Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Dead Weight
TV Flash files “Dead Weight” as hour 162 of 268 in the TV Flash guide — Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955–1962) on CBS/NBC, season 5, episode 9, aired 1959-11-22, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S05E09: listed hour 162 of 268 in the Alfred Hitchcock Presents guide, hour 9 of 38 in season 5. It aired 1959-11-22 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “The Blessington Method” (S05E08). Next is “Special Delivery” (S05E10).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Unknown to his wife, Courtney Masterson has a latenight encounter with his girlfriend at lover's lane. There they are attacked by a robber named Rudy. Courtney manages to overpower his attacker and locks him in the trunk. Fearing blackmail, he kills Rudy after taking his girlfriend home. He tells the police that he acted in self-defense. Later, however, he learns that his wife hired a detective to follow him to lover's lane. The detective (knowing everything) decides to blackmail Courtney.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Dead Weight sit in the Alfred Hitchcock Presents guide?
S05E09 is listed hour 162 of 268 — hour 9 of 38 in season 5, season 5 episode 9.
When did Alfred Hitchcock Presents S05E09 air?
Dead Weight aired 1959-11-22 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…