# Why do all episodes of Perry Mason have a murder? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [April 8, 2024, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-all-episodes-of-perry-mason-have-a-murder/1000008 "2024-04-08T14:00:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2024, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-all-episodes-of-perry-mason-have-a-murder/1000008/81 "2024-04-10T09:13:39Z")
Clearly, the safest thing to do is simply commit a murder as soon as you arrive, thus removing any risk that you might be the victim. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2024, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-all-episodes-of-perry-mason-have-a-murder/1000008/82 "2024-04-10T09:14:51Z")
And if you get lucky, you might accidentally kill the murderer, so you’ll be safe! ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-all-episodes-of-perry-mason-have-a-murder/1000008/83 "2024-04-12T01:49:46Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > The Rifleman though, a bit like Dirty Harry, was always on the side of Good and everybody he ever shot was a scoundrel who needed killin’. “Have you ever killed anyone?” “Yeah, but they were all bad.” -Jamie Lee Curtis and Arnold Scwarzenegger, _True Lies_ ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-all-episodes-of-perry-mason-have-a-murder/1000008/84 "2024-04-12T02:55:01Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > What?? Crossover with _All Things Great and Small_? > Mrs. Pumphrey misplace Trickie-woo? > > I wanna read that. It’s one of the short stories in the collection _The Labours of Hercules_, each one named after one of the classic twelve labours of Hercules. This one with the Pekinese is “The Nemean Lion”. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-all-episodes-of-perry-mason-have-a-murder/1000008/85 "2024-04-12T08:08:49Z")
If i remember correctly wasnt a lot of mason’s courtroom appearances merely hearings to see if there was going to be a trial ? or if was there enough evidence to hold a suspect over for a trial? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-all-episodes-of-perry-mason-have-a-murder/1000008/86 "2024-04-12T09:58:15Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > Gotta love those corduroy pants and shirts! ha ha That cover would look even better if there were a little box of Tide in the corner. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-all-episodes-of-perry-mason-have-a-murder/1000008/87 "2024-04-12T17:07:58Z")
Fun fact: Johnny Crawford went on to have a [singing career](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDcQf_ulKq0) and later in life fronted a big band. Not fun fact: He died of COVID-19, pneumonia and Alzheimer’s in 2021 at 75. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-all-episodes-of-perry-mason-have-a-murder/1000008/88 "2024-04-12T18:52:44Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > If i remember correctly wasnt a lot of mason’s courtroom appearances merely hearings to see if there was going to be a trial ? or if was there enough evidence to hold a suspect over for a trial? That was usually the case (pun alert!). Most of them were preliminary hearings, but occasionally it would go before a jury. One even returned a verdict, but the case had been dropped by the DA while they were deliberating, and Mason burned the envelope containing the jury’s decision without reading it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-all-episodes-of-perry-mason-have-a-murder/1000008.md?page=4)