Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Hitch Hike
TV Flash files “Hitch Hike” as hour 174 of 268 in the TV Flash guide — Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955–1962) on CBS/NBC, season 5, episode 21, aired 1960-02-21, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S05E21: listed hour 174 of 268 in the Alfred Hitchcock Presents guide, hour 21 of 38 in season 5. It aired 1960-02-21 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “The Day of the Bullet” (S05E20). Next is “Across the Threshold” (S05E22).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Charles Underhill is driving to San Francisco with his niece Anne. They pick up a hitchhiker. The boy tells them he was once in reform school. Charles grows nervous. When he is pulled over by the police for speeding, he accuses the boy of trying to stab him. The police search the boy and find nothing and writes a ticket for Charles. The boy later reveals that he was sent to reform school for pick-pocketing. He reveals the police officer's ticket book and rips up Charles's speeding ticket.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Hitch Hike sit in the Alfred Hitchcock Presents guide?
S05E21 is listed hour 174 of 268 — hour 21 of 38 in season 5, season 5 episode 21.
When did Alfred Hitchcock Presents S05E21 air?
Hitch Hike aired 1960-02-21 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…