(Photo by: HBO)
It’s court dismissed for Perry, Della, and Paul. HBO has cancelled its version of Perry Mason so there won’t be a third season. The second season of eight episodes finished airing in April.
A detective drama series from Robert Downey Jr.’s Team Downey, the Perry Mason TV show is a prequel that provides a reimagined origin story for the legendary criminal defense lawyer. The show stars Matthew Rhys, Juliet Rylance, Chris Chalk, Shea Whigham, Eric Lange, Justin Kirk, Diarra Kilpatrick, Katherine Waterston, Hope Davis, Fabrizio Guido, Peter Mendoza, Mark O’Brien, Paul Raci, Jen Tullock, Jon Chaffin, Onahoua Rodriguez, Jee Young Han, Sean Astin, Tommy Dewey, and Wallace Langham. Initially, Perry Mason (Rhys) is a low-rent private investigator who lives check-to-check in the 1930s. His wartime experiences in France haunt him, and he suffers the after-effects of a broken marriage. He eventually becomes an attorney. Della Street (Rylance) is his secretary and former police officer Paul Drake (Chalk) is is his lead detective. In the second season, months after the Dodson case has ended, the scion of a powerful oil family is brutally murdered. When the DA goes to the city’s Hoovervilles to pinpoint the most obvious of suspects, Perry, Della, and Paul find themselves at the center of a case that will uncover far-reaching conspiracies and force them to reckon with what it truly means to be guilty.
The second season of Perry Mason averaged a 0.03 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 362,000 viewers. Compared to season one, that’s down by 69% in the demo and down by 36% in viewership in the live+same day ratings (includes DVR playback through 3:00 AM).
“We are tremendously grateful for the remarkable work of Matthew Rhys and the unrivaled cast and crew of Perry Mason for their reimagining of such a treasured and storied franchise,” HBO said in a statement. “While we won’t be moving forward with another season of the series, we are excited to continue working with the brilliant creatives at Team Downey on future projects.”
What do you think? Have you enjoyed watching the Perry Mason series? Are you disappointed this HBO series wasn’t renewed for a third season or is two years enough?