TV Ratings: 'Matlock' Reboot Has Strong Premiere

Matlock, starring Oscar-winner Kathy Bates, previewed on CBS in the Sunday 8p ET hour on September 22 with a hefty 7.73 million viewers (based on the live+Same Day adjusted Fast National Ratings, according to Nielsen). Comparably, this was the Eye net’s largest non-post-Super Bowl series premiere since drama The Code (following NCIS) on April 9, 2019.

Described as a gender-flipping reboot of the original Matlock with Andy Griffith, Kathy Bates plays Madeline Matlock, who claims to be a widowed, inexperienced ex-lawyer raising her grandson and in need of money, who takes a job at Olympia’s law firm. 

The first episode of Matlock is currently streaming on Paramount+ with encore broadcasts scheduled on CBS on Tuesday, October 8 and Thursday, October 10, both at 9p ET.

Matlock debuts in its regularly scheduled Thursday, 9 p.m. ET time period on October 17. Airing out of returning sitcom Ghosts and into the sophomore season of legal-themed Elsbeth, the expectation of success is likely for this Matlock reboot, according to Forbes.