Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Specialty of the House
TV Flash files “Specialty of the House” as hour 165 of 268 in the TV Flash guide — Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955–1962) on CBS/NBC, season 5, episode 12, aired 1959-12-13, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S05E12: listed hour 165 of 268 in the Alfred Hitchcock Presents guide, hour 12 of 38 in season 5. It aired 1959-12-13 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “Road Hog” (S05E11). Next is “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” (S05E13).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Mr. Laffler wants to be a life member of a gourmet restaurant named Spiro's. When he looks into the off-limits kitchen he becomes a life member and like all life members - he becomes the specialty of the house!
Viewer FAQ
Where does Specialty of the House sit in the Alfred Hitchcock Presents guide?
S05E12 is listed hour 165 of 268 — hour 12 of 38 in season 5, season 5 episode 12.
When did Alfred Hitchcock Presents S05E12 air?
Specialty of the House aired 1959-12-13 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…