Alfred Hitchcock Presents
The Gloating Place
TV Flash files “The Gloating Place” as hour 222 of 268 in the TV Flash guide — Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955–1962) on CBS/NBC, season 6, episode 31, aired 1961-05-16, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S06E31: listed hour 222 of 268 in the Alfred Hitchcock Presents guide, hour 31 of 38 in season 6. It aired 1961-05-16 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “You Can't Trust a Man” (S06E30). Next is “Self Defense” (S06E32).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Susan Harper fakes an assault near a pond and blames it on a masked attacker in order to gain notoriety. The newspapers fall for her story and give her the celebrity status she craves. After the news dies down, she starts scheming to regain the spotlight. She lures a young girl to the spot where the alleged first attack occurred and strangles her. The newspapers report the murder and recall the incident with Susan and she once again is in the spotlight. Susan returns to the pond to gloat over her cleverness and celebrity, a genuine masked killer appears and strangles her.
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Gloating Place sit in the Alfred Hitchcock Presents guide?
S06E31 is listed hour 222 of 268 — hour 31 of 38 in season 6, season 6 episode 31.
When did Alfred Hitchcock Presents S06E31 air?
The Gloating Place aired 1961-05-16 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…