American Playhouse: Season 6
Season 6 Lore Primer
Key plot threads, lore context, and character stakes you need to remember before diving into this season.
- Directly follows the overarching narrative developments of American Playhouse Season 5.
- Faction dynamics and core character alliances shift under escalating external stakes.
- Crucial mysteries introduced previously reach key turning points and narrative reckonings.
- Sets up serialized story arcs that build directly toward the climactic season finale.
Episode Guide
Season 6 Progress Shield
All My Sons
Jan 19, 1987 · 60 min
Two families, related by friendship and love, face up to the consequences of greed and avarice in the post-war years. Love and death play equal roles in determining the outcome of
The Prodigious Hickey
Jan 26, 1987 · 55 min
In 1905, at the prestigious Lawrenceville School, chief prankster William 'Hickey' Hicks comes up with a scheme to make his shy, unpopular roommate a legend.
The Wide Net
Feb 2, 1987 · 55 min
William Wallace searches for his pregnant wife, Hazel, who has withdrawn from him, using a net in the Pearl River during the vernal equinox, a ritualistic search that delves into t
Smooth Talk
Feb 9, 1987 · 92 min
Bored with family life, 15-year-old Connie spends her summer at the mall and with friends, but her carefree attitude is shattered by a dangerous encounter with a menacing stranger
A Mistaken Charity
Feb 16, 1987 · 60 min
Two elderly, impoverished women are forced from the family farm by well-meaning neighbors. Ensconced and miserable at a Home for Elderly Ladies, the duo begin their journey back ho
Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart
Mar 2, 1987 · 86 min
A widowed mother, convinced by a fortune teller she will die soon, pressures her youngest daughter to marry, while the daughter feels guilty about leaving her alone, creating a sub
Eleanor: In Her Own Words
Mar 9, 1987 · 60 min
A one-woman show featuring Lee Remick as former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who gives forth with her views — many controversial at the time and which infuriated the right wing of
The Innocents Abroad
Mar 23, 1987
Reporter Mark Twain tours Europe and the Holy Land for a San Francisco newspaper in 1867.
Story of a Marriage: Courtship
Apr 13, 1987
In the early 1900s, a young couple in love struggle with their deeply divided families. Elizabeth Vaughn hails from a wealthy, strict Methodist household. Horace Robedaux is viewed
Story of a Marriage: On Valentine's Day
Apr 13, 1987
When Elizabeth and Horace elope, the resulting familial estrangement establish independent life, build a marriage, and navigate early parenthood.
Story of a Marriage: 1918
May 4, 1987
During the height of World War I, Horace faces immense pressure to enlist, all while the deadly Spanish Influenza outbreak descends on the small Texas community.
Charley's Aunt
May 11, 1987 · 60 min
Charley Wyckham and Jack Chesney pressure fellow student Fancourt Babberly to pose as Charley's Brazilian Aunt Donna Lucia. Their purpose is to have a chaperone for their amorous v
Gal Young 'Un
May 18, 1987 · 105 min
In 1930s rural Florida, a middle-aged widow marries a younger, charming bootlegger who uses her for her money and property, leading to a story of exploitation and resilience as she
The House of Blue Leaves
May 25, 1987 · 113 min
Zoo attendant Artie Shaughnessy dreams of being a successful songwriter. What his mistress, Bunny Flingus, who lives downstairs from his Queens apartment won't tell him — and what
Blue Window
Jun 1, 1987 · 60 min
In an affluent area of downtown New York City, a Sunday evening dinner party is hosted by Libby, an insecure thirty-something widow who lost her husband in an unfortunate accident.
Dottie
Jun 8, 1987 · 60 min
Middle-aged recluse Dottie McCann, suffering from agoraphobia, is forced to confront her illness when she must make the difficult journey to travel to see her estranged sister, who
Waiting for the Moon
Jun 15, 1987 · 88 min
A fictionalized portrait of one of history's great literary couples, Gertrude Stein & Alice B. Toklas. During a 1930s summer in France, Alice tends to ailing Gertrude; they visit F