Matlock vs. Matlock
Yes, there is a new Matlock series! It stars Kathy Bates. I love Kathy Bates. I heard about this on the radio (National Petroleum Radio, (don’t ask)).
So when I started writing this, I thought the new Matlock was a “reboot” of the old series from the 1980s-1990s? Apparently it’s not (but?) What I heard on NPR the other day seemed to make it sound like that. But I was probably working and not listening closely.
I didn’t watch the old Matlock at all. Looking at the years it was on, I was in the throes of raising young children. Our TV was more often tuned in to things like Mr. Raj (Rogers) and Sesame Street, although one kid was NOT entranced by “those silly guys” aka Bert and Ernie. This was waaaay before they came out so it didn’t have anything to do with that. And then they were getting to be tweens and there was Clarissa Explains It All (which I greatly enjoyed) and then, I dunno, Nick at Nite and I’m probably forgetting a whole bunch of stuff. Then again I was watching things like 30-something, Dallas, and Dynasty. Yes, really.
A thing I don’t remember about the old Matlock? That Andy Griffith played Matlock.
A thing I do remember about the old Matlock? There was a Detroit Free Press columnist back in the day that I enjoyed reading. He was an older guy named Jim(?) Fitzgerald. The name is interesting because he was somehow related to the person the Edmund Fitzgerald freighter was named after. You know, the one that sunk and Gordon Lightfoot wrote a song about it?
His column was not usually *serious* in that it was mostly slices of his life as a retired reporter. What I remember is when he wrote about walking (in Detroit) past a man sitting next to the sidewalk drinking out of a bottle in a paper bag. The paper bag bottle drinker looked up at him and said, “Lookin’ like Matlock.” I dunno why this cracked me up so much but I still remember it all these years later and it still cracks me up🤪 Sorry.
Doing some googling, I feel like the “jury” is out on whether the Kathy Bates series is a reboot of the Andy Griffith series. I dunno but I think I might have to watch both of them (the Andy Griffith Matlock is available on Netflix or somewhere) and try to come to my own conclusion.
Love y’all, KW.
October 20th, 2024 at 8:41 pm
Hopefully not a spoiler but Matlock isn’t her real name; she chose the fake name because of the series. I never watched the original Matlock although my mother-in-law was a huge fan. She loved Andy Griffith.
October 21st, 2024 at 3:09 pm
I watched the first episode of new Matlock and will watch more. I don’t remember watching the original, but I think I probably watched some of it. To me this isn’t a reboot.
And there’s an interesting twist at the end of episode 1 – and I’ll catch up to continue watching.