CBS’s New Legal Drama Isn’t Your Grandfather’s ‘Matlock’

In an episode of “The Simpsons” that first aired in the fall of 1994, Grandpa Simpson exclaimed that his favorite television show was “Matlock!!” Thirty years later, the show that The New York Times described as “endur[ing] in the cultural memory mostly as a punchline about shows old people like to watch” has returned.

The new version, which features Oscar winner Kathy Bates as star and executive producer, attempts to thread a needle. Its use of the “Matlock” moniker seeks to attract the senior demographic while using a faster pace and ensemble cast to intrigue younger viewers. 

Folksy Attorney…

The opening scene of the show’s premiere episode provides a first look at the show’s premise. Bates plays Madeline “Matty” Matlock — “like the TV show,” she says — a senior citizen and former attorney looking to rejoin the working world.

Matty uses a combination of sweet talk and innocence to crash her way into a corporate law firm and the firm’s weekly partner meeting. (Unsaid throughout the entire episode is how and why attorneys at a corporate firm depicted as a viper pit almost immediately open up to Matty.) She deploys knowledge obtained via her guile to allow the fictitious firm of Jacobson Moore to win several million additional dollars in an out-of-court settlement.

But a Different Vibe

Matty then parlays that success into a temporary tryout at the firm, which plays out throughout the premiere episode. In her first assignment, she must try to salvage a legal case that has turned into a dead end for the firm, a pro bono case involving a man imprisoned after a wrongful conviction and allegations of police corruption.

The first case hints at some of the ways in which the prior “Matlock” differed from the reboot. The original show focused on criminal law, with a murder mystery “whodunit” format that allowed viewers to speculate on the killer in each episode. Conversely, this year’s version looks at civil law and specifically corporate litigation. It also includes generous helpings of internecine drama common at corporate firms (or at least TV shows about the same), including two divorcing attorneys — with the firm’s founder serving as the father to one and father-in-law to the other.

The modern version also discusses subjects lightly discussed, if explored at all, in the original. Matty’s conversation with a former prostitute (or “old hoe,” as she supposedly liked to describe herself) about physical relations with her husband would never have appeared in the original “Matlock,” which featured family-friendly actor (and future Obamacare pitchman) Andy Griffith as star and executive producer. And while the original show, which aired from 1986-1992 on NBC and for several seasons thereafter on ABC, featured a diverse cast, it rarely ventured into topics of racial and social justice that the remake discussed in its opening episode.

In fact, other than the loose premise of “folksy attorney/senior citizen” and references to the original show and its theme song, these two versions of “Matlock” have about as much in common as other courtroom and legal dramas. One wonders why network executives even utilized the name, other than to attract eyeballs for the premiere.

Show Within a Show

In the past several weeks, CBS advertised the reboot as “not the ‘Matlock’ you’re expecting” — in part for all the reasons listed above. But the premiere’s final scene elaborated on that claim, using flashbacks from the prior 40 minutes of television to show that Matty also has a story behind her story. 

In an ad after the premiere, Bates appealed to viewers to keep the show’s underlying premise “Matlocked” until audiences had a chance to watch the first episode. Without giving away any spoilers, suffice it to say that the cliffhanger revealed another way in which this “Matlock” will differ from the original: While the original show’s plots were largely self-contained within a one-hour time frame, this series will function more as a series, with a major plotline running from week to week.

Bates, who at the start of this “Matlock” is approximately seven years older than Griffith was when the original show finished, told the Times that the reboot would be her last acting job. One can see that the speech Matty makes in the premiere’s opening scene — that women of a certain age become invisible but still have value — imbues both this version of “Matlock” and Bates’ role in it. 

Initial returns appear positive; “Matlock’s” premiere episode opened to strong ratings. Whether Bates and company can sustain viewer enthusiasm for their premise will help determine if they can overcome the striking differences between this “Matlock” and the original.

“Matlock” will air Thursdays at 9 p.m. Eastern on CBS and is also available on Paramount Plus.

Chris Jacobs is founder and CEO of Juniper Research Group, a policy consulting firm based in Washington, and author of the book “The Case Against Single Payer.” He appeared in the 1995 “Jeopardy!” Teen Tournament and is on Twitter: @chrisjacobsHC.