Interesting.

Well, I loved The Ballad of Josie. And William's character is a good guy, as I'd thought and hoped! He has some awesome moments, such as when he encourages Josie to do whatever she wants, including cattle-ranching, and when he blows up at George Kennedy's character, who's a real rotten guy. It was epic and delicious, seeing him give it to that creep.

And I just finished watching both the only color Perry episode and the epilogue scene of the very last episode. I ... really don't like season 9; I never have. I think the show was losing steam by then and changing too much. (And it was admittedly depressing to see some of the people looking so much older.)

That being said, the color episode was interesting. It was based heavily on Oliver Twist; Perry even comments that he feels like he's reliving the story. LOL. It was a lot of fun picking out all the parallels. About five to six minutes were missing, though. I'd love to know what was cut. And even though I liked seeing everybody in color, it just ... didn't seem right. Perry is so much a show of the black and white era.

(Of course, that doesn't change my mind one iota about writing the characters into the modern day. Oddly enough, while picturing the events of my story, I've been seeing it largely in B&W, although sometimes color is thrown in. I don't know; I think if the show had still been like it was in earlier seasons, and the story structure had been more the same, the color episode would have been a lot better.)

And the epilogue for the very last episode was nice. I'll have to watch the whole thing sometime, I suppose; Mr. Burger felt the need to apologize for something and tried to invite Perry and company for dinner, but he found it too awkward and made Lieutenant Drumm do it. LOL. Drumm said it was as close to an apology as Mr. Burger would get. Which is actually not true; he outright apologized to Perry in season 2, in court no less! But anyway, so they accept the invitation and then are looking over the notes for their next case. It was a nice way to end the series. I think I've seen at least that scene before, too; I seem to remember Mr. Burger's awkward behavior.

I have the urge to write a Halloween-ish Perry fic, maybe something involving mediums and faked seances. I don't know if I'd have anything actually supernatural going on; that would stray too far from the show's roots, I think. But it would be creepy, at least, before everything was revealed! I got that plunnie from a Mission: Impossible episode I watched from the first season. That was interesting. I didn't think they ever got into the supernatural on that show. But it was very effective and very eerie.

I also had a plunnie after I rewatched The Hitchhiker movie. I started thinking of some crook showing up in L.A. who looks exactly like Mr. Burger and starts using it to his advantage. Mr. Burger would not end up arrested and on trial himself, but the problem would definitely create some awkward situations.

Bah, I forgot.

In the morning I had also wanted to include this mini-rant in my entry.

We're still in season 4 (except on Saturdays), and it's interesting seeing the parade of deputy D.A.s in the episodes while poor William Talman is unwillingly absent. Most of them I'm indifferent to. But one of them has appeared twice now and he seriously annoys me.

He is Deputy D.A. Sampson, and he, more than anyone I've seen, seems to be a stereotypical prosecutor. I'm sure he's devoted to justice too, but his approach is maddening. He blusters, yells, and badgers the witnesses, and basically comes off like a stuffed shirt. In one episode he repeatedly interrupts a hostile witness demanding them, in a rising, harsh voice, to just answer Yes or No. Of course, Mr. Burger sometimes has problems with the witnesses too, but I just watched an episode a couple of days ago where his approach to the exact same problem was to speak politely to the witness while trying to get them to stay on-topic and just answer Yes or No. Mr. Burger comes off as a very compassionate person; Sampson comes off as an eager-beaver upstart.

I'm intrigued enough at the contrast that I would like to write a fic sometime with Burger interacting with this deputy. But while watching the episodes, I have to wonder if CBS had been grooming Sampson to take Burger's place. I don't recall any of the other deputies making repeat appearances.

In any case, I have to say Thank Goodness that CBS finally stopped worrying about their precious reputation being damaged and listened to the fans and other cast members who wanted William Talman reinstated.