Perry Mason Season 1 Defendants: The Bracket!

Well, it's taken me a year, but we're finally ready to adjudicate the best defendant from Season 1 of Perry Mason.

Because we have an ungainly number of defendants, we've got a staggered bracket. I simply seeded defendants by their episode number. Evelyn Bagby (TCOT Restless Redhead) was #1, Peter Cole (TCOT Sleeperwalker's Niece) was #2, etc, with defendants 25-40 in a play-in tournament.

What a first round!

• A battle of the aged actresses as Lenore Shanewise (TCOT Fiery Fingers) goes against Lurene Tuttle (TCOT Substitute Face)

• A battle of the Reeds as Helen Reed (TCOT Deadly Double) faces off against Daniel Reed (TCOT Rolling Bones)

• The battle of the step-parents as Lisa Bannister (TCOT Desperate Daughter) goes against Joseph Harrison (TCOT Prodigal Parent)

Those are just three of the first-round matchups.

You can expect one matchup per day as we march towards crowning a Season 1 Defendants champion. I hope you're excited as I am! Let the tournament begin!