
Season 1 Episode 25 - Aired 3/21/1957
The story of Perle Mesta, who became, first, a renowned society hostess, and then an ambassadress.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
The Best Episodes of Playhouse 90 Season 1
Every episode of Playhouse 90 Season 1 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Playhouse 90 Season 1!
Playhouse 90 is an American television anthology series that was telecast on CBS from 1956 to 1960 for a total of 133 episodes. It originated...
Genre:Drama
Network:CBS
Season 1 Ratings Summary
"Forbidden Area" is the best rated episode of "Playhouse 90" season 1. It scored 7.1/10 based on 116 votes. Directed by John Frankenheimer and written by Pat Frank, it aired on 10/4/1956. This episode is rated 1.3 points higher than the second-best, "Requiem for a Heavyweight".