Perry Mason: The Case of the Telltale Talk Show Host

Mariette Hartley is being pestered by someone, so she calls in old friend Raymond Burr for advice, legal and personal. When Regis Philbin, her boss at the talk radio channel she works at, is killed, she's on trial for hiring the hitman. Good thing Perry Mason is her friend and lawyer. That means it's only until the end of the show until someone confesses on the witness stand.

This one has more humor than usual, with Barbara Hale, playing Della Street, plying Burr with various tisanes. By this point, the role of William Moses as Ken Malansky, Perry's investigator, is overtly humorous. Of course he gets knocked around. Of course he teams up with a beautiful woman to investigate. This is in hilarious contrast to his boss' dealing with witnesses, all of whom he hits.... with a subpoena.

It's the next to last time Burr would play Erle Stanley Gardner's lawyer-investigator. Despite Miss Hale's healthful concoctions, he would die before this TV movie aired.

I've been a Perry Mason fan since the original B&W TV series in the '60s. That being said, I enjoyed the re-introduction of the Burr character with the series of made for TV Mason movies of which, sadly, this was among the last.

As has already been mentioned by others, the formula was getting a little old. In this show, as in several others, there were so many characters introduced in the opening several minutes to whom the victim was so rude and mean that killing them was an obvious solution, that it reached ridiculous levels. What was even more ridiculous was Lt Brock immediately seizing upon the fact that the good doctor was the only viable suspect. Yeah, I know that other evidence was presented which supported the theory that the doc did the killing but even dedicated cops are supposed to fully investigate all aspects of active cases. Sorry, but he was too quick to jump on the obvious evidence and too aggressive at ignoring and discounting alternative theories. This was evident not only in this episode but several others around the same time, as well. This made Brock not only annoying but irresponsible as well. In the Perry Mason universe - He likely would never actually investigate a case which ever got successfully prosecuted due to his incompetence!

After a series of threats Dr Sheila Carlin (Mariette Hartley) calls her friend Della (Barbara Hale) who along with Perry (Raymond Burr) and Ken (William R. Moses) comes to assist. With Sheila believing it is someone at the radio station where she works behind the threats Perry agrees to go in to be interviewed on air by Winslow Keene (Regis Philbin) who not only hosts a show but is the station owner. When Keene informs everyone that there are going to be changes to everyone's shows it doesn't go down well especially as he will sack anyone who complains. After Sheila confronts Winslow over things she ends up sacked but then later on chief suspect when Winslow is murdered. Fortunately she has Perry, Della and Ken in her corner who set about solving who it was who hired a hitman to kill Winslow.

Starts out well with the "suspect" getting gaslighted, however that story goes out of the window and it treads the usual formula - it's an ok entry, though gets heavily convoluted and not too engaging. Routine entry with some weak moments.

6/10 - Perry and the gang are back for an entertaining whodunnit

Raymond Burr and the team are called in to defend Mariette Hartley, a friend of Barbara Hale's who is a psychologist with call in talk show on a talk radio station run by Regis Philbin. When Philbin is shot to death, Hartley is arrested for his murder.

One big problem with Perry Mason: The Case Of The Telltale Talk Show Host is the casting of Regis Philbin as the victim. Of course as they go in Perry Mason movies there are loads of alternative suspects. Philbin was going to revamp his whole station format and that got all of his stars very upset. Now Regis is a great host of a talk show himself, but as a no good slime bag of a station owner, well let's face it, the man is not an actor.

In this episode we see who murders Philbin, it's a contract killing and Hartley is rather elaborately framed for the crime. The hit-man however can't get to his money right away and as it turns out he's one unstable fellow. I would think you would need better nerves for that line of work. Anyway his instability gives away the individual who hires him. In fact the very elaborateness of the crime should give you some idea of the murderer if you look down the cast list.

Still it's a good entry in the Mason series, but I really would not have cast someone with that big a reputation as a nice guy as the mean victim, especially not someone who couldn't be mean on screen if he tried.