Matlock is back on CBS with a new star, Kathy Bates, and it promises to be a new fan-favorite show.
The original Matlock, starring Andy Griffith, is an iconic show everyone loves and remembers fondly; stepping into those shoes with a reboot would be hard for anyone.
The new Matlock, or Matlock 2024, as some have called it, is not a reboot. Kathy Bates’s character, Madeline Matlock, is an enigma who isn’t who she seems, and fans are loving it.
Revealed at the end of the first episode is a huge spoiler, and once viewers understand what is going on, everything will fall into place for this new Matlock “world.”
Both Matlock series have a few things in common: an older main character, Andy Griffith’s character Ben Matlock, and Kathy’s Madeline Matlock.
Both shows are about lawyers fighting to win exciting cases that will hold your attention each week. The main characters have an uncanny ability to get a confession out of the guilty party, who most likely isn’t the one on the stand.
Matlock 2024 is not the Matlock you remember from years past
Kathy Bates has returned to television in Matlock, which differs from the original Andy Griffith Matlock series in several ways.
The original Matlock ran from 1986 to 1992 on NBC, with a short reboot from 1992 to 1995 on ABC, and this fact is essential to the new show. More on that later.
Matlock 2024 has Kathy Bates as the main lead. She is an older female lawyer rather than that of an older man, like Andy Griffith, who played Ben Matlock.
The original series has already occurred in the new Matlock, and Kathy’s character, Madeline Matlock, mentions it quite a lot.
She uses the original Matlock to make fun of her name, Matlock, and explain some of her past to others on the show, calling her luck with having that name “cursed.”
Instead of the confident Ben Matlock of the original, Kathy uses her character to portray an older lady who blends in and is invisible, helping her find things out. This portrayal would be more akin to Angela Lansbury’s Jessica Fletcher of Murder She Wrote fame.
The new show also features a lot of sexual talk, unlike the original, as reported by USA Today. The show’s executive producer, Jennie Snyder Urman, is quoted as saying, “An older woman talking about sex just throws people off because we’re not used to hearing it.”
Such topics would never have occurred in the original Matlock with Andy Griffith, but this is a fresh take that today’s audiences will appreciate.
Fans love the original Matlock jokes on the new Matlock
In one scene with Beau Bridges, who plays the head of the law firm in the show, Kathy’s character mentions that Matlock played from 1986-1992, neglecting the rebooted time on CBS.
This mess-up bothers her, making her a nightmare since she thinks it will mess everything up.
Kathy’s character calms down and thinks that no one realized the mistake, but then Beau Bridges’s character stops by in an elevator and tells her she got the dates wrong.
Kathy’s character returns with, “I don’t count the ABC years.” Fans loved that quick-witted answer.
One fan said, “Need some ointment for that burn ABC!” Another fan explained, “A total setup as this show is CBS.” One last fan said, “Kathy Bates is funny in such roles.”
If you haven’t seen the new Matlock, you are missing out. It is full of more twists and turns than an episode of The Bold and the Beautiful on CBS.
Matlock airs on CBS on Thursdays at 10/9c.