Matlock CBS TV Show — Key Facts
- Genre: Legal drama / courtroom thriller
- Creators / Development: Developed by Jennie Snyder Urman; produced by CBS Studios, Sutton Street Productions, Cloud Nine Productions
- Platform / Network: Airs on CBS (U.S.), streaming on Paramount+
- Premiere Date: Sneak preview on September 22 2024; regular timeslot began October 17 2024
- Seasons: Season premiered October 2025
- Setting / Premise:
- The series features Kathy Bates as Madeline “Matty” Matlock, a brilliant, retired attorney who returns to the workforce at a prestigious law firm.
- She does so under the guise of having taken a new job, but her real motive is to investigate her daughter’s death in the opioid epidemic and uncover hidden corruption at the firm.
- The show is a gender-flipped reboot of the original Matlock that starred Andy Griffith, but this version takes a much darker, layered approach — Matty is not simply a folksy lawyer but someone with a secret agenda.
- Main Cast:
- Kathy Bates as Madeline “Matty” Matlock
- Skye P. Marshall as Olympia Lawrence (senior partner at the firm)
- Jason Ritter as Julian Markston (Olympia’s ex-husband, son of the firm’s leader)
- Leah Lewis as Sarah Yang (associate attorney)
- David del Río as Billy Martinez (associate)
- Production Details:
- Filming began in 2023; delayed by the 2023 WGA/SAG-AFTRA strikes.
- The show places emphasis on high-stakes legal battles tied to real-world themes (such as pharma, opioids) rather than purely episodic “who-dunit” cases.
- Notable Elements & Twist:
- The major twist in the premiere: Matty is not simply returning to practice — she has infiltrated the firm to expose wrongdoing tied to her daughter’s death.
- The original Matlock series exists within the world of the reboot as a TV show that Matty’s daughter admired, which is why Matty uses the “Matlock” name as an alias.
- The reboot updates themes for a modern audience (corporate law firms, systemic corruption, older protagonist returning to work) while keeping courtroom drama roots.
- Reception & Viewership:
- The show was among the higher-performing new network dramas of 2024, prompting early renewal.
- It holds a TV rating of TV-14.
- According to episode listings, early episodes (for example Season 1 Episode 2) have good user ratings (~7.8/10 on IMDb for that episode)