TORONTO: Nicole de Boer is Carlin, Kathy Bates is Madeline Matlock, David Del Rio is Billy Martinez … [+] and Leah Lewis is Sarah Yang, in the new drama series MATLOCK. Inspired by the classic television series of the same name, the series follows brilliant septuagenarian, Madeline, who achieved success in her young years and decides to rejoin the work force at a prestigious law firm. (Photo by Brooke Palmer/CBS via Getty Images)
Matlock, starring Oscar-winner Kathy Bates, previewed on CBS in the Sunday 8p ET hour on September 22 with a hefty 7.73 million viewers (based on the live+Same Day adjusted Fast National Ratings, according to Nielsen). Comparably, this was the Eye net’s largest non-post-Super Bowl series premiere since drama The Code (following NCIS) on April 9, 2019.
Described as a gender-flipping reboot of the original Matlock with Andy Griffith, Kathy Bates plays Madeline Matlock, who claims to be a widowed, inexperienced ex-lawyer raising her grandson and in need of money, who takes a job at Olympia’s law firm. In this pilot episode, we learn that she is actually Madeline Kingston, a wealthy woman whose husband is still alive. She took the job at the law firm firm because she believes that a senior partner at the firm – either Olympia, her soon-to-be ex-husband Julian, or her father-in-law – hid documents that led to the death of her daughter from an opioid overdose.
The first episode of Matlock is currently streaming on Paramount+ with encore broadcasts scheduled on CBS on Tuesday, October 8 and Thursday, October 10, both at 9p ET.
Matlock debuts in its regularly scheduled Thursday, 9 p.m. ET time period on October 17. Airing out of returning sitcom Ghosts and into the sophomore season of legal-themed Elsbeth, the expectation of success is likely for this Matlock reboot.
