American Playhouse (1980)

Name: American Playhouse
Genre: Drama
Rating: 7.3

Drama

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

IMDb rating: 7.3 (447 votes)
Episode average: 7.6 +0.3 vs IMDb
Seasons: 11
Language: EN
Type: TV series

Rollercoaster trajectory: big swings from season to season. Rising Shows ranks whole shows by the shape of their rating trend rather than one average score, which is how you find a show that got better rather than a show that started well. See every Rollercoaster show in the explorer →

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Ratings refreshed Oct 3, 2026 · 11 seasons indexed

Seasons

Season 1 (1980)

7.16 avg 16 episodes 7.8 → 7.0 83 min avg

Season 1 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	The Shady Hill Kidnapping	7.8	22
2	King of America	4.2	29
3	Seguin	6.3	55
4	Who Am I This Time?	7.6	916
5	Any Friend of Nicholas Nickleby Is a Friend of Mine	7.0	51
6	Come Along with Me	6.1	87
7	For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf	8.1	93
8	Carl Sandburg: Echoes and Silences	7.0	16
9	Fifth of July	8.1	155
10	The Great American Fourth of July and Other Disasters	7.6	273
11	Pilgrim, Farewell	7.5	58
13	Medal of Honor Rag	7.6	18
14	Working	7.2	81
16	Private Contentment	7.7	19
17	My Palikari	7.7	50
25	The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez	7.0	1,163

Season 2 (1983)

7.51 avg 8 episodes 7.9 → 7.4 78 min avg

Season 2 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	The Skin of Our Teeth	7.9	72
2	Miss Lonelyhearts	6.9	68
3	Family Business	8.5	17
4	Keeping On	5.5	33
5	The Files on Jill Hatch: Part I	8.7	15
8	For Us the Living: The Medgar Evers Story	7.4	187
11	Wings	7.8	14
12	The Rothko Conspiracy	7.4	13

Season 3 (1983)

7.76 avg 10 episodes 7.1 → 8.3 109 min avg

Season 3 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	The Ghost Writer	7.1	47
2	Pudd'nhead Wilson	7.1	78
3	True West	8.5	479
5	Popular Neurotics	8.6	10
6	The Cafeteria	8.4	22
9	Vengeance Is Mine	6.8	41
10	The Killing Floor	7.3	246
12	City News	6.2	21
13	Hughie	9.3	25
14	Concealed Enemies, Part I: Suspicion	8.3	57

Season 4 (1984)

7.50 avg 15 episodes 6.9 → 9.0 90 min avg

Season 4 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
2	A Matter of Principle	6.9	88
3	Solomon Northup's Odyssey	7.3	329
5	Go Tell It on the Mountain	7.8	101
6	Noon Wine	7.2	82
7	The Joy That Kills	6.6	29
9	The Star-Crossed Romance of Josephine Cosnowski	8.2	97
10	Some Men Need Help	6.6	22
11	Charlotte Forten's Mission: Experiment in Freedom	7.5	27
12	Breakfast with Les and Bess	8.2	15
13	Nightsongs	7.4	17
14	Under the Biltmore Clock	6.9	103
15	Displaced Person	7.8	36
18	Three Sovereigns for Sarah: Part I	7.5	288
19	Three Sovereigns for Sarah: Part II	7.6	19
20	Three Sovereigns for Sarah: Part III	9.0	70

Season 5 (1986)

7.51 avg 9 episodes 7.1 → 8.3 113 min avg

Season 5 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	The Rise and Rise of Daniel Rocket	7.1	65
4	Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Part 1	6.9	251
5	Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Part II	7.5	20
6	Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Part III	7.1	17
7	Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Part IV	7.2	18
13	Rocket to the Moon	7.0	62
15	Painting Churches	9.0	13
16	Roanoak: Part I	7.5	34
19	Sunday in the Park with George	8.3	1,048

Season 6 (1987)

8.49 avg 8 episodes 7.6 → 7.6 76 min avg

Season 6 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	All My Sons	7.6	191
2	The Prodigious Hickey	7.9	130
3	The Wide Net	8.8	15
5	Eleanor: In Her Own Words	9.6	17
7	Charley's Aunt	9.3	28
8	The House of Blue Leaves	8.2	141
9	Blue Window	8.9	18
10	Dottie	7.6	14

Season 7 (1987)

6.98 avg 8 episodes 8.3 → 6.1 108 min avg

Front-loaded

Season 7 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Strange Interlude: Part 1	8.3	56
6	The Revolt of Mother	7.4	29
7	Pigeon Feathers	6.9	25
10	Journey Into Genius	6.9	30
11	Suspicion	5.2	148
12	The Trial of Bernhard Goetz	6.9	24
13	I Never Sang for My Father	8.1	29
15	The Big Knife	6.1	15

Season 8 (1989)

7.58 avg 8 episodes 7.4 → 7.2 88 min avg

Slow burn

Season 8 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	A Raisin in the Sun	7.4	259
2	Ask Me Again	8.8	55
5	Love and Other Sorrows	6.9	24
8	Life Under Water	5.2	118
9	The Diaries of Adam and Eve	8.3	21
10	The Meeting	8.8	31
13	Land of Little Rain	8.0	13
14	Imagining America	7.2	19

Season 9 (1990)

7.43 avg 4 episodes 8.1 → 7.7 92 min avg

Season 9 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Sensibility and Sense	8.1	72
2	Women & Wallace	7.5	21
3	Zora Is My Name!	6.4	29
4	Andre's Mother	7.7	165

Season 10 (1991)

8.10 avg 6 episodes 8.7 → 8.8 129 min avg

Season 10 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Into the Woods	8.7	3,216
2	The Grapes of Wrath	7.6	99
4	The Hollow Boy	8.1	20
5	O Pioneers!	8.0	40
6	Hot Summer Winds	7.4	16
7	The Sunset Gang	8.8	37

Season 11 (1993)

7.67 avg 3 episodes 7.6 → 7.6 132 min avg

Season 11 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Fires in the Mirror	7.6	69
3	The Gershwins' Porgy & Bess	7.8	172
5	Hallelujah	7.6	36

American Playhouse (1980)

Seasons

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