The last season of Perry Mason, number 9, started airing in the fall of 1965. That was back in the day when you knew that the return to school heralded the return of your favorite shows. Some might be gone but there would be some new ones too. That was the year that Star Trek started. We only got to watch the 2nd half of the episode of Star Trek, there was a Mom related scheduling conflict and only one TV. It wasn't until the reruns started that we got to see how the story begin. What a hardship, huh. It's one of the reasons I like self programming what I watch.
Raymond Burr, Barbara Hale and William Hopper return as Perry Mason, Della Street and Paul Drake. Hamilton Burger continues to appear in some episodes as the DA. The season was still shot in black and white, all except for one episode which was in color. That episode didn't get broadcast in color until after the series went off the air. The color looks all pumped up and vivid but it was nice seeing it. Total surprise to me.
The 30 episodes had a lot of great guest stars: Bernard Fox, Julie Adams, Jesse White, Ford Rainey, Whit Bissell, Noah Beery Jr, Hugh Marlowe, Anthony Caruso, Michael Constantine, Gavin MacLoed, Grant Williams, Daniel J Travanti, Victor Buono, Richard Carlson, Sue Ann Langdon, Pippa Scott, Wendell Corey, Les Tremayne, James Best, Mary Ann Mobley, Brian Donlevy, Ted De Corsia, Gary Collin, Cloris Leachman, Jay Novello, Dick Clark, James Stacy, Denver Pyle, and Jackie Coogan. Earl Stanley Gardner, Perry Mason's creator and novelist, makes an appearance and Raymond Burr plays a duel role in one episode.
I enjoyed the series and was glad that I got to pick up a set so cheap. I hope to watch them again some day. Who know when. It won't be for a while. Now that the series is completely done I can take a break and watch some other stuff before I get to the huge Perry Mason TV movie set. There's a good number of them. I've some interest in seeing Raymond Burr's Ironside series but the DVD are pretty pricey right now and Netflix only has the first season.
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