After all, Raymond Burr was a Canadian, and a proud one at that. So the news that Matthew Rhys will play the part in a prequel to the classic TV series should not come as a shock. Nor should the trails that the newly-imagined young Mason strayed into the criminal in order to solve his cases surprise one. The Mason of the original Erle Stanley Gardner stories was quite prepared to mislead the police, tamper with evidence and to conceal witnesses or possible suspects in order to gain time. It was only when the TV writing team took over that Mason became more prudent - and of course he was positively magisterial when he was revived for the final TV movie specials. This progress from the chancer to the conservative merely reflects many men's careers.
How likely it is that Mason could have built up a legal practice and a great knowledge of precedent starting out as a private investigator is more dubious. It will be interesting to see how today's American writers chart this progress. Another doubt I had was that of height, but I see that Rhys is not as short as he appears; he is only giving one inch away to the six foot Burr. The Radio Times preview also hints at a young Paul Drake appearing. William Hopper measured six-three, so one wonders how the programme makers have risen to that challenge.
As to the current showings on a couple of the CBS channels here, we are back to the earliest series. I had hoped that, having finished series 4, CBS would move on to series 5 thus filling the gap with the last four series already shown. On the other hand, series 5 would be when the OPD which eventually claimed Ray Collins' (Lt Arthur Tragg) life really took hold. That can be the only reason for the scene in the last episode of series 4 where William Talman as DA Hamilton Burger took Tragg through the evidence in a series of leading questions rather than have Tragg speak for himself. Series 5 might make painful viewing.
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