The very long-awaited reboot of "Matlock" has finally debuted in the 2024 TV schedule, with CBS. The series has gotten plenty of promotion on the network and kept Kathy Bates from going into retirement, so it seemed all but guaranteed that a lot of people would tune into the premiere. Well, I was one of those who made sure to watch, and I was largely unimpressed… until the last five minutes delivered a twist in a way that had me immediately checking when Episode 2 would air.

Kathy Bates was clearly having a lot of fun with the role of Madeline “Matty” Matlock from the very beginning, and the episode actually did a great job of showing rather than telling about Matty’s diminished circumstances. (Or so I thought, anyway, but more on that in the next section!) But I’ve watched a lot of legal dramas in my time – including three that literally have “Law” in the title – and I just wasn’t getting hooked by what seemed to be a pretty average case with a predictable resolution. Matty was clearly clever, but that’s not necessarily enough to make a hit show.