The Philco Television Playhouse backdrop
The Philco Television Playhouse poster
Drama

The Best Episodes of The Philco Television Playhouse

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

The Best Episodes of The Philco Television Playhouse

The Philco Television Playhouse is an American anthology series that was broadcast live on NBC from 1948 to 1955. Produced by Fred Coe, the series...

Filter By Season8

  1. 8.0/10(13 votes)

    #1 - What Makes Sammy Run?

    Loading...
    S1:E28

    The story of Sammy Glick, the man with a positive genius for being a heel, who runs through New York's East Side, through newspaper ranks and finally through Hollywood, leaving in his wake the wrecked careers of his associates; for this is his tragedy and his chief characteristic-his congenital incapacity for friendship.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Fred Coe
  2. 7.8/10(12 votes)

    #2 - A Young Lady of Property

    Loading...
    S5:E19

    Wilma a 15-year-old girl has dreams of becoming a movie star but after her mother's death she is sent to live with her aunt, her father is too weak and unreliable. She wishes to be back at her home with her father.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Writer:N/A
  3. 7.8/10(369 votes)

    #3 - Marty

    Loading...
    S5:E23

    Marty Pilletti is a 36 year-old butcher who lives with his mother. His brothers and sisters are all married and his dear mother - along with several other of her friends - is always asking him why he doesn't find a nice girl and get married. The truth is Marty is lonely and would like nothing better. He has very low self-esteem however and admits to his mother that he's ugly and no one wants him. He's tired of going to the Saturday night dance with his buddies and then going home more depressed than he was when the evening started. At one of those dances he meets ...

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  4. 7.3/10(6 votes)

    #4 - The House in Athens

    Loading...
    S5:E27

    Three people are thrown together by the death of a man.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Delbert Mann
    Writer:N/A
  5. 6.8/10(14 votes)

    #5 - A Christmas Carol

    Loading...
    S1:E12

    The skinflint Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by three ghosts on Christmas Eve.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Fred Coe
    Writer:N/A
  6. 6.3/10(15 votes)

    #6 - The Way of an Eagle

    Loading...
    S5:E24

    The story of John J. Audobon and his wife Lucy.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  7. Trending NowTRENDING NOW

    The 20 WORST Episodes of The Philco Television Playhouse

    READ
  8. 6.0/10(1 votes)

    #7 - Bethel Merriday

    Loading...
    S2:E19

    A small-town girl named Bethel Merriday is determined to become an actress.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Delbert Mann
    Writer:N/A
  9. 6.0/10(1 votes)

    #8 - Ann Rutledge

    Loading...
    S2:E24

    The short life of Ann Rutledge, Abraham Lincoln's one true love who passed away at age 22 of typhoid fever.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Gordon Duff
    Writer:N/A
  10. 6.0/10(1 votes)

    #9 - Leaf out of a Book

    Loading...
    S3:E17

    No description available

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  11. 6.0/10(1 votes)

    #10 - The Sisters

    Loading...
    S4:E6

    The lives of two sisters are disrupted by a psychopath who appears claiming to be their godson.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  12. 6.0/10(1 votes)

    #11 - Rich Boy

    Loading...
    S4:E9

    This well-received adaptation of the 1924 F. Scott Fitzgerald short story starred Gene Lyons as rich playboy Anson Hunter, who realizes too late that he has wasted his life by allowing the one woman he truly loved (Kelly) to slip out of his grasp.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Delbert Mann
    Writer:N/A
  13. 6.0/10(1 votes)

    #12 - The Death of Billy the Kid

    Loading...
    S7:E23

    How Pat Garrett hunted down and killed the legendary outlaw Billy The Kid.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  14. 5.5/10(2 votes)

    #13 - Run Like a Thief

    Loading...
    S6:E26

    Alexander has been a faithful employee of Madame Pollard as maitre d' at her elegant resort. Eager to introduce his protege Rob, things go wrong when his wife Della finds an expensive bracelet lost by Pollard and begs to keep. The police are called and Alexander's dreams of his future begin to crumble.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Writer:Sam Hall
  15. NaN/10(0 votes)

    #14 - Dinner at Eight

    Loading...
    S1:E1

    Social-climbing Mrs. Oliver Jordan, whose husband's firm is in financial trouble, feels obligated to reciprocate hospitality for a visiting British aristocratic couple by arranging a small dinner party. The guests are chosen both to impress--a faded stage star, a well-known if over-the-hill alcoholic actor--and to meet certain social obligations. This means the necessary inclusion of a philandering doctor and his wife, and a gauche, nouveau-riche couple who are loathed but powerful.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Fred Coe
    Writer:N/A
  16. NaN/10(0 votes)

    #15 - Rebecca

    Loading...
    S1:E2

    Brooding and moody Maxim deWinter returns from an extended trip to the continent with a young bride, less than a year after the tragic death of hi first wife, Rebecca. The staff of Manderley, his country home, including Mrs Danvers the housekeeper who rules over the house, are still devoted to their former mistress, the socialite Rebecca and they find it difficult to accept the new, shy Mrs deWinter who is inexperienced running a large home.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:Fred Coe
    Writer:N/A
  17. NaN/10(0 votes)

    #16 - Counsellor-at-Law

    Loading...
    S1:E3

    An upscale Manhattan attorney torn between his greedy practices of insider trading and embezzlement and his desire to help the working-class Jews from his old neighborhood.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  18. NaN/10(0 votes)

    #17 - Angel in the Wings

    Loading...
    S1:E4

    An understudy for a stage show's star takes over when an accident circumvents the stars performance. The understudy takes over and brings down the house.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  19. NaN/10(0 votes)

    #18 - Street Scene

    Loading...
    S1:E5

    Abraham Kaplan lives with his family in a row house populated by a kaleidoscope of characters looking to break out of poverty. Kaplan's revolutionary, socialist views grate against some of his neighbors.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  20. NaN/10(0 votes)

    #19 - This Thing Called Love

    Loading...
    S1:E6

    A professional couple marry and the wife insists on celibacy for three months to see if they really are compatible or not. The husband tries to lure her with all kinds of excuses and tricks to the marital bed.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  21. NaN/10(0 votes)

    #20 - Camille

    Loading...
    S1:E7

    Camille, a beautiful courtesan and Armand Duval, a young man in the foreign service, are in love. Their relationship jeopardizes his career and prevents the marriage of his sister into a ""respectable"" family, if Duval marries Camille. Camille becomes ill and dies.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  22. NaN/10(0 votes)

    #21 - An Inspector Calls

    Loading...
    S1:E8

    When Inspector Goole calls unexpectedly on the prosperous Birling family, his startling revelations not only shatter the very foundations of their lives, but challenge us all to examine our consciences.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  23. NaN/10(0 votes)

    #22 - I Like It Here

    Loading...
    S1:E9

    Willie is a refugee who works as a houseman at a professor's home. He's a sweet and lovable man even when he's interfering in other people's lives. The Professor's daughter is in love with Brad, a young lawyer. Of course, Willie sees fit to give Brad all kinds of advice.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  24. NaN/10(0 votes)

    #23 - Suspect

    Loading...
    S1:E10

    20 years ago, a Scotswoman was accused of an ax murder and let off with the ignominious Scottish verdict of Not Proven. She changes her name and lives down her past, but when her son becomes engaged, his fiancée's godfather spots the mother and recognizes her. In his efforts to trap her, and hers not to be trapped trouble arises.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  25. NaN/10(0 votes)

    #24 - Parlor Story

    Loading...
    S1:E11

    An ambitious professor wants to become President of his university. He is soon caught up in the political opportunism of the State Governor, the wiles of an unscrupulous newspaper publisher and the parlor tricks of his own meddling wife.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  26. NaN/10(0 votes)

    #25 - The Old Lady Shows Her Medals

    Loading...
    S1:E13

    The basement flat of Mrs Dowey, a Scottish charwoman who lives and works in London, during World War I, and Mrs Dowey and her guests - three other charwomen whom she has invited for tea - are discussing the tactics of trench warfare with the confidence of people who have never been near the Front.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A

Best Episodes Summary

"What Makes Sammy Run?" is the best rated episode of "The Philco Television Playhouse". It scored 8/10 based on 13 votes. Directed by Fred Coe and written by Paddy Chayefsky, it aired on 4/10/1949. This episode scored 0.2 points higher than the second highest rated, "A Young Lady of Property".