Season 1 · 25 episodes
January 12, 1982
John Cheever's comedy of a supposedly kidnapped five-year-old boy. At first, the police aren't interested until a ransom note is discovered. Then the town goes into action to support the finding of Toby.
January 19, 1982
Hot-tempered Greek immigrant Andreas arrives in 1915 America, and finds work on a railroad. However, after giving his corrupt foreman Mekakis a savage beating, Andreas flees and makes his way west.
January 26, 1982
In 19th-century Texas, soldier Juan Nepomuceno Seguin fought at the Alamo and became a highly respected politician to insure better living conditions for his people. Frustration arose when American ranchers move into the flatlands bringing prejudice and bigotry against the Mexican populations.
February 2, 1982
Shy hardware store employee Harry Nash decides to step out of his comfort zone, and takes part in a local amateur theatre troupe, where he becomes the character he plays—literally. Helene Shaw is new in town, a lonely itinerant telephonist. On a whim, she auditions for and gets the part of Stella in the troupe's production of A Streetcar Named Desire, opposite Harry's Stanley. Before anyone realizes the growing affection between the two, Helene falls in love with the charming brute, unaware of the man Harry really is.
February 9, 1982
The arrival in a small town of a stranger who calls himself 'Charles Dickens' makes a magical and lasting change in the lives of an imaginative 12-year-old boy and a loving young woman.
February 16, 1982
Recently widowed Mabel Lederer sells all her belongings and leaves home to start a new life. Mabel believes she has powers to see into the future and to conduct seances. She changes her name to 'Angela Motorman' and moves into a boarding house where she interacts with the strange residents.
February 23, 1982
Nameless women identified by color (e.g., Lady in Red, Lady in Blue) share their experiences with racism, sexism, abuse, and abandonment, ultimately finding strength and sisterhood.
March 2, 1982
In search of Carl Sandburg, actor John Cullum travels to the poet's native home, Galesburg, IL, speaking with close friends and family. Through a remarkable recently discovered trove of period photographs of Galesburg, the small-town America of Sandburg's childhood – the horse carriages, the ice-man delivering ice, a Fourth of July celebration – is revived in vivid detail.
March 9, 1982
Ken Talley is 32, strong, goodlooking and a Vietnam vet with both legs shot off seven years earlier. His lover Jed is bigger and stronger, a gardner, a good listener. On Independence Day 1977, Ken's home in Lebanon Missouri is visted by his army buddies. Much of their past relationships, pre- and post-Vietnam, must be pulled up and examined before any of them can decide their future.
March 16, 1982
Teenage Ralph recounts the Fourth of July and similar chaoses with his family and friends. Based on the writings of Jean Shepherd.
March 23, 1982
A woman suffering from terminal cancer determines to resolve several relationships in her life, especially with her daughter.
March 30, 1982
On a North Dakota wheat farm at the turn of the 20th century, Ray Sorenson builds his world around childhood sweetheart Inga. Then Ray sees his plans come apart when the bank forecloses on his family's farm.
April 6, 1982
A Medal of Honor-winning Vietnam vet has difficulty readjusting to civilian life, and turns to a psychiatrist for help when he finds himself descending to robbery.
April 13, 1982
A musical following American workers from diverse backgrounds, from gravediggers to studio heads, exploring their feelings, frustrations, and search for meaning in their jobs.
April 20, 1982
A drifting, affluent couple spend a weekend at their country home, where the husband cheats on his complacent wife as they host guests for their son's first birthday.
April 27, 1982
A young soldier attends his mother's funeral just before he's shipped out to serve in World War II.
May 4, 1982
A middle-aged Greek immigrant visits his native village, with his American-born son in tow. The elder finds that the place he remembered as paradise on Earth now seems like a desolate wasteland, while the son, who has mede this journey reluctantly, falls in love with his ancestral homeland.
May 11, 1982
1938: Robert Oppenheimer meets and decides to marry the hard-drinking, much-divorced Kitty, although his friends and relatives dislike her.
May 18, 1982
1942: America is at war. Now in charge of the top-secret Manhattan Project, Oppenheimer's left-wing politics mean that he's constantly under surveillance by the FBI and others.
May 25, 1982
1943: Oppenheimer is appointed director of Los Alamos, but his past Communist associations alert the FBI. Meanwhile, his extramarital relationship with the neurotic Jean Tatlock comes to a tragic end.
June 1, 1982
Summer 1944: With the death of President Roosevelt, the future of the Manhattan Project seems doubtful. Oppenheimer finds himself more and more at loggerheads with Teller.
June 8, 1982
May 1945: The European war is over but the conflict with Japan rages on. Oppenheimer discusses the almost completed atomic bomb with the Secretary of War. However, his colleagues have misgivings.
June 15, 1982
1949: A few years after the war, Oppenheimer finds himself regarded as a security risk, and must face the HUAC committee.
June 22, 1982
December 1953: Oppenheimer's examination by the committee proves disastrous and his career with the AEC is finished, whilst that of his rival Teller flourishes.
June 29, 1982
In 1901, Mexican American farmer Gregorio Cortez is forced on the run from Texas Rangers, evading a massive manhunt on horseback for days following a heated misunderstanding leads to the death of a lawman.
We couldn't find a streaming, rental or purchase option for American Playhouse in your region right now.
Official videos, played on YouTube
PBS - American Playhouse 1995 Opening Funding Credits
Opening Credits
Sci-Fi & Fantasy · Drama
Time Express was a short-lived American fantasy TV series, broadcast April–May 1979 on CBS and later syndicated. The series was created by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts who had both previously been involved in the creation of Charlie's Angels. The series ran for only four episodes before being cancelled.
7.01979
Drama · Comedy
A comedy focusing on Kondo Asami, a 33-year-old single woman who lives with her parents and works at the local city hall, and suddenly finds herself starting her life over from scratch.
8.82023
Comedy
Mapp & Lucia is a British television comedy, based on E. F. Benson's novels, beginning with the eponymous 1931 entry for series 1, with Lucia's Progress and Trouble for Lucia for series 2. Mrs Emmeline Lucas (nicknamed Lucia) has just moved to the small English town of Tilling where she comes into conflict with the social ambitions of Miss Elizabeth Mapp. Until now, Miss Mapp has led (and controlled) the social life of Tilling, but that was before they met Lucia.
6.21985
Drama
From Nobel Laureate William Golding's (Lord of the Flies) epic sea-voyage trilogy comes the story of an ambitious British aristocrat, humbled by the lives of his fellow passengers, as he embarks on an ocean voyage for Australia where he is to be an official in the colonial government.
6.12005
Drama · Western
The close-knit Ingalls family builds a new life on the Western frontier, where the joys of nature and the struggle for survival are deeply intertwined.
6.72026
Drama
They say being a woman is all a business and maybe it's true. We are complicated, complex and we look at life differently, exactly what Carolina Rivera captures in 'On the ropes', the new Netflix series that 'unmasks' life's struggles and puts the subject of motherhood on the agenda.
8.62023
Drama · Crime
On December 21, 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over the small Scottish town of Lockerbie, killing 270 people. What followed was the largest murder investigation in the history of Scottish policing, into the deadliest act of terrorism on British soil.
7.32025
Drama · Comedy
"7 Project" is an anthology series about campus romance. Through music and video, different love issues are presented representing diverse experiences of love
5.12021
Crime · Drama
In 1986, Chen Baojin travels to the Altai region to find his missing brother during a dangerous gold rush. As he investigates a series of mysterious events, he uncovers a deadly secret linked to the forbidden place known as Sister Sea. His journey ultimately reveals the truth behind his brother’s disappearance and the true meaning of human value.
8.02022
Comedy
An anthology series following the misadventures of Queer 20-somethings navigating adulthood all connected via the hot new app Queer Memoirs, while getting unsolicited advice from @GayJesus.
2026
Drama · Action & Adventure
A niece who lost her parents and grew up in the hands of an uncle who runs a shopping mall faces a new truth after her uncle's sudden death.
8.52024
Drama
After her husband's unexpected death and a very public breakdown, famed cook Hollis hosts her best friends for an elaborate weekend on Nantucket.
5.92026
Mystery · Drama
Retired Detective Inspector Alex Ridley is lured back into service as a consultant detective when his former protégée, Carol Farman, needs help cracking a complex murder case.
6.22022
Crime · Drama
Malice Aforethought is a 2005 ITV drama based on Anthony Berkeley Cox’s 1931 novel of the same name, made by Granada Television. There was an earlier BBC television adaptation of this novel in 1979. Dr. Edmund Bickleigh is married to a particularly overbearing woman who reminds him at every turn that he is living in her house. But the good doctor has outside interests to help him cope.
4.52005
Comedy
An anthology comedy series featuring a line up of different celebrity guest stars appearing in anywhere from one, two, three, and four short stories or vignettes within an hour about versions of love and romance.
6.21969
Drama
The spirited and impulsive Charlotte Heywood moves from her rural home to Sanditon, a fishing village attempting to reinvent itself as a seaside resort.
7.62019
Drama
The trials and tribulations of the very large, colorful and imperfect Braverman family.
7.52010
Mystery · Drama
A television anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock featuring dramas, thrillers, and mysteries.
7.81955
Drama · Comedy
Hotel Babylon is a British television drama series based on the book of the same name by Imogen Edwards-Jones. The show followed the lives of workers at a glamorous five-star hotel.
7.32006
Drama · Crime
A penniless mother makes an impulsive decision in the jewellery shop where she works, and is propelled into a different world.
6.62024
Drama
After a crippling injury leaves her husband impotent, Lady Chatterly is torn between her love for her husband and her physical desires. With her husband's consent, she seeks out other means of fulfilling her needs.
6.31993
Drama
Life, death and drama at 20,000 feet. The series weaves together intense character journeys and high-stakes medical rescues, as we follow the triumphs, heartbreaks and tribulations of budding nurses and pilots flying air ambulances in remote Northern Canada. They’re all in over their heads, and on their own, with no one to rely on but each other.
6.72022
Drama
The story of the penniless Mary Thorne, who grows up with her rich aunt/cousins at Greshamsbury Park estate.
7.32016
Drama · Crime
The adventures of Miss Jane Marple, an elderly spinster living in the quiet little village of St Mary Mead. During her many visits to friends and relatives in other villages, Miss Marple often stumbles upon mysterious murders which she helps solve. Although the police are sometimes reluctant to accept Miss Marple's help, her reputation and unparalleled powers of observation eventually win them over.
7.82004
Comedy · Drama
Married is a half hour comedy about being miserably in love. Russ and Lina Bowman can barely remember what life was like before kids, debt, and suburbia rained on their romance -- but every once in a while, in between the arguments about their declining sex life and who's driving carpool, they are reminded what drew them together in the first place -- they're best friends. The show also features Russ and Lina's friend AJ, who is recently divorced and pretending he's over his wife, and their other friend Jess, who is married to a much older man who can't keep up with her.
6.22014
Comedy · Drama
Men at Work is an American comedy series that airs on TBS. The series was created by Breckin Meyer and stars Danny Masterson, Michael Cassidy, Adam Busch, James Lesure and Meredith Hagner. The series premiered on May 24, 2012 at 10 pm. TBS second season premiered on April 4, 2013 with another 10 episode season.
6.62012
Comedy · Drama
There's nothing that bonds a group of single black women together more than sidestepping the land mines of living, working and dating in Atlanta. In a sea of swipe-lefts, social media drama and unrealistic #relationshipgoals, these friends try to find their Mr. Right.
8.42019
Drama
An exuberant drama set in Melbourne's Fitzroy, centering on Nina Proudman and her struggle to deal with her fabulously messy family, her hunt for a decent love life and her tendency to overthink and fly off into fantasy.
6.92010
Drama · Crime
A realistic glimpse into the daily lives of the officers and detectives at an urban police station.
7.61981
Drama
An anthology series of hotly contested criminal trials that divides the nation and take place in the full glare of the media spotlight.
6.92021
Drama
A divorced mom deals with an old romance and complicated family issues when she returns to her hometown with her twin daughters.
7.82016
Drama
Amy Dorrit spends her days earning money for the family and looking after her proud father who is a long term inmate of Marshalsea debtors' prison in London. Amy and her family's world is transformed when her employer's son, Arthur Clennam, returns from overseas to solve his family's mysterious legacy and discovers that their lives are interlinked.
7.92008
