Classic Movies, the original Golden Age TV (and through the 90s), crafting, crochet, nostalgia, took Mr.Rogers too seriously, boybands take up too much of my brain , your biggest fan, a bit too loud most of the time. Canadian. Disabled, homebound before covid with rare diseases. Always trying. Hopefully not failing at the important things.
Perry Mason Mysteries is a series of 30 tv movies that aired on CBS between 1985 and 1995. A continuation of the original series (1957-66), Raymond Burr and Barabara Hale returned in leading roles of Perry Mason and Della Street, with the first of the tv movies setting things up for Perry to leave his job as a judge and get back into practising as a criminal defence lawyer. William Hopper had passed on and the detective role was filled by William Katt (Barbara Hale's real life son), playing the son of Perry's trusted detective Paul Drake. Raymond Burr starred in 26 of the 30 tv movies, passing in 1993. In the final 4 mysteries Paul Sorvino and Hal Holbrook take on the iconic role of Perry Mason.
Packaged in a plastic case with a cardboard slip this set contains 15 discs each with 2 ninety five minute movies on it. Released by Paramount and CBS the discs themselves are a plain mat grey and silver. Episode titles are listed on the interior cover as well as the discs. Films are all in their original 4:3 aspect ratio and English subtitles are available on the episodes. This set is very similarly packaged to the other sets released by CBS/Paramount so far this year. (Matlock, Cheers, The Untouchables)
Over the first series we see the kids open up and really start to bloom and come to life as Fran manages to walk the line between honouring their mother and helping them move on with their life. As a result of the unconventional ways she goes about this we sometimes see conflict arise with Mr.Sheffield who seems to have never encountered someone with such chutzpah before (slightly unbelievable as he does work in theatre but we go with it). The push and pull relationship between them develops early on and a will they/won’t they element becomes a key element of the show. The chemistry between the two is undeniable but the plot and circumstances surrounding the two makes it something you know isn’t going to happen quickly as there are some excellent roadblocks set up around the two of them.
Mr. Sheffield’s role as a Broadway producer provides excellent chance for gueststars over the course of the series, sweeps week/month was always extra special, and some of whom weren’t often doing tv spots at the time.
The show is easily watched by children (I was young when I first watched) but upon rewatching as a adult there are a lot of jokes and innuendo packed into the episodes that went way over my head at the time (& I couldn’t quite believe when I watched more recently). Definitely layered comedy and something that you can enjoy as a adult while the kids are watching tv. (And I would say enjoy, even if you don’t have kids or just want to watch it on your own). The writing is strong and ahead of it’s time in how it dealt with lgbtq+ portrayals and issues (remember the aids epidemic was ranging when this show started airing), race, religion, and gender issues. They were not being jammed into the episodes willie-nillie but it was a show that lead with love on that front, and took the opportunities presented to reinforce positive stereotypes rather than negative.
I made a video after the passing of Ann Morgan Guilbert last month talking more aboutsome of the ways the show impacted me, if you are interested you can see what I had to say here.
Now onto the packaging... This is a Shout Factory release from 2015 and comes a the complete series and a disc of bonus features. Also included is a nice booklet on glossy, much heavier than usual paper, with extra pictures and the episodes and a brief description of each included.
booklet
As I mentioned in my video, the outer box is the heaviest duty case I have ever seen. This is not going to bend or warp from being picked up or being left on your shelf.
The seasons are packaged in three standard size DVD cases, each case holding 2 seasons. The discs are on front and back cover as well as interior flip trays. They are not stacked, so are easy to find and take out, an ideal situation for preventing damage to discs. The discs have pictures on them and are multi-coloured and easy to see and read. The season and disc number is written in the same spot across all season in bold writing with a high contrast background. The discs of each season have a different colour prominently featured, making it easier still to identify what season is what and where they belong as the disc colours match they case exterior. Making this a vision impaired friendly set on that front. Closed captioning is also provided for all episodes.
discs inside case holding season 1 and 2
As for bonus features this set has an exclusive to the complete set extra disc with new interviews that tell the behind the scenes story of The Nanny and a Making of The Nanny feature. beyond that, select episodes have commentary provided by Fran and others involved with the show.
bonus disc
Overall, this is one of my favourite sets. Shout Factory rarely disappoints but this has to one of my favourites from them so far. If you are wanting to revisit The Nanny or have been thinking about thinking about purchasing this set, I would say there is nothing in the packaging to worry about and the series is still a fun, enjoyable watch all these years later.
What is a show you would like to see a complete set of/ Shout release? I’ve got a few still on my list Coach, Living Single, and Caroline in the City being high on the list. I would love to hear some that you would like to see out soon, so let me know in the comments below.
Be sure to check out my Youtube channel if you haven’t before. I post new videos every Wednesday and often an extra one at the weekend as well. I’d love it if you’d subscribe and it’s definitely where I am most active.
