From 1957 to ’66 the televized Perry Mason (played by Raymond Burr) was a wealthy, brilliant, barrel-chested attorney who was always a step or two ahead of everyone (especially William Talman and Ray Collins), and never lost a case when it went to court. Which was every damn time. Mason never settled or struck a pre-trial accommodation with anyone.

A new adaptation of Erle Stanley Gardner‘s paperback franchise is set in 1932 Los Angeles and features a grimy, hand-to-mouth shamus (played by Matthew Rhys) who might have been competitive with J.J. Gittes.

HBO’s Perry Mason, directed by Tim Van Patten, launches on 6.21.20.

Boilerplate: “While the rest of the country recovers from the Great Depression, Los Angeles is booming! Oil, Olympic games, talking pictures, evangelical fervor, etc. And a child kidnapping gone very, very wrong! [This] limited series follows the origins of American Fiction’s most legendary criminal defense lawyer, Perry Mason. When the case of the decade breaks down his door, Mason’s relentless pursuit of the truth reveals a fractured city and just maybe, a pathway to redemption for himself.”