Matlock
After achieving success in her younger years, the brilliant septuagenarian Madeline Matlock, played by Academy & Emmy Award Winner Kathy Bates, rejoins the workforce at a prestigious law firm where she uses her unassuming demeanor and wily tactics to win cases and expose corruption from within.
Matty is assigned to Olympia (Skye P. Marshall), a senior attorney and key rainmaker with a thirst for justice, while Olympia's ex-husband, Julian (Jason Ritter), the son of the head of the firm (Beau Bridges), is intrigued by Matty and her clever skills. MATLOCK is a reimagining of the classic television series of the same name.
SEASON 1, EPISODE 5 “Claws” (directed by Marie, written by Michelle Liebel) aired on November 7, 2024 on CBS and Paramount+.
PRESS
HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
“The network has ordered a second season of the series after just two episodes have aired. The legal drama, which stars Kathy Bates in a reimagining of the Andy Griffith-led 1980s-90s staple, has performed strongly in those two episodes. The Sept. 22 premiere, which followed an NFL doubleheader and 60 Minutes, drew 7.73 million same-day viewers, CBS’ best series debut in more than five years; that figure grew to 10.67 million with three days of cross-platform viewing.”
VULTURE
“Ah, but the non-courtroom drama? That’s where this episode hits. Matty’s intimate knowledge of how addicts behave — how they lie, why they lie — proves to be a real asset. It also tests her burgeoning alliance with Olympia, when her boss yells at her for prioritizing Katya’s sobriety over the case and Matty yells back, “What if she was one of your twins?”
Now that’s the Matlock we love, right? The Andy Griffith version had its charms. But the new one has stingers.
“All hail Kathy Bates. The Oscar-winning veteran’s return to broadcast TV with CBS‘ Matlock delivered Live+Same Day linear viewership numbers we rarely see anymore. The “sneak peak” premiere of Jennie Snyder Uraman’s reimagening of the Andy Griffith classic with Bates as the eponymous attorney averaged 7.73 million viewers Sunday in time adjusted Fast National L+SD Nielsen ratings.
That was CBS’ largest audience for a non-post-Super Bowl series premiere in five and a half years, since The Code‘s April 9, 2019 debut after NCIS.”