Alfred Hitchcock Presents
The Night the World Ended
TV Flash files “The Night the World Ended” as hour 70 of 268 in the TV Flash guide — Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955–1962) on CBS/NBC, season 2, episode 31, aired 1957-04-28, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S02E31: listed hour 70 of 268 in the Alfred Hitchcock Presents guide, hour 31 of 39 in season 2. It aired 1957-04-28 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “The Three Dreams of Mr. Findlater” (S02E30). Next is “The Hands of Mr. Ottermole” (S02E32).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
A newsman plays a joke on a homeless man by showing him a fake article that says the world is going to end that night, but the prank has deadly results.
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Night the World Ended sit in the Alfred Hitchcock Presents guide?
S02E31 is listed hour 70 of 268 — hour 31 of 39 in season 2, season 2 episode 31.
When did Alfred Hitchcock Presents S02E31 air?
The Night the World Ended aired 1957-04-28 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Where should I start?
Start with Hitch's hosted half-hours rather than assuming he directed the lot. Sample the dry intros and the snap endings; the silhouette is the franchise.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Alfred Hitchcock Presents made the director himself the franchise: silhouette, dry intro, murder with a wink, and closings that sometimes 'corrected' crime to soothe censors. Watch it in 2026 as branded anthology swagger — Joan Harrison's engine, Hitch's persona, and twist endings as moral architecture you can still hum.
Calendar first: CBS, October 2, 1955. Then a later NBC window. Original half-hour run through 1962 — **268 episodes, seven seasons** — before the expansion as *The Alfred Hitchcock Hour* (1962–1965). That is not nostalgia cosplay. That is a branded anthology with a host who was the franchise, a silhouette you could hum, and a weekly drop of murder with a wink. Rex can keep the three-network hymn. This was already a logo, a window, and a closing card that sometimes reversed the crime to soothe Standards & Practices.
Filed against
- Alfred Hitchcock as Host
Alfred Hitchcock made himself the franchise on Alfred Hitchcock Presents — silhouette, dry intro, murder with a wink, closings that sometimes “corrected” crime to soothe censors. Branded anthology swagger, Joan Harrison’s engine, twist…