Posted in: CBS, TV | Tagged: Kathy Bates, matlock

Matlock: Kathy Bates-Starring CBS Reboot Blew Viewers' Minds (SPOILER)

CBS previewed its Kathy Bates-starring Matlock reboot on Sunday night, hitting viewers with an episode-ending twist that changed everything.

It looks like the new Matlock might be a hit, judging from the buzz after the pilot episode aired on Sunday night. Social media wasn't really expecting that, and it was one of the more interesting and fun surprises of the weekend. When CBS announced they were reviving a new version of the show, everyone went "Why??" And then there was the matter of it starring Kathy Bates, no less. EDITORIAL NOTE: From this point forward, we're throwing on our "MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!" sign and throwing down an image spoiler buffer because we're about to dive into the game-changing final minutes of the series premiere.

A New Matlock for the 21st Century

The trailers showed Bates getting a job as a junior lawyer at a tony law firm, announcing that she is Madeleine Matlock, a real lawyer who just happens to have the same name as the 90s TV series character played by Andy Griffith. The original Matlock might have been the ultimate comfort food TV series ever, a kindly, small-town, no-nonsense lawyer who helped his clients. Expectations for this show were that it would modernize it enough for the times but that we would be getting another network procedural. Then the pilot premiered, and it showed more steel than initially expected – Maddie ends up working on a wrongful arrest lawsuit that threatens to expose institutional corruption in the police department. Maddie proves cannier than people expect, able to slip past people's defense with her kindly demeanor and an ability to spot details everyone misses – just like every TV detective. Aside from the case being more political than the original 1990s series got, which would have been an interesting enough approach to making a 21st-century reimagining of the series more relevant, the pilot ended with a big twist that turned the whole show on its head.

Matlock Has the Best Big Twist in a Pilot TV Episode in Years

Most new TV series take the first episode or until the end of the second to establish what the story is. Matlock's final minutes upended what viewers believed about the heroine and made it a show they didn't expect. Matty Matlock turned out not to be an elderly lady who's now raising a grandson by herself who needs to pay the bills. Her real name is Madeleine Kingston, and she's RICH (because network television avoids featuring people who aren't rich for some reason). Her husband hasn't left her. They still have a loving relationship and are raising their grandson in that expensive apartment. She joined the law firm disguised as a sweet little old lady because she's out for revenge – she's out to find out which senior partner hid documents in a lawsuit to protect a big pharmaceutical corporation that pushed the drugs that killed her daughter and many other people. Matlock was her late daughter's favourite TV show.

The Twist That Might Turn the Series into a Hit

Responses on social media were so pleasantly shocked – that's what enjoying a story looks like – that it's been abuzz about the pilot for hours after Matlock aired, and that was just a preview screening of the pilot. The official premiere date for the pilot episode is October 10th, but viewers are already making more people want to watch it (you can check out the premiere episode for free above). It helped that Kathy Bates has fans from her work on 'American Horror Story' who faithfully follow the cast from that show to their other projects – fans who tend to be younger than the older viewers who are CBS' key audience.

That twist became the premise for the new Matlock: a woman fakes her identity to work as a lawyer in the firm to expose its part in her daughter's death. It's not the usual cozy CBS show – it has a bit of an edge. If this was a K-Drama, it would be screamingly melodramatic, with constant threats of murder and violence with faces getting slapped all week. Instead, it's a CBS comfort food show. The twist gives the series its narrative hook and a heroine with a tragic past and a secret seeking revenge. She's not just a cheerful lady; she has pathos underneath that façade and a knack for mind games.

Most of all, Matlock has a major theme that's a CBS viewer's biggest fantasy: REVENGE OF THE OLD LADY WHO'S SMARTER THAN YOUNG PEOPLE. It's surprising they haven't come up with more OLD PEOPLE'S REVENGE shows. They'd hoover up all the broadcast TV ratings.

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