The crimes are notable, and the criminals are presented unflinchingly. Such notorious villains as Lizzie Borden and Jesse James are joined by forgotten felons who have been unearthed "from the records and newspapers of every land… from every time." Lou Merrill stars as your host, Thomas Hyland. This "connoisseur of crime, student of violence, and teller of murders" seems to savor the grisly details of each dark deed, eagerly anticipating the wrongdoer's downfall.

Produced and directed by Elliott Lewis, with scripts by Morton Fine and David Friedkin, and with the perpetrators portrayed by Larry Thor, Joseph Kearns, Georgia Ellis, William Conrad, Betty Lou Gerson, and more, Crime Classics is a masterful balance of wit and tension.

The 20 digitally remastered episodes include: The Crime of Bathsheba Spooner, 06-15-53; The Shockingly Peaceful Passing of Thomas Edwin Bartlett, Greeengrocer, 06-22-53; The Checkered Life and Sudden Death of Colonel James Fisk, 06-29-53; The Shrapnelled Body of Charles Drew, Senior, 07-06-53; The Terrible Deed of John White Webster, 07-13-53; The Death of a Picture Hanger, 07-20-53; The Final Day of General Ketchum, 07-27-53; The Dread Events Surrounding Mr. Thrower's Hammer, 08-03-53; The Axe and the Droot Family and How They Fared, 08-10-53; The Incredible Trial of Laura D. Fair, 08-17-53; The Alsop Family and How It Diminished and Grew Again, 08-24-53; Your Loving Son, Nero, 08-31-53; The Torment of Henrietta Robinson and Why She Killed, 09-07-53; The Bloody, Bloody Banks of Fall River, 09-30-53; The Hangman and William Palmer, 10-07-53; The Seven Layered Arsenic Cake of Madame Lafarge, 10-14-53; Billy Bonney - Bloodletter, 10-21-53; John Hayes, His Head, and How They Were Parted, 10-28-53; Raschi Among the Crocodiles and the Prank He Played, 11-04-53; The Crime of Bathsheba Spooner (Audition), 12-03-52.