Perry Mason

1957-66 (271 episodes), CBS. 

Just to be clear: The one to watch is the first one, the original CBS hour-long series in black and white. Forget about any and all others. That first series offers a fine translation of a traditional hard-boiled detective novel, as well done as any television has produced.

A half-century after its original airings, it continues to have loads of fans. One station in Portland, Oregon, has been airing it reliably at noon for decades.

One reason it still works so well is its pacing. Most TV from the 50s and 60s mosey along at what feels in more recent years at a leisurely speed, but these old Perry Masons move fast, introduce lots of characters quickly and get them in motion efficiently, and tell a whole lot of story in the time allotted. They may have been mass-market entertainments, but they aren't dumbed-down. You have to pay attention to keep track. And the plots twists often are as good as anything Law and Order came up with.

I don't mean to oversell. The characters aren't richly drawn, and the acting tends toward the basic and blunt (though the casting of the regulars, from the confident Raymond Burr as Mason to the great Ray Collins as Lieutenant Tragg, with his wonderful touch-of-sleaze grin, has that just-right feel). The dialogue is basic, often expository. The atmosphere, at least until near the end, is solid LA noir, full of menace.

It operates on a single basic level. But it works that level pretty well.

Especially in the earlier episodes. CBS online has placed early episodes in the series up for screening, and some of the very first, written and shot before the formula had become locked-in, show a different kind of story: Mason as a more active investigator, in harm's way and often acting a lot like a hard-boiled PI of the era.

The Masons are puzzle-piece mysteries, but still pretty good ones. That is to say, the early Masons: Accept no substitutes, whether the later TV movies with Raymond Burr or the various other attempts without him. They feel padded and logy by comparison. The original series was slick, fast, concise and smart. Good noir.

A play on words

In May 1961 Newton Minow, then chair of the Federal Communications Commission, delivered a speech called "Television and the Public Interest." He hoped it would be remembered for the reference to the "public interest," but it has been remembered in the years since for something else:

"When television is good, nothing — not the theater, not the magazines or newspapers — nothing is better.

But when television is bad, nothing is worse. I invite you to sit down in front of your television set when your station goes on the air and stay there, for a day, without a book, without a magazine, without a newspaper, without a profit and loss sheet or a rating book to distract you. Keep your eyes glued to that set until the station signs off. I can assure you that what you will observe is a vast wasteland.

You will see a procession of game shows, formula comedies about totally unbelievable families, blood and thunder, mayhem, violence, sadism, murder, western bad men, western good men, private eyes, gangsters, more violence, and cartoons. And endlessly commercials — many screaming, cajoling, and offending. And most of all, boredom. True, you'll see a few things you will enjoy. But they will be very, very few. And if you think I exaggerate, I only ask you to try it."

The memorable phrase, of course, was "a vast wasteland," an assessment that outraged any number of television professionals (remember that the ill-fated boat in Gilligan's Island was named for Minow) but accepted as reality by many Americans.

And so it remains. The cynical estimate is that 90% of everything is crud, and that may be right . . . But then there's that 10%. And today, if we choose, we have all that to work with. And that turns out to be quite a lot - a vast greatland, to reword Minow.

Not so long long ago, television viewing was a one-shot experience. Producers of TV programs in the 50s and 60s had to assume that their shows would be seen once, maybe twice with a seasonal rerun, but after that never again. Even syndication was marginal until the 70s kicked in, and allowed for rewatching only a few programs. (Cases such as the original Star Trek, which may have been groundbreaking in television industry terms, were the exception.)

Then came television viewing on cassette tapes, on VHS - a popular way to record and rewatch programs. It was still clunky and cumbersome, but with DVD video and then streaming, television turned a corner. Not long ago, television was drivine wholly by the audience (and advertising charges) driving by numbers on one night of airing. That very "short-tail" approach has been turned into something "long tail."

Today, most of what's "on television" - meaning airing live on broadcast or cable - is still crud (by my estimates at least). But we have now two enormous advantages.

One is production by TV pros who recognize that their programming, if it has any large appeal, stands a chance of being watched and enjoyed by many people for many years to come. The quality of the best of television has shot through the roof; most of the best series ever produced have emerged in this new century.

The other is that streaming and discs have given us easy access to nearly a complete library of the best television has ever produced.

This blog is about the best dramatic programming available to viewers now. At our house, we never have to ask "what's good on TV tonight?" - only to come up empty. Instead, our TV watching is a matter of sifting through the best of what's out there. And the best is very good indeed.

A NOTE Yes, dramatic programs only, in this blog. Maybe we'll get to other forms (comedy, documentary and others) later, elsewhere. I'll let you know.