American Playhouse

Brother and sister Enrique and Rosa flee persecution at home in Guatemala and journey north, through Mexico and on to the United States, with the dream of starting a new life.

Carol White, a Los Angeles housewife in the late 1980s, comes down with a debilitating illness with no clear diagnosis.

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 teenage daughter of the couple and then tries to cover it up.

On Christmas Eve, a relentlessly cheerful woman escapes from the killers hired by her husband, and embarks on a series of strange encounters.

All Dolph Beeler wanted was a can of paint remover when he went to Bud Bullard's hardware store in Millville. But a simple misunderstandling between two men has turned into an outright war between two towns in this outrageous comedy of errors.--Summary from container. -- WorldCat

An out of high school teen from the midwest moves to San Diego, California in the 1950s to live with his estranged father and new family. Escaping his past may not be as easy as he had hoped...or is it all a dream?

During the summer of 1981, a group of friends in New York are completely unprepared for the onslaught of AIDS. What starts as a rumor about a mysterious "gay cancer" soon turns into a major crisis as, one by one, some of the friends begin to fall ill, leaving the others to panic about who will be next. As death takes its toll, the lives of these friends are forever redefined by an unconditional display of love, hope and courage.

A Greek immigrant (Savalas) and his son return to Greece, where they reunite with mother and brother and re-discover their heritage and each other. Cross-cultural misunderstandings abound.

Traces over three generations an immigrant family's trials, tribulations, tragedies, and triumphs. Maria and Jose, the first generation, come to Los Angeles, meet, marry, face deportation all in the 1930s. They establish their family in East L.A., and their children Chucho, Paco, Memo, Irene, Toni, and Jimmy deal with youth culture and the L.A. police in the '50s. As the second generation become adults in the '60s, the focus shifts to Jimmy, his marriage to Isabel (a Salvadorian refugee), their son, and Jimmy's journey to becoming a responsible parent.

Mako is a neglectful husband. Not the most loving man. His wife gradually encounters a widower who is a kind, gentle figure. She eventually makes the transition to leave her husband and go to this fellow.

Gallo Morales is the proud patriach returning home after a seven-year stint for manslaughter. Seeking to re-establish his legendary status as a champion breeder, he comes back for the rooster bred by his father. But it is Hector, his son who inherits the prize-winning bird and neither are about to give in. The fall-out from their conflict has consequences for the whole family, especially for Angela, the sensitive 14-year-old daughter unable to cope with the brutal world that surrounds her and her own emerging womanhood, despite the best efforts of Juana, her strong but long-suffering mother.

A divorced mother pursues her career as a radio personality in rural Minnesota.

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

Set in 1952, this tells of two young men who are polar opposites being assigned to the same dorm room at Northwestern University.

An elderly woman, a former aviatrix, is gradually recovering from a stroke.

Conflict arises between a steelworker and his son. The father wants the boy to have a chance to make more of himself than he did, but the son wants to follow in his father's footsteps and become a steel-worker himself.

Garnet Montrose (Michael Beihn) returns home to West Virginia after suffering horrible facial disfigurement from wounds at the battle of Guadalcanal. He watches his former sweetheart Georgia (Maureen Mueller) from his farm down the road. Garnett is obviously socially withdrawn because of his injuries, and he soon enlists the help of itinerant young farmhand Potter Daventry (Patrick Dempsey) to deliver notes to Georgia. Garnet begins to open up to Potter before he suspects him of delivering more than letters. Potter quickly becomes a major focus in both Garnet and Georgia's lives in this drama taken from the novel by James Purdy.

Married couple, Ethan and Zeena, are in need an extra hand around the house due to Zeena's debilitated body and constant illness. The young woman who joins them is a beautiful, spirited person. She and Ethan fall in love much to the dismay of Zeena.

Jude, a college professor, is obsessed with Sophie, his student. She, in turn, is intrigued by his scholarly charm. Flirtation turns to lust and the two become lovers.

It is just another day in the small town of Hamlin until something disastrous happens. Suddenly, news breaks that a series of nuclear warheads has been dropped along the Eastern Seaboard and, more locally, in California. As people begin coping with the devastating aftermath of the attacks — many suffer radiation poisoning — the Wetherly family tries to survive.