Kevin Bacon has described his performance in the 1988 television drama *Lemon Sky* as “the best work I’ve ever done” and his “rawest, most complex” role. The production came during a difficult period in his career, after he deliberately avoided mainstream films following *Footloose* in an effort to establish himself as a more serious actor, a decision he later said badly damaged his Hollywood standing.

In *Lemon Sky*, Bacon played Alan, a young man who moves from Nebraska to San Diego to live with his estranged father and an extended family troubled by buried secrets. The American Playhouse adaptation also marked the beginning of Bacon’s relationship with Kyra Sedgwick, whom he married later that year, and featured Casey Affleck in his first screen role as Alan’s half-brother.