Alfred Hitchcock Presents: subverting anthology TV series

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This chapter proposes to explore the short form in one of the most famous anthology series, Alfred Hitchcock Presents (CBS, 1955-1960; NBC, 1960-1962). After taking stock of Neill Potts (2005), Gilles Delavaud’s (2013) and Jean-François Rauger’s (2014) works on the series, special attention is paid to how Hitchock’s style is transferred to the short form, enabling an experimentation with classical genres (crime story, suspense, dark comedy, fantastic) and narrative form. By analyzing the links between the introductory and conclusive presentations of the host, Alfred Hitchcock, and the stories from a selection of weekly episodes directed by the Master of Suspense himself (Revenge, Breakdown, The Case of Mr Pelham, Wet Saturday, Mr Blanchard’s Secret, One More Mile to Go, The Perfect Crime, Lamb to the Slaughter, Arthur, Mrs. Bixby and The Colonel’s Coat, Bang! You’re Dead), I will highlight how the reflexive devices (Stam 1985) used in this anthological program create a mode of permanent irony that gives the show its identity. Subverting the rules of morality, Hitchcock simultaneously directs the irony against the institutional advertising sponsor of the program, the audience and the characters of the weekly stories: ordinary people belonging to the upper middle class who commit terrible crimes that often go unpunished. The irony Hitchcock uses constantly and that is visible through the recurrent irony of fate in the stories allows the brief and discontinuous form imposed by the TV anthology format to find a unity based on a playful and complex relationship with the viewer.