Commentary

Society Of Masons: HBO's 'Perry' Vs. Raymond Burr

The first thing one must do when encountering the new “Perry Mason” on HBO is to forget everything you already know -- or think you know -- about the character.

To be specific, once you remove the picture of the suave, uber-confident, wealthy and always winning TV attorney of the 1950s and ’60s played by Raymond Burr from your brain, the HBO “Mason” becomes a cinch to enjoy.

Sure, the question persists while watching this new one: Why make a new “Perry Mason” in the first place if he is not going to be a lawyer? That’s just one of the differences between the Mason of TV’s first two decades and the one played here by Matthew Rhys (pictured above).

In this one, Mason is a down-on-his-luck private investigator working hand-to-mouth in early-1930s Los Angeles. He lives on a failing family dairy farm for which he seems to owe everyone in town some money. He is not an attorney, and there is no inkling that he seeks to become one either.  

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Instead of being a lawyer, he works for one, played by John Lithgow. His lawyer’s secretary is one Della Street (Juliet Rylance) -- unmarried, outspoken and self-reliant.

Speaking of characters who became in-Della-ble on the “Perry Mason” TV show, the new “Mason” also has a Paul Drake. Here, he is a uniformed police officer on the Los Angeles police force, and not yet a private investigator.

This Paul Drake -- played by Chris Chalk and introduced in Episode Two -- is an African American. He is likely one of the few in the ranks of the LAPD at that time.

Mystery author Erle Stanley Gardner created the Perry Mason character in the 1930s. The first published Perry Mason mystery came out in 1933 -- “The Case of the Velvet Claws.”

At least on this basis -- the era in which it takes place -- the HBO “Perry Mason” is in conformity with the original character and its creation. On the other hand, nowhere is it suggested that the Mason character was ever anything but a criminal defense attorney, even from the beginning.

Having said all that about the ways in which the new tattered Perry Mason differs from the debonair Raymond Burr version that is still seen twice daily on MeTV (9 a.m. and 11:30 p.m. Eastern on weekdays), this new “Perry Mason” emerges as a great show and one of the best new shows of 2020.

The show has this scruffy Mason with a three-day-old beard and mustard-stained necktie investigating the grisly kidnapping of a baby boy.

Matthew Rhys is great in the title role, and so are all the supporting players who include Stephen Root as the district attorney of Los Angeles and Shea Wigham as an investigator who mentors Mason and assists him in his investigations.

Best of all -- and the underlying reason why this “Perry Mason” is such a pleasure to watch -- is the care that has been taken to re-create and evoke the early 1930s, from the cars and clothes to the locations.

If “Perry Mason” is marred by anything, it is its occasional and gratuitous reliance on HBO’s trademark adult sex scenes, which do nothing to advance any storylines or aid in our understanding of any of the characters. Instead, they just make us wince.

And, to name another difference between this 1931 “Perry Mason” and the TV classic, Perry and everyone else in the HBO version use the f-word with an abandon we associate more with the present day than either the 1930s or the 1950s.

Here again, whether people used the word in those eras with the ease and frequency it is used today is not the issue. It is simply that the story and the show are not enhanced by its use.

I sometimes wonder: What if a show runner brought a finished show to HBO and it had no f-words? Would HBO order them to be added?

“Perry Mason” premieres Sunday (June 21) at 9 p.m. Eastern on HBO.

 

4 comments about "Society Of Masons: HBO's 'Perry' Vs. Raymond Burr".
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  1. Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, June 16, 2020 at 9:34 a.m.

    All of which raises a question in my mind. Why call this show "Perry Mason" if there's so little resemblence between it and the old Perry Mason on TV or the older books? Is it to trick people into sampling the series?

  2. Dan Modisett from Maxair Media, June 16, 2020 at 10:24 a.m.

    I was always taught that it was a lack of one's vocabulary when you use foul language. It is so tiring to watch potentially good shows ruined.

  3. David Scardino from TV & Film Content Development replied, June 16, 2020 at 10:31 a.m.

    Circle gets the square!

  4. David Scardino from TV & Film Content Development, June 16, 2020 at 10:32 a.m.

    Actually, my comment was meant as a comment on Ed's comment... so to speak. (Could be my bad, but I thought I hit the right button.)

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