American Playhouse is an anthology television series periodically broadcast by Public Broadcasting Service in the United States.

Sam Bowden is a small-town corporate attorney. Max Cady is a tattooed, cigar-smoking, Bible-quoting, psychotic rapist. What do they have in common? 14 years ago, Sam was a public defender assigned to Max Cady's rape trial, and he made a serious error: he hid a document from his illiterate client that could have gotten him acquitted. Now, the cagey Cady has been released, and he intends to teach Sam Bowden and his family a thing or two about loss.

May Munro is a woman obsessed with getting revenge on the people who murdered her parents when she was still a girl. She hires Ray Quick, a retired explosives expert, to kill her parents' killers. When Ned Trent, embittered ex-partner of Quick's, is assigned to protect one of Quick's potential victims, a deadly game of cat and mouse ensues.

At an exclusive country club, an ambitious young caddy, Danny Noonan, eagerly pursues a caddy scholarship in hopes of attending college and, in turn, avoiding a job at the lumber yard. In order to succeed, he must first win the favour of the elitist Judge Smails, and then the caddy golf tournament which Smails sponsors.

Jack Costello is a retired cop and now private detective who lives in Miami, who handles a myriad of cases for unusual clients. At his side are old police buddy Sam Bosley and cartoonist-turned-amateur sleuth Jean Philippe Dumas, who is using Costello as an influence and has nicknamed the burly detective "Extralarge." In the second series, Costello faces other dangerous cases, again with Bosley and Archibald, the son of an old friend, who Costello amusingly nicknames "Dumas."

The Enos duo convince Cletus, aka The Bandit, to come out of hiding and help them promote their new restaurant. With a little coaxing, he agrees, producing an almost-creaky Trigger as his mode of transport. But his nemesis, Sheriff Buford T. Justice, is on the hunt, forcing Cletus and Trigger to hit the road. Can they steer clear of the vengeful sheriff?

Kate's a single mom rock star recovering from a nervous breakdown; David is her psychiatrist turned lover. After David buys an old Charleston mansion and Kate and her son move in with him, strange events occur including the discoveries of a secret hidden attic and the diary of the murderous slave trader who owned the home. Kate hears a piano playing by itself and sees the ghost of the slave trader who once lived there. Their relationship is strained by the bizarre events as Kate's sanity is again questioned as she insists what she's seen is real...but is it?

The powerful tales of seven diverse African-American women are woven together in this 1982 performance of Ntozake Shange's Obie Award-winning landmark play. A breakthrough portrayal of black women's experiences in America, the story combines music, poetry and dance to celebrate their unique culture while painting a poignant portrait of their terrible struggles.