Philco Television Playhouse
Middle of the Night
TV Flash files “Middle of the Night” as the first listed hour of season 7 — Philco Television Playhouse (1948–1955) on NBC, season 7, episode 1, aired 1954-09-19, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S07E01: listed hour 229 of 256 in the Philco Television Playhouse guide, first listed hour of season 7. It aired 1954-09-19 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Run Like a Thief” (S06E26). Next is “Time Bomb” (S07E02).
Viewer FAQ
Where does Middle of the Night sit in the Philco Television Playhouse guide?
S07E01 is listed hour 229 of 256 — first listed hour of season 7, season 7 episode 1.
When did Philco Television Playhouse S07E01 air?
Middle of the Night aired 1954-09-19 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…