Philco Television Playhouse
The Reluctant Citizen
TV Flash files “The Reluctant Citizen” as hour 184 of 256 in the TV Flash guide — Philco Television Playhouse (1948–1955) on NBC, season 5, episode 13, aired 1953-02-08, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S05E13: listed hour 184 of 256 in the Philco Television Playhouse guide, hour 13 of 31 in season 5. It aired 1953-02-08 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Elegy” (S05E12). Next is “Mr. Pettengill Here” (S05E14).
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Reluctant Citizen sit in the Philco Television Playhouse guide?
S05E13 is listed hour 184 of 256 — hour 13 of 31 in season 5, season 5 episode 13.
When did Philco Television Playhouse S05E13 air?
The Reluctant Citizen aired 1953-02-08 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…