The Untouchables: Season 01 (1959)

Introduced as a highly successful two-party dramatization on the CBS anthology Desilu Playhouse, The Untouchables officially began its four-season ABC run in the fall of 1959, with Robert Stack returning as grim-visaged 1930s treasury agent Elliot Ness and Neville Brand making token appearances as his nemesis Al Capone ("Big Al" would virtually disappear from the series proper after the Capone estate threatened to sue producer Desi Arnaz for unfairly profiting on the Capone name). The premiere episode, "The Empty Chair", depicts the power struggle to control all illegal activities in Chicago after Capone's arrest for income-tax evasion in 1931. Nehemiah Persoff is the series' first guest star, cast as real-life hoodlum Jake Gusik, while Bruce Gordon is established as Capone's heir apparent Frank Nitti, who would get his own episode, "The Frank Nitti Story" (what else?) a few weeks later. Other genuine lawbreakers depicted during Season One include Ma Barker, played by Claire Trevor in an episode that incurred the wrath of the FBI for suggesting that Ness was largely responsible for Barker's downfall; George "Bugs" Moran, enacted by Lloyd Nolan; Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll, portrayed by Clu Gulager; Dutch Schultz, impersonated by Lawrence Dobkin; and Wally Legenza, cold-blooded leader of the vicious Tri-State Gang, played by William Bendix. The highlight of the season is the two-part "Unhired Assassin", reenacted the unsuccessful attempt by a fanatic named Zangara (Joe Mantell) to assassinate president-elect Franklin Roosevelt; Robert Middleton played Zangara's ultimate victim, Chicago mayor Anton Cermak, in this extended episode, which was later released theatrically as Guns of Zangara. Though The Untouchables never got any higher than 43rd in the ratings during its first season, the series was nonetheless very popular with fans and not so popular with advocates of non-violent television, who would of course become more vocal as the series became more successful in subsequent seasons. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi