Perry Mason: Season 09 (1965)

Show business is full of ironies. Back in 1961, the NBC western Bonanza was moved from a Saturday to a Sunday slot to avoid the heavy competiton of the popular CBS legal drama Perry Mason. By 1965, Bonanza was riding high in the ratings and the nine-year-old Perry Mason was slowly withering. Thus, when Mason was moved to Sundays opposite Bonanza, guess what happened? Though the handwriting was on the wall, the cast and crew of Perry Mason rallied sufficently to offer some of the series' finest hours during its terminal ninth season. The two best-remembered offerings of the year are "he Case of the Dead Ringer", in which Raymond Burr essays the dual role of Perry Mason and a cockney murderer; and the series' only color episode, "The Case of the Twice-Told Twist", a mordernized Oliver Twist with the redoubtable Victor Buono as the Fagin counterpart. (This episode was initially removed from syndication, but restored in the early 1990s). Also of interest is the addition of a new cast member, Richard Anderson, as Lt. Steve Drumm, replacing Wesley Lau as Lt. Anderson--who in turn had replaced longtime regular Ray Collins as Lt. Tragg. Also, there are some fascinating guest stars this season, among them former "Captain Midnight" Richard Webb, future Hill Street Blues star Dan Travanti, and the multitalented Cloris Leachman--not to mention several members of the LA Rams football team (including Roman Gabriel) in "The Case of the Impetuous Imp". The series wraps up its 271-episode run with, appropriately, "The Case of the Final Fade-Out", which in addition to exposing one of the most suprising murderers in the show's history also features several members of the Perry Mason production staff (including producer and former film star Gail Patrick Jackson) in minor roles, and series creator Erle Stanley Gardner as a judge. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi