ericapolitica
I am only in my 30s and I love legal dramas. But the problem with most of them is pretty much the same problem with today's entertainment in general: too much blood and guts and too much sex. I subscribe to CBS All Access and after watching the original Mission Impossible series (which was also great) I discovered Perry Mason. I love classic noir movies, but I wasn't sure if I could take a whole noir TV show. Boy was I wrong! I love it (and on another note, Raymond Burr is so fine). Anyway, each episode is like watching a short movie, and there are a lot of episodes. To me, the old shows are the best. Today's shows have very lazy writing and producing where they feel that sex, violence, and profanity is the way to go. These things may sell to many people, but they are definitely not ingenious. The old shows like Perry Mason put a lot of thought into each episode. Now that's true entertainment!
rcj5365
More than 60 years since the series debut on CBS, Perry Mason was without a doubt the most successful courtroom drama/detective series ever made for television...still a define classic and it is highly watchable today without being dated. For the nine seasons that it was on the air, this was a series that was predictable while defying the odds, the outcomes and the plots to the mysteries went beyond the norm. While the plots were quite complex at times,the writers also treated viewers each week with intelligence not to mention keeping viewers in suspense to what happens next. The "Perry Mason" character, as developed by Erle Stanley Gardner went beyond the law or bending in order to fight for his client or testing a hypothesis where Mason not only goes beyond the norm for his client but exposing the truth and the suspect in the courtroom. Mason's Raymond Burr was not only the attorney at law but also was part detective and part sleuth who basically went beyond the norm of each of his cases with the help of his secretary Della Street(Barbara Hale), the private investigator/detective Paul Drake(William Hopper), the police Lt. Tragg(Ray Collins) of Homicide with the Los Angeles Police Department. Each case were in different aspects with someone being victimized by someone else,or in other cases a client who asks for Perry Mason's assistance or asking for help which begins during the first half of the show. The second half comes with the subsequent trial against the District Attorney Hamilton Burger(William Talman)where Mason exposes the truth and the culprit in the courtroom.Perry Mason premiered on CBS on September 21,1957 where it ran for nine seasons and 271 episodes in black and white(with the exception of one episode that aired in color "The Case Of The Twice Told Twist" that was telecast in Season 9) until the final episode of the series on May 22,1966. The first five seasons aired on Saturday nights from September 21,1957 until May 26, 1962. Then for Seasons 6 through 8 the show moved to Thursday nights from September 27, 1962 until May 13,1965. The ninth and final season saw the series moved to Sunday nights from September 12,1965 until May 22,1966. Many fine writers and directors created interesting stories for "Perry Mason" in which some episodes were adaptions of Mason novels written by Gardner himself. And Gardner working with executive producer Gail Patrick Jackson the original entries were held strictly and successfully to the author's character with the strictest detail possible. Directors like Jack Arnold, Christian Nyby, Ted Post, Arthur Marks, Vincent McEveety, Robert Sparr, Earl Bellamy, Arthur Hiller contribute to some of the episodes. Excellent writers like Gene Wang, Jackson Gillis, Seeleg Lester, Stirling Silliphant, Mann Rubin, Samuel Newman, Orville H. Hampton, Laurence Marks, along with Jonathan Latimer and Sy Salkowitz. The guest stars ranged from Ruta Lee, Jesse White, Peter Breck, Yvonne Craig, Victor Buono, Steve Inhat, James Shigeta, Barbara Eden, Bobby Troup, Dick Clark, Ross Martin, Michael Constantine, Gavin MacLeod, Edward Asner, Jeannette Nolan, Strother Martin, Morgan Woodward, Charles Bronson, Skip Homeier, Mike Connors, Barry Sullivan, Pippa Scott, Barbara Bain, Cecil Kellaway, Richard Long, Whitney Blake, James Drudy, Stacy Graham and the list goes on. The most watched program of its day keeping viewers tuned in each week to see what happens next and it is still enjoyable to watch more than 60 years later....
xsgame3115
I love, love, love Perry Mason. And out of all the great things about the show: the writing, the acting, the directing, the scripts... for me, the greatest thing about the show was watching the guilty party jump up out of their seat in the back of the courtroom and confess to the crime right before Perry Mason was about to point them out at the end of the show. LOL Perry Mason would start listing facts and occurrences and circumstances which led to only one possible person being the perpetrator, and his LASER-like insights and astute deductions would make that guilty party's resolve just crumble. ... As Perry Mason himself would tell anyone who doesn't think Perry Mason is one of the best dramas of all time: "Your opinion is irrelevant, incompetent, immaterial, and inadmissable in a court of law." And the judge would say, "Objection overruled."
TheLittleSongbird
I wasn't expecting to love Perry Mason, but the thing I do love it. While an example of a formula show, it is a formula show that works wonders. The stories may have some odd predictabilities here and there, but they are always done and written in a most intelligent and intelligent way.The photography and production values are also striking and hold up very well, the direction is consistently on the money and the music is atmospheric, tense and seductive somewhat. But where Perry Mason really scores is in its writing and lead performance. There is very rare an episode where the writing is bad, it is at best outstanding good at worst, with some intelligent, thought-provoking, humorous, poignant and intense(in the atmosphere) moments throughout. Raymond Burr is simply brilliant as the titular character, who is clever and likable at the same time, and the guests are equally impressive. All in all, a fine show that makes for compulsive viewing whenever it is on. 10/10 Bethany Cox
