alexanderdavies-99382 Raymond Burr was a very good actor, he has left behind a memorable legacy from his television work. "Ironside" isn't exactly an exciting or dynamic series. To me, it looks and feels amateurish and too talky. With the exception of Burr, who is very good in the title role, the regular cast are an incredibly dull and boring lot. There is nothing that stands out and it beggars belief that the series lasted several seasons! There are occasional moments of interest but that isn't enough for me. Another problem I found with "Ironside," is that it is studio-bound nearly all the time and that is very disappointing. The writing rarely rises above being ordinary and this reduces the pace of the series a good deal. This could have been a good show potentially but it wasn't to be.

drystyx Obviously, Burr is going to be remembered first as Perry Mason, and second as an insert into a Japanese monster movie.Here, we see Burr in the later stage of his career, feeding off his fame, to do a series about a handicapped law man solving crimes in a more red neck way than he did as Perry.Perry Mason was mostly about "atmosphere", and we don't get that here. Instead of the quiet room settings mingled with outdoor settings, usually away from the city in the Perry Mason series, here we get mostly city settings, which makes this dull and lifeless. City streets and motor vehicles are the worst thing possible in keeping an audience interested.The characters were okay enough, but like the show, a bit lifeless. When this show came out, I remember one high school teacher, familiar with the arts, claiming the entire concept of Burr in a wheelchair was made simply because Burr weighed too much, and couldn't stand for long shoots. This is probably just a bit of an exaggeration, but still it was a good idea to have a handicapped hero. This one solved crimes mostly on experience rather than deduction, I believe.In all, it was very dull, though, and forgettable, but Burr provided a bit of fire from his wheel chair to keep it from being too boring.

Bellfire32 Ironside started out as a great show about a physically challenged police officer that could fight crime. He had 2 police officers and one aide as his sidekicks. The police officers and aide were like his family and you could actually see the love and affection he had for them and they him. The stories were about all of them interacting with oneanother and I just love the programming from the 60's anyway because of the feel but this program went sour about 1969 and later. The first mistake is they changed writers. Secondly, the stories became more mysteries than drama. Thirdly the family seemed to be more about fitting into the mysteries than living actual lives. I liked to see each actor shows his or her character. Eve was a rich girl, Ed was an average Joe, and Mark was a guy who turned his life around for the better. When the show changed so did the characters except for the Ironside. There was too much spy nonsense, diamond heists, art thefts and all in out corniness. Gone were the days that they operated as a team and lived as a family. (I'm not getting into Eve's replacement, Fran and how she just ruined the dynamics of the unit.) The only thing that got better was the change in music to the latest them but if that was in place of a good script than it was not worth it.

Brian Washington If Perry Mason was Raymond Burr's defining role, then this was his second most famous role. This show proved that you didn't need a lot of violence to be a great detective show. This was more cerebral than most of the shows that were around at the time. Also the supporting cast of Don Mitchell, Don Galloway, Barbara Anderson and, later Elizabeth Baur, were all great as Ed, Mark, Eve and Fran respectively. The most compelling character on the show though was Mark. We got to see him evolve from Ironside's body guard, to a police officer and, finally, becoming an attorney. Too bad they don't make shows like this anymore.