''CBS Playhouse'' is an American

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically catego ...

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

television series that aired on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

from 1967 to 1970. Airing twelve plays over the course of its run, the series won ten

Primetime Emmy Award The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime ...

s and featured many noteworthy actors and playwrights.

History

The ''CBS Playhouse'' series was announced in 1966, with CBS announcing a $500,000 outlay for new scripts to film. CBS was specifically looking to "encourage authors to write original and significant dramas for television," and offered $25,000 per optioned script. This occurred shortly after ABC announced its dramatic arts program ''

ABC Stage 67 ''ABC Stage 67'' is the umbrella title for a series of 26 weekly American television shows that included dramas, variety shows, documentaries and original musicals. It premiered on ABC on September 14, 1966, with Murray Schisgal's ''The Love S ...

'', along with many CBS dramas. ''Playhouse'' ultimately commissioned thirteen playwrights to write scripts for the series. The first program aired in 1967, called '' The Final War of Olly Winter'' starring

Ivan Dixon Ivan Nathaniel Dixon III (April 6, 1931 – March 16, 2008) was an American actor, director, and producer best known for his series role in the 1960s sitcom ''Hogan's Heroes'', and for his starring roles in the 1964 independent drama '' Not ...

and written by noted playwright

Ronald Ribman Ronald Burt Ribman (born May 28, 1932) is an American author, poet and playwright.Much of the information in this article comes from a submission by the subject himself and is archived on the OTRS system as ticke2008073010036244/ref> "As poet-pla ...

. According to CBS, over 30 million people watched the broadcast, making it a popular hit for the time. Twelve broadcasts ultimately occurred before production stopped due to lack of sponsorship funding. CBS would later revive the genre in '' CBS Playhouse 90'', which would refer back to both ''CBS Playhouse'' and the early drama series ''

Playhouse 90 ''Playhouse 90'' was an American television anthology drama series that aired on CBS from 1956 to 1960 for a total of 133 episodes. The show was produced at CBS Television City in Los Angeles, California. Since live anthology drama series of th ...

'' that broadcast in the late 1950s.

Episodes

CBS broadcast twelve teleplays over the three television seasons between 1967 and 1970.

1967-68 Season

* '' The Final War of Olly Winter'' * ''

Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night "Do not go gentle into that good night" is a poem in the form of a villanelle by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas (1914–1953), and is one of his best-known works. Though first published in the journal '' Botteghe Oscure'' in 1951, the poem was written in ...

'' * '' Dear Friends'' * ''

My Father and My Mother "My Father and My Mother" is the fourth television play episode of the first season of the American television series '' CBS Playhouse''. The episode starred Gene Hackman as a New York editor struggling as a husband and parent who looks back and l ...

'' * '' Secrets''

1968-69 Season

* '' The People Next Door'' * '' Saturday Adoption'' * '' The Experiment'' * '' Shadow Game''

1969-70 Season

* '' Appalachian Autumn'' * '' Sadbird'' * '' The Day Before Sunday''

Episode status

The broadcasts have been preserved in a variety of archives, with all twelve broadcasts archived between the

Paley Center for Media The Paley Center for Media, formerly the Museum of Television & Radio (MT&R) and the Museum of Broadcasting, founded in 1975 by William S. Paley, is an American cultural institution in New York with a branch office in Los Angeles, dedicated to t ...

, the

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

film archive, and the Peabody Awards Collection.

Awards

The ''CBS Playhouse'' series of broadcasts were nominated for a number of awards over the course of its run. In total, the dramatic series was nominated for twenty-eight

Primetime Emmy Awards The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime E ...

, including ten wins, and seven

Directors Guild of America The Directors Guild of America (DGA) is an entertainment guild that represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States motion picture industry and abroad. Founded as the Screen Directors Guild in 1936, the group merge ...

awards, including three wins. ''CBS Playhouse'' was also honored with a

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...

in 1967.Profile for ''CBS Playhouse''
from PeabodyAwards.com (accessed 11/8/2014)

References

External links

* {{WritersGuildofAmericaAnthologyAnyLength 1967 American television series debuts 1970 American television series endings 1960s American anthology television series 1970s American anthology television series 1960s American drama television series 1970s American drama television series CBS original programming English-language television shows Peabody Award-winning television programs