American Playhouse - Season 8

First aired: 2/1/1989 20 episodes
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Episodes

1. A Raisin in the Sun

Aired: 2/1/1989

Walter Lee Younger is a young man struggling with his station in life. Sharing a tiny apartment with his wife, son, sister and mother, he seems like an imprisoned man. Until, that is, the family gets an unexpected financial windfall.

2. Ask Me Again

Aired: 2/8/1989

Rebellious young literary editor Elizabeth Leopold clashes with her wealthy, snobbish mother over her life choices, including her job and a leftist boyfriend, as her mother tries to arrange a more 'suitable' marriage for her.

3. Stacking

Aired: 2/15/1989

After her father is injured, a teenager and an alcoholic employee struggle to save their financially troubled farm in 1954 Montana.

4. My American Cousin

Aired: 2/22/1989

Sandy Wilcox is a pre-teen girl in rural 1950s British Columbia whose longing to be treated as an adult is roused even further when her older American cousin, Butch Walker, comes for a visit.

5. Love and Other Sorrows

Aired: 3/1/1989

In St. Louis, circa 1950, Ben Griffin lives with his widowed mother and beautiful older sister, Dodie. The restoration of the family's affluence seems to hinge on Dodie's romances and hoped-for-marriage to a wealthy husband. But Dodie's ambivalence toward the rich and eligible Sonny confuses and upsets Ben. He wants to trust and believe in love, but worries that he may never find a girl to understand his romantic ideals.

6. Stand and Deliver

Aired: 3/15/1989

Jaime Escalante is a mathematics teacher in a school in a poor Hispanic neighborhood. Convinced that his students have potential, he adopts unconventional methods to try and turn gang members and no-hopers into some of the country's top algebra and calculus students.

7. The Silence at Bethany

Aired: 3/22/1989

A young man, seeking meaning and focus in his life, returns to the Mennonite farm community where he was born.

8. The Lawrenceville Stories, Part 3: The Beginning of the Firm

Aired: 4/5/1989

Hickey and Tennessee Shad combine their mischievous talents to make life miserable for an insufferable freshman while staying one step ahead of the headmaster.

9. Life Under Water

Aired: 4/12/1989

Feeling alienated from the world and his mother, Kip enters a complicated relationship with two girls he meets on the beach.

10. A Great Wall

Aired: 4/15/1989

When computer programmer Leo Fang is passed up for promotion, he feels it is because he is Chinese, and quits. He takes his Chinese-American family to Mainland China to visit his relatives, the Chao's, for a vacation. The clash of cultures, between the men, wives, and teenagers, leads to some confusion, and misunderstanding.

11. The Diaries of Adam and Eve

Aired: 4/26/1989

Explores the humorous conflicts and eventual partnership between the sexes, with Adam portrayed as a reclusive creature of habit and Eve as a curious, enthusiastic innovator who names the animals and discovers fire.

12. The Meeting

Aired: 5/3/1989

In 1965, at a hotel in Harlem, during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X engage in a conversation.

13. A Walk in the Woods

Aired: 5/10/1989

A true story about one US and one USSR delegate who, during 1982 talks in Geneva between USA and USSR on limiting medium-range nukes in Europe, met by accident in a nearby forest while on a stroll and informally started a key discussion.

14. Big Time

Aired: 5/17/1989

In the fast-paced materialistic world of the late 1980s, three morally ambiguous players navigate an unfulfilling corporate world, emphasizing themes of greed, ambition, and emotional detachment.

15. The Thin Blue Line

Aired: 5/24/1989

An unorthodox investigation into the wrongful conviction of Randall Dale Adams for the 1976 murder of Dallas police officer Robert Wood. Using stylized reenactments and interviews with key figures, conflicting testimonies and evidence are presented to argue that Adams was framed by a corrupt justice system, ultimately leading to his exoneration.

16. Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss

Aired: 5/31/1989

Follows Ralphie's first summer job, his family's chaotic road trip to the 'Haven of Bliss', and the misadventures that ensue, including losing their dog, Fuzzhead.

17. Imagining America

Aired: 6/7/1989

An anthology consisting of four shorts with the central theme of life in the United States, including a surreal narrative about a man's search for his past in Los Angeles (This Ain't Bebop); an impressionistic look at American myths and rituals, featuring a large dance sequence (Tribe); a stylized portrait of the South Bronx (Reflections of a Native Son); and a delve into the history of Route 66 (Get Your Kicks on Route 66).

18. Belizaire the Cajun

Aired: 6/14/1989

Belizaire Breaux, a charismatic herb doctor, becomes entangled in a struggle for his people's survival against prejudiced vigilantes, while also dealing with a romantic rivalry.

19. Rachel River

Aired: 6/21/1989

A divorced radio personality in a small Minnesota town returns to her roots and investigates the life of a reclusive, recently deceased woman.

20. Thousand Pieces of Gold

Aired: 11/30/1989

In 1880s China, Lalu is sold into marriage by her impoverished father. Rather than becoming a bride, Lalu ends up in an Idaho gold-mining town, the property of a saloon owner renames her China Polly, with plans to sell her as entertainment for the locals. Refusing to become a whore, Lalu ultimately finds her own way in this strange country filled with white demons.