Alfred Hitchcock Presents
And the Desert Shall Blossom
TV Flash files “And the Desert Shall Blossom” as hour 128 of 268 in the TV Flash guide — Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955–1962) on CBS/NBC, season 4, episode 11, aired 1958-12-21, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S04E11: listed hour 128 of 268 in the Alfred Hitchcock Presents guide, hour 11 of 36 in season 4. It aired 1958-12-21 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “Tea Time” (S04E10). Next is “Mrs. Herman and Mrs. Fenimore” (S04E12).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
A local town council plans to evict two old prospectors who have been homesteading and searching for gold in the area before the town was built. They make a bargain with the local sheriff over their staying at their home.
Viewer FAQ
Where does And the Desert Shall Blossom sit in the Alfred Hitchcock Presents guide?
S04E11 is listed hour 128 of 268 — hour 11 of 36 in season 4, season 4 episode 11.
When did Alfred Hitchcock Presents S04E11 air?
And the Desert Shall Blossom aired 1958-12-21 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…