HBO’s “Perry Mason” shares a title with its TV series predecessor — and that’s where all similarities end.This new eight-episode drama, with Matthew Rhys in the title role, deviates sharply from the CBS series (1957-66) starring Raymond Burr as the brilliant, no-nonsense Eisenhower-era LA defense attorney who, with his penetrating stare and rising-crescendo cross-examinations, coerced on-the-stand confessions from the “real killers” in virtually every episode, much to the chagrin of DA Hamilton Burger (William Talman).
Perry’s inner circle consisted of two people: his loyal secretary, Della Street (Barbara Hale) and wolfish private-eye pal Paul Drake (William Hopper).
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