Playhouse 90
Free Weekend
TV Flash files “Free Weekend” as hour 89 of 133 in the TV Flash guide — Playhouse 90 (1956–1960) on CBS, season 3, episode 10, aired 1958-12-04, 90 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S03E10: listed hour 89 of 133 in the Playhouse 90 guide, hour 10 of 38 in season 3. It aired 1958-12-04 (90 min). The listed hour before it is “The Return of Ansel Gibbs” (S03E09). Next is “Seven Against the Wall” (S03E11).
Viewer FAQ
Where does Free Weekend sit in the Playhouse 90 guide?
S03E10 is listed hour 89 of 133 — hour 10 of 38 in season 3, season 3 episode 10.
When did Playhouse 90 S03E10 air?
Free Weekend aired 1958-12-04 and is listed at 90 minutes.
Where should I start?
Start with the most cited nights named in the record: Serling's Requiem for a Heavyweight and the TV Judgment at Nuremberg, then branch into other surviving Manulis-era teleplays.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Playhouse 90 treated living rooms like Broadway with a stopwatch: ninety-minute teleplays, often live, from Serling's Requiem for a Heavyweight to a TV Judgment at Nuremberg. A 2026 viewer watches the gold standard of Golden Age drama — sponsor meddling, high-wire nights, and prestige Variety still ranked among television's greatest.
Flash: a living room pretending it has orchestra seats, a stopwatch instead of a curtain, and a sponsor already in the wings with a pencil. CBS's *Playhouse 90* ran October 4, 1956 through May 18, 1960 — 133 episodes of original teleplays and adaptations, often live, prestige as a dare. Martin Manulis steered the machine. Rod Serling's *Requiem for a Heavyweight* and a television *Judgment at Nuremberg* were not museum labels. They were high-wire nights with last-minute rewrites and the kind of technical panic…