The title character is a lawyer working out of Los Angeles. Mason, played on TV by Raymond Burr, is teamed with two talented and ever-faithful assistants: trusty and beautiful secretary Della Street, played by Barbara Hale, and the suave but boyish private detective Paul Drake, played by William Hopper. In each episode, this trio works to clear their innocent client of the charge of murder, opposing the formidable district attorney Hamilton Burger, played by William Talman. Most episodes follow this simple formula: the guest characters are introduced and their situation shows that at least one of them is capable of murder. When the murder happens, an innocent person (most often a woman) is accused, and Mason takes the case. As evidence mounts against his client, Mason pulls out a legal maneuver involving some courtroom “pyrotechnics.” This act not only proves his client innocent but identifies the real culprit. These scenes are easily the best and most memorable. It is not because they are realistic. On the contrary, they are hardly that. What is so engaging about them is the combination of Mason’s efforts to free his client, perhaps a surprise witness brought in by Drake in the closing courtroom scene, and a dramatic courtroom confession. The murderer being in the courtroom during the trial and not hiding out in the Bahamas provides the single most important image of each episode. The murderer forgoes the Fifth Amendment and admits his/her guilt in an often tearful outburst of “I did it! And I’m glad I did!” This pronouncement happens under the shocked, amazed eyes of district attorney Burger and the stoic, sure face of defense attorney Mason.

Although it is often identified with other lawyer dramas such as L.A. Law and The Defenders, Perry Mason was more of a detective series. Each episode was a carefully structured detective puzzle that both established and perpetuated a number of conventions associated with most television detective series. Perry Mason used the legal profession and the trial situation as a forum for detective work. Although strictly formulaic, each episode was guided by the elements of the variations that distinguish one episode from another. For example, since nearly every episode began with the guest characters rather than with the series regulars, these guest characters set the tone for the rest of the episode. If the show were going to be youth oriented, these characters were young. If it were going to be a contested will, the heirs were introduced.

The credit for the series’ success should be split equally between Burr, the Perry Mason production style, and the series’ creator Gardner. Burr provided the characterization of a cool, calculating attorney, while the production style built tension in plots at once solidly formulaic and cleverly surprising, and Gardner, as an uncredited executive story editor, made sure each episode carefully blended legal drama with clever detective work. In all, the series won three Emmys, two for Burr and one for Hale.

The series made a brief return in 1973, with the same production team as the original series but a new cast. Monte Markham replaced Burr. That this version did not survive 15 episodes reveals that one of the key draws of the original series was its casting. It is interesting to note, however, that Markham’s Mason was closer to the one featured in the original novels. Both were brash, elegant, and coolly businesslike in their dealings with clients, something Burr never was. But it was Burr’s coolness and control that became so identified with the character that, for the television audience, there was no other Mason than Burr.

Beginning with Perry Mason Returns, Burr returned to his role in 1985 for an almost 10-year run of made-for-television movies. Perry Mason Returns was fol-lowed by The Case of the Notorious Nun (1986). Burr was back as Mason, albeit a bit older, grayer, and bearded, with Barbara Hale as his executive secretary. Since William Hopper had died in 1970, William Katt (who is the real-life son of Barbara Hale) was featured in the first nine episodes as Paul Drake, Jr. In The Case of the Lethal Lesson (1989), Katt was replaced by a graduating law student, Ken Malansky, played by William R. Moses. Each plot developed over two hours instead of one, and the extra time was spent on extended chases and blind alleys. However, the basic formula stayed the same.

This newest version of Perry Mason took an interesting twist in the spring of 1994. After Burr’s death in the fall of 1993, executive producers Fred Silverman and Dean Hargrove followed the wishes of the estate of Erle Stanley Gardner and kept the character alive but off-screen. First to replace him as visiting attorney was Paul Sorvino as Anthony Caruso in The Case of the Wicked Wives (1993) and then Hal Holbrook starred as “Wild Bill” McKenzie in The Case of the Lethal Lifestyle (1994). In each movie, Mason was conveniently absent. But Street and Malansky were still available as assistants for the “visiting” attorney, and the series was still called A Perry Mason Mystery, so that, production after production, the character could live on. However, after the last appearance of Holbrook as the visiting attorney, the TV movie series was canceled.