“Perry Mason” just uncovered the largest audience for a new HBO series debut since “Sharp Objects” debuted in July 2018.
Over the course of those (nearly) two years, “The Outsider” and “Watchmen” premiered on HBO, among other new series. This one topped them all.
The Sunday-at-9 p.m. debut of “Perry Mason” drew 884,000 TV viewers. Counting all platforms, Episode 101 more than doubled that, reaching 1.7 million viewers.
This “Perry Mason” stars Matthew Rhys in the title role, a low-rent private investigator who is living check-to-check and is haunted by his wartime experiences in France and suffering the effects of a broken marriage; John Lithgow as Elias Birchard “E.B.” Jonathan, a struggling attorney and a semi-regular employer of Mason; Juliet Rylance as Della Street, E.B. Jonathan’s creative and driven legal secretary; Tatiana Maslany as Sister Alice McKeegan, the leader of the Radiant Assembly of God, preaching to a hungry congregation and a radio audience across the country; Chris Chalk as Paul Drake, a beat cop with a knack for detective work; and Shea Whigham as Pete Strickland, who is hired by Mason as an extra set of eyes on his various investigations.
HBO has now made the premiere episode of “Perry Mason” free. Readers can watch it here.