The Lawless Years (1959)

Crime · Drama

The Lawless Years is an American crime drama series that aired on NBC from April 16 1959, to September 22, 1961. The series is the first of its kind set set during the Roaring 20s, having predated ABC's far more successful The Untouchables by six months. The series stars James Gregory and Robert Karnes.

IMDb rating: 7.1 (148 votes)
Episode average: 6.8 -0.3 vs IMDb
Seasons: 3
Language: EN
Type: TV series

Rating trend: this show's seasons do not settle into one shape. Rising Shows ranks whole shows by the shape of their rating trend rather than one average score, which is how you find a show that got better rather than a show that started well.

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Ratings refreshed Oct 3, 2026 · 3 seasons indexed

Cast

Seasons

Season 1 (1959)

6.83 avg 18 episodes 6.8 → 6.5 29 min avg

Mid-peak

Season 1 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	The Nick Joseph Story	6.8	37
2	The Immigrant	6.9	30
3	The Jane Cooper Story	6.8	27
4	The Cutie Jaffe Story	7.0	34
5	The Dutch Schultz Story	6.7	30
6	The Lion and the Mouse	6.6	20
7	No Fare	7.1	18
8	The Payoff	6.5	24
9	The Marie Walters Story	6.5	15
10	The Maxey Gorman Story	7.5	17
11	The Muddy Kasoff Story	7.2	17
12	Framed	7.3	20
13	Four the Hard Way	7.1	14
14	The Tony Morelli Story	6.8	12
15	The Ray Baker Story	6.2	16
16	Lucky Silva	7.2	25
17	The Morrison Story	6.2	17
18	The Poison Ivy Story	6.5	17

Season 2 (1959)

6.79 avg 9 episodes 6.9 → 7.1 26 min avg

Season 2 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	The Al Brown Story	6.9	16
2	The Big Greeny Story	6.6	16
3	The Art Harris Story	6.8	16
4	The Billy Boy 'Rockabye' Creel Story	6.7	17
5	The Big Man	7.0	15
6	The Joe Angelo Story	7.2	18
7	The Billy Grimes Story	6.3	16
8	The Sonny Rosen Story	6.5	15
9	The Prantera Story	7.1	15

Season 3 (1961)

6.83 avg 6 episodes 7.2 → 6.8 27 min avg

Front-loaded

Season 3 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	The Jack 'Legs' Diamond Story	7.2	7
4	Louy K: Part 2 Sing Sing	7.0	7
8	The Miles Miller Story	7.6	7
10	Ginny	5.8	7
11	Little Augie	6.6	10
14	Blood Brothers	6.8	8