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Matlock is an American legal drama television series that premiered with a sneak peek on September 22, 2024, before its timeslot premiere on October 17 on CBS. The show was developed by Jennie Snyder Urman, and draws from the original Matlock TV series which starred Andy Griffith, but with a gender flipped lead character played by Kathy Bates and a vastly different premise overall. In October 2024, the series was renewed for a second season.
| Matlock | |
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| Genre | Legal drama |
| Based on | Matlock by Dean Hargrove |
| Developed by | Jennie Snyder Urman |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Zach Robinson |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 8 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
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| Producers |
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| Cinematography |
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| Running time | 44 minutes |
| Production companies |
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| Original release | |
| Network | CBS |
| Release | September 22, 2024 – present |
| Related | |
| Matlock | |
Wealthy retired lawyer Madeline Kingston returns to practice seeking justice for the death of her daughter Ellie in the opioid epidemic. Kingston gets a job using the alias of needy widow Matty Matlock, at the law firm she believes hid evidence that could have saved her daughter's life. To gain the firm's trust she must first apply her intellect to help her colleagues with other challenging cases.[1][2]
Within the universe of the series, the original Matlock series aired as it did in the real world, and Ellie's love of the series inspires Madeline's alias.[2]
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Main
- Kathy Bates as Madeline "Matty" Matlock / Madeline Kingston, who claims to be a widowed lawyer, returning to the workforce following decades of retirement due to being left in financial distress by her husband’s gambling troubles, and having to raise her grandson following her daughter's death from a car accident. Matlock takes a job at the law firm Jacobson Moore, working with Olympia, a junior partner at the firm who becomes her boss. In fact, Kingston is wealthy and happily married, though indeed grieving the loss of her daughter who died from an opioid overdose and seeking retribution. She gave herself the alias of Matlock that was inspired by the TV series.[1]
- Skye P. Marshall as Olympia Lawrence,[3] a junior partner at Jacobson Moore who becomes Matlock's boss. In the pilot episode, she is in the midst of divorcing Julian while aiming at a senior partner role with the support of her father-in-law. Olympia is reluctant to take Matty under her wing.
- Jason Ritter as Julian, a senior partner at Jacobson Moore. In the pilot episode, he is in the midst of divorcing Olympia and engaged in a major settlement action involving a large pharmaceutical corporation.
- David Del Rio as Billy Martinez,[3] a first year associate at Jacobson Moore working with Olympia
- Leah Lewis as Sarah Yang,[3] a first year associate at Jacobson Moore working with Olympia
Recurring
- Eme Ikwuakor as Elijah, an attorney at Jacobson Moore who was in a romantic relationship with Olympia
- Aaron Harris as Alfie Kingston, Madeline's genius grandson who is in charge of the family's technical operations
- Sam Anderson as Edwin Kingston, Madeline's husband
- Beau Bridges as Howard "Senior", a managing partner at Jacobson Moore, father of Julian and soon-to-be ex-father-in-law of Olympia. He guardedly supports Olympia's career and efforts to develop a new revenue stream for the firm, telling her that he believes that father-in-law is a forever role.
- Piper Curda as Kira, a woman who works at the Information technology (IT) Department of Jacobson Moore and Sarah's love interest
- Andrea Londo as Simone
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| No. overall | No. in season | Title [4] | Directed by | Written by | Original air date [4] | U.S. viewers (millions) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Pilot" | Kat Coiro | Jennie Snyder Urman | September 22, 2024 | 7.74[5] | |
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Retired lawyer Madeline "Matty" Matlock lands an associate position at New York City law firm Jacobson Moore, citing financial hardship brought on by her deceased husband's gambling debts. Her first case involves Raymond Harris, who is seeking compensation for being wrongfully convicted and imprisoned for serial rape and murder. Working with fellow associates Billy and Sarah and aspiring senior partner Olympia, Matty tracks down a former prostitute who filed a police report that was not submitted into evidence, earning Raymond a $20 million settlement. Unbeknownst to everyone, Matty is really Madeline Kingston: a wealthy retiree living with her husband and grandson and determined to avenge her daughter's death, which was the result of someone at Jacobson Moore concealing documents that could have helped take opioids off the market. | |||||||
| 2 | 2 | "Rome, in a Day" | Kat Coiro | Jennie Snyder Urman | October 17, 2024 | 6.38[6] | |
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As Matty tries to settle in at Jacobson Moore while also trying to figure out how to get evidence connected to Ellie’s death, Olympia is approached by one of her clients, Deidre, whose 18-year-old nephew Michael has been accused of killing 16-year-old Ariana Perez behind the bodega owned by his friend Charlie’s family. Michael has developmental delays and has gone mute following the incident. Olympia reluctantly agrees to defend Michael, enlisting Matty, Billy, and Sarah to help her. Matty manages to find a discrepancy in the testimonies between Charlie’s father Jimmy and another eyewitness, and Jimmy admits there was a party in the bodega where alcohol was served to minors. A seemingly incriminating video of Michael crops up, but with Matty’s help, Olympia proves Charlie doctored the video, and that Ariana died in an accident while she went around back to have sex with Charlie. Olympia and her estranged husband Julian argue after she fails to tell him their daughter got sick, but eventually they make amends and decide to try and make their divorce more amicable. Matty manages to get the passcode for Olympia’s phone. | |||||||
| 3 | 3 | "A Guy Named Greg" | Brad Silberling | Nicki Renna | October 24, 2024 | 6.48[7] | |
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Now starting to gain Olympia’s trust, Matty is brought on to help her in a lawsuit, where a woman claims she was wrongfully fired after refusing her boss’ sexual advances. Unable to find any evidence connected to the opioids on Olympia’s phone, Matty manages to get into her laptop, but again finds nothing conclusive. The lawsuit starts to go south when a damaging recording is revealed, but Matty manages to use her own skills to enable Olympia to make a comeback and win the case. Matty now sets her sights on gaining access to the file room. | |||||||
| 4 | 4 | "The Rabbit and the Hawk" | Kat Coiro | Jeffrey Lieber | October 31, 2024 | 6.54[8] | |
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Matty is asked to help Olympia represent Robert, an elderly artist who is suing the owners of his building for inadvertently causing the illness that killed his wife Sandy. The case becomes tough for Olympia when her colleague and friend Darius is discovered to be leading the defense. Matty manages to gain access to the files connected to the opioid cover-up, but the ones she was after are encrypted and untraceable. Robert suddenly starts to suspect his slight hoarding might have made Sandy sick, and his lawsuit derails. Matty and Edwin fight over Alfie slacking off at school in order to help Matty with her investigation. Matty befriends Robert and soon manages to prove that the building owners really were responsible for Sandy’s illness. Robert is offered a settlement which he quickly accepts, but Matty discovers that Howard “Senior” Markston, Julian’s father and the senior partner at Jacobson Moore, has done some legal wrangling that makes the settlement worthless. Olympia is crestfallen, but cheers up quickly when Julian takes her side. Matty and Edwin reconcile, and he takes over as her investigative partner so Alfie can focus on school. Matty soon finds evidence that suggests Senior was responsible for hiding the opioid files. | |||||||
| 5 | 5 | "Claws" | Marie Jamora | Michelle Leibel | November 7, 2024 | 5.98[9] | |
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Jacobson Moore is tasked with an extremely big class-action case; a female ex-con suing the prison system for mistreating her while she served time for drug use. Matty soon bonds with the plaintiff, whose troubles were similar to Ellie’s, but the case quickly goes awry when the plaintiff relapses and disappears, and none of the other female prisoners will testify out of fear of being a snitch. Matty manages to track down the plaintiff and discovers she was manipulated into relapsing by the prison warden, so the money meant for the settlement could be used for funding the prison’s rehabilitation, allowing Olympia to win the case. Edwin allows Alfie to start helping Matty again on a smaller scale. Against Matty’s objections, Billy sets her up on a dating site, only for someone to recognize her. | |||||||
| 6 | 6 | "Sixteen Steps" | Kat Coiro | Sara Rose Feinberg | November 14, 2024 | 6.12[10] | |
| 7 | 7 | "Belly of the Beast" | Tessa Blake | Hennah Sekander | December 5, 2024 | 6.32[11] | |
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Mattie is put on a case with the drug company and after a few stumbles, succeeds with the case. Meanwhile Julien and Olympia get back together as Billy plans to propose to his longterm girlfriend. Unfortunately Billy is dumped after he proposes while Sarah has a successful evening with her crush. | |||||||
| 8 | 8 | "No, No Monsters" | Yangzom Brauen | Sheridan Watson | December 12, 2024 | 6.20[12] | |
Kat Coiro also directs episodes 12, 14, 16, and 18, the season finale.[13]
Development
On January 31, 2023, it was announced that a remake version of Matlock was in development, and Jennie Snyder Urman signed on to write a pilot episode to be aired by CBS. Urman is expected to executive produce alongside Joanna Klein, Eric Christian Olsen, and Kathy Bates.[14] On May 9, 2023, the Matlock remake was given a series order. The series is developed by Urman.[15] John Will and Kat Coiro were added as executive producers. Coiro also directed the pilot.[16] Production companies involved with the series are Sutton Street, Cloud Nine, and CBS Studios.[15] Matlock was moved to the 2024–25 season due to strike-related production delays.[17] It was later reported that it was a 18-episode order.[18] On October 22, 2024, CBS renewed the series for a second season.[19]
Casting
Upon the pilot order announcement, Bates was cast to star.[14] Skye P. Marshall, Jason Ritter, David Del Rio, and Leah Lewis joined the main cast upon the series order announcement.[15] On February 8, 2024, Beau Bridges was cast in a recurring capacity.[20] In August 2024, Andrea Londo and Piper Curda joined the cast in recurring roles.[21][22]
On September 8, 2024, Bates has said that Matlock is to be her final role before retirement.[18] On October 9, 2024, she later walked it back in a recent interview, saying that "I think that they got a bit confused."[23]
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Matlock premiered with a sneak peek on September 22, 2024, before its timeslot premiere on October 17 on CBS.[24]
Critical response
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 100% approval rating with an average rating of 7.7/10, based on 24 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Case closed—this Matlock reboot is a winner thanks to the ever reliable Kathy Bates and the intriguing wrinkle it puts on the legendary series' original concept."[25] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 73 out of 100 based on 12 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[26]
Ratings
| No. | Title | Air date | Rating/share (18–49) | Viewers (millions) | DVR (18–49) | DVR viewers (millions) | Total (18–49) | Total viewers (millions) | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Pilot" | September 22, 2024 | 0.4/4 | 7.74 | — | — | — | — | [5] |
| 2 | "Rome, in a Day" | October 17, 2024 | 0.4/4 | 6.38 | 0.2 | 3.89 | 0.6 | 10.24 | [6] |
| 3 | "A Guy Named Greg" | October 24, 2024 | 0.4/4 | 6.48 | 0.2 | 3.85 | 0.6 | 10.31 | [7] |
| 4 | "The Rabbit and the Hawk" | October 31, 2024 | 0.4/5 | 6.54 | 0.2 | 3.70 | 0.7 | 10.24 | [8] |
| 5 | "Claws" | November 7, 2024 | 0.3/4 | 5.98 | 0.3 | 4.05 | 0.6 | 10.03 | [9] |
| 6 | "Sixteen Steps" | November 14, 2024 | 0.4/3 | 6.12 | 0.2 | 3.86 | 0.6 | 9.98 | [10] |
| 7 | "Belly of the Beast" | December 5, 2024 | 0.4/4 | 6.32 | 0.2 | 3.74 | 0.6 | 10.07 | [11] |
| 8 | "No, No Monsters" | December 12, 2024 | 0.3/4 | 6.20 | — | — | — | — | [12] |
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| Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Golden Globe Awards | January 5, 2025 | Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Series - Drama | Kathy Bates | Pending | [27] |
| Critics Choice Awards | January 12, 2025 | Best Actress in a Drama Series | Kathy Bates | Pending | [28] |
| Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series | Skye P. Marshall | Pending |
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