Matlock

Matlock is an American mystery legal drama television series created by Dean Hargrove, starring Andy Griffith in the title role of criminal defense attorney Ben Matlock.^[1] The show, produced by Intermedia Entertainment Company (first season only), The Fred Silverman Company, Dean Hargrove Productions (called Strathmore Productions in the first two seasons) and Viacom Productions, originally aired March 3, 1986 – May 8, 1992, on NBC and November 5, 1992 – May 7, 1995, on ABC.
The show's format is similar to that of CBS' Perry Mason (both Matlock and the 1980s Perry Mason television films were created by Dean Hargrove), with Matlock identifying the perpetrators and then confronting them in dramatic courtroom scenes. One difference, however, was that whereas Mason usually exculpated his clients at a pretrial hearing, Matlock usually secured an acquittal at trial from the jury.^[2] Since 1991, reruns of Matlock have been shown in syndication and on TBS, INSP, Hallmark Channel, CBS Drama, WGN America, FETV, PlutoTV, and MeTV.

Premise

The show centers on widower Ben Matlock (Andy Griffith), a renowned, folksy and popular though cantankerous attorney. Usually, at the end of the case, the person who is on the stand being questioned by Matlock is the actual perpetrator and Matlock will expose him/her, despite making clear that his one goal is to prove reasonable doubt in the case of his client's guilt or to prove his client's innocence. Matlock studied law at Harvard Law School and, after several years as a public defender, established his law practice in Atlanta, living in a modest farmhouse in a neighboring suburb. He is known to visit crime scenes to discover clues otherwise overlooked and come up with viable alternative theories of the crime in question (usually murder). Matlock also has conspicuously finicky fashion sense; he generally appears in court wearing a trademark light gray suit and, over the series' entire run, owned three generations of the Ford Crown Victoria—always an all-gray model (Griffith's character had always driven Ford products in his 1960s series, The Andy Griffith Show).
Matlock is noted for his thrift and a fondness for hot dogs. In "The Diner" (season eight, episode four), hot dogs are revealed to have been his favorite dish since he was a young man. In contrast, after the series ended, his penchant for hot dogs was explained in the Diagnosis: Murder two-part season four episode "Murder Two" (episodes 15–16). In that episode, Matlock blames Dr. Mark Sloan (Dick Van Dyke) for recommending a disastrous investment in 8-track tapes, in which he lost his savings of $5,000 in 1969 (equivalent to US$36,946 in 2021), forcing him into wearing cheap suits and living on hot dogs.
Despite his thrift, Matlock's standard fee is $100,000 (equivalent to US$247,207 in 2021), usually paid up front, but if he or his staff believe strongly enough in the innocence of a client or if the client is unable to pay immediately (if at all), he has them pay over time or reduces the fee significantly or waives it entirely, albeit reluctantly in some cases. He also reluctantly takes a pro bono case occasionally. These traits, and the demands he placed upon his investigators, are often points of comic relief in the series.