American Playhouse


American Playhouse is an anthology television series periodically broadcast by Public Broadcasting Service in the United States.

Overview

It premiered on January 12, 1982, with The Shady Hill Kidnapping, written and narrated by John Cheever and directed by Paul Bogart. Its final broadcast, In the Wings: Angels in America on Broadway, a rerun of a behind-the-scenes look at Tony Kushner's award-winning play in two parts, aired on January 1, 1994.
The series proved to be the springboard for the careers of numerous performers, including David Marshall Grant, Laura Linney, A Martinez, Conchata Ferrell, Eric Roberts, Lynne Thigpen, John Malkovich, Peter Riegert, Lupe Ontiveros, Ben Stiller, and Megan Mullally.
As part of WGBH's development of the Descriptive Video Service, American Playhouse was one of the first U.S. television programs to air with audio description for the visually impaired on the Secondary audio program. After trialing the system during previous seasons, the 1990 season was the first to offer it as part of their wider rollout of DVS, initially through 32 member stations.

Notable productions

Season 1 (1982)

Some of the productions won multiple Emmys: one from Robert Morse in Tru, Outstanding Children's Program for Displaced Person and technical achievements for The Meeting alongside many nominations.
Academy Award recognitions included El Norte's nomination for Best Original Screenplay and a Best Actor nod for Edward James Olmos in Stand and Deliver.
American Playhouse also won a Peabody Award in 1990.
Episodes like Nothing But a Man, The Thin Blue Line, El Norte and Stand and Deliver were each inducted into the National Film Registry.