American Playhouse (Season 7)

Strange Interlude, Part I (Episode 1)

Writer: Robert Enders

Air date: 1988-01-13

Runtime: 84 min

Overview: Spanning decades, Nina Leeds, deeply traumatized by the death of her fiancé during World War I, is unable to move past the unconsummated relationship, she embarks on a turbulent journey across different roles in her life (daughter, wife, mistress, and mother).

Strange Interlude, Part II (Episode 2)

Writer: Robert Enders

Air date: 1988-01-19

Runtime: 84 min

Overview: Spanning decades, Nina Leeds, deeply traumatized by the death of her fiancé during World War I, is unable to move past the unconsummated relationship, she embarks on a turbulent journey across different roles in her life (daughter, wife, mistress, and mother).

Strange Interlude, Part III (Episode 3)

Writer: Robert Enders

Air date: 1988-01-20

Runtime: 84 min

Overview: Spanning decades, Nina Leeds, deeply traumatized by the death of her fiancé during World War I, is unable to move past the unconsummated relationship, she embarks on a turbulent journey across different roles in her life (daughter, wife, mistress, and mother).

The Lawrenceville Stories, Part 2: The Return of Hickey (Episode 4)

Writer: Jan Jaffe Kahn

Air date: 1988-02-03

Runtime: 55 min

Overview: The mischievous Hickey returns to school to find himself against a worthy rival. Scheming to outdo each other for the loyalty of their peers, their comedic battle of wits turns the school into the headmaster's worst nightmare.

Lemon Sky (Episode 5)

Writer: Lanford Wilson

Air date: 1988-02-10

Runtime: 106 min

Overview: 17-year-old Alan strives to build a relationship with his preoccupied father, only to confront his father's emotional dishonesty, cruelty, and lies, leading to a bitter realization that the father he wants doesn't exist.

The Revolt of Mother (Episode 6)

Writer: Cynthia A. Cherbak

Air date: 1988-02-17

Runtime: 47 min

Overview: In 1890s New Englans, Father is going to build a new barn. However, Mother wants the new house she's been promised.

Pigeon Feathers (Episode 7)

Writer: Jan Hartman

Air date: 1988-02-17

Runtime: 60 min

Overview: A young boy suffers a crisis of faith when he begins to question whether or not the soul exists and if there is life after death.

Billy Galvin (Episode 8)

Writer: John Gray

Air date: 1988-02-24

Runtime: 99 min

Overview: Boston ironworker Jack Galvin wants his son to become an architect, but Billy wants to be a steelworker like his dad, leading to conflict over their differing dreams.

Journey Into Genius (Episode 9)

Writer: Lanie Robertson

Air date: 1988-04-06

Runtime: 55 min

Overview: A historical recreation of actual events in the life of playwright Eugene O'Neill, drawing on his troubled youth as he attempts to deal with his conflicting feelings of jealousy, competition and love with his father.

Suspicion (Episode 10)

Air date: 1988-04-13

Runtime: 96 min

Overview: A sheltered heiress falls for a charming playboy and elopes with him, but soon discovers his gambling vice and mounting debts. As his lies deepen and those around them meet mysterious ends, she begins to suspect that her husband’s affection may conceal a deadly motive—and that she could be his next victim.

The Trial of Bernhard Goetz (Episode 11)

Writer: Harry Moses

Air date: 1988-05-11

Runtime: 137 min

Overview: A presentation of uncensored portions of the highly emotional December 1984 videotape confession of Bernhard Goetz, known as the 'Subway Vigilante', who opened fire on four teens he feared were about to rob him on a New York subway train.

The Land of Little Rain (Episode 12)

Writer: Doris Baizley

Air date: 1988-06-01

Overview: Early feminist and nature writer Mary Austin struggles to write and publish in the male-dominated California of the early 20th-century.

I Never Sang for My Father (Episode 13)

Writer: Robert Anderson

Air date: 1988-06-15

Overview: A man who wants to move on with his life by moving to California and marry his girlfriend, finds it difficult as he still lives in the towering shadow of his aging father.

Native Son (Episode 14)

Air date: 1988-06-29

Runtime: 111 min

Overview: In 1940s Chicago, a young Black man takes a job as a chauffeur to a white family, which takes a turn for the worse when he accidentally kills the couple's teenage daughter and then tries to cover it up.

The Big Knife (Episode 15)

Writer: Clifford Odets

Air date: 1988-07-27

Overview: Charles Castle is a successful Hollywood actor who has opted for screen success over art. He must make critical decisions regarding his career, his marriage, his art and morality. Castle is pressured by his superiors and manipulated into a potentially murderous cover-up to protect his career.

Episode 18 (Episode 16)