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)
McMillan and Wife is an American tv movie mystery series that ran for forty episodes between 1971 and 1977 Starring Rock Hudson, Susan Saint James, Nancy Walker, and John Schuck. It was part of the NBC Movie Mystery wheel series which also included Columbo and McCloud. The episodes are movie length and often split into 2 parts when the show is aired in syndication.
Rock Hudson stars as the likeable Stuart 'Mac' McMillan, police commissionaire of San Francisco. (Somewhat) newly married to Sally, whom has a great role up until the final series where she was written out (the show just went by McMillan that year). Much like Columbo (or many other tv mysteries from the time) it is set up as a procedural and Mac tends to solve the case by the end of the episode. Although their are tense moments (some episodes more than others) overall the show is pretty lighthearted especially by today's standards. Which isn't in any way said to take away from the show which is well written and thoroughly enjoyable. Susan Saint James' character of Sally is better fleshed out than many of the wives/girlfriends on tv. Her 'personality' and behaviour was consistent episode to episode and didn't seem to change based solely on what the writers needed that week. The show was the better for her being in it and it's a shame they decided to do the last season without her. Their were some great episodes in that final season, and even if they had done it without her it seemed unnecessary and odd to have written her and the baby out the way that they did as it failed to drive the story forward in any significant way and felt more like a hindrance to the stories at hand.
John Schuck plays Mac's right hand man and is the perfect costar and character for Rock to play off both in drama and the comedic moments. The contrast in the energy they bring to the screen makes for always enjoyable scenes that have a lovely frisson to them.
Nancy Walker plays the McMillan's housekeeper. You will recognize her as a wonderful character actress and she had starred with Rock Hudson in numerous movies before this project. They also appeared on several variety shows together over the years. They were real life friends and that chemistry carried over nicely to the screen. The absurdity of the height difference (she was less than 5 foot and he was well over 6) as well as the contrast between the characters they tended to play and it always elevated the comedy, and the drama. As the wayward maid, Mildred is just an absolute delight. Her relationship and conversations with Mrs.McMillan are a delight and she really is the something that elevates the show to something special.
The packaging for the series is nothing too special but is by no means inferior. Housed in a decently thick cardboard box that holds the three cases inside (each holding 2 seasons of the show). One small thing I noticed as soon as I opened the box was that of these three cases the 2 thicker ones were black and the slimmer one is clear plastic- it's a small thing, but if that type of thing will bother you be aware that it might be the case.
The reverse side of the cover has the episode information on it. On the clear case this is easy to read by simply moving a disc, for the black cases you can flip the cover if you want to be able to see the episode info.
The discs are easy to access and take out and as an added bonus they are multi-coloured and easy to read which means it's never to much of a phaff to find the one you want to play. Closed captioning is available on them as well.
If you have this set let me know what you think of it! And if you are a Nancy Walker fan please tell me so I know you are an awesome person with excellent taste! :)
I hope you're having a great week,
All the best,
Annie
Murder, She Wrote is a drama series that ran from 1984 -1996. Starring Angela Lansbury the show ran for 12 seasons with great success. In the years since the twelveth series ended their have been 4 tv movies that aired on network tv. Those movies are not included in this set.
Each of the twelve seasons come packed individually. They are in single width dvd cases with a flip holder inside so it is easy to access all of the discs. On the interior cover is a list and brief description of the episodes included in that set.
The twelve seasons are packaged together in a cardboard box with one side open so you can easily get at each season. The box itself is decent, although I would have appreciated something slightly heavier given the weight of the set from the shear number of seasons that it includes. But overall, it is very good. If you are used to buying box sets I would say this is a middle of the road outer covering in terms of cardboard weight. (although the finish on the exterior of the box, is much nicer than many sets I own)
It certainly is a beautiful set and if you enjoy murder she wrote or are looking to enjoy it for the first time it is definitely worth taking a look at! Get ready to bask in the crime fighting ability of Jessica Fletcher played by the indomitable Angela Lansbury!!
