TV: Re-Boot of the Day: Matlock w. Kathy Bates

[Jumptheshark]

Matlock Series Starring Kathy Bates Lands Pilot Order at CBS

Oscar winner Kathy Bates will play the title character in a new 'Matlock' series, which has earned a pilot order at CBS.

tvline.com

Tis pilot seasons--not sure how this one will work but at least Bates is from the south

Click to read more...

 

[Seedtype]

I never understand reboots based on contemporary stuff like lawyers, cop stuff, etc.

Certain sci-fi/fantasy stuff I can get. You like the look of Star Trek ships so you want to make a new series there, or maybe it was a failed concept like Battlestar Galactica. Or take it in a completely new direction like with Planet of the Apes.

But a show about a lawyer from the south? Is Matlock an honorary title or something? Ugh so many reboots, heh.

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

Why??

 

[The Crypto Guy]

Do they realize the age group who used to watch matlock is likely…deceased? (Rip nana!)

 

[LeafalCrusader]

 

[Babe Ruth]

Do they realize the age group who used to watch matlock is likely…deceased? (Rip nana!)

Good point..
Matlock was on 35 years ago, & even back then it had an older audience of Greatest Generation(ers), and middle aged Baby Boomers. 35 years ago, it was already a nostalgic aesthetic.. Andy Griffith essentially dressed like Colonel Sanders, and the courtroom had the feeling of To Kill a Mockingbird.

So now if the show stays true to it's origins, it would be appealing to 70/80 year old memes.. it would need a healthy market share of people old enough to remember/desire a throwback to the days of Mayberry & Atticus Finch. Don't think that's feasible, so they'll probably update the show to a point where all they're doing is initially cashing in on the Matlock name (Baby Boomers & Gen Xers make take a look out of curiosity), but delivering a substantially different product. But I do think they will leave in some vestigial Southern stereotypes.. maybe they'll dress Bates up like Colonel Sanders, or have her driving a Boss Hogg-type Cadillac, something along those (moronic) lines..

 

[EpochLink]

I still watch Matlock re-runs on MEtv at the gym

Kathy Bates is interesting choice for the revival, I guess we shall see.

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

 

[Babe Ruth]

Do they realize the age group who used to watch matlock is likely…deceased? (Rip nana!)

yeah.. and just adding an exclamation point.. I'm reading a book on the early days of the FOX network, there's a chapter about FOX's pitch to get NFL broadcasting in 1993. FOX's hook was that they had the youngest, most desirable TV audience at the time. In '93, their average audience for 90210 & Melrose Place was 24 & 26 yrs old. In contrast they demonstrated that Matlock's median viewer was 56.2 yrs old.
I know this isn't a completely fair extrapolation, but that would make Matlock's potential median viewer now 86.2.

 

[Behn Wilson]

Whenever I hear about Matlock the first thing that comes to mind is Norm MacDonald's routine about buying the Matlock box set for his uncle who was dying of "battle cancer"

R.I.P. Norm, gone far too soon

 

[ForsbergMoDo21]

Whenever I hear about Matlock the first thing that comes to mind is Norm MacDonald's routine about buying the Matlock box set for his uncle who was dying of "battle cancer"

R.I.P. Norm, gone far too soon

I don’t know that one, but he loves his hit about seeing Ben Matlock at a book store, but it just turning out to be a random old man.