Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Amazon has messed up the Reviews. The Untouchables Complete Series Mega-Box (31 discs) was released on May 10, 2016. This is the first and only time the complete series has been issued in a boxed set. Yet on the day it was released, Amazon already had 75 reviews dating back three years. Ignore any reviews posted before May 10, 2016 [they seem to be reviews of the fourth season.] SUBTITLES: Discs 1-23 (Seasons 1-3) give you a choice of audio in English or Spanish, plus SDH Subtitles in English, Spanish or Portugese. Discs 24-31 (Season 4) have audio in English only, plus English SDH Subtitles. Some reviewers complain that there are no subtitles. I don't get it. Perhaps they didn't look closely enough. On the Menu page for DVDs 1-23, click the words: Set Up. For DVDs 24-31, click the word Subtitles. The Untouchables actually has both the old Closed Captioning& technology and the new SDH subtitle technology. This can be confusing - if you turn on the SDH subtitles using your DVD player, make sure you turn off the closed captioning on your TV (by using the captioning button on your TELEVISION's remote). More about Closed Captioning vs. SDH Subtitles in the first Comment (click on "Oldest first"). PACKAGING: Two plastic cases in a cardboard slipcase (see photo one) Case One is two inches wide and holds the 23 discs of Seasons 1-3. Case Two is one inch wide, and holds the 8 discs of Season 4. Incredibly awkward packaging. UPDATE: More recent packaging actually crams all 31 discs into one plastic case. Super-clunky, but CBS has lowered the price even further. This is the same packaging used for the most recent version of the complete I Love Lucy show. Reviewers hated the packaging, but CBS/Paramount is adamant. Anyway, it looks nice on the shelf. One thing nobody is complaining about is the price: 31 discs for $55 When originally issued on DVD, the four seasons were extravagantly spread over eight volumes. Each season was split into Part One and Part Two. All eight volumes (still only 31 discs) cost over $200. The DVDs in the new mega-box are identical in content and appearance. Disc labels read something like Season 1, Part 2, Disc 4. REVIEW: I was ten years old when The Untouchables debuted in 1959. Us kids were big fans of Westerns and Sitcoms, But we never had much interest in hour-long dramas. The Untouchables blew my ten-year old mind. It was without doubt the coolest show on television. Ever. All my ten year old friends agreed. It didn't hurt that we lived in Chicago. For once, it was cool to live in Chicago. There had been nothing like The Untouchables on television before 1959. VIOLENCE: The pilot episode had bullet-riddled bodies stacked up indiscriminately. Prior to The Untouchables, TV violence consisted of the Lone Ranger shooting the gun out of the hand of the bad guy. S-E-X: Stripper Brandy La France actually showed 3/4 of a breast - her nipple was covered with a pasty (see photo two) Us ten year-olds were impressed. ETHNIC STEREOTYPES: When a gangster speaks Italian 21 minutes into the pilot, the closed captioning (not the SDH subtitles) reads "Monkey speaking Italian". Huh? ("Monkey" was the gangster's nickname) After much uproar, the show toned down considerably for Seasons 2-4. Still the Greatest Show Ever. The Untouchables was produced by Desilu - the production company owned by Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball. Desi Arnaz appeared onscreen to introduce the pilot - he's there on Disc One. My only complaint about the pilot episode is the music. But instead of the familiar and wonderful Untouchables theme music by Nelson Riddle, the pilot had a jazzy original score by Wilbur Hatch - music director of the I Love Lucy show. -- Al Capone, played by actor Neville Brand, is sent to Alcatraz in the pilot episode. The principal recurring villain in the series is Frank Nitti, played by the menacing Bruce Gordon (see photo 3) who always reminded me of a Sicilian Bela Lugosi. One of the all-time great TV Villains. -- The wonderful Untouchables theme music by Nelson Riddle is only heard in full during the closing credits of each episode (except for the pilot where it is missing altogether). My high school band used to play it at football games. -- Bonus: Disc 8 features an unexpected Untouchables reunion show from three years after the series ended. A 1966 episode of The Lucy Show: "Lucy the Gun Moll" with guest stars Robert Stack as Eliott Ness and Bruce Gordon as Frank Nitti, plus Walter Winchell's familiar voice-over and Nelson Riddle's music. (and Lucille Ball in the Brandy La France role.) An unexpected treat.