jamesraeburn2003 Perry Mason is back in court to defend a news station's co-anchor Gillian Pope (Kerrie Keane) who has been charged with the murder of her anchorman Brett Huston. There is much circumstantial evidence pointing to her guilt, but the ace attorney discovers that just about all of Gillian's colleagues had reasons for wanting him dead. They include Huston's ex-wife Twyla Cooper (Susan Sullivan) who hated him playing her for a fool with his numerous affairs. Gary Slate (Peter Jurasik), the weatherman, was angry because Huston stole his girl from him and Chuck Gilmore (Philip Michael Thomas), the sports commentator, believed that he was trying to implicate him in a drugs scandal at Briggs College. In addition, a leaked memo by Huston demanded that they all be fired from the KGGY TV news station. Huston, it seemed, had a lot of power over the station's manager Vic St John (Jerry Orbach), but why?A standard and largely to formula entry in the seemingly never ending series of Perry Mason revival TVM's. Fans of them will be kept more than happy and only people with the "If you've seen one you've seen them all" view will have any reason to complain.The story plays fair with the audience (for the most part) but at the end it falls into what was the weakness of some of the other films by throwing up evidence out of thin air without any insight as to how Perry solved it or reached that conclusion. Yet, it must be said that the vital clue that finally got Perry his man is ingenious and only somebody as observant and as eagle eyed as him could have spotted it. Without wanting to spoil it for people who haven't seen it I will confine myself to say that it involves a film, fast food chains and a discrepancy involving a neon sign. Puzzled? Watch it and see.The standard of the acting is generally of a high standard throughout, but there isn't really all that a challenging part for anyone in the supporting cast. Burr is as good as always as Perry Mason and is a commanding presence in his courtroom scenes. Barbara Hale has very little to do in her scenes as Della Street. William R Moses does his usual action man bit as Ken Malansky, which this time sees him journeying to LA to track down a TV cameraman who is a witness to a murder. In this episode, Malansky falls for a young news reporter called Cassie Whitfield (Mary Page Keller) who was blackmailed by the murdered man. Ken thinks that an explosion which killed her engineer may have been intended to kill her, but is Cassie as much of a victim or as innocent as she appears?Overall, this should delight fans of the Perry Mason revival series, but to people who are less fond of it will most probably see it as another routine courtroom drama.

Leofwine_draca THE CASE OF THE RUTHLESS REPORTER is a very ordinary PERRY MASON TV movie, watchable enough at the time but completely forgettable afterwards. Mason himself is involved in the murder at the outset, as he's axed from an appearance on a news show and the man doing the axing is subsequently found murdered. It turns out he has lots of enemies, of course, so Perry and co. must work out which of them did it. This one goes through the motions throughout and half of it seems extraneous at least, but the presence of veteran stars like Jerry Orbach and Andy Romano just about sees it through.

bkoganbing This Perry Mason movie finds Raymond Burr defending a television news reporter who had taped an interview with him. Before airing the segment the arrogant anchor of the show had it cut from broadcast, arousing the ire of reporter Kerrie Keane.But it turns out that anchor John James as per usual in these films has a lot of enemies. But when someone puts two slugs in him in a parking garage and Kerrie Keane is arrested of course she sends for Perry Mason.As we all know guilty people just don't hire Mason as an attorney. So it's up to Burr, Barbara Hale as Della Street, and young associate William R. Moses to investigate and find the real culprit.They don't teach you to be an action hero in law school, but that's what Moses has to do to get a key witness. Then again he sees more action outside the courtroom than in as Burr traps the guilty party with the fruits of the team investigation.One thing about this particular episode, the guilty party is a bit of a surprise since it's someone the team got somewhat close to. That happens a few times in the Perry Mason films as opposed to the old hour long TV series. Then again, the two hour format allows for more character development.A good entry in the Perry Mason series, there ain't any bad ones.

bob the moo Mason is due to have an interview on news TV station KGGY with Gillian Pope. However Brett Huston, a selfish host on the show cuts her interview out of the show. Huston not only upsets her but is on edge with many others at the station. It's no surprise that he gets killed but Pope is the suspect and turns to Mason for defence. Meanwhile Ken Malansky investigates a link with a blackmail scheme.If you've seen one of these things then you've seen them all. The legal realism of these shows are always very doubtful but the drama is still enjoyable. Mason does his usual ripping into the witness stuff which is good but this time he has more objections overruled and DA LaRusso manages to hold his own well. Ken's investigation is better than usual here but it does feel like he's in a separate movie and it doesn't quite fit together as well as it is meant to. He also gets a bit more action than usual but it isn't directed very well.The cast are the usual - Burr does well and is a bit like a comfortable old suit. Hale has even less to do than usual but is OK. Moses is good value as a cut price action man. The `oh look it's ..' count that is normally one in the Mason series goes nuts this time with Orbach (Law & Order), Romano (Under Siege) and tough guy (Beau Starr).The production values are a little higher than usual and the sets don't look like they off a daytime soap! The plot is good and has the usual twist at the end that you could never guess in a million years. Overall a very enjoyable addition to the series that is better than the norm.