This show got a lot of critique during it's run for being to violent and glorifying Mafia type criminals. As for the violence, while there is a lot of shooting, there is only a few times you see much blood. The Godfather films and The Sopranos since have done more to glorify the Mafia than this program ever did.
The show was well written having an original basis on the book The Untouchables by Elliott Ness. Desilu seemed to be very good at getting writers to adapt fine scripts for most of the show. One does shudder to think what the show would have been if it weren't for Van Johnson's wife telling him to turn down Lucy's offer that Van play Ness because "television will never amount to anything".
Robert Stack fits the role very well even though he was not the first choice. The show at it's height was a top rated program though it did not have the long term staying power of I Love Lucy.
Walter Winchell was the master stroke of casting in the narrators role. His voice is so authoritative that it gives the show a feeling of reality with each introduction.
Desilu did an early parody of the show in the mid 1960's when it was producing the original Star Trek series. If you ever catch it, the episode is called "A Piece of The Action" and Star Trel literally borrowed some of the Untouchables sets at Desilu to film the episode. Years later, Saturday Night Live did a great satire of Untouchables when Desi Arnez hosted.
The music, especially the theme song, along with Winchell helps sell this show to the audience.
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