Matlock (1986)
Matlock is an American television legal drama, starring Andy Griffith in the title role of criminal defense attorney Ben Matlock. The show, produced by The Fred Silverman Company, Dean Hargrove Productions, Viacom Productions and Paramount Television originally aired from September 23, 1986 to May 8, 1992 on NBC; and from November 5, 1992 until May 7, 1995 on ABC. The show's format is similar to that of CBS's Perry Mason, 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.
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Episode 1 - The Mother
Release Date: 1990-09-18Phyllis Todd confesses to the murder of her boss to protect her daughter. Matlock soon sees through his client's ruse.
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Episode 2 - Nowhere to Turn (1)
Release Date: 1990-09-25Matlock has to defend himself against a charge of murder when a judge who issued a contempt citation against him is found dead.
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Episode 3 - Nowhere to Turn (2)
Release Date: 1990-09-25Matlock has to defend himself against a charge of murder when a judge who issued a contempt citation against him is found dead.
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Episode 4 - The Madam
Release Date: 1990-10-02A call girl blackmails her employer to stay on the payroll, and when one of them winds up dead, it's Matlock to the rescue.
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Episode 5 - The Personal Trainer
Release Date: 1990-10-09When personal trainer Harry Slade is murdered, Matlock agrees to defend his roofer, George Wilton, on the condition that George finish Matlock's roof like he promised. The case is complicated when it turns out that not only was Harry sleeping with beautiful blonde DeeDee, but also Bridget Laird, and Harry's wife and step-daughter!
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Episode 6 - The Narc
Release Date: 1990-10-23When Ed Tobias is found murdered after exposing his dirty co-workers to the top brass (they sold the drugs they didn't turn in), Lt. Brooks asks Matlock to defend his accused killer, Johnny Bauer, the only one in the unit who wasn't on the take. In between playing catch with Conrad, Matlock agrees to defend Bauer, even though he feels Bauer is just as dirty as his friends were because he knew what they were up to and he kept quiet.
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Episode 7 - The Secret (1)
Release Date: 1990-10-30When a gambler is accused of killing his bookie, Matlock agrees to take the case, believing that someone from the bookie's past is the guilty party.
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Episode 8 - The Secret (2)
Release Date: 1990-11-06Matlock sends Conrad to Chicago to collect the evidence that will prove his client is innocent.
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Episode 9 - The Brothers
Release Date: 1990-11-13Lowell Carr is a brilliant plastic surgeon. When his partner is found murdered after the two had a loud argument about dissolving their business, he is the immediate suspect...until Matlock meets his twin brother, Gary.
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Episode 10 - The Cover Girl
Release Date: 1990-11-20Conrad is thrilled to introduce Matlock to his new girlfriend Carla Royce. When Carla's boss is murdered, Matlock defends the accused at her bequest.
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Episode 11 - The Biker
Release Date: 1990-11-27After Nicky, a well-known actor with a bad reputation, is murdered on his way into a premiere, a judge friend of Matlock's asks Matlock to defend his son Cliff, a biker who had been fired earlier from his job as Nicky's bodyguard.
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Episode 12 - The Broker
Release Date: 1990-12-04When stockbroker Richard Wagner is murdered, his former partner Avery Campbell needs Julie's help to prove his innocence.
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Episode 13 - The Fighter
Release Date: 1990-12-11When fighter Billy Leon is accused of murdering reporter Nick Underwood, a man he thought was his friend who announced in the paper that he was using steroids, Matlock agrees to take him on as a client.
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Episode 14 - The Critic
Release Date: 1991-01-08Matlock has known Sam Spelvin since he was six years old, so he agrees to consult on Sam's play, Lovers and Lawyers. Unfortunately, the play is truly awful. When noted critic John Bosley Hackett, who felt the play was truly one of the worst in history, is found murdered, Sam is arrested. Matlock agrees to defend Sam, even deferring his payment while they wait to see if the play is a success, and manages to find a few more people who would be more than happy to see Hackett dead...and to see Sam's play fail.
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Episode 15 - The Parents
Release Date: 1991-01-15Howard and Amy have all their dreams answered when Jill plans to give them the child she was carrying. After Jill changes her mind and is found dead, Howard and Amy are the prime suspects in her murder, and Matlock sets out to prove that the birth father may have also had a motive.
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Episode 16 - The Man of The Year
Release Date: 1991-01-29Matlock is all set to be honored as the man of the year, but when his car breaks down and he's forced to ask his housekeeper for a ride, a simple twenty minute trip turns into a flat tire, a hostage situation, and an afternoon in jail.
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Episode 17 - The Arsonist
Release Date: 1991-02-05Marvin Sheam and Sid Franklin have been in business for 32 years. When their bank loan is denied and they can't pay their bills, Marv tries to talk Sid into hiring an arsonist to torch their business so they can collect the insurance money and rebuild from scratch. Just before Marv has a chance to talk to the arsonist again, he winds up dead outside his daughter's wedding reception, and Sid gets blamed.
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Episode 18 - The Formula
Release Date: 1991-02-12Matlock receives a call in the middle of the night from a young man who once painted his house who claims he's been arrested for stealing the formula to cure baldness from a company who fired his friend and stole his work. Twenty-four hours later Ben gets another call from the same young man, who has been accused of murdering the man he claims he stole the formula for. The biggest problem is that none of what Jeff Duvall claims seems to be true; not only did Tim Crider not ask him to steal the formula, but he was never fired in the first place!
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Episode 19 - The Trial (1)
Release Date: 1991-02-19When assistant D.A. Howard Wright is murdered in his workshop, the attorney general approaches Matlock and asks him to take on the assignment of special prosecutor. With Michelle and Conrad's help, Matlock begins to investigate Wright's past, and realises the man was spending money that he could not have earned legitimately. In investigating names that Wright had left behind, Matlock finds himself embroiled in a lawsuit involving Maxwell Toys.
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Episode 20 - The Trial (2)
Release Date: 1991-02-26Matlock manages to figure out what's going on, but his competition ices him out of the final round...or so it seems.
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Episode 21 - The Accident
Release Date: 1991-03-26Eugene Dobbs and Nolan Wheeler are the perfect combination -- Dobbs presents the cases, and Wheeler does all the legwork. After Dobbs is unable to keep the promises he makes to football coach John Kramer, Dobbs meets his maker one night at the office, with Kramer as the prime suspect. Matlock takes the case, in part to prove to Kramer that not all lawyers are schmucks like Dobbs, and in part because the list of people who want Dobbs dead is getting longer by the minute as Matlock and Conrad find an interesting link between Dobbs, the owner of a local water park, and Dobbs' wife.
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Episode 22 - The Celebrity
Release Date: 1991-04-30Ben defends a one time movie queen who is now a cosmetics mogul who is accused of murdering her ex-lover to prevent the publication of some revealing photos of her.