Talk:Matlock (TV series)

Article based on original research?
There are no sources cited in the article. Is there any source dealing with the facts of the show Matlock? Did the character study law at Harvard? Did Kene Holliday actually drink or use drugs let alone battle with the addiction of drugs or alcohol? Sources are needed for verification and since this article lacks citations there is no way anyone can verify the information. As a result it looks more like a fan site that uses Original Research rather than a professional article using verifiable facts.

Page states he never loses a case
Actually he lost one. --Howmee 20:21, 27 August 2006 (UTC)

He lost quite a few. Most of those mentioned had the loss set before the start of the series. Will (Talk - contribs) 09:39, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

Office changes?
--Will 03:00, 28 July 2006 (UTC)
 * 1) Sometime after the first season ended, the set for Matlock's office got reversed. Any ideas why?
 * 2) By Season 4, the office was deleted. I assume the producers were attemptting to save money.  Am I correct?

Would anyone be interested in a section listing how some actors have had multiple roles in the series?
It looks really odd when one actor or actress plays two many roles in one series.


 * Dick Van Dyke played a murderous Judge in the first official episode. However, he also played Dr. Mark Sloane of Diagnosis: Murder.  Since Andy Griffith also played Matlock in that series for the episode Murder Two, the two universes are linked.


 * Brynn Thayer played Matlock's daughter, Leanne MacIntrye, in seasons 6-8. However, she also played a client of Ben's in The Suspect.


 * David Ogden Stiers played a murderer in Blind Justice and a crook in The Ambassador.

--Will 23:20, 1 August 2006 (UTC)
 * Daniel Roebuck, in addition to playing Cliff Lewis seasons 7-9, also played a resident docter in The Doctors and a family friend in The Ambassador.

Yes, good idea, good job. It would also be good to put why the characters left the series as it went on. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.40.4.67 (talk • contribs)

Nancy Stafford had another role before Michelle, also. Can't think of the ep title off the top of my head, but she, like Brynn Thayer (in her pre-Leanne role), flirted like mad with Matlock. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 206.165.137.194 (talk) 17:40, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

Episode notes
The Hallmark Channel always airs two part episodes as a single two-hour movie. While they show one-part episodes in order, they skip the two-parters and show those in a seperate timeslot that is also used to show Perry Mason and other shows.

On the other hand, WGN-TV shows two-part episodes as they originally aired.--Will 23:25, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Possible POV comment
In the part on Brian Cranston (last entry) in Matlock (TV series), the entry ends with "You go, Brian Cranston!" Should that comment be removed? Will 06:26, 1 September 2006 (UTC)

Does anyone know something about the "P.I." episode?
Since Matlock was only in the first couple of minutes, I think P.I. might have been an attempt to spin off a new series. What does everyone think? Will (Talk - contribs) 09:43, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

Trivia section
It seems to me that the second sentence of the trivia section is so vague as to be worthless--how many is "a lot of episodes?" 208.59.164.233 17:42, 25 April 2007 (UTC)

I thought the same. It should either be deleted or a number should be put in there. --Markdashark1212 22:49, 7 May 2007 (UTC)

personal phone conversations are original research
There's a reference claiming a personal phone conversation with an actor of the show as a citation. The article doesn't say whose personal conversation it is, and it sounds like if anything's original research, this is it. I'm going to remove this bit. Martijn Faassen 23:09, 14 November 2007 (UTC)

Accuracy of Article
I want to challenge the accuracy of the cast element of the article as follows:

Any comments? -- Redfarmer (talk) 19:57, 19 November 2007 (UTC)
 * Daniel Roebuck appeared on the show at the same time as Nancy Huston as evidenced by this opening theme from the final season of the show:
 * I wasn't a huge fan during the last few seasons, but I don't remember Kene Holliday ever returning to the show in the final seasons. As I remember it, Daniel Roebuck was Matlock's private investigater after Clarence Gilyard Jr. but after Brynn Thayer left, became Matlock's assistant and Nancy Huston was added to the show.
 * I also recall that Daniel Roebuck was on the show for at least a season with Clarence Gilyard Jr..

Yes. Nancy Huston never appeared in any episodes of Matlock. Rather, it was Carol Huston who was the final added regular. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Glenn L (talk • contribs) 00:43, 16 March 2009 (UTC)

I personally raise questions about the so-called "silent outros" of Seasons 1-6. As I recall, it was actually a shortened version of the show's theme that was played during the closing credits while stills from that episode were displayed. I believe that was the case actually for the entire series. Can anyone verify this? Comment added by Chris A — Preceding unsigned comment added by 97.76.84.62 (talk) 03:45, 16 April 2012 (UTC)

Also, Matlock wasn't a public defender, he was a prosecutor. This was covered in a flashback episode. 2601:150:100:BE50:9C2F:FBF0:6882:8A32 (talk) 11:14, 27 March 2019 (UTC)

Spinoff Matlocks programmes
It's a little-known-FACT. Bit the show Matlock was a spin-off of ANOTHER SHOW... entitled "Open all Night" which in it starred Sam Whipple as the proprieter of the shop's son and was in itself a spin-off or a conversion of a BRITISH television programme called "Open all Hours", which starred Ronnie Corbett as the proproieter of the shop itself and even had David Joason from Only Fools + Horses playing his assistent. This is a little-known-fact but I think it should be in the article even in the section which is specificially titled "SPIN-OFFS" because the show was in and of itself a spin-off of the show starring Sam Whipple, and even the article itself said this until very recently and was referenced until someone deleted this information and denied it with spite, but I'm concerned that if I do so myself it will be a problem caused, because I have been threated with not editing ppriviliges to revoke because if they do and they see me they think its/it's/it is vandalism, which I can probe it is not because the information is even online about Matlock being a pin-off of Open All Night, and the article should mention this.

Thankyou and I'm sorry for the not very good english, I am a slow learner and I am not from an English-language-spoken country by birth or by naturalistion or even by visiting often, so thankyou Popping Corns 11:19, 7 July 2012 (UTC)


 * Just for the record, Matlock was not in any way, shape, or form a spinoff of Up All Night. __209.179.0.121 (talk) 22:32, 2 December 2015 (UTC)

Also, when is this and can I do it safely?
Popping Corns 11:35, 7 July 2012 (UTC)

Program Format
Should we include the fact that in the first season after every segment an image of the three main characters and the word: "Matlock" was on the screen? --InformationContributor11 (talk) 12:34, 21 August 2012 (UTC)

Proposed merge with List of Matlock characters
Matlock isn't that big that the list of characters needs to be WP:SPUNOUT. Technical 13 (talk) 19:56, 24 May 2013 (UTC)


 * I don't know why I didn't notice this before. Anyway, I don't know how big it was when this was proposed, but right now it's close to 21,000 bytes, and if the content here was added, it definitely would be too big – in my opinion. Musdan77 (talk) 00:11, 29 December 2015 (UTC)


 * We don't use file size when determining when to split or merge, we use readable prose size. Right now, the two articles have a combined readable prose size of less than 20kB, which is well below WP:SIZERULE's 40kB "Length alone does not justify division" limit. Merging the two articles should therefore not be based on article size but whether the content is appropriate here. -- Aussie Legend  ( ✉ ) 00:38, 30 December 2015 (UTC)
 * @Musdan77 you your u 174.65.114.32 (talk) 20:58, 14 November 2023 (UTC)

Needs cleanup
This article needs a lot of work, from the lede on down. I'll try sometime if I ever find a round tu-it. For one thing this show is a comedy-drama, and the lede makes it sound like it's another Perry Mason show. It's not. I also chuckled when Conrad is described as, "a former young North Carolina deputy sheriff." You mean he's old now?

__209.179.0.121 (talk) 22:32, 2 December 2015 (UTC)

Cameo/Spoof
In "The Simpsons" Lisa vs Malibu Stacey...there is a short of Ben Matlock being mobbed at the Senior Citizens Home and later being taken away in an ambulance. Would have expected Andy Griffith to speak as "Matlock" but I guess as he is never credited....he never really was on it..? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.5.90.84 (talk) 02:34, 6 November 2016 (UTC)

When did Matlock's goofiness come in?
I just rewatched "The Don" from the first season. As I recalled from watching Matlock in 1986 and onwards, I felt there was a character change: In the early episodes he was quite serious, more like Perry Mason, while his personality became more quirky in later episodes (which I personally did not like). Am I right? 73.158.1.25 (talk) 13:56, 3 January 2024 (UTC)

Should have sections for Reception, Legacy, and possibly "In Popular Culture"
Bueller 007 (talk) 11:31, 5 July 2024 (UTC)