1. I've been watching a lot of the original Perry Mason series and would love to see a reboot that stays close in tone to that series, set in the current day, on a network rather than streaming. I was disappointed by the HBO reboot, it was way too much of a period piece. And while I like Matthew Rhys, I thought he was miscast for the role.
2. I have a small request for your newsletter as a whole. I often don't receive it in my email until overnight on the day past you write it. For example, the most recent one (for Thursday) arrived at 1 AM on Friday, and sometimes they arrive later than that, so I don't get to read them until the following day. So my request is that in the "What's New" section at the bottom, you go one day ahead, so in the newletter that arrived at 1 AM this morning, I would see What's New for Friday and Saturday, rather than Thursday and Friday, which is too late for Thursday, since I'm not reading it until Friday morning. Thanks!
Thanks. That listings idea is a good one and the more I think about it, I think I might shift to that next week. I'm also going to include your comments in tonight's newsletter.
Two points related to defense-oriented lawyers and Perry Mason. The HBO series was probably closer in tone to the novels of Gardner and leaned more heavily on the 30s pulp vibe. Do I think a defense-oriented tv show could make it now? As someone who began their practice as a criminal defense attorney, I would love it. But I doubt because I think the writers would tend to use it to portray the police and law enforcement as inherently evil. Shows like Perry Mason (and the original Matlock) tended to show the law enforcement as good guys, if overworked and willing to to accept clues at face value if it meant closing the case and getting a conviction.
I would also say the problem with a defense oriented show is writers would be very unwilling to show attorneys doing their jobs diligently representing guilty people. Every criminal attorney has represented people who were guilty and managed to get acquittals. Television has done a lousy job of showing the hows and whys of that occurring.
Rick, two things -
1. I've been watching a lot of the original Perry Mason series and would love to see a reboot that stays close in tone to that series, set in the current day, on a network rather than streaming. I was disappointed by the HBO reboot, it was way too much of a period piece. And while I like Matthew Rhys, I thought he was miscast for the role.
2. I have a small request for your newsletter as a whole. I often don't receive it in my email until overnight on the day past you write it. For example, the most recent one (for Thursday) arrived at 1 AM on Friday, and sometimes they arrive later than that, so I don't get to read them until the following day. So my request is that in the "What's New" section at the bottom, you go one day ahead, so in the newletter that arrived at 1 AM this morning, I would see What's New for Friday and Saturday, rather than Thursday and Friday, which is too late for Thursday, since I'm not reading it until Friday morning. Thanks!
Andy--
Thanks. That listings idea is a good one and the more I think about it, I think I might shift to that next week. I'm also going to include your comments in tonight's newsletter.
Two points related to defense-oriented lawyers and Perry Mason. The HBO series was probably closer in tone to the novels of Gardner and leaned more heavily on the 30s pulp vibe. Do I think a defense-oriented tv show could make it now? As someone who began their practice as a criminal defense attorney, I would love it. But I doubt because I think the writers would tend to use it to portray the police and law enforcement as inherently evil. Shows like Perry Mason (and the original Matlock) tended to show the law enforcement as good guys, if overworked and willing to to accept clues at face value if it meant closing the case and getting a conviction.
I would also say the problem with a defense oriented show is writers would be very unwilling to show attorneys doing their jobs diligently representing guilty people. Every criminal attorney has represented people who were guilty and managed to get acquittals. Television has done a lousy job of showing the hows and whys of that occurring.
I've been looking at lawyer shows from the 1960s and some of them feel downright revolutionary by today's standards.
One challenge in all of this is that we are just more jaded in general and that really seeps into television and the shows that are made.