12 years had passed since CBS' noble but failed attempt at reviving Perry Mason, with the task of producing the series having been given to 20th Century Fox. Network executive-turned-producer Fred Silverman felt it was time to bring Mason back.
Perry Mason Returns was the first of 30 TV-movies produced over an 8 year period (1985-93) by Silverman and his new business partner, Dean Hargrove. Raymond Burr returned to the role that first made him a TV icon in the 50's. In fact, this marked the 30th anniversary of Mason's TV debut. Only Barbara Hale remained from the supporting cast of the original series, although Richard Anderson (ex-The Six Million Dollar Man), who'd joined the series near the end of the original run as one of a number of actors tasked to fill Ray Collins' gumshoes as a police detective attached to the DA's office, appeared in Returns.
As Returns begins, Mason isn't a lawyer, but a judge. However, when his faithful aide Della Street (Hale) is wrongfully accused of murder, Mason swaps his robes for his lawbooks and returns to his practice as a lawyer. William Katt (ex-The Greatest American Hero), Hale's son, was cast as Paul Drake, Jr. (William Hopper had passed on after the original series ended), signing on board to carry on the tradition, if you will, of doing the legwork for Mason. Katt didn't stick around long, as eventually, another sleuth was brought in, played by William R. Moses.
Burr wasn't around at the end, either, as, if my memory serves, he'd passed away before the movies were concluded. Mason didn't have Hamilton Burger to spar with, either, as William Talman had also passed on. David Ogden Stiers (ex-M*A*S*H) played a DA in at least one or two of the movies.
The films all aired on Sunday nights, continuing NBC's tradition of Sunday Mystery Movies without the use of that retired umbrella title. SpudTV offers up the open to Perry Mason Returns:
Rating: A.
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