Kathy Bates’ Matlock premiere felt like a standard legal drama, but the last five minutes won us over

The long-awaited reboot of “Matlock” is finally on the 2024 TV schedule on CBS. The series was heavily promoted on the network and prevented Kathy Bates from retiring. So it seemed all but guaranteed that a lot of people would watch the premiere. Well, I was one of those eager to watch, and I was largely unimpressed…until the last five minutes brought a twist that had me immediately checking to see when Episode 2 would air. Kathy Bates obviously had a lot of fun playing Madeline “Matty” Matlock from the start, and as a result, Matty’s worse life situation was shown rather than told. (Or so I thought, but more on that in the next section!) But I’ve seen plenty of legal dramas over my time – including three that literally have “Law” in their title – and I just wasn’t hooked on one seemingly fairly average case with a predictable solution. Matty was obviously smart, but that’s not necessarily enough to make a successful show.