“Matlock” is not exactly the hottest piece of IP of 2024. The original series premiered in 1986 and starred Andy Griffith as an older widowed criminal defense lawyer who caught people off guard with his down-home country vibes before, destroying them on the stand and charging a boatload of money.
In that sense, the new “Matlock” — from “Jane the Virgin” creator Jennie Snyder Urman — is very much a classic gender-swapped reboot of old “Matlock.” Kathy Bates plays a 75 year-old widow named Madeline “Matty” Matlock who returns to the world of law after decades away. She has to get used to how things have changed since she was last a practicing lawyer, and an entire law firm has to get used to her quirky old lady ways, which hide a sharp and unexpectedly brilliant mind.
In another sense, this new “Matlock” is not a reboot at all. The original “Matlock” exists as a show in the universe of this show and is brought up regularly as Matty acknowledges that she shares a last name with Griffith’s character, and essentially uses out of date pop culture references to disarm her younger colleagues and clients. This isn’t a show with the same general concept as “Matlock” either.This is a show about an elderly woman being inspired by having watched “Matlock,” and it doesn’t matter if viewers have never seen a moment of the original show. It only really matters that Madeline has seen it, and that it means quite a lot to her.
The plot is more complicated than it probably needs to be, but Bates is so charming and so good at flipping between bumbling old person and savvy attorney that it’s extremely watchable. You forget sometimes that you’re watching a master at work. This is the same woman who won an Oscar and an Emmy for her villainous turns in “Misery” and “American Horror Story: Coven,” respectively. And here, she’s using those same chops to play someone far more lovable, but similarly as cunning. It results in a show that manages to be many things at once: a standard case-of-the-week procedural, a showcase for Kathy Bates, a fun ensemble show, and a thoughtful commentary on the state of the world and the role that each generation of people can play.
Matty is by far the oldest employee in a firm she conned her way into, and she’s now on a mission to impress partners half her age. She works closely with the buttoned up millennial Olympia (Skye P. Marshall), whose trust she desperately seeks to move up in the firm, but she finds herself connecting to and defending fellow first year associates Billy (David Del Rio) and Sarah (Leah Lewis). They’re eager, ambitious, competitive and Gen Z, so it takes them time to warm up to Matty, but a beautiful friendship eventually forms. And then there’s her ultimate goal: Julian (Jason Ritter), Olympia’s ex-husband, the son of the big boss, and the partner who specializes in pharmaceutical cases. That’s where the money is, and that’s where Matty wants to be. She’s got a 12 year-old grandson to raise after the death of her daughter, and kids are expensive these days. As she sees it, she’s got no choice but to start over.
Bates had much more of a choice when it came to returning to TV. She’s 76 years old and has had a long and full career. No one would have blamed her if she chose to retire, and in fact she has said she had one foot out the door before this project came along. There’s something funny about a woman on the verge of retirement choosing to headline a CBS procedural, which is the kind of thing that traditionally runs for at least a decade (except for her NBC lawyer show, “Harry’s Law”), but let’s be thankful she did. What other drama centers around a 75 year old woman killing it in the workplace?
Other shows have tried to address the generational divide, to mixed success. Joel McHale tried to skewer millennials in CBS’ 2016 sitcom “The Great Indoors,” which got canceled after one season. Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building” is a sweet comedy about two men in their 70s building a sweet, innocent friendship with a woman in her 20s, complete with many harmless age jokes.
It doesn’t feel all that monumental to see Martin Short and Steve Martin headlining such a show, but “Matlock” does feel like a big deal. Rarely since “The Golden Girls” have older people — particularly women — been given such a complimentary spotlight, and they need it. Joe Biden was deemed unfit to run for president again because he’s 81 years old. Donald Trump is 78. The term “boomer” is rarely used kindly, as if it’s anyone’s fault which generation they were raised in. But the more people of any age are alienated, the more they’ll take that alienation to heart. Matty Matlock may have a pop culture vocabulary that hasn’t been updated in 30 years, but she’s so willing to listen and learn. “Back in her day,” things were different, but that doesn’t mean she’s not willing to live in this day, too.
With Bates front and center and Jennie Snyder Urman at the helm, there’s endless potential here, as long as they don’t get too caught up in complicated overarching storylines. It would be a shame for Matty’s (and Bates’) second wind to run out of steam.
“Matlock” premieres Sunday, Sept. 22, on CBS, and will run Episode 2 at its regular timeslot Oct. 17. Episodes will also stream on Paramount+.