American Playhouse Season 3 Episodes

Episode 1

The Ghost Writer

Tue, Jan 17, 1984

Nathan Zuckerman is a promising young writer who spends a night in the home of E.I. Lonoff, an established author whom Zuckerman idolizes. Also staying in the Lonoff home is Amy Bellette, a young woman with a vague past whom the narrator apparently comes to suspect of being Anne Frank, living in the United States anonymously, having survived the Holocaust.

Episode 2

Pudd'nhead Wilson

Tue, Jan 24, 198490 mins

A slave switches her light-skinned baby with her master's baby. The child grows up raised by whites.

Episode 3

True West

Tue, Jan 31, 1984110 mins

Austin, a Hollywood screenwriter living comfortably in suburban Arizona, is interrupted by the unexpected arrival of his prodigal brother Lee, whose menacing demeanor and pugilistic attitude draws Austin further and further into conflict until he must finally engage his brother in an intense psychological battle for his ideals, and perhaps even his life.

Episode 4

Nothing But a Man

Tue, Feb 7, 1984

Episode 5

Popular Neurotics

Tue, Feb 14, 1984

Lynne and Murray meet by happenstance while in line at an automated teller machine and begin an on-again, off-again relationship in which they struggle to transcend modern-day neuroses concerning courtship.

Episode 6

The Cafeteria

Tue, Feb 21, 198452 mins

Esther, a traumatized Holocaust survivor, frequents a midtown cafeteria in 1960s Manhattan, where she meets Aaron, a successful Jewish writer. Although Aaron is drawn toward her, he soon comes to realize that she is haunted by her memories and hallucinates about the past and discovers that even though she has physically survived her experiences, her soul has not.

Episode 7

Refuge

Tue, Feb 28, 198490 mins

On a remote island off the coast of Maine four people attempt to relax but the isolated refuge fails to protect them from their own insecurities and jealousies.

Episode 8

The Gin Game

Tue, Mar 6, 1984

Episode 9

Vengeance Is Mine

Tue, Mar 20, 1984

Episode 10

The Killing Floor

Tue, Apr 10, 1984118 mins

During World War I, a poor black Southerner travels north to Chicago to get work in the city's slaughterhouses, where he becomes embroiled in the organized labor movement. He becomes prominent as a leader of fellow African-Americans in the union, though many, including his best friend, view him as a sell-out.

Episode 11

Heartland

Tue, Apr 17, 198452 mins

Miraculous occurrences happen to people throughout the world every day. God's Miracles presents personal experiences as well as unvarnished scientific and factual evidence, allowing the viewer to draw their own conclusions as to whether it is possible for God to grant miracles.

Episode 12

City News

65 mins

The struggles of Tom Domino, publisher and editor of a seemingly doomed, underground newspaper in New York City's East Village are chronicled in this dark comedy by Zoe Zinman.

Episode 13

Hughie

Tue, May 1, 1984

Set in the lobby of a small hotel in midtown New York. A small-time hustler named Erie Smith talks to the hotel's new night clerk Charlie Hughes, lamenting how Smith's luck has gone bad since the death of Hughie, Hughes' predecessor.

Episode 14

Concealed Enemies, Part I: Suspicion

Mon, May 7, 1984219 mins

A dramatized account of the actual events that led to the 1950 conviction of former U. S. State Department official Alger Hiss of perjury before a federal grand jury and his resulting imprisonment.

Episode 15

Concealed Enemies, Part II: Accusation

Mon, May 7, 1984

Alger Hiss finds himself in a difficult position because of the testimony of the mysterious Whittaker Chambers.

Episode 16

Concealed Enemies, Part III: Investigation

Tue, May 8, 1984

Alger Hiss finds his enemies closing in on all sides.

Episode 17

Concealed Enemies, Part IV: Verdict

Wed, May 9, 1984

Hiss is found guilty. His career in politics is over.