Philco Television Playhouse
The Joker
TV Flash files “The Joker” as hour 219 of 256 in the TV Flash guide — Philco Television Playhouse (1948–1955) on NBC, season 6, episode 17, aired 1954-05-02, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S06E17: listed hour 219 of 256 in the Philco Television Playhouse guide, hour 17 of 26 in season 6. It aired 1954-05-02 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “The King and Mrs. Candle” (S06E16). Next is “And Crown Thy Good” (S06E18).
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Joker sit in the Philco Television Playhouse guide?
S06E17 is listed hour 219 of 256 — hour 17 of 26 in season 6, season 6 episode 17.
When did Philco Television Playhouse S06E17 air?
The Joker aired 1954-05-02 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…