Philco Television Playhouse
A Matter of Life and Death
TV Flash files “A Matter of Life and Death” as hour 112 of 256 in the TV Flash guide — Philco Television Playhouse (1948–1955) on NBC, season 3, episode 22, aired 1951-02-04, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S03E22: listed hour 112 of 256 in the Philco Television Playhouse guide, hour 22 of 56 in season 3. It aired 1951-02-04 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “The Great Escape” (S03E21). Next is “Kitty Doone” (S03E23).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
An investigative reporter is killed by a gangster who marries a naive waitress who could testify against him having witnessed the crime.
Viewer FAQ
Where does A Matter of Life and Death sit in the Philco Television Playhouse guide?
S03E22 is listed hour 112 of 256 — hour 22 of 56 in season 3, season 3 episode 22.
When did Philco Television Playhouse S03E22 air?
A Matter of Life and Death aired 1951-02-04 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Where should I start?
Start with Marty (May 24, 1953, Rod Steiger) — the teleplay that became the anthology-to-Oscar dream — then sample other surviving Coe/Mann hours.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Philco Television Playhouse is Chayefsky's kitchen-sink live plays: ordinary lives, extraordinary telecasts, Marty with Rod Steiger before the Oscar film. Watch it now as the rise of intimate realist TV drama — Fred Coe's shop, Delbert Mann, and the anthology-to-Hollywood dream in one sponsor's title.
The close-up is a butcher's loneliness, not a gown — kitchen-sink light, live cameras, ordinary lives getting extraordinary writing. NBC's *Philco Television Playhouse* (1948–1955), 256 episodes across seven seasons, Fred Coe's shop, directors like Delbert Mann, Paddy Chayefsky's *Marty* telecast May 24, 1953 with Rod Steiger. A kitchen sink as an Oscar machine. The Philco/Goodyear tandem nights made anthology drama a dual-sponsor prestige ritual. The timeline can call domestic realism mid. The silhouette was a…