American Playhouse
Season 9
199018 episodes
Episode 1
Sensibility and Sense
Jan 24, 19902h 17m
Three friends, once bonded over their radical beliefs in the 1930s, reunite after becoming estranged over a book one of them wrote.
Episode 2
Women and Wallace
Jan 31, 19901h 20m
After his mother's suicide, Wallace Kirkman struggles in his relationships with the women in his life.
Episode 3
The Wizard of Loneliness
Feb 7, 19901h 51m
After his mother dies and father goes to fight in World War II, young Wendall Oler moves in with his aunt and uncle in the countryside. Lonely, he starts believing he has superpowers. Then a 'dead' man shows up.
Episode 4
Zora Is My Name!
Feb 14, 19901h 19m
A celebration of the life of Zora Neale Hurston, who was born at the turn of the 20th-century and grew to be an important voice with her written portrayals of Black American life in the rural south of the 1930s and 40s, and the stories, songs and folklore that were her heritage and inspiration.
Episode 5
In a Shallow Grave
Feb 21, 19901h 32m
Disfigured WWII veteran Garnet Montrose returns from Guadacanal and enlists a drifter to court his former sweetheart through letters, leading to a complex love triangle with unexpected romantic developments.
Episode 6
Andre's Mother
Mar 7, 199048m
TMDB rating 4.0TMDB
Katherine Gerard has lost her son Andre to AIDS. At his memorial service, we follow Katherine confronting the death of her son, the anguish of his lover Cal Porter, and, in flashbacks, the key moments of denial and miscommunication with those closest to her.
Episode 7
The Wash
Mar 21, 19901h 34m
Nobu Matsumoto is a neglectful husband. Not the most loving man. His wife Masi gradually encounters a widower, a kind, gentle figure. She eventually makes the transition to leave her husband and go to this fellow.
Episode 8
Triple Play
Mar 28, 199056m
A trio of short films by Chanticleer Films and Columbia Pictures: Ray's Male Heterosexual Dance Hall (an older widower accidentally stumbles into a lively, eccentric male dance class in a desolate mall, finding a new lease on life); Teach 109 (futuristic surgeons practice their skill on androids designed to imitate patients, but Dr. Garrett sees this as pointless since she cares little about fake robotic patients; however, her latest patient changes her mind); and Homesick (a young boy named Sam navigates family changes during the 1920s).
Episode 9
Break of Dawn
Apr 11, 19901h 45m
In 1930s Los Angeles, Mexican immigrant Pedro J. González becomes a pioneering Spanish-language radio star before being wrongly convicted and imprisoned at San Quentin.
Episode 10
Prisoners of Inertia
Apr 25, 19901h 32m
Indecisive newlyweds get into a series of misadventures while on a day trip from Manhattan to Hoboken, New Jersey.
Episode 11
Eat a Bowl of Tea
May 2, 19901h 42m
An American-Chinese man brings over his wife from China to America, but the challenges of making a living and adjusting to a new life, plus the attentions of a gambler threaten their marriage.
Episode 12
All God's Dangers
May 9, 19901h 28m
Ned Shaw recounts his life as an illiterate Black tenant farmer born into a society of former slaves and slaveholders. The story ends in December 1932 when he courageously stood his ground against white deputy sheriffs who were attempting to seize a neighbor's livestock.
Episode 13
Sidewalk Stories
May 16, 19901h 42m
A New York City street artist rescues a baby girl after her father is murdered. He then sets off to find the mother, but has to first learn how to care for the child. Ultimately, he ends up in a horse-drawn chase for the murderers.
Episode 14
Bloodhounds of Broadway
May 23, 19901h 33m
On New Year's Eve 1928, in the New York underworld, a gambler sells his body to science, a gangster needs a transfusion, and a gambler is on the run
Episode 15
Where the Spirit Lives
Jun 6, 19901h 36m
In 1937, a young First Nations girl named Ashtecome is kidnapped along with several other children from a village as part of a deliberate Canadian policy to force First Nations children to abandon their culture in order to be assimilated into white Canadian/British society. Taken to a boarding school where she's forced to adopt Western Euro-centric ways and learn English, often under brutal treatment, she has the support of one sympathetic white teacher.
Episode 16
An Enemy of the People
Jun 13, 19901h 30m
When a scientist learns that his town's lucrative springs present a serious health threat, the community refuses to listen to him.
Episode 17
Separation
Jun 27, 19901h 20m
When neurologically ill American actress Sarah calls emotionally crippled English playwright Joe, they begin a very special relationship conducted through trans-Antlantic phone calls. In order to face reality, both must overcome their conditions.
Episode 18
Hyde in Hollywood
Jul 6, 19901h 54m
In 1939, closeted director/actor Julian Hyde finds himself targeted by vicious and unscrupulous attacks by a gossip column by the name of Hollywood Confidential.