Matthew Rhys as "Perry Mason"

[Bob Jersey]

The "Americans" costar joins Robert Downey Jnr's HBO revival of the iconic character, an "origins" story... Tim Van Patten directing.

https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/perry-mason-hbo-1203170192/ (link)

B

[PGage]

Randomly, I have just started a re-watch of Perry Mason (it’s on CBS Access). It’s a little more interesting than I vaguely remembered from watching reruns as a kid.

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[Dave Sikula]

As much as I love Perry Mason, I'll be skipping this one for two reasons: 1) the producers' inability to find someone American to play the role, and 2) Perry Mason is not a hard-boiled detective. You want to do that story, do it. If you want to do a Perry Mason story, do that. But don't mix the streams.

--Dave Sikula

[Kevin M.]

One of my brothers loved watching Perry Mason reruns in college. Then again, he did a lot of drugs and drank excessively in college. 

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Kevin M. (RPCV)

[PGage]

I love Rhys, so your #1 is not an issue for me, but definitely worry about your #2. What I am digging about the show is it’s idealism and sincerity, which though I am a big fan of Noir, is quite different than that. I especially like a call back to an old fashioned California liberalism that I remember from my mother and grandfather, one in which defense attorneys fighting for the underdog against the not really evil but lazy and bureaucratic state are heroes. I like the True Detective series, but that’s not Mason.

On Sat, Mar 23, 2019 at 2:21 PM 'Dave Sikula' via TVorNotTV <tvor...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

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[Tom Wolper]

On Sat, Mar 23, 2019 at 7:05 PM Kevin M. <drunkba...@gmail.com> wrote:

One of my brothers loved watching Perry Mason reruns in college. Then again, he did a lot of drugs and drank excessively in college.

MeTV shows Mason reruns at 11:30 PM and I've seen a few whole episodes while preferred late night shows were in rerun and lots of scenes when switching over during commercials on the talk shows. They're pretty uneven which is to be expected in a show that ran so many episodes for so many years. The good episodes are interesting to watch. And it's always fun to catch Angie Dickinson or James Drury or other actors before they became names.

I also got a Perry Mason novel from the library to compare. Erle Stanley Gardner was an attorney and Mason spent a lot more time in his office and less at crime scenes. Paul Drake was described as skinny with a hawklike nose and he was written as someone who would be pals with underworld types like Nick Charles. Mason also had a law clerk for research and there was a newspaper reporter he would go to when he wanted to get his side of the story into the press.

[Dave Sikula]

I watched the original run as a kid, but am lately more familiar with the films of the 30s, where Perry has gone from running a thriving practice in Los Angeles with dozens of associates and investigators to having a solo practice in San Francisco, where he's known for being a bon vivant and gourmet chef. By the third film, he's introduced as being dead drunk on the floor. I have no idea if this was considered a character arc by Warner Bros., but it's certainly been interesting to watch.

While Burr is a fine Mason, I'm more attracted to Warren William's portrayal, where Mason works just this side of the law, cutting corners wherever possible, while Allan Jenkins as "Spudsy" Drake does the legwork. While the code really wouldn't permit it, there's no doubt Mason is schtupping Della, something I don't really remember from the more-wholesome TV series.

--Dave Sikula

[Tom Wolper]

On Sun, Mar 24, 2019 at 2:43 AM 'Dave Sikula' via TVorNotTV <tvor...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

I watched the original run as a kid, but am lately more familiar with the films of the 30s, where Perry has gone from running a thriving practice in Los Angeles with dozens of associates and investigators to having a solo practice in San Francisco, where he's known for being a bon vivant and gourmet chef. By the third film, he's introduced as being dead drunk on the floor. I have no idea if this was considered a character arc by Warner Bros., but it's certainly been interesting to watch.

In the book I read, which was one of the earliest, Mason was in an unnamed city. Gardner may have later placed him in LA or a producer decided it was easier to place him there than to design an anonymous city for the film series.

While Burr is a fine Mason, I'm more attracted to Warren William's portrayal, where Mason works just this side of the law, cutting corners wherever possible, while Allan Jenkins as "Spudsy" Drake does the legwork. While the code really wouldn't permit it, there's no doubt Mason is schtupping Della, something I don't really remember from the more-wholesome TV series.

On the TV series Della acts like Perry's work wife and she wants more of a full time relationship. Perry acts aloof but it's clear that neither has a social life outside of work. The are often scenes where Perry takes Della to a restaurant or a night club. I don't know if the unspoken meaning is that they are in an off camera relationship or that it would be awkward for Perry to go alone and the creative crew doesn't want to give a random date.

[PGage]

Not only are they shown on various dinner dates,  clearly not work related, but he is often protective and tender towards her, and touches her arm or shoulder intimately. She hovers over him at the office, and fusses over his sleep and eating. But they also make it clear that they are not in each other’s private space unless he needs her there for work. I will have to see if they ever show him on a date with anyone else (or her), but I don’t recall it, and so far none in season 1. Drake is depicted as something of a lady’s man.

Of course the assumption is that Burr was gay, and Perry’s relationship with Della approaches a mid-century Will and Grace vibe (if Grace somehow worked for Will and had to be submissive to him, and Will had to be deeply in the closet).

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[bermuda999]

On Saturday, March 23, 2019 at 9:02:04 AM UTC-4, Bob Jersey wrote:

The "Americans" costar joins Robert Downey Jnr's HBO revival of the iconic character, an "origins" story... Tim Van Patten directing.

https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/perry-mason-hbo-1203170192/ (link)

TV Guide's headline:

"HBO Is Bringing Back Perry Mason, and This Time He F*cks"

[Tom Wolper]

On Sun, Mar 24, 2019 at 7:26 PM PGage <pga...@gmail.com> wrote:

Not only are they shown on various dinner dates,  clearly not work related, but he is often protective and tender towards her, and touches her arm or shoulder intimately. She hovers over him at the office, and fusses over his sleep and eating. But they also make it clear that they are not in each other’s private space unless he needs her there for work. I will have to see if they ever show him on a date with anyone else (or her), but I don’t recall it, and so far none in season 1. Drake is depicted as something of a lady’s man.

Of course the assumption is that Burr was gay, and Perry’s relationship with Della approaches a mid-century Will and Grace vibe (if Grace somehow worked for Will and had to be submissive to him, and Will had to be deeply in the closet).

William Hopper (Hedda's son) played Drake as a ladies man. In the later years of the series he got rather puffy and it came off really creepy when Drake talked about throwing himself at women.

Homosexuality was a career killer in the years Perry Mason was on and the sponsors would have killed the show if there was as much as a wink about Burr and/or Perry Mason. It was easier to attribute a lack of sexual characteristics to a character than to find subtle ways to let the audience know the characters were having sex.

Going back to one of your earlier points about the Rhys remake: in the dramas of the '50s, '60s, and going into the '70s there was a clear sense of right and wrong and while there may have been corrupt officials, the authorities represented the good guys. More recent dramas have conspiracies among the authorities to build a tension about who the protagonist can trust. I tuned out of the Hawaii Five-0 remake when it appeared in the pilot and I'm sure it will be part of the new Perry Mason framing as well.

[Bob Jersey]

Daniel Fienberg of THR tells it like it is...

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/perry-mason-review-1298230 (link)

I was astonished at who was cast as Drake!

B

[PGage]

Is it something about the actor himself, or just that they are making Drake Black?

By now, I think it would be more astonishing if in a reboot of any kind there was not some kind of identity (gender, ethnicity, etc) shift in one or more of the characters.

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[Dave Sikula]

One of the articles I read (Rhys's Times interview?) mentioned that Della is a lesbian in this universe, so there's another change to the canon.

--Dave Sikula

On Tuesday, June 16, 2020 at 8:53:25 AM UTC-7, PGage wrote:

Is it something about the actor himself, or just that they are making Drake Black?

By now, I think it would be more astonishing if in a reboot of any kind there was not some kind of identity (gender, ethnicity, etc) shift in one or more of the characters.

On Tue, Jun 16, 2020 at 7:33 AM 'Bob Jersey' via TVorNotTV <tvor...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Daniel Fienberg of THR tells it like it is...

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/perry-mason-review-1298230 (link)

I was astonished at who was cast as Drake!

B

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[Diner]

[Jon Delfin]

"No, it wasn't my idea, it was the car. The car told me to ..."

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