How Alfred Hitchcock Presents Brought The Director's Filmmaking Sensibilities To The Small Screen
When "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" premiered on October 2, 1955, Hitchcock had already proved himself a master of suspense, capable of weaving narratives that were intriguing and often intensely macabre. This anthology series, which ran for almost ten years on television, only featured 18 episodes that were directed by Hitchcock himself — the rest were a heady concoction of anthology tales presented by talented filmmakers, including Ida Lupino and William Friedkin. In the process, Hitchcock set the stage for diverse talents to display their craft while formulating an unforgettable title sequence followed by his iconic introductions, which eased audiences into the tales that ranged from gritty mystery to gruesome horror.
While "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" accommodates a wide range of directorial styles and flair, there is an unmistakable Hitchcockian touch to most of the episodes, where the director imbued his artistic sensibilities in the way shots were handled. Subjective perspectives helped cement aspects of a story that were meant to be voyeuristic, allowing for a more layered, psychosexual element to emerge in tales meant to unravel the human mind. Episodes helmed by him, such as "The Strange Case of Mr. Pelham" or "Lamb to the Slaughter," adapted existing works into a medley of suspense, crime, and intrigue in a way that only Hitchcock could have pulled off.
However, the limitations of creating for television, a completely different medium than film, included limiting stories to the mandated 30-minute mark discerned by network channels. This, unfortunately, did not allow suspense and mystery to breathe as much as some creators involved with the series would have liked, but Hitchcock effectively changed this by eventually rebranding the show as "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour."
More time, more thrills
When Hitchcock felt that the collaborators in his anthology series deserved more time to flesh out their stories, "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour" was born in 1962. This new, hour-long format was better suited to long-form storytelling, and the director was more than pleased to bluntly explain what this new format entailed in a newspaper interview in the same year (via MeTv): "It is decidedly true that 'The Alfred Hitchcock Hour', as the title rather plainly implies, will endure for 60 minutes each week, instead of 30."
Hitchcock also proceeded to criticize the show's sponsors for limiting precious runtime by clogging the broadcast with commercials, candidly stating that "despite the sponsors' infringement upon time, the one-hour period will allow [him and his collaborators] to tell full dramatic stories in natural narrative style, whereas the half-hour show permitted only short tales that led to a 'twist' ending." While twist endings have value, forcing such narrative pivots to accommodate a story within a time frame is hardly ever effective, let alone satisfying from a creator's perspective.
The new format also allowed creators to focus on character depth, yielding more vibrant, believable stories that could still elicit a range of shifting tones. Hitchcock ended the interview by stating that suspense would "remain an active ingredient" in the rebranded series, and he delivered on this promise without compromise until the delightful, gripping anthology ran its course.