Nightmare at Ground Zero (Playhouse 90)

"Nightmare at Ground Zero" is a television play that was broadcast by CBS on May 15, 1958, as part of the television series, Playhouse 90. It was written by Rod Serling and Paul Monash based on the book by John C. Clark and Robert Cahn.

"Nightmare at Ground Zero"
Playhouse 90 episode
Episode no.	Season 2 Episode 34
Directed by	Franklin Schaffner
Written by	Rod Serling & Paul Monash (teleplay), John C. Clark & Robert Cahn (book)
Original air date	May 15, 1958 (1958-05-15)
Guest appearances
Barry Sullivan as Daniel Joyce Jack Warden as Long Carl Benton Reid as Gen. Tyler Ainslie Pryor as Beloit

Plot

Based on a true story, an advance party of five scientists is stationed in a bunker on Enewetak Atoll 20 miles from the detonation of the first hydrogen bomb test. They are trapped for 11 hours in a "hot" bunker due to miscalculations as to the size of the blast and the direction of the atomic fallout.

Cast

The cast included the following:

• Barry Sullivan as Daniel Joyce
• Jack Warden as Long
• Carl Benton Reid as Gen. Tyler
• Ainslie Pryor as Beloit
• Edmon Ryan

Production

The program was produced as part of the second season of the television series, Playhouse 90. Franklin Schaffner was the director. The teleplay was written by Rod Serling and Paul Monash and adapted from the book, Nightmare at Ground Zero, by John C. Clark and Robert Cahn. It was aired on May 15, 1958.

Reception

United Press television critic William Ewald gave the production a mixed review. He praised the direction and sets and found the production to be "a gripper" when it stuck to telling the story. However, he wrote that it "stumbled" when it turned to conflict between two of the scientists over the morality of the bomb. Ewald found the latter scenes, with scientists exchanging quotes from Browning and Horace, to be clumsy, dramatically unbelievable, and embarrassing.