Pilot

Love the show. Brings a new style to the show. Kathy Bates is an awesome sweet character in this series. Wish she would have continued on. I think it would have made a good series. Please bring the show back.please please please bring it back. Matlock series has a great up to date feeling of humor and seriousness. Love her as the character, she is an awesome role player into the new direction of the series. A great modern direction towards a wonderful story line in the episodes. Has a great storyline of the characters and humor that grabs the audience attention towards each episode coming into play.

I can imagine the pitch meeting at CBS -why not resuscitate the old Andy Griffith '80s hit TV series with a new version, after all, so many golden oldies have been resuscitated successfully for perhaps nostalgic Baby Boomers out there in TV land (like "Magnum P. I.", "Quantum Leap"). And how's this for a hook -we'll make the folksy old lawyer a woman this time! My musing was off-target, however, as the original show ran on NBC and later ABC -it wasn't a CBS property at all.

This typical high-concept Hollywood gimmick sounds dumb, but as with most properties, the secret is in the casting. Kathy Bates takes the role and runs with it Her folksiness is disarming and makes the pilot episode of her pulling many a fast one to finagle her way into a leading law firm job so much fun to watch. The twists and turns of the case are delightful, with a solid supporting cast fighting (mainly in vain) to compete with Kathy as center of attention. But that's obviously a lost cause -she completely dominates the screen and that spells HIT.

Watching the sneak peek preview of the pilot I was bowled over by the surprise ending which takes the series in a completely different and satisfying direction from the homespun set-up scenes preceding. And having Kathy herself make a Hitchcock (or William Castle?) styled plea to the audience not to reveal the surprise secret to anyone, as the actual series debut is several weeks away, was priceless.

FINALLY, a show that takes the "old lady as a punch line" and turns it inside out and upside down. Bates just burst through in this one-hour legal drama with wit, charm and a warrior's fierceness. And Hooray!! How wonderful to watch a show that has a lack of cliches. There is humor galore as all the old lady tropes get trotted out and turned into a weapon that opens doors and collects evidence. And the supporting characters are actually drawn as human beings. The abundance of sharp writing and a great story premise of the pilots proves this series has great promise. I can't wait to see the next episode.

Such a joy to see Kathy Bates back on TV. New show had a great punch for an ending and it was wonderful to see Beau Bridges too. Great way to spend early Sunday night. Super good supporting cast Reminded me a little bit of suits. Like the intergenerational attorneys who were bickering and solving. Really interesting good writing definitely a winner. Definitely will watch this life.

Finally new shows are back on and this one was a good one. I never saw the old Matlock and I'm trying to figure out the ending a little bit which I will not give away, but I really like that surprise welcome back Kathy.

The show goes to great pains to tell you that it has nothing to do with Andy Griffith's Matlock. Makes you wonder why the new show is called Matlock.

The legal drama revolves around a case of wrongful imprisonment, with the plaintiff seeking compensation for his years in prison due to police corruption. Thus, it incorporates most every legal trope known, especially the idea that if you hire a new lawyer the day before a trial is to begin you can assign her to that trial team, and even though the trial is going on she and team members can travel to prisons, New Jersey, etc., to develop new evidence because they are not needed in court, because that's how you conduct trials.

The law firm, supposedly one of New York's best, is run by incompetents who hire someone off the street with no background check. Is her license valid? They don't care. Does she have a bad history? Once again, they don't care. They have this thing these days called Google. You can actually find out stuff. This law firm? Nope. It got to the top in New York by being clueless.

The legal issue that got me is that there was some discussion of not putting the plaintiff on the stand to tell his story (how he felt being locked up for a crime he did not commit) out of fear that his prior criminal record would come to light. Hey, producers/writers: this is a civil case. He's the plaintiff. He's been exonerated. The defense (the State of New York? City of New York? NYPD?) would have taken his deposition. They can introduce a copy of his record. The arresting detective (who testifies) can explain what about his prior record made them think he was the perp. He may not even be able to take the Fifth anymore as he has no fear of prosecution. You don't need to be a lawyer to deal with the holes in the story the writers have set up.

Last, the twist ending added to the end felt like after the show wrapped, someone said, this show needs to head in a different direction. So let's slap on a twist.