(This post is part
of a series on the 14 Top TV Dramas You’ve Never Seen)
Number 8 in our countdown of The Top TV Dramas You’ve
Never Seen, is Playhouse 90.
A product of the Golden Age of Television, Playhouse 90 cemented
its reputation as TV’s most distinguished anthology drama series. From 1956 to
1960, Playhouse 90 broadcast 133 90-minute dramas. The series began its
broadcasts with live shows, but later switched to videotape. Except for a
Christmas episode, they were all shot in black and white.
Each week, Playhouse 90 brought top-notch actors,
producers, directors, and scriptwriters into American homes. Actors included
Tab Hunter, Vincent Price, Kim Hunter, Nehemiah Persoff, Mary Astor, Rod
Taylor, Peter Lorre, James Mason, E.G. Marshall, Jackie Coogan, Cliff
Robertson, James Whitmore, Dick York, Sterling Hayden, Werner Klemperer, Charles
Bronson, Martin Balsam, Art Carney, Everett Sloane, Jack Klugman, Rip Torn,
Boris Karloff, Richard Basehart, Hope Lang, Leslie Nielsen, Darryl Hickman, Robert
Vaughn, Burt Reynolds, Harry Guardino, Earl Holliman, Jack Albertson, Buddy
Ebsen, June Lockhart, Tony Randall, Lloyd Bridges, Piper Laurie, Lee J. Cobb,
Zsa Zsa Gabor, Ben Gazzara, Ricardo Montalban, Jack Lord, Dan Blocker, Ann
Bancroft, Charlton Heston, Gale Gordon, Eddie Albert, Raymond Burr, Maureen
Stapleton, Buster Keaton, Jack Lemmon, Edmund Gwenn, Lee Remick, and John Drew
Barrymore.
Plays were adapted form works by Ernest Hemingway, George
Bernard Shaw, and William Faulkner. Several original stories were written by
Rod Serling, including “The Comedian” starring Mickey Rooney as an
abrasive, manipulative TV comic and “Requiem for a Heavyweight” starring
Jack Palance, which won 6 Emmy Awards in 1956. Several teleplays were
subsequently filmed a major motion pictures, including Serling’s “Requiem
for a Heavyweight”.
The caliber of
acting and writing combined with the outstanding production values made Playhouse
90 one of television’s finest drama shows. You might be able to find some
episodes in “Golden Age of Television” collections or online.
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