36 episodes until I've re/watched the whole original Perry Mason TV show.

Then on to the TV movies.

Then continuing to never watch the terrible HBO reboot.

@ieure i kept watching that reboot in spite of myself and it only hit its stride in the last two or three eps by which point you’re just exhausted. how’s the original hold up?

@nsfmc Mostly good, ahead of the curve in some ways, definitely a product of its era. Its main sins are smoking and sexism.

If you're after a sweeping story arc, this ain't that. The episodes are pretty samey, but comfortingly so. And it makes the standout ones really stand out.

I think the main message it pushes is not only still extremely valid, but uncommon today: that authorities get it wrong, you don't owe them the deference to continue doing so, and nothing gets fixed unless someone steps in to fix it. It's good to see real people fucking up and real people fixing it, instead of the kind of infantile superhero movie nonsense our culture is awash in, where these forces are not only outside the control of regular people, but incomprehensible to them.

I watched maybe two episodes of the HBO show and decided I didn't need a gritty, alcoholic Perry Mason who canonically fucks.

@ieure that’s great to hear, i totally grew up watching reruns of that show on syndication and have an extremely soft spot in my heart for it, makes me excited to revisit it