Alfred Hitchcock Presents
The Crooked Road
TV Flash files “The Crooked Road” as hour 121 of 268 in the TV Flash guide — Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955–1962) on CBS/NBC, season 4, episode 4, aired 1958-10-26, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S04E04: listed hour 121 of 268 in the Alfred Hitchcock Presents guide, hour 4 of 36 in season 4. It aired 1958-10-26 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “The Jokester” (S04E03). Next is “The Two Million Dollar Defense” (S04E05).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
While driving along a country road, Harry Adams and his wife are pulled over for speeding. This begins a chain reaction of events which lead to the inescapable conclusion that the town in which the Adamses are stranded is chock-full of crooks and grafters, including a corrupt traffic cop, a dishonest judge, and a duplicitous car repairman. Without giving away too much of the outcome, let it be noted that Harry loudly complains about every outrage, while his nervous wife never relaxes her grip on her outsized purse.
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Crooked Road sit in the Alfred Hitchcock Presents guide?
S04E04 is listed hour 121 of 268 — hour 4 of 36 in season 4, season 4 episode 4.
When did Alfred Hitchcock Presents S04E04 air?
The Crooked Road aired 1958-10-26 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…