Series synopsis
NET Playhouse is an American drama family television series that premiered on PBS on October 7, 1966. It ended on March 13, 1972. It stars Frank Finlay, Edward Woodward, Robert Stephens and Maurice Denham.
NET Playhouse is an American dramatic television anthology series produced by National Educational Television. NET subsequently merged with WNDT Newark, New Jersey to form WNET and was superseded by the Public Broadcasting Service. American television anthology series of wide range of genres, from history and drama, to fantasy, and science fiction. Fiction novels, stories, stage plays, fairytales, and historic events are dramatized in each episode.
Premise
NET Playhouse is an American dramatic television anthology series produced by National Educational Television. NET subsequently merged with WNDT Newark, New Jersey to form WNET and was superseded by the Public Broadcasting Service. American television anthology series of wide range of genres, from history and drama, to fantasy, and science fiction. Fiction novels, stories, stage plays, fairytales, and historic events are dramatized in each episode.
Cast and characters
Leading cast
- Frank Finlay as Marcus Brutus
- Edward Woodward as Caius Cassius
- Robert Stephens as Mark Anthony
- Maurice Denham as Julius Caesar
- Tom Aldredge as Baron de Charlus
- Martin Sheen as Kilroy
- Hurd Hatfield as Jacques Casanova
- Janet Margolin as Esmeralda
Supporting cast
- Charlotte Rae as Terentievna
- Dustin Hoffman as Hanus Wicks
- Michael Tolan as Chulkaturin
- Orson Bean as Stephen Minch
- Eileen Brennan as Hallie Arlington
- Patricia Routledge as Queen Victoria
- Joachim Hansen as Prince Albert
- Philip Bosco as Peter Stockmann
- James Daly as Dr. Thomas Stockmann
- Ramon Bieri
- Jon Voight
- René Auberjonois as Ofoeti
Guest cast
- Frank Finlay as Marcus Brutus
- Edward Woodward as Caius Cassius
- Robert Stephens as Mark Anthony
- Maurice Denham as Julius Caesar
- Tom Aldredge as Baron de Charlus
- Martin Sheen as Kilroy
- Hurd Hatfield as Jacques Casanova
- Janet Margolin as Esmeralda
- Charlotte Rae as Terentievna
- Dustin Hoffman as Hanus Wicks
- Michael Tolan as Chulkaturin
- Orson Bean as Stephen Minch
Episodes
This series spans 6 seasons with 54 episodes.
| Season | Episodes | First aired | Last aired |
|---|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | 42 | October 7, 1966 | August 11, 1967 |
| Season 2 | 4 | September 8, 1967 | April 19, 1968 |
| Season 3 | 1 | October 4, 1968 | October 4, 1968 |
| Season 4 | 2 | September 18, 1969 | December 11, 1969 |
| Season 5 | 3 | October 11, 1970 | May 17, 1971 |
| Season 6 | 2 | October 11, 1971 | March 13, 1972 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Ten Blocks on the Camino Real A production of Tennessee Williams's "Ten Blocks on the Camino Real," a one-act play upon which his full-length play, "Camino Real" was based. This allegorical drama is set in the plaza of a Latin American town, a sinister purgatory where laughing street cleaners cart away the dead. Kilroy, a young American ex-boxer with a failing heart, arrives in this nightmarish place. |
October 7, 1966 |
| 2 |
The Journey of the Fifth Horse Dustin Hoffman stars in Ronald Ribman's critically acclaimed off-Broadway drama and 1965 Obie Award for best play of the season. The story of a kind and good-hearted young landowner in 19th century Russia who, desperate for love and acceptance, sets out to find both, only to discover that if he had never lived at all it would have made no difference to anyone. |
October 14, 1966 |
| 3 |
The Star Wagon A comedy-fantasy by Maxwell Anderson, follows the adventures of an inventor who creates a time-machine enabling him to live his life over again. |
October 21, 1966 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
The Tale of Genji, Part 1 A dramatization of Lady Murasaki's 11th-century saga. The novel etches the life of Prince Genji against the background of a sophisticated but decaying Imperial Court. Part 1 follows Genji through a love affair with his father's concubine. |
September 8, 1967 |
| 13 |
The Lump Yorky is considered a troublemaker by the building site manager. When they sack him a strike is called but lost after the police intervene. He wants nationalise the building industry but forced to go the lump - tax free and off the books. |
February 1, 1967 |
| 17 |
Auto Stop Henry, a callow English youth, is rejected by Federika, the older and more sophisticated woman he has fallen in love with. She says, in effect, come back when you've grown up. Wounded but still hopeful, Henry decides to grow up by experiencing Europe, and he embarks on a hitchhiker's journey across the Continent in a determined quest for manhood |
January 5, 1968 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Across the River | October 4, 1968 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Father | September 18, 1969 |
| 6 | The Duel | December 11, 1969 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Helen Hayes Remembers Helen Hayes recreates some of her most famous stage roles, such as Mary Stuart in "Mary of Scotland", Queen Victoria in "Victoria Regina", Nora Melody in "A Touch of the Poet" and Grandma in "The American Dream". |
October 11, 1970 |
| 24 |
Ludwig Van Beethoven Ludwig Van Beethoven was considered an eccentric undisciplined musician in his youth. This drama centers on his struggle for recognition between the ages of 22 and 35,. the period when he began a romance that his career destroyed; came to terms with his loneliness and advancing deafness; and, finally won acclaim as a genius |
April 29, 1971 |
| 30 |
Julius Caesar William Shakespeare's timeless tragedy about political treachery and assassination is presented as part of the "Biography" series, |
May 17, 1971 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hogan's Goat | October 11, 1971 |
| 11 |
Between Time and Timbuktu A poet-astronaut is shot through an area of space called the Chronosynclastic Infundibulum. He is duplicated into infinite copies of himself, each of whom finds himself in a bizarre situations on a different world. (These scenarios are all derived from the novels and short stories of 'Kurt Vonnegut Jr.', including Cat's Cradle, Welcome to the Monkey House, 'Harrison Bergeron', and 'Happy Birthday, Wanda June'. |
March 13, 1972 |
Production
Release
| Original network/platform | PBS |
|---|---|
| First aired | October 7, 1966 |
| Last aired | March 13, 1972 |
| Runtime | 90 minutes |
| Status | ended |