ABC Afternoon Playbreak

1 9 7 3 – 1 9 7 5 (USA)
17 x 90 minute episodes

Irregularly scheduled 90-minute drama specials for the afternoon viewing audience.

Usually recorded on videotape, the dramas were generally broadcast in the 3:00 to 4:30 pm timeslot, preempting game shows and the soap operas General Hospital and One Life to Live.

Presentations included:

• The Other Woman – The story of an unwed pregnant woman who wants to keep her baby despite embarrassment to her and the child’s married father.
• A Mask of Love in which a biographer’s assistant searched for a deceased novelist’s personal papers – a treasure now jealously guarded by his last mistress.
• Alone With Terror, starring Juliet Mills as Susan Maroni, a police lieutenants’ widow who attempts to prove that her husband was not on the take at the time of his apparent suicide.
• Last Bride of Salem, telling the story of a young mother struggling to prevent demonic forces from possessing her husband and daughter, with Bradford Dillman (who won an Emmy for his performance) and Lois Nettleton
• Heart In Hiding with Kay Lenz and Clu Gulager.
• The Girl Who Couldn’t Lose, with Julie Kavner and Jack Carter.

Episodes

This Child Is Mine | I Never Said Goodbye | The Other Woman | Episode #4 | My Secret Mother | A Mask of Love | The Gift of Terror | The Things I Never Said | A Special Act of Love | Alone with Terror | Mother of the Bride | Miss Kline, We Love You | Last Bride of Salem | Can I Save My Children? | Heart in Hiding | Oh, Baby, Baby, Baby | The Girl Who Couldn’t Lose