What's new

What TV series you watching?

We watched the first episode, not sure what to make of it. Unlike the Burr version that I remember, indeed.
I am not sure at all what to make of it. As I indicated previously, very unlike the Burr version. I do not see that Mason in this HBO version is even a lawyer, much less a highly skilled trial lawyer. He is a private investigator, which would have been Paul Drake's job in the Burr series. I am confident in the books, which go back quite a ways, Perry Mason was always a criminal trial lawyer. Do the writers not know the difference? Did they disagree with Erle Stanley Gardner's choice of occupations for his protagonist? Did they feel there was an extreme dearth of detectives in fiction and too many lawyers?

At this point, the story seems okay, but why call it Perry Mason. Kind of like putting out a new Sherlock Holmes story and making Holmes a banker in New York.

[I just looked it up. Apparently the HBO version is intended to be a prequel to the time Perry becomes a lawyer. We shall see if that makes any sense. Perry so far does not seem like the kid of guy who would be able to tough out law school and get past the bar exam, including the background check. Nothing so far indicates he would have the ability to evolve into an unshakeable, charismatic criminal (mostly capital case, if I recall) trial attorney. Weird.]
 
Last edited:

shavefan

I’m not a fan
I am not sure at all what to make of it. As I indicated previously, very unlike the Burr version. I do not see that Mason in this HBO version is even a lawyer, much less a highly skilled trial lawyer. He is a private investigator, which would have been Paul Drake's job in the Burr series. I am confident in the books, which go back quite a ways, Perry Mason was always a criminal trial lawyer. Do the writers not know the difference? Did they disagree with Erle Stanley Gardner's choice of occupations for his protagonist? Did they feel there was an extreme dearth of detectives in fiction and too many lawyers?

At this point, the story seems okay, but why call it Perry Mason. Kind of like putting out a new Sherlock Holmes story and making Holmes a banker in New York.

[I just looked it up. Apparently the HBO version is intended to be a prequel to the time Perry becomes a lawyer. We shall see if that makes any sense. Perry so far does not seem like the kid of guy who would be able to tough out law school and get past the bar exam, including the background check. Nothing so far indicates he would have the ability to evolve into an unshakeable, charismatic criminal (mostly capital case, if I recall) trial attorney. Weird.]


Thanks for that, I had no idea that this version is a prequel. Still, I'm left with many questions and some confusion. It will be interesting to see how it plays out, if I last that long. I'm not thrilled about the somewhat dark nature of the first episode, I'm just not in the mood for it these days.
 
I'm not thrilled about the somewhat dark nature of the first episode,
I think I read that they were trying to make it very noir, so I suspect things are going to stay somewhat dark. You are write though that there was something kind of uplifting about the original series. Perry to the rescue. The good guy is saved. The bad guy is punished.

I could not have told from just watching the episode that it was a prequel. I read that somewhere.
 
We started watching The Great on Amazon. It's a period dark comedy VERY VERY VERY loosely based on the life of Catherine the Great of Russia starting from the time she married into the Russian court to Peter, the fictitious son and successor of Peter the Great. Throw in some modern twists to set up situations here and there...

She finds the fairy tail princess life she dreamed of is far from reality, and is almost immediately plotting the death of her husband... who also starts thinking about plotting her death. Dark hilarity ensues. :)

I am finding the portrayal of court life a little sickening at times, but as the series has moved on, it has gotten quite interesting.
 
We are up to the last episode of season 1 of Marcella. Quite good. Takes a certain suspension of disbelief. Anna Friel is certainly pleasant to watch.

Also, Josh Thomas' new comedy, with some dark aspects, Everything's Gonna Be Okay. Great characters, excellent acting and writing. Very sweet in tone. Fairly explicit gay sexuality, if that bothers anyone.
 
Late to the party though I have been, 30 Rock on UK Amazon has been amusing. For context, I had a great deal of difficulty the first time I watched Community accepting it as non-sensical farce. Once I did, it was great. Same thing but to a lesser extent with 30 Rock.
 

Legion

Staff member
We started watching The Great on Amazon. It's a period dark comedy VERY VERY VERY loosely based on the life of Catherine the Great of Russia starting from the time she married into the Russian court to Peter, the fictitious son and successor of Peter the Great. Throw in some modern twists to set up situations here and there...

She finds the fairy tail princess life she dreamed of is far from reality, and is almost immediately plotting the death of her husband... who also starts thinking about plotting her death. Dark hilarity ensues. :)

I am finding the portrayal of court life a little sickening at times, but as the series has moved on, it has gotten quite interesting.
I liked that one. The Peter character is hilarious.
 
I liked that one. The Peter character is hilarious.

Did you find yourself starting to gratuitously use the word "Hizzah!" after watching it? My wife and I seem to cant stop using it. :D

Oh, and I need to correct myself, but it's too late to edit my post. It's on Hulu, not Amazon.
 
The Black Death: The World's Most Devastating Plague. A 24 episode lecture series, not a documentary. 6/30/20 is the last day free on Amazon Prime. I just came upon it today, so I'll never finish it by midnight. It's very interesting. I'll probably have to shell out the money to buy the streaming to finish. SD should be good enough. It's from 2016, so no comparison with our current plague.
 
Last edited:

Esox

I didnt know
Staff member
Just finishing season 5 of Peaky Blinders. Season 6 is postponed to 2021 or 2022...

Just starting season 3 of Yellowstone, episode 2 tonight.

Dexter, season 2 episode 8.

Season 6 of How The Universe Works.

Also on season 1, episode 11 of Cheers!

ykt3L3v.gif
 
The Black Death: The World's Most Devastating Plague. A 24 episode lecture series, not a documentary. 6/30/20 is the last day free on Amazon Prime. I just came upon it today, so I'll never finish it by midnight. It's very interesting. I'll probably have to shell out the money to buy the streaming to finish. SD should be good enough. It's from 2016, so no comparison with our current plague.

I am watching that as we speak! I will not finish, since its no longer free after today, so now we are picking and choosing tonight... right now, its about the Flagellants.
 
Not to write excessively about this one series, but we watched the second episode of Perry Mason. I really do not know we would every get to the Perry Mason Raymond Burr played from the one Matthew Rhys plays. I like the series, but except for some names of characters I am not sure the connection. I wonder if Erle Stanley Gardner is spinning in his grave!

I just read some IMDB reviews that were really scathing about the HBO show having nothing to do with the books or the original TV show, and thus named Perry Mason, just to try to get people to watch it. I am pretty much there. A good series on its own, perhaps, but I do not like being mislead. Maybe they can work some magic and get to the real Perry at the end. I will be impressed if they do.
 
Last edited:
Latest binge watching: third and sadly last season of DARK, which was excellent IMHO as always. 👍👍👍

I also had the chance to watch an episode of the new HBO Perry Mason (I'm a hughe fan of the Raymond Burr Series): not the least impressed (music and atmosphere are great though). I had the deja-vu of watching Penny Dreadful City of Angels again ...
 
Top Bottom