List of Matlock episodes

Ben Matlock (Andy Griffith) and his daughter Charlene (Lori Lethin) defend TV journalist Steve Emerson (Steve Inwood) who is accused of killing Linda Coolidge (Katherine Cannon), his ex-wife.

Note: It originally aired as a two-hour series premiere during the Spring of the 1986–87 network TV season, with subsequent airings air in two parts. In this TV movie it mentions that Ben's mom is still alive, but in latter episodes it says that his mom died when he was young.

The episode starts out with Kevin Meredith (played by Brian Lane Green) and Joanne Leigh (played by Bobbie Eakes) kissing in a room with Carter Addison (played by Dick Van Dyke) watching them through the window with a pair of binoculars. He finally comes to the conclusion that his lover is cheating on him. He walks over to their apartment room, lets himself in, and waits for Kevin to go take a shower, before entering the bedroom, covering Joanne's mouth and then stabbing her to death in her bed. He leaves the knife on the floor, goes back out into the hall and calls the front desk, saying, "There is a woman screaming for help. Something terrible has happened". Then he takes his bag with the bloody clothes in it. Kevin comes out of the shower and finds a knife with blood all over it. He picks up the knife, looks over at the bed and sees Joanne dead, and then someone at the apartment comes in and sees him holding the murder weapon. It turns out Carter Addison is the judge presiding over the trial. Matlock becomes very suspicious when Carter asks him to step aside and have the son of another lawyer they are both familiar with take his place. Later in the episode Carter goes back and burns the bag with all of his bloody clothes in it. Matlock, however, beat him to it. He had replacements put there by Tyler Hudson and is able to present the real clothes in court. The prosecution then moves for dismissal.

Other guest stars: Richard Newton as Judge Richard Cooksey, Richard McKenzie as Lt. Rupert Davis, and Toni Sawyer as Mrs. Meredith, Richard Wright as Harry Hobson, Brian Lane Green as Kevin Meredith, Piper Laurie as Claire Leigh, Bobbie Eakes as Joanne Leigh, Michael Durrell as D.A. Lloyd Burgess

After being fired from one job after another because of her ex-husband, Jason Hardiman, Carla Evans has had to resort to stripping at a local club. She takes her son there and has him read a book in another room while she performs. Then, her ex-husband shows up, and threatens to take her son away by going to court. She threatens him in front of witnesses, saying, "I'm not going to stand still for this. I'm warning you". So when Jason Hardiman ends in the hospital after being shot, she is the prime suspect. Matlock, who represented her ex-husband in the divorce hearings five years ago, offers to defend her on the house after he found out what a liar her ex-husband was. When Carla Evans is released from jail, Jason Hardiman is murdered in the hospital, and once again, Carla is the suspect in a murder case after the night nurse, Ms. Jackson, identified her from the hallway and from a security camera video. Charlene tackles that by bringing up the point that she was not wearing her glasses when she identified the defendant from the hallway. Matlock notices in another video that the woman that killed Jason Hardiman buttoned their trench coat like a man, left over right. When Helen Shelly is called to the stand, she says she was with Doug Templitt on the night Jason Hardiman was shot and when someone entered the hospital room and killed Jason Hardiman. Because they spend so much time together, Matlock assumes that she grabbed Doug's trench coat by accident. Matlock then thinks they have a case of confused identity, so he tells a joke he heard Doug tell while going undercover at the club – "One time a woman went into a barroom with a duck under her arm. The bartender walks over and says, 'Where did you get the pig?' and the woman says, 'It's a duck,' and the bartender says, 'I was talking to the pig.' " Helen says, "Duck, I was talking to the duck" in Doug's voice. It turns out that Helen Shelly and Doug Templitt are one and the same person, but two personalities. When Matlock asks Doug who killed Jason Hardiman, he says it was Helen. In Doug's words, Carla "was everything Helen wanted to be but couldn't". Jason wanted to humiliate, degrade, and take her child away from Carla. Doug would not let Helen kill Carla because he loved Carla.

With the encouragement of Charlene, who used to go out with her boyfriend, his mother asks both Matlock and Charlene to take the case of the Spanish maid Sonia Cardenas who was accused of killing her husband Richard Ward, leaving Ben with some worries. Christina says her husband was a womanizer, the woman was another one of his dalliances, and that she wants to make it public. Tyler also follows the man who was once Sonia's boyfriend, who was later hospitalized with broken bones and a concussion. Matlock wants to know who killed the patriarch as Matlock primarily focused on the family, which includes the woman who hired him and his son.

Matlock defends Brad Bingham (John Beck), an aging football star with a reputation as a womanizer, for the murder of his girlfriend, the team's owner, who was about to eliminate him from the team. Ben's Daughter, Charlene (Lori Lethin), is opposed to her father taking his case, as she believes everything the tabloids have to say about Brad. In addition, years ago, he had a short relationship with her friend, Ellen Hawley, who nearly committed suicide after they broke up. Brad asks Tyler to talk to Johnny Mack (Tommy "Tiny" Lister Jr.), a bouncer in a bar. After Tyler gets jumped by him. flung onto a table, pushed right through the hall and into a room where he falls onto a box, When they are in private, Johnny finally reveals everything he knows to Tyler. As the case procedes, Charlene realizes that not everything that's printed in the papers is true, and maybe Ellen wasn't being honest with her. Caryn Nelso (Nancy Stafford, who plays Ben's divorced daughter 1987-1992), is a call girl who was hired to frame Brad for the murder by providing him with an alibi that she later denied.

Ben and Charlene take the controversial case of a Mafia don Nicholas Baron (José Ferrer) accused of murdering a business rival Donald Kovack (Charles Howerton); Charlene is attracted to the man's son, Paul Baron (Joe Penny).

Matlock continues to defend a mafia don (who investigates a suspect closer to home than Baron would want), while Charlene blows her chance at a relationship with Paul when she is unable to separate the man from the legend.

Sisters Julia (Gail O'Grady) and Emily (Diane Behrens) execute a clever and cold-hearted plan to murder their wealthy aunt Esther and frame her husband, Harold Scully. Ben reluctantly agrees to defend the annoying Scully, and is faced with the challenge of breaking the seemingly airtight alibi of the sisters as well as the strong bond between them.

Police detective Joe Peters (Héctor Elizondo) has been framed of taking bribes and murdering a fence, and was to be believed in the death of another cop, Harry Landers (Asher Brauner). When the subject came about, it is revealed that one of the other police officers of Atlanta was more involved than they should have been.

After Charlene tells Matlock that she is already working for other people, he reluctantly represents the free-spirited popular rocker Margaret "Angel" Danello (Kari Lizer), a young lady who has been accused of killing her manager Lou Pearson (Stewart Moss). Because of her alcohol induced black-out, she is unable to present an alibi. That evening, Matlock gets very furious when Angel continues to ignore his orders at keeping her temper. Fortunately, she learns to take his advice to heart before she gets convicted of the murder.

Ben's old law professor, Erskine Tate (Don Porter), is arrested on charges of committing vehicular homicide, but claims to have no recollection of what happened. Ben defends him. Ben suspects the man's assistant and two of his students of being behind the whole thing, and has to figure out the reason why.

At Christmas time, a heartless businessman wants to evict the residents of an apartment building he owns. He tangles with a resident named Tom McCabe (Pat Hingle), who just happens to be working as a street Santa. Later, a man wearing a Santa suit enters the businessman's office building and kills him. Later someone enters the Santa's apartment and tangles with him. Later, three of the businessman's people find him dead. Ben offers to defend the Santa, and suspects that one of the associates is the killer because a piece of evidence against the Santa was found near the body, and he believes who ever broke into the Santa's apartment took it and planted it there.

Matlock defends TV cooking-show hostess Victoria Edwards, who is charged with murder in the on-camera death of a guest chef, who happens to be her ex-husband, Michael Edwards, whose success came in no small measure from appropriating her recipes and expertise during their 12-year marriage.

A woman (Audra Lindley) in a small town writes a book whose characters are actual people in the town. When it becomes a best seller, the press converge on the town to interview them, and some of them threaten the woman. When the local reverend Deluca (John O'Leary) goes to visit her, someone takes a shot at her, but kills the reverend. The police investigate and it leads them to one of the town's doctors, Dr. Phillip Eagen, who was depicted in the book as being a druggie, which he denies, and threatened the woman. Ben comes to defend him, and starts by checking some of the other people depicted in the book, but learns none of them have reason to kill her. Later, Ben discovers a different motive and suspect for the killing.

After a night out in town, Debra O'Keefe (Shawn Weatherly) was found dead in a bathtub. The case against her boyfriend, Adam Gardner (Timothy Busfield), looks weak, especially when an eyewitness points the finger at him. After corporate lawyers ask him to plead guilty, Matlock travels to Beverly Hills to defend Adam. The more Matlock believes in Adam's innocence, and the more he learns about the victim, the greater the motive his client has, especially when it comes to the love letters that were alternated between the victim and John Sinclair (Greg Evigan), Adam's assumed best friend.

Other guest stars: Erwin Fuller as Judge Sean Black, William Bogert as Mr. Wallingford, Jimmy Baio as Mark Williams, Gregory Itzin as Carl Richardson, Jack Rader as L.A. Lawyer, James A. Watson Jr. as Prosecutor, Rex Ryon as Buster, James V. Christy as Jimmy, and Herb Edelman as Arthur Rydell.

While Kathy Warren (Lise Cutter), a private nurse for the St. John is on duty, a man she was taking care of had died. When it was murder, Nurse Warren is the prime suspect. Matlock and the woman get into an elevator, at the courthouse, where it has a malfunction. He plans to hire this woman, offering her $250,000 engagement ring for a fee. Matlock also goes to an arraignment hearing with Kathy and finds out the woman he was stuck with in the elevator is the new A.D.A., Julie March. Later, Lacey St. John tells Julie that the ring was stolen from their house, that something is not right in the home of St. John's and that somebody is lying. Other guest stars: David Froman as lt. Bob Brooks, Christine Rose as Lacey ST. John, Billy Zane as Eric Dawson, Laurie O'Brien as Barbara Warren, Jo De Winter as Ruth Delamey, Jason Wingreen as Judge Arthur Beaumont, Robert Broyley as Peter St. John, Paul Reid Roman as Marcus Scott

Lester Matthews, a man Matlock defended seven years ago for killing his friend and business associate, but was convicted, has been granted parole. Shortly after, a fellow inmate tries to try to stab him in the prison library, but he defends himself and kills the other man. The other inmates claim he attacked the man he killed and Matthews is charged with murder. Ben offers to defend him and eventually learns the attempt on his life and the murder he was convicted of may be linked. Tyler goes undercover in the prison and places himself with a cellmate of the man who was murdered. Tyler also delivers evidence to Matlock that not only proves Matthews really is being honest, but also who was really behind the murder Matthews was convicted of seven years ago.

A popular actor (Steve Bond) is accused of killing the man who headed the sex therapy clinic (Kevin Hagen) where Brett was residing, and Matlock takes on the case. Ben's temporary thorn in his side is Cassie Phillips, a law student he once made an off-hand comment to about finding a job as a lawyer's assistant; she took him very seriously than he thought, while taking advantage of him in not doing the job he asked her to do. Tyler told Matlock that Cassie was kidnapped at the clinic, pretending Kimberly Bradshaw (Deborah Wakeham) was not there.

Matlock's daughter Charlene decides to move to Philadelphia to set up her own law practice. While defending the city's union boss (Richard Kuss), who has been accused of murdering his head rival, Matlock is disgusted when juror #7 (Alan Blumenfeld) comes forward to announce he was paid off by Matlock to vote in an unusual matter. Fortunately for Matlock, he gets some help from Julie (Julie Sommars) — while being accused for jury tampering, she understood he would never take on a bribe when she helps him become innocent (as his client was being railroaded by the same man who tried to put him away).

Amy Adler (Julie Ronnie), a young lady with a juvenile record, was fired for not showing up to work on time, and was being charged for the murder of her photographer's boss (Jack Heller). When that happened, she persisted for Matlock to represent her. Despite not having an interest in pro bono cases, a case about her catches his interest, and he is glad to help her out. After heading back to the studio and picking up some supplies, Amy is beaten up by a man (Scott Burkholder), causing her best dress to get ruined. Tyler comes to rescue her and heard she took the man's picture.

When a house blows up and a body is found which appears to be that of the owner, the police investigate and think that the man's wife (Caryn Richman) is a suspect. When she is arrested, a reporter (David Carpenter) tells Ben about her and when he offers to defend her, the reporter is hopeful about getting a story. When they look into the man's background, they discover a lot of irregularities, and even the neighbor saw some peculiar things on the night of the explosion.

An evil head physician, Dr. David Westlake (Ben Piazza) caused a lot of trouble towards his medical students. One of his students had planned to kill him. When Dr. Westlake's body is found by Dr. Bruce Jacobs (Jay Avocone), who fled at the scene of the crime, all the questioning falls on him. Matlock, who has a pain in his hip, decides to take the case on a busy yet explanatory handsome physician.

An American business man living in Britain as a wealthy patriarch, Albert Gordon (Don Murray) is found dead. American lawyer, Michelle Thomas, who works for Albert, finds his body. One of his two sons Eric Gordon (Greg Evigan) is found guilty of the murder of his father. His sister Laura Gordon (Michelle Greene) believes in her brother's innocence and sets up a mock trial, hoping it would lead to a retrial. Matlock travels to England to represent Eric. The mock trial is exactly like a real trial, in the old Bailey, with the original prosecutor and a judge who came out of retirement.

Other guest stars: Preston Lockwood as Judge Woolsey, David McCallum as Phil Dudley, Ronald Pickup as Sir Alec Moore, the prosecutor, Claire Oberman as Fiona Maxwell, Alan Downer as Stanley Douglas, Linal Haft as Robert Harris, John Guasie as Stevenson Davies, Jane How as Sybill Gordon, Albert's second wife, Barrie Ingham as a Butler, Richard Riding as Nicky, and Bruce Greenwood as Mitchell Gordon, Albert's other son.

Matlock suffers a setback with the death of Fiona Maxwell (Claire Oberman) and asks Tyler to find the person who was behind it. When Robert Harris was in a scheme that took advantage of Albert (Don Murray), where Fiona came in, he hired Tyler to crack a safe. At the end of the episode, Matlock asks Michelle to replace his daughter Charlene and become his junior partner, and they and Tyler fly back on the Concorde.

Other guest stars: Preston Lockwood as Judge Woolsey, Leon Greene as Inspector Liggett, David McCallum as Phil Dudley, Ronald Pickup as Sir Alec Moore, Jane How as Sybill Gordon, Alan Downer as Stanley Douglas, Linal Haft as Robert Harris, Barrie Ingham as Butler, Lindy Whiteford as Maid, Oliver Parker as Man at Butler's school, John Guasie as Stevenson Davies, Richard Riding as Nicky, Bruce Greenwood as Mitchell Gordon, the younger of the two sons.

When Michelle's old collegemate (Kathleen Lloyd) is accused of killing her volatile husband (Greg Mullavey), Michelle is more than happy to take the case. Matlock later finds out that the actual killer was Clay's blind friend (David Ogden Stiers), but discovers it will take some good luck to prove how a blind man managed to carry off a near-perfect murder.

Matlock is more than happy to defend Cassie's friend Diane Jonas-Benson (Christopher Norris), because he is intrigued to find out that her husband Kevin Benson (Terrence E. McNally) had another wife, Judy Benson (Sherry Hursey), and a third wife, Elizabeth Benson (Nancy Franglone).

Matlock and Michelle both travel to Los Angeles to defend a television executive (Granville Van Dusen) accused of murdering his boss. Guest stars: ALF, Betty White, Jason Bateman, Corbin Bernsen, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Cameron Mitchell as Lane Lockletter, Frank Collison as Unshaven Man, Mark Schneider as D.A. David Clark, John McCahn as Lt. Wallace, Aneta Corsaut as Ida Stillman, Mie Hunt as Judge Judith Nagata

Matlock defends a police Lieutenant (Bruce Weitz) against a murder charge in Las Vegas. Laura Norwood (Marg Helgenberger), the victim, was killed on the evening of the 19th, between 10:30 and 11:30. She was staying on the 6th floor of a hotel run by Lewis Devlin (Ken Kercheval), in the Princess Suite.

When one's married lover (Jane Hallaren) had run by a car, Matlock defends Scott Lazar (Steven Memel) for this murder.

At a television station, Matlock and Michelle both need to prove that Hal Simpson (Rob Winniger) didn't kill Robert Ullman (Robert Lesser), a scheming huckster.

Matlock attends a magic show with Julie (Julie March) one night. Afterwards, Daniel Fontaine (Michael E. Knight) was framed for the murder of his lover/partner (Kim Johnston Ulrich), who was devious as she was beautiful. When the game of pool was over, Tyler questioned Jimmy (Peter Freschette) about his tiny gig with the Magic Castle. His contact with that company, set Tyler up, led both of them in jail, and Tyler is furious because Jimmy said to him it was Arthur Wolff (Michael Halsey) who told him to.

Matlock's new neighbor (Don Knotts) gets confused when he is faced with two competitive car salesmen, and gets framed for the murder of one of them, T.J. Cassidy (John McCann), who sold him a lemon.

British ambassador Anthony Stewart (Neil Dickson) is charged with the murder of his lover's husband (Charles Bateman). When he has diplomatic immunity, he was accompanied by Alex Winthrop (Daniel Roebuck) who in turn called Matlock to travel to New York City to represent him.

Other guest stars: John Rubinstein as Dr. Douglas Clark, David Ogden Stiers as Thomas Baldwin, Michael C. Gwynne as Lt. Rosetti, Albert Hall as a prosecutor, Don Knotts as Les Calhoun, Akio Mitamura as Judge Raymond Kawai

After Stewart (Neil Dickson) is nearly killed in a hit and run accident, Matlock notices that the only way to get him off is to locate the woman (Lisa Hartman) who accused the client of this crime.

Other guest stars: John Rubinstein as Dr. Douglas Clark, David Ogden Stiers as Thomas Baldwin, Michael C. Gwynne as Lt. Rosetti, Albert Hall as a prosecutor, Akio Mitamura as Judge Raymond Kawai

Matlock and Julie both agree to defend a jealous woman (Pamela Galloway) who's charged with murdering her husband.

Michelle's poetic, corruptive boyfriend, Arthur Saxon (S.A. Griffin) has a job as a DJ at a radio station, who later, got framed for the murder of his arch rival, Robby Moore (Robert Krantz). When Arthur got arrested, Michelle asks Matlock to take the case.

Matlock's old friend, Capt. Edward Hanna (Richard Herd), was once a fine cop and had won many honors. Unfortunately, his actions after his wife was murdered took on a vicious tone, and had earned him the nickname 'The Mad Hatter'. Sgt. Jim Shanley (David Niedorf) had come to suspect that the Captain was murdering suspects who had gotten off on technicalities, and he had compiled a list, and had confronted Hanna, saying that if the Captain did not retire gracefully, he would report him to Internal Affairs. (Captain Hanna was the arresting officer on 5 suspects, who were murdered shortly after being acquitted.) So Sgt. Shanley had to be killed, and Hanna did a beautiful frame, setting up Sgt. Jerry Reese (Joe Urla) for the crime, who ironically thought Hanna should not be called "the mad hatter." Matlock had to prove that Reese was innocent and that the Captain was guilty.

When the brother of the dead convict (Mitchell Laurance) holds Michelle hostage, both Tyler and Julie must not allow Ned Billings to kill Matlock.

When a man (Tony Maggio) is determined to bring back the sixties is accused of murdering the mayor, Matlock travels to Chicago to represent him.

After Paul O'Neill (Tony Soper) found Jackie Chan (Evan C. Kim) dead, he fled to Matlock in asking him for money to go to Texas to follow Eddie Lomax (Alan Stock), knowing he'd be the real killer, before his own murder in prison. In Chicago, Matlock notices that the real estate scam is responsible for everything, and enlists the mayor's wife as his main ally.

Being convicted for seven years for killing his wife Ann (Debra Stipe), Ken Wilson (Jeff Allin) approaches a woman in Los Angeles, only to discover that she is Ann, still alive under the name Kelly Manning. When she is killed a second time, Ken is arrested again. In Atlanta, Les is more than happy with his new girlfriend Bernice, whom he met at Ray Templin's bar.

A coin dealer (John Harkins) finds out that a man who had been working for is stealing. Michael begs Rob Casey (Tom Henschel) to give him all of his coins back or Michael will press charges against Rob. When the employee was found dead, he was charged for his murder. Matlock represents the boss, as is Linda, the private investigator (Cindy Morgan), whom Tyler is less than happy after his boss hired her, himself, for the time being. Tyler's also very suspicious of Linda's plots.

Matlock and Tyler both found out that part of Linda's deception is in location of the kidnapping of her own son. While Tyler finds the son, Matlock finds the rare coins he needs to put together to close the case.

Matlock has a breakthrough in the case he was struggling with, but he forgets it all when he is then hit by a car. While in the hospital he reads over the material he has, much to the annoyance of the nurse Gertrude, who wants him to rest. As he reads over the statements of the three suspects attending the party, where the murder occurred, the statements are reenacted, and of course they differ slightly from one another. Fascinating! One of them is the murderer, but which one? Nurse Gertrude puts a patch on him to cure his headache, and suddenly Ben knows how the murder was done and tells Gert he loves her. Matlock appears very seldom in this episode, and mostly in a hospital bed, so Andy Griffith was probably feeling out of sorts. He does appear in the final courtroom scene, though.

An iconic blues singer (Joe Seneca) is charged with murder, Matlock must defend Eddie Haynes, a man he once idolized.

After a local mobster (Robert Miranda) is accused of murdering a priest (Leo Penn), Alex Winthrop (Daniel Roebuck) from New York, visits Matlock in Atlanta, for help with the case because he knows that he can't do it on his own. It doesn't take long before Matlock realises that the church is covering something up.

Matlock travels to Manteo, North Carolina, to defend Spencer Hamilton (Jeff Wincott), the brother of Frank, who was killed in a duck-hunting accident. After Ryan Bartell (Jeff Lester) was shot, immediately after Spencer's brother, Matlock also was approached by a handsome young sheriff, Conrad McMasters, to find evidence in killing Ryan.

Other guest stars: R.G. Armstrong as Sherrif Dalton Parks, Fred Thompson as Gordon Lewis, Terri Hanauer as Prosecutor Melissa Lyle, and Richard Newton as Judge Richard Cooksey, and Lee Lively as Judge Stone.

After Conrad calms Matlock down, realizing he was framed for all the dope that he had in his car, Matlock investigates the three guys who killed Bartell, and discovers that each of whom were all liars. In the end, Matlock hired Conrad as a full-time partner and private investigator in Atlanta, after Conrad leaves his hometown of Manteo, North Carolina.

Guest stars: R.G. Armstrong as Sherrif Dalton Parks, Fred Thompson as Gordon Lewis, Terri Hanauer as Prosecutor Melissa Lyle, Lee Lively as Judge Stone

A woman's son (Brian Bloom) resents that his mom (Leslie Bevis) has a new husband (John Calvin), and makes sure to have his feelings about it out in the open. Her husband, feeling that her son needs to be straightened out, wants to send him to a military school. But when he refuses, her husband tells him that unless he goes, his mother is going to know what he has been doing. So he kills him. Eventually, his mother is arrested, and Ben defends her.

While Matlock is in Texas, for a lawyer's convention, Julie defends Phillip Slayton (Don Galloway), the man accused of killing his wife.

Julie goes to Baltimore to defend the guy (Alan Fudge), who accused of killing the newspaper editor (Bruce Kirby) who used his name in the air. Julie asks Matlock if Conrad's there to do some investigation, when he has too many things to do, leaving Matlock to do most of his investigative work with Julie, who was with her divorced husband (Barry Jenner).

Homer Fleming (Hy Anzell), the clown, asks Ben Matlock to represent him, as he has been accused of killing his partner, Simon (Raye Birk). When Conrad told Matlock he was interested in doing investigative work while attending the circus, Matlock finds out that everybody had a good reason to dislike Simon Le Simple.

Sexy actress Catherine McKay (Anita Morris) had her first and only blockbuster movie in her career. When one of the actors stabbed her for real, the director, Noel Bishop (Dennis Christopher), is accused of her murder.

After John Jackson (Michael Champion) was accused of murdering Rudy Chambers (Bob Minor), there is a prison Riot and The prisoners take control of the jail. The Attorney General Peter Garner asks Matlock to go to the prison because the prisoners want to try John Jackson of murder in a kangaroo court. So, Ben goes and meets Steve Mazarowski who is going to be the Prosecuting attorney and tells him that Tiny (Tommy "Tiny" Lister Jr.), will be with him at all times as his bodyguard. When Lenny Marcus (David Paymer), who saw Rudy's murderer, will not testify, Ben and Tiny later find him murdered. (Tiny later says that Rudy was a friend of his.)

Other guest stars: David Paymer as Lenny Marcus, Daniel Quinn as Art Spring, Troy Evans as Dick Henderson, Terry Bozeman as Attorney General Peter Garner, Colin Hamilton as Ed Harper, Louis Hacsi as Charlie Hauk, Ji-Tu Cumbuka as Jerry Stone, and David Carradine as Steve Mazarowski, Ron Taylor as Deacon Holmes (Steve Mazaroswki's prisoner bodyguard), Conor O"Farrell as Billy Castell, Richard Zobell as Val Delaney, John Lehne as Newman (the prisoner judge), Wilfredo Hernández as C.J.

While Matlock finds the weapon that indicates the deaths of both Chambers' and Marcus' in jail, Conrad works outside of jail to clear the guard and to keep Ben safe.

Guest stars: Daniel Quinn, Troy Evans, Terry Bozeman, David Carradine, Ron Taylor, Colin Hamilton, Ji-Tu Cumbuka, John Lehne, Michael Mederios as Jim Beck, Conor O"Farrell as Billy Castell, Richard Zobell, John Toles-Bey as Mike Saunders, Anthony Charnota as Red, Greg Rusin as Greenwood Guard

Matlock knew Drew Carey (Tim Ryan) since he was a little boy. He is actually being framed for the murder of his uncle (David Tress), prior to his crazy temper tantrums. Matlock thought Drew was a nice person, when Drew himself turned into a corrupt, young man, who refused to follow his lawyer's orders suspecting that Valerie (Terri Garber) (a young woman who married her husband) actually had done it, when she was having an affair with a construction worker. Despite Drew finding himself innocent for not killing his uncle, Judge Sawyer (Lucille Meredith) also sentenced him to an indefinite community service, due to his behavioral problems, both inside and outside the court.

It's November 1955. Four of Ben's collegemates were spending some time during their vacation, when they picked up a hitchhiker (Beth Black), who subsequently dies. Her death is blamed on a poor black local named Calvin Stokes (Arnold Johnson). Almost 35 years later, one of them (who had left before the girl died) informs Ben of this fact in a posthumous letter, and begs the Atlanta attorney to find out the truth of what happened. Over dinner, Ben confronts the survivors, who deny everything. Later, after Conrad briefs his boss on the investigation so far, Ben starts his car, and an ignition bomb explodes. Conrad pulls Ben out and saves his boss's life. Conrad then investigates the three friends, one of whom, apparently, almost killed Matlock.

Before heading off to California, Matlock passes his first case to Michelle, who's boss's paperboy (Michael Mantell) was arrested for the murder, when in fact, Sandra Townsend (Caitlin Clarke), who's an old friend of Michelle's actually did it, when her ex-boyfriend threatens to expose her love life. At first, Michelle hated to do that to Sandra, after putting her on the stand, but she did, and her old classmate had connived her in not confessing to it.

After Dan Galloway (James Harper) fired the executive producer and humiliated three women on the air, he gets murdered, and the suspects are not running short. Almost everybody wanted the guy dead, but it's Matlock's job to prove whether Marla (Kathryn Leigh Scott), Leanne (Leann Hunley) or Katherine (Samantha Eggar) was found guilty of his murder.

Michelle and Conrad search through Matlock's old cases to find out who actually held Matlock hostage.

A jealous, hotshot lawyer, David O'Malley (Richard Masur) hires Matlock to represent him, after O'Malley is accused of killing Sam Chandler (John Anderson), a client whom O'Malley recently discovered to be having an affair with O'Malley's wife (Katherine Cannon).

After Matlock's client, O'Malley, fired Angela Page (Lynn Whitfield), for telling her not to go to the memorial of Chandler, she goes to Conrad to help her find the informer that will track down his murderer.

When the popular Los Angeles judge Raymond Price charges Matlock for his contempt in court, he is soon found dead and Matlock needs to defend himself for his murder, while in Los Angeles.

Guest stars: Richard Newton as Judge Richard Cooksey (Uncredited), James Cromwell as Judge Raymond Price, Will Jeffries as D.A. Ferber, David Hayward as Lt. Judd Myerson, Joe Regalbuto as Arthur Prescott, Earl Boen as Judge George Clayton, J. Kenneth Campbell as Scott Walker, Rob Steinberg as A.D.A. O'Connor, Diane Shalet as Mrs. Hawkins, Don Calfa as Andrew Sloan, Charles Siebert as Dr. Gilbert Lehman, Miguel Sandoval as Carlos Berman, Roger Aaron Brown as Daryl Wilson, and Robert Clotworthy as Prosecutor in L.A.

While Michelle continues to defend Matlock for the murder of Judge Price, Conrad gets a job as a bartender, but failed to cooperate with the FBI, which led to his temporary arrest.

After Det. Ed Tobias (Robert Ginty) was exposing his co-workers to the top brass (they sold the drugs they didn't turn in), he was murdered. Lt. Bob Brooks (David Froman) asks Matlock to defend the accused killer (Titus Welliver), the only one on the squad who wasn't on the take. While playing baseball with Conrad, Matlock is happy to defend Bauer, esp. if Bauer is a nasty as his friends were, because he knew what they were doing and kept quiet.

Thinking that somebody is from the bookie's past is the guilty party, Matlock takes on the case of the singing gambler (Ron Taylor) who was accused of killing his bookie (Brett Porter).

Matlock sends Conrad to Chicago to collect the evidence that will prove Tyler's innocence.

A popular actor with a bad reputation (Stephen Meadows) is murdered whilst heading unto the premiere, a judge friend of Matlock's (Paul Lambert) asks Matlock to defend the son (Stephen Nichols), a biker who had been fired from his job previously. Nicky also gets into a fight with Conrad, and all the other bikers as Matlock's car come over and he begs Nicky to either get in his car or face life in prison.

When a stockbroker, Richard Wagner (Robert Sampson), was murdered, his ex-partner, Avery Cambell (Jerry Hardin), calls Julie for help. Julie's boss, Stanley Hayden (Andrew Robinson) forces her to indict him.

Parents Howard and Amy Boggs (Allan Royal and Ann Dusenberry) have their plans answered when their only daughter Jill (Christine Elise) plans to give them her child she was carrying. After Jill changed her mind and is found dead, her parents are the number one suspects in her murder.

Michelle's ex-boyfriend, Arthur Saxon (S.A. Griffin), a former disc jockey who was found not guilty of killing Robby Moore, is back to emcee the event in which Matlock was honored to be "The Man of The Year." Matlock was honored to appear, too. However, the problem was that Matlock's car broke down and he had no choice other than to ask his housekeeper Mrs.McCardle (Marge Redmond) for a ride. An easy, yet short trip turns into a flat tire, a hostage situation and an afternoon in jail. Arthur decides to host the show without Matlock, having to appear in the ceremony, in a rude manner and suggested that Michelle, Julie and even himself talk about how they enjoyed working for their boss.

Business partners, Marvin Shea (Lawrence Dobkin) and Sid Franklin (Bill Macy) have been working associates for over 30 years. Their bank loan has been denied and are unable to pay the bill, therefore, Marv talked Sid into hiring an arsonist to collect the money, so they can rebuild all over. Before Marv has an opportunity to talk with the arsonist, once again, he was found dead outside his daughter's wedding, hence, Sid got a guilty conscious.

A.D.A. Howard Wright (John Carter) is murdered in his workshop. So the attorney general approaches Matlock and asks him to take on the assignment of special prosecutor. With the help of Michelle and Conrad, Matlock investigates Wright's past, and notices the man was spending money that he could not have earned legitimately. While investigating the names that Wright had left behind, Matlock finds himself embroiled in a lawsuit involving Maxwell Toys.

Michelle and Conrad encourages Matlock to find out what is happening with the Wright case, when Matlock is being disqualified from the final round of the competition. There are a number of entertaining subplots, including a Deep Throat who tells Ben to "follow the money."

Matlock, accompanied by Julie, heads to his hometown for a family reunion, but things get pretty chaotic when the best friend of his cousin's son is killed and the rival, Russ Gifford (Cyril O'Reilly), is charged with the murder. Also, the entire town happens to be against Matlock, as many of them believe that Matlock thinks that he is better than they are, he being a big city lawyer.

Other guest stars: Warren Frost as Billy Lewis, Kathleen Freeman as Lucy Lewis, Alan Fudge as Jack Sylvester, Dion Anderson as Harley Wilkes, Michael Ensign as a Doctor, Anne Haney as Aunt Elsie, Stacy Keach, Sr. as Sam Carothers

When a second young man dies under normal apparently circumstances, Matlock continues to represent Gifford, in North Carolina. In Atlanta, Conrad investigates the tattoo that connects the case together.

Guest stars: Warren Frost, Kathleen Freeman, Alan Fudge, Dion Anderson, Michael Ensign, Anne Haney, Stacy Keach, Sr., Tom Urich as a small claims judge

The marriage counselor, Dr. Harding Fletcher (Bryan Cranston) has been murdered. All of his suspects not only include his co-workers, but also the couples he helped out; apparently part of his treatment was seducing the female half of the couples.

While eating out with Julie, a chance meeting with a woman (Julianna McCarthy) causes Matlock to relate the story about the investigation, a long, long time ago, about a widow that Ben's father (also played by Andy Griffith) thinks may have been responsible for the death of his friend – her husband (Daniel Benzali).

Guest star: Steve Witting as Young Ben Matlock

Matlock represents a rich widow (Brynn Thayer) who is charged with the murder of her husband, while Michelle helps in defending a father (Pepe Serna) accused of killing the drug dealer who got his child hooked - a dealer who just happened to be a cop. While running undercover, Conrad gets into an accident.

Teenager Danny Hayes (David Kaufman) is on trial for the murder of his father. Danny honestly believed that his father was about to kill his mother as he threatened to, but the testimony of his father's best friend threatens Danny's chances at freedom.

The producer of the popular game show "It's About Time" is murdered, and Matlock defends the aging host Dennis Blake at the request of a friend of Conrad's, while Michelle goes undercover as a contestant.

Ben's disagreeable cousin Diana Huntington (Christina Pickles) comes to Matlock's house and tells him her husband (Reiner Schone) has left her for another woman. So she asks him to locate Jack while using a doctored photograph to help find him. Later, someone driving Diana's car hits Jack while he was jogging; as a result, Diana is charged with his murder. Matlock reluctantly represents her.

Matlock successfully defends his cousin Diana Huntington on charges of murdering her husband. However, when all is said and done, he still cannot stand her.

When a waitress's ex-boyfriend Dwayne Meeks (John D'Aquino) is murdered, Conrad begs Matlock to defend the waitress, Anne Johnson (Marilyn Jones),^[1] who is also a friend of Conrad's. It is discovered that Dwayne was a womanizer and not a very nice guy. Matlock soon notices that her son Jimmy (Jordan Christopher Michael) is the key to the entire case.

Billy Finley (Bill Winkler) is constantly the butt of his co-worker's jokes, and is fired after he makes a fool out of himself on two different stories - one with Matlock, the other with politician Joe Bivins (Jim Jansen). Shortly after, the body of another fired co-worker, Doug Levitt (Leon Russom), is found, and Billy is the first suspect. Matlock agrees to defend Billy, who then makes another scene as he confronts Diane Becker (Mary Gordon Murray) at the office, accusing her of being behind the second prank, which ended up getting him fired. What Matlock doesn't realize is that Levitt faked his own death, and he and Becker were involved in a scheme to make a lot of money by airing incorrect news regarding a report by the zoning commission. While Conrad keeps an eye on their third partner, Nelson Adelson (Stuart Margolin), Matlock also tries to get out of a ticket for failure to stop at a stop sign.

The real murderer winds up being killed himself, which does not help Matlock's client (Bill Winkler) much. Not only that, but there's a real estate scam looming in the wings that also affects the case.

While the local mayor is assassinated, Matlock's daughter Leanne McIntyre comes to town to prove the case. The case takes a different turn when Judge Arthur Eller is accused of murdering a local man's wife, and Matlock and Leanne have to work out their relationship together to clear Eller of murder. Guest Stars: Eddie Jones as Chief Colin Young and Daniel Roebuck as Prosecutor Mr. Sodowsky

Matlock and Leanne continue to try to clear Eller of Murder. Guest star: Eddie Jones as Chief Colin Young

Ben and Leanne head to the beach where Leanne reunites with three friends from college, and Ben reunites with someone from his past who just happens to be the brother of the woman whose heart Ben "broke" years earlier.

A murder victim returns from the dead as a ghost and asks Matlock to defend his wife, who is charged with his death.

Ben discusses his career and the idea of "The Perfect Murder" with a law class. But when one of the students vanishes, the university thinks Ben's speech sparked an extracurricular Murder.

When a producer is accused of murdering his country singer client, Ben comes to his defense.

Guest stars: Jason Beghe as Lt. Pat Rutledge, Peter Jurasik as Steve Fisher, Joyce Leigh Bowden as Kathy Westfall, Fredric Lehne as John Page, Terry Loughlin as Judge Edwards, Grayce Spence as Judge Drake, Tod Brenner as a Detective, and Diana Taylor as Prosecutor Ms. Harrington

Ben is planning a birthday fishing trip with Leanne, but a summon for jury duty puts a damper on their trip. Despite his convictions that no lawyer would want him on their jury. Ben ends up being juror number six, and while everyone else on the jury wants to convict Travis Spaulding of the murder of his wife. It is Ben alone that thinks they need to take a closer look at the evidence before sentencing the man to death. Unfortunately, tempers flare in the jury room as the jurors soon become divided between guilty and innocent.

Guest star: Fred Thompson as Prosecutor McGonigal

The nephew of a eccentric millionaire is accused of murdering his uncle after they were seen arguing, and Cliff is sent to work in the uncle's zoo in order to gather information to exonerate him. Meanwhile, Billy persuades Ben to defend him in court after he becomes involved in an investment scheme gone awry.

Guest stars: Warren Frost as Billy Lewis, H. Richard Greene as Ron Welker, Assistant D.A. Ms. Harrington, Jordan Rhoades as Lt. Harmon Andrews.

Ben, Leanne, and Cliff continue to try and exonerate the nephew of murder.

Ben witnesses a robbery at a convenience store, but things start happening that made him look like he's losing it, including messing with his papers, sending him to wrong parties and submitting phony pictures of his rump to newspapers. Ben realizes that someone is trying to set him up. So, he, Cliff and Conrad look into some of his old cases, trying to figure out which recently released killer is out to get him. It turns out to be Cissy Lockwood (Bonnie Burroughs) from the episode "Mr. Awesome".

Duncan and Clara Farmington seemed to have the perfect marriage. Now they want the perfect divorce. What starts out as a simple division of property turns nasty as Leanne represents the wife and Ben the husband. At the same time, Ben is being sued for millions by a con artist who faked getting seriously injured at Ben's house.

Ben invites homeless man Lenny to live with him, while trying to find out if the archbishop was meant to die in a plot — a plot that includes an ex-football player, his wife, her lover and the Mafia.

Ben is still trying to untangle the mystery of the death of the archbishop.

Guest star: Jordan Rhoades as Lt. Harmon Andrews

Matlock doesn't think a young piano player committed suicide. Nor does the girl's father, who hires Ben to find out what really happened.

While out of town at a wedding, an ill Ben witnesses a man attack a woman from the window of the hotel, and learns the next day that the woman has been murdered. He's convinced that the man murdered the woman, and has a hard time convincing the police that the man he saw through the window was not the woman's husband, whom Matlock had also seen through the window earlier that day.

A comedian named Harvey Chase (Milton Berle) is accused of murdering another comic who insulted him, and Ben defends him.

Ben continues his five-year struggle to save a con artist from the electric chair.

Abductors try to kidnap Leanne but kidnap Billy Lewis and hold him for ransom by accident instead.

FBI agent Ed Wingate (J. Kenneth Campbell), who was in charge of Billy's kidnapping, is charged with murdering another FBI agent.

Ben agrees to defend Wally McDaniels, a fellow choir member, after he is arrested for killing the man who turned him into the police for stealing rare books.

Matlock reluctantly agrees to spend the weekend as part of a murder mystery with Cliff, Leanne and three other people who each paid $10,000 for the privilege of matching wits with the famous Ben Matlock. When the pretend victim actually turns up dead, they know that one of the three paying visitors killed him. Leanne has her father keep the three suspects occupied with stories of previous cases, while she and Cliff investigate.

Ben vies with a formidable A.D.A Michael Brennen (George Dzundza) while defending a client accused of killing a city councilwoman, and discovers a secret hiding in the D.A.'s past that is affecting his judgment in this case.

In a backdoor pilot, after Ben briefly meets Jesse Morgan (Tracy Nelson) in the teaser, the remainder is set in Los Angeles and centered entirely on Jesse and her father (George Peppard) with no Matlock characters even mentioned.

Guest star: Jonathan Banks as Jack Starling

Sam Haskins (Scott N. Stevens), an aspiring young lawyer who is a fan of Matlock, is accused of having murdered a P.I. who tried to blackmail him with spicy pictures.

Matlock continues to try to free Sam Haskins.

Matlock defends a journalist who is accused of killing an underworld figure in self defense after meeting with him for an interview.

When Ben defends attorney Lisa Swift (Melora Hardin), who is accused of murdering her boss Bruce Parnelee (David Purdham), he also uncovers a history of sexual harassment involving the law firm.

A basketball coach is accused of murdering an influential booster, and Ben decides to take his case.

Julie March returns from L.A. for a legal conference, and when a former snitch calls her to the jailhouse and admits that she lied, Julie convinces Ben to defend the man, an admitted thief who had one rule... never break into a house when anyone is home. After Jerri Stone (Carol Huston) talks with Susan Kellogg, a woman who lost her daughter to a hit-and-run driver around the same time that Brenda Chaney was murdered, Ben realizes there may be more to this case then meets the eye. Julie also tells him that she's been proposed to and is thinking about getting married again, and asks him what he thinks she should do, and she tells him she's always had feelings for him. At the end of the episode, she says that she decided not to get married yet.

Katie Clark (Jane Sibbett) is a hot new prosecutor in town, fresh from St. Louis, but originally from Atlanta. Her first case involves prosecuting a building contractor, Jack Gibson (Josh Taylor), who has been accused of murdering one of his employees (who just happens to be Clark's former lover). Ben agrees to let her continue on the case, as he is impressed by her desire to not allow her personal past with Gibson get in the way of her duty.

Matlock is the unlikely witness when a boat blows up killing Judge Michael Sterns (Robert D. Raiford). Had it not been for Ben's sea-sickness, he would have been on the boat. Convinced that someone was out to get him and not Judge Sterns, Ben, Cliff, and Jerri take a look through some of Matlock's old cases, including Jeffrey Spidell (Richard Gilliland) from the season six episode The "Strangler". It turns out that Jeffrey Spidell is the one who is trying to kill him.

While Cliff, Jerri and Billy plan to throw Ben a surprise party for his birthday, Ben agrees to pick up a barbecue. While there, his car breaks down, he's mugged, the phone eats the last quarter he has... and by the time he is rescued by activist Stan Johnson (Christopher Birt) and returned to his car, it's half-stripped and the thieves have stolen his barbecue. Ben is very impressed by the young man, and when he's accused of trying to kill the landlord of the apartment complex he lives in, Ben steps in to defend him and to stand up to the landlord George Mitchell (H. Richard Greene), who is a very respected man in the legal community.

Ben and Jerri head out to the beach with Billy and Cliff, while Cliff is preparing for an upcoming triathlon. Once there, Ben is surprised to run into Ex-F.B.I. agent Ed Wingate (J. Kenneth Campbell), who is investigating a case of his own. While Ben keeps himself busy occasionally running into Ed, Cliff throws himself into the completion, and Billy throws himself at Anita Montrose, the real estate agent who rented them the beach house they're staying in.

When one of the people who Wingate is investigating is found dead, Ben agrees to defend his old friend.