Highlights
- After a stellar premiere on both live and streaming platforms, CBS has renewed the new Matlock series for a second season.
- The three-day sneak peek series premiere event kicked off on Sunday, September 22, and earned a multi-platform viewership of 10.67 million audience members, with 7.74 million on the initial live broadcast alone.
- The new series stars Kathy Bates, Skye P. Marshall, Jason Ritter, David Del Rio and Leah Lewis, with Beau Bridges appearing regularly.
Madeline Matlock
In a twist (and not the last!) in the classic reboot, Matlock (2024) presents Emmy and Academy Award-winner Kathy Bates as a septuagenarian lawyer re-entering the legal workforce for reasons. With an unassuming demeanor, wily tactics, and some top-notch behind-the-scenes assistance, she lands a job at a prestigious law firm. She proves her worth to the firm, helping them win major cases, but has other, deeply personal reasons for joining them.
IRL, Bates’s bosses at CBS couldn’t be happier about the show’s success. Amy Reisenbach, president of CBS Entertainment, states in the press release, “This reconceived Matlock was devised by Jennie Snyder Urman with a brilliant surprise plot twist, and we knew we had something very special the moment we saw the first episode brought to life by the incredibly talented Kathy Bates. The audience reception and critical acclaim for it has been overwhelming. We can’t wait to get started on a second season.” There are 18 episodes planned for the debut season.
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After airing only two episodes, the series earned a “Certified Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes with a 100 percent average Tomatometer score. The September 22 “sneak peek” premiere attracted 7.74 million viewers. This is CBS’s biggest non-post-Super Bowl series premiere audience in five years. Its three-day premiere ratings across all platforms climbed to 10.67 million. Episode 2, “Rome, In a Day,” aired in its usual Thursday night slot and drew a respectable 6.38 million viewers.
Not Just Some Little Ol’ Lady
Based on initial impressions, the strength of the series is threefold, and each pillar defies expectations. There’s the name recognition. “Matlock” brings to mind Andy Griffith’s folksy, good-natured but deceptively sharp elder attorney, Ben Matlock. Bates’s Madeline plays on that, referencing the O.G. show in her first encounter with the law firm’s top brass. But [SPOILER ALERT!] she’s not really a Matlock, she’s Madeline Kingston. She plays a little ol’ lady role based on the Matlock character, highlighting her premise that old women never get noticed. The role even gets in her head when she ends up in Ben’s signature white suit in a dream.
Then, there’s Kathy Bates herself. The woman is a powerhouse of talent, effectively projecting the butterscotch-wielding “Matty” facade over Madeline Kingston’s gritty determination to expose wrongdoers in the firm. Even within her role as Matty, Bates assumes multiple guises, slipping past the defenses of co-workers, clients and witnesses. She’s a tiny, neatly-coiffed chameleon in sensible shoes.
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Finally, the series has a solid ensemble of characters with believable relationships. The firm’s top lawyers, Julian (Jason Ritter) and Olympia, are a divorced couple with children. Julian’s father, Senior (Beau Bridges), is also the firm’s senior partner. For a fun twist, he’s unwilling to take his son’s side in disputes. Meanwhile, Matty’s young office mates, Billy (David Del Rio) and Sarah (Leah Lewis), are a well-paced good cop-bad cop duo, as well as the welcome wagon of sorts. The show might be named for Matlock, but the cast is proving it’s more than a single-star vehicle.
Matlock airs on Thursdays, (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network and is available to stream live and on demand on Paramount+.
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