The Kathy Bates-led legal drama, Matlock, debuted on CBS to strong viewership numbers and a decent critical applause. This was partly down to the show’s marketing in the lead up being clever enough to spark intrigue surrounding its big twist. Recently, CBS’ chief marketing officer Mike Benson sat down with Vulture to explain just how he managed to conceal the twists until the premiere aired and revealed how the show bears little resemblance to the original 1986 series that may have initially inspired the title.
In his interview, Benson states that the two shows sharing the same title is where the real strength lies. He wished to create intrigue around Madeline’s identity from the very beginning but wanted to make sure to never give too much away.
“We certainly would never set out to disparage what Matlock was. But this is a wholly different show. What [showrunner] Jennie Urman envisioned was something that has the name ‘Matlock,’ but the reason for the name of the show has a twist behind it. So while we knew there were audiences out there who knew what Matlock is, we didn’t really want to actually utilize that. We didn’t want to go out and leverage the strength of the old Matlock, per se. It was really about, ‘If you knew the show, fine.’ We wanted to create something that could stand on its own and had nothing to do with the old IP.”
The original Matlock revolved around a widower named Ben Matlock, played by Andy Griffith, who uses his charm and brilliant mind to achieve the highest success rate on court. In contrast, the new CBS series starring Kathy Bates is a gender-flipping reboot that follows Madeline Kingston, a determined grandmother who poses as a lawyer to land a job at Jacobson & Moore and uses it to get to the bottom of the opioid crisis that could have saved her daughter.
Matlock Promises “More Mystery” Going Forward
Showrunner Jennie Snyder Urman and Matlock’s lead, Kathy Bates, have delivered two brilliant episodes so far and kept viewers hooked on the reboot. The premiere introduced Madeline Matlock as a sought-after lawyer who secures a position at a prestigious firm and wins cases using her demeanor and sharp wits. Later in the episode, Madeline’s secret is revealed – that she’s actually married and a grandmother to a 12-year-old boy, whom she’s raising following his mother’s death due to an opioid overdose. The second episode follows Madeline as she carries on her investigation while being worried about her cover getting blown. Benson also revealed that creating this level of intrigue was a conscious decision.
“The thing that I knew is that I didn’t want to give away the twist, but I wanted to promise a twist. So the best way to do that was actually to twist the campaign. And that’s really what we set out to do: Create marketing that would get people to say, ‘Wait, there’s something else going on here. Is it Kathy? Is it the show?’ The idea really stemmed out of the fact that Kathy Bates is not the Matlock you’d expect. In fact, there’s something much more deceptive going on here. So the goal was to create something that was provocative, to build on the idea that there’s some deception going on, and to create a bigger mystery—but certainly not give anything away.”
“Our strategy here is to continue to build more and more mystery around Kathy, her character and where this series is going.”
Going forward, even Urman says Matlock will continue delivering mysteries because that’s always been the focal point of the show. She’s emphasized her intention to not only make a show that’s as different from the original as possible, but also to create a character who easily fools anyone with her wily and unpredictable ways. And so far, Bates is definitely working her magic as Matlock.
