Robert Downey Jr. is headed back to TV for the first time in 15 years, and he’s teaming up with HBO and their star-crossed scribe, Nic Pizzolatto.
According to the news at Variety, plot details for the new series from the True Detective creator and Iron Man are practically non-existent. “[B]ut,” the reports says, “insiders say the project is based on Downey Jr.’s “Perry Mason” reboot, which he had been developing as a feature film at Warner Bros. for several years.”
For anyone born after, say, 1990, Perry Mason was a courtroom drama starring the TV legend Raymond Burr in the title role. The show ran from 1957 to 1966, and into perpetuity on syndication.
Perry Mason is an interesting passion project for Robert Downey Jr. The last time RDJ was on television was way back in the early 2000s, when he was trying to get his wheels back on and guest starred on Ally McBeal.
Pizzolatto is still trying to rebound from the woefully mismanaged second season of True Detective, when so much good will seemingly vanished into the desert with Vince Vaughn and his epic death walk. I think time will tell a different story about that wild ass second season – I’m getting close to revisiting it myself – but there’s no secret Pizzolatto needs to make good on his deal with HBO.
