# Perry Mason on HBO **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted, hbomax-wb-dc\ **Created:** [June 22, 2020, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perry-mason-on-hbo/911306 "2020-06-22T11:44:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2020, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perry-mason-on-hbo/911306/81 "2020-07-25T21:08:34Z")
some of the Army vets who were portrayed in Band of Brothers said it was great except they did not curse like that or that much. ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2020, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perry-mason-on-hbo/911306/82 "2020-07-25T22:27:52Z")
Have we seen Lt. Tragg yet? ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2020, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perry-mason-on-hbo/911306/83 "2020-07-25T22:28:31Z")
Dup post. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2020, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perry-mason-on-hbo/911306/84 "2020-07-26T03:35:15Z")
We have not. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2020, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perry-mason-on-hbo/911306/85 "2020-07-26T04:00:22Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > I suppose HBO’s _Perry Mason_ falls somewhere in the middle. But the “no fucking way” dialogue is rather insulting to viewers–it seems to take for granted that we wouldn’t understand or be moved by exclamations that are right for the period. Some period pieces that fall in the middle feel as if old timey cursing would just seem laughable in current context. So use slightly more modem language to convey the proper feel. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2020, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perry-mason-on-hbo/911306/86 "2020-07-26T23:09:56Z")
> [@ISiddiqui](#): > > Some period pieces that fall in the middle feel as if old timey cursing would just seem laughable in current context. So use slightly more modem language to convey the proper feel. True, but there are certainly examples from actually-period movies that indicate it’s possible to get the emotion across without the “no way” usage. (To be clear, I think what most of us are objecting to in the PM episode was the “no way” part of the dialogue, not the inclusion of “fucking.” “No way” takes it right out of the 1930s.) I’m thinking of Bogart in _The Maltese Falcon_, when he objected to a cop saying about their interview, ‘we’re getting a lot of lying answers.’ Bogart’s way of saying “take it easy” got the message (of his anger and outrage at the accusation) across very well, despite the mild-to-modern-ears phrasing. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2020, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perry-mason-on-hbo/911306/87 "2020-07-26T23:20:25Z")
I think you’re attaching _far_ too much importance to one single line in the script. If it bothers you that much, you may just want to avoid period pieces entirely. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2020, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perry-mason-on-hbo/911306/88 "2020-07-26T23:24:53Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I think you’re attaching _far_ too much importance to one single line in the script. If it bothers you that much, you may just want to avoid period pieces entirely. \_\_ If you are this bothered by people discussing a TV show, you may just want to avoid reading message boards entirely. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2020, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perry-mason-on-hbo/911306/89 "2020-07-27T00:41:12Z")
I’ll just say I didn’t even really notice the no way. Meaning if didn’t bother me at all. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2020, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perry-mason-on-hbo/911306/90 "2020-07-28T14:34:48Z")
Well, this week we learned that Matthew Rhys can do a passable impression of John Lithgow. So now we have shady real estate (a la Chinatown) dealings on top of all our other plot threads. I’m not sure how they untangle all this but remain hopeful. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2020, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perry-mason-on-hbo/911306/91 "2020-07-29T02:25:23Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > I still think it’s somehow going to turn out that Charlie is not the dead boy. And it will be discovered on Easter! Still feeling good about this theory. Why it happened is more complicated. OK…so, Seidel knows those three guys from his days in Denver when he likely hired them as a strikebreakers. At the same time, Gannon was funneling money away to a shadow corporation, which may or may not have been bribing people by selling them houses cheaply in Denver, in granddads’s Gilead housing development? I’m having some trouble putting it together. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2020, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perry-mason-on-hbo/911306/92 "2020-07-29T08:33:02Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Perry: don’t say “I will prove your innocence” to your first client. It’s the prosecution that bears the burden of proof. That was reprised well in the later episode: Perry yelling at himself and taking EB’s side in an argument with himself: ‘you don’t prosecute from the defense desk!’ ‘You’re supposed to be here handling the Lawyer stuff!’ I’m only getting about half of about half of the episodes, which is enough to carry the plot (that probably says something critical about the plot density…). And ---- I’m watching it, and I want to know what the history books say about the case, and if Sister promised the resurrection in real life, 'cause you know these documentaries always take a position which is more story and less history — which is not a reaction I normally have to TV fiction. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2020, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perry-mason-on-hbo/911306/93 "2020-07-29T09:39:16Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > some of the Army vets who were portrayed in Band of Brothers said it was great except they did not curse like that or that much. I’ve heard a recording of radio traffic at Iwo Jima, and there wasn’t anything you couldn’t have put on TV in the 1970s. It was an official publication, only 10 or 20 minutes long, so they could have truncated it to avoid the next or previous word, but that was still 10 or 20 minutes of guys who didn’t drop swear words in every sentence. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perry-mason-on-hbo/911306/94 "2020-07-31T15:10:22Z")
Another good episode. They gave us a better look at Della’s fake apprenticeship letter in the preview - with freezeframe, I noticed it was undated, which could cause problems if someone wanted to challenge its validity, and the phrasing was a little tangled towards the end. I like her hand-drawn portrait gallery of the jury in Perry’s war room, and wish we’d actually seen jury selection (some litigators think a trial can be won or lost right there). I also noticed the DA and Perry too often stood between the witness and the jury box. That’s just dumb. Good scene with Perry, in frustration, impersonating E.B. and berating himself in his car after a bad day in court. Favorite line, as Perry pulls the evidence bag with the dentures from the box right after Ptl. Drake drops it in: “Look at what I just found!” I recently saw _Bad Times at the El Royale_, BTW, a dark, very Coenesque crime movie (which I recommend). The actor who plays Pete, Perry’s detective partner, has a small role as a prison doctor. Just two more episodes to go. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perry-mason-on-hbo/911306/95 "2020-07-31T15:50:36Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > > [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > > > some of the Army vets who were portrayed in Band of Brothers said it was great except they did not curse like that or that much. > > I’ve heard a recording of radio traffic at Iwo Jima, and there wasn’t anything you couldn’t have put on TV in the 1970s. It was an official publication, only 10 or 20 minutes long, so they could have truncated it to avoid the next or previous word, but that was still 10 or 20 minutes of guys who didn’t drop swear words in every sentence. It feels like the Powers That Be at HBO decided at some point that “we’re allowed to use the F-word, so by god we’re going to use it 90 times/hour.” It’s my biggest complaint about Succession…people in the real world don’t talk like that. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perry-mason-on-hbo/911306/96 "2020-07-31T15:53:28Z")
The fuck they don’t. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perry-mason-on-hbo/911306/97 "2020-07-31T16:00:48Z")
Well, of course everybody drops an f-bomb now and then, with the possible exception of my mother. But nobody\* uses it as every fucking adjective in every fucking sentence, especially in a business/professional setting. ok, practically nobody. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perry-mason-on-hbo/911306/98 "2020-07-31T17:24:34Z")
It does appear swearing at work seems to be on the uprise (and somewhat common in healthcare and finance): [https://www.fastcompany.com/3063775/do-you-have-a-fcking-problem-with-swearing-at-work](https://www.fastcompany.com/3063775/do-you-have-a-fcking-problem-with-swearing-at-work) Also people swear less when talking to their superiors, but when you are the folks on top, folks likely don’t have as many scruples about it. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perry-mason-on-hbo/911306/99 "2020-07-31T17:31:14Z")
That doesn’t surprise me. Swearing is fortunately rare where I work. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perry-mason-on-hbo/911306/100 "2020-07-31T17:35:05Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I recently saw _Bad Times at the El Royale_ , BTW, a dark, very Coenesque crime movie (which I recommend). The actor who plays Pete, Perry’s detective partner, has a small role as a prison doctor. Shea Wigham? He pops up in a lot of places. To me he will always be Steve Buscemi’s brother from _Boardwalk Empire_ (made by the same people who did _Perry Mason_.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perry-mason-on-hbo/911306.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perry-mason-on-hbo/911306.md?page=6)