# Please identify: Short run drama anthology on PBS, circa 1990? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 22, 2017, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-identify-short-run-drama-anthology-on-pbs-circa-1990/796936 "2017-09-22T03:19:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2017, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-identify-short-run-drama-anthology-on-pbs-circa-1990/796936/1 "2017-09-22T03:19:46Z")
Back in 1990, I remember catching a few episodes of a PBS (I think) drama anthology that was very well-made and a bit odd. Two episodes I remember 1. A guy with a humdrum existence is apparently mistaken for a subversive agent, pursued by the government, and rescued by a woman who really is from a group that the government opposes (but which is genuinely and non-violently pursuing positive goals). He falls for her, but when he is cleared of involvement with the illegal group, she leaves - but she has left him with a desire to be more active politically (with a hint that the illegal group doesn’t really exist, except as a means of “waking up” ordinary people). 2. A guy, A, is led to believe that he is going to be killed by someone he doesn’t know, B, and eventually kills B, with all evidence indicating that A simply went insane. In the last scene, A is raking leaves outside the prison, trying to explain that he’s figured out who framed him and why, but no one is going to listen. It’s quite possible I’m conflating two different PBS programs. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2017, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-identify-short-run-drama-anthology-on-pbs-circa-1990/796936/2 "2017-09-22T03:21:44Z")
Hey, I found the 2nd one - it’s “Dying Day” - a four part production by “Armchair Thriller” (starring Ian McKellan as the patsy!). ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2017, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-identify-short-run-drama-anthology-on-pbs-circa-1990/796936/3 "2017-09-22T03:25:10Z")
I suspect that the other story was not “Armchair Thriller” but something in the same time slot back in 1990 that I caught after Armchair Thriller was done. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2017, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-identify-short-run-drama-anthology-on-pbs-circa-1990/796936/4 "2017-09-22T21:22:50Z")
Ok. Now that I have clarified that I’m thinking of two different shows, and I’ve already identified one of them, so let me conjure up some more memories about program one. It took place in America (the generic America that looks like Southern California); it opened with a wide shot of a traffic jam - the camera and the narrator focused on one or two drivers before lighting on the one who turned out to be the main character. The style was rather like the 1980s version of the Twilight Zone, but this was not Twilight Zone. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2017, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-identify-short-run-drama-anthology-on-pbs-circa-1990/796936/5 "2017-09-23T15:42:44Z")
Sounds kinda similar to the plot of Will Smith’s _Enemy of the State_ but that was late '90s and a movie. Do you remember anything about the lead actor or character? Tall guy? Well-known leading man? Was the character a plumber in a step van? A lawyer in a limo? A dentist in a cab? And no, if this was set in America I would think it unlikely that it was an Armchair Thriller episode. There were only 12 episodes and AFAIR none of them were set in America. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2017, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-identify-short-run-drama-anthology-on-pbs-circa-1990/796936/6 "2017-09-23T15:47:18Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Sounds kinda similar to the plot of Will Smith’s _Enemy of the State_ but that was late '90s and a movie. > > Do you remember anything about the lead actor or character? Tall guy? Well-known leading man? Was the character a plumber in a step van? A lawyer in a limo? A dentist in a cab? Office worker in a generic car. More like “Brazil” than “Enemy of the State” - definitely a TV production, though (probably only an hour long). ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2021, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-identify-short-run-drama-anthology-on-pbs-circa-1990/796936/7 "2021-10-20T23:25:43Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > A guy with a humdrum existence is apparently mistaken for a subversive agent, pursued by the government, and rescued by a woman who really is from a group that the government opposes (but which is genuinely and non-violently pursuing positive goals). He falls for her, but when he is cleared of involvement with the illegal group, she leaves - but she has left him with a desire to be more active politically (with a hint that the illegal group doesn’t really exist, except as a means of “waking up” ordinary people). Reviving this old topic. It’s clear at the end the guy is going to protests, writing letters to Congress, etc., etc., because he hopes to see the girl again, and to be worthy of her when he does. The opening scene is almost like the opening to “Office Space” - a traffic jam full of miserable people, with the narrator seemingly picking one of them at random as the one to talk about - before his day becomes much more weird than normal.