When sitcom star Dyan Cannon is murdered, co-star Susan Diol is on trial for murder. It's a good thing that her uncle, Hal Holbrook is in town to check up on her in his last appearance in this Perry Mason Mystery TV mystery.
With the death two years earlier of Raymond Burr, producers Fred SIlverman and Dean Hargrove had tried to keep the series going. They kept Barbara Hale and William Moses from the series and insisted that Perry was out of town. In this one, Mr. Moses is around to serve as Holbrook's leg man, but the ailing Miss Hale has only a brief appearance before flying off to join Mr. Burr -- she would live another 22 years to the age of 94. Other well-known actors include Tony Roberts as Miss Cannon co-star and widower, Victoria Jackson and Sal Viscuso.
Although Holbrook is engaging in his homespun character, the series clearly misses Burr. He had played Mason first in 1957 for ten years in the hour-long series, and then in 26 TV movies from 1986 through his death in 1993. Although this is a good mystery, with the usual structure preserved, it just wasn't the same.
With the death two years earlier of Raymond Burr, producers Fred SIlverman and Dean Hargrove had tried to keep the series going. They kept Barbara Hale and William Moses from the series and insisted that Perry was out of town. In this one, Mr. Moses is around to serve as Holbrook's leg man, but the ailing Miss Hale has only a brief appearance before flying off to join Mr. Burr -- she would live another 22 years to the age of 94. Other well-known actors include Tony Roberts as Miss Cannon co-star and widower, Victoria Jackson and Sal Viscuso.
Although Holbrook is engaging in his homespun character, the series clearly misses Burr. He had played Mason first in 1957 for ten years in the hour-long series, and then in 26 TV movies from 1986 through his death in 1993. Although this is a good mystery, with the usual structure preserved, it just wasn't the same.