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- While eating out with Julie, Matlock has a chance meeting with a random woman . Matlock realizes she is Claire Mayfield, whom he and his father helped convict as an accessory to the murder of her rich husband, Henry , and has recently been released from prison. The story of the case is then presented in flashback, with Andy Griffith playing Ben's father Charlie, and Steve Witting portraying a younger Ben.
Note: Nancy Stafford and Clarence Gilyard Jr. do not appear in this episode. (en)
- When one of Conrad's friends, waitress and single mother Anne Johnson , is accused of killing her ex-boyfriend, Dwayne Meeks , Conrad begs Matlock to defend her. It is discovered that Dwayne was a womanizer and not a very nice guy. Matlock soon notices that Anne's son, Jimmy who has a talent for drawing and enjoys making comics , has the key to the entire case. He uses Jimmy's drawings to expose Dwayne's killer, and Jimmy makes Ben the hero's sidekick in his comic.
Note: Nancy Stafford and Julie Sommars do not appear in this episode. (en)
- At a forced halt in a Wild West town while on a bus trip to a dude ranch with Julie, Conrad, Michelle, and Lt. Brooks, Matlock is hit on the head by a falling sign and wakes up in the era of the Old West, where he meets Wild West equivalents of his friends and acquaintances. He has to save Conrad from an angry lynch mob after Conrad is accused of murdering the town sheriff , but is being frequently disturbed by Michelle, a lovely saloon girl, and Julie, the vengeance-seeking sister of the deceased. Eventually, Matlock awakens just as he exposes Michelle as the killer and she is about to kill him, and continues on his way after a shocking encounter with the bus mechanic . (en)
- While at a lawyer's convention, Ben runs into an old friend who has since become legal counsel to mobster Jay Cutler. When his friend is murdered, Matlock plans to make a statement to the police. His plans change when Michelle is kidnapped by thugs working for Cutler, who force information from the attorney. Matlock and Conrad soon have to weigh their professional ethics against her life.
Note: Julie Sommars does not appear in this episode. (en)
- Larry Fisher, the producer of the popular game show "It's About Time", is murdered during a blackout that occurs during a taping, the murder weapon being an apple peeler belonging to the aging host Dennis Blake . Matlock defends Blake at a request of a friend of Conrad's, while Michelle goes undercover as a contestant to expose a cheating scandal.
Guest stars: David Froman as Lt. Bob Brooks, Chuck Sloan as A.D.A. McGarth, Bruce Fairbarin as Walter Beldon, Kathleen Garrett as Marjorie Wood, Peter Haskell as Emcee Dennis Blake, Juanita Jennings as an Assistant, Arthur Rosenberg as Larry Fisher, Dana Sparks as Kari Summers, Mark L. Taylor as Norm Fisher, Steven Hack as Sheldon, Roger Keller as Game Show Contestant, Nancy Linari as Doreen, David Nelson as Kari Summers's body Guard, Caroline Schlitt as Rita, Alexander Zale as Judge Michael Alden
Note: Julie Sommars does not appear in this episode. (en)
- 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 his rival, Russ Gifford , 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: Kay E. Kuter as Uncle Roy, Jerry Potter as Bernie, Zack Graham as Young Max, J. Hunter as Young Noel, and Collin Nelson as Young Gary.
Note: This is the first episode to have an uptempo theme, which will be later used in the next season. This was filmed in Wilmington, North Carolina. Nancy Stafford and Clarence Gillyard Jr. do not appear in this episode. (en)
- Matlock reluctantly represents Ellis Blake , a disagreeable millionaire who's accused of murdering his daughter's gold digger fiancee, Jeffrey Holden . In taking this case, he must deal with a young, new assistant district attorney, Lauren Richmond , who, on the surface, seems to idolize Matlock, but turns out to be very unethical and sneaky; despite Ben's best attempts, Lauren, having deluded herself into being sure Ellis is guilty, plants evidence to ensure his conviction. However, ADA March and Matlock manage to catch a fluke, and working together, they expose both Lauren's duplicity and Holden's real killer, saving Matlock's client.
Note: Nancy Stafford does not appear in this episode.
Mitchell Ryan and Andy Griffith had previously worked together on the 1984 miniseries Fatal Vision which led to Griffith being cast as Matlock. The two would later work together on the 1995 TV movie Gramps, Griffith's first post-Matlock project. (en)
- After a long, stressful series of assignments, being unable to remember a client's name, and being fired from a high-stakes case, Matlock has decided to retire from the law business. A young boy from El Salvador asks him for a lift into Oak Creek. Matlock does so, but the boy dies within an hour of arriving in a farm equipment accident. Matlock suspects something is badly off about the town of Oak Creek when four different people try to get him to leave and not discuss the death, and when he discovers someone snooping in his hotel room, he decides to stick around and investigate. (en)
- Matlock, having returned to law practice, hires Billy Wheeler to paint his house. Meanwhile, Michelle works with an insurance investigator to prove that TV chef Richard Maitlin killed his rich wife Grace and framed one of her colleagues, in order to collect on the insurance money.
Note: Julie Sommars does not appear in this episode. Randy Travis makes his first of two appearances as Billy Wheeler.
Towards the end of the episode, Griffith and Travis perform a duet of "Nobody's Darling But Mine", the second time the song was featured on the show (en)
- Ben's disagreeable and abusive cousin, Diana Huntington comes to Matlock's house and tells him her husband, Jack has left her for a young painter due to being fed up with Diana frequently abusing him. She guilts him into locating Jack, only to follow and assault Jack once Ben finds him. Later, someone driving Diana's car strikes down and kills Jack while he is jogging; as a result, Diana is charged with his murder. Matlock reluctantly represents her. Meanwhile, Les plans to marry a nurse he met while shopping at the supermarket.
Note: Nancy Stafford and Julie Sommars do not appear in this episode. Don Knotts appears as Les Calhoun. (en)
- A serial killer, Jeffrey Speidel strangles his victims, including Patricia Downey , and frames Ben's tax return guy, Leo Kasbian . Matlock takes the case as Speidel makes a point of turning Matlock as the next target; his next attempt is to ruin Matlock in public, before he is killed.
Note: Nancy Stafford and Julie Sommars do not appear in this episode. (en)
- Marriage counselor Dr. Harding Fletcher has been murdered, and Ben defends an annoying insurance agent, Alan Corning , who is accused of the crime. Ben soon discovers that Alan's wife, Laura , was among the many married women sleeping with Fletcher, and that all of his suspects not only include Fletcher's co-workers, but also the couples he helped out; apparently part of Fletcher's treatment was seducing the female half of the couples.
Note: Nancy Stafford and Julie Sommars do not appear in this episode. (en)
- 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
Note: This is the first appearance of Brynn Thayer as Leanne MacIntyre. (en)
- Matlock defends his cousin Diana Huntington on charges of murdering her husband and uncovers a massive counterfeiting ring in the process. He, Michelle and Conrad manage to lay separate traps , and the police arrest everyone involved, three of whom had motive to kill Jack. Ben exposes the guilty party and saves Diana; however, he makes her promise to get therapy and warns her he'll never do her another favor again.
Note: Nancy Stafford and Julie Sommars do not appear in this episode. Don Knotts appears as Les Calhoun. (en)
- When a second young man dies under apparently normal circumstances, Matlock continues to represent Gifford. In Atlanta, Conrad investigates the tattoo that connects the case together.
Other guest stars: Kay E. Kuter as Uncle Roy, Jerry Potter as Bernie, Warren Vanders as Preacher, Zack Graham as Young Max, Bruce Gray as James Hamilton, Stacy Keach, Sr. as Judge Carothers, Jan Munroe as Prosecutor Richardson.
Note: This is the first episode to have an uptempo theme, which will be later used in the next season. This was filmed in Wilmington, North Carolina. Nancy Stafford does not appear in the this episode. (en)
- Matlock represents a rich widow, Roxanne Windemere , who is charged with the murder of her husband, while Michelle takes a pro bono case defending a father accused of killing the drug dealer who got his child hooked.
Note: Brynn Thayer guest-stars as Roxanne Windemere in this episode. She will play Leanne McIntyre at the end of this season. Julie Sommars does not appear in this episode. (en)
- Billy Finley 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 . Shortly after, the body of another fired co-worker, Doug Levitt , is found, and Billy is the first suspect. Matlock agrees to defend Billy, who then makes another scene as he confronts Diane Becker 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 , Matlock also tries to get out of a ticket for failure to stop at a stop sign.
Note: Nancy Stafford and Julie Sommars do not appear in this episode. (en)
- Matlock discovers that, while the rich widow was innocent of killing her husband, she has several dirty secrets up her sleeve connected to the drug-dealer case Michelle is working on. Roxanne duped Matlock into unwittingly covering for her, while her real alibi was that she was murdering the dealer. He seeks revenge, but finds that convicting her of her other crimes will be nearly impossible thanks to attorney-client privilege issues, and that he must find a legal loophole.
Note: Brynn Thayer guest-stars as Roxanne Windemere in this episode. She will play Leanne McIntyre at the end of this season. Julie Sommars does not appear in this episode. (en)
- The prominent members of Oak Creek township decide something must be done about Matlock, who is getting close to unraveling their scheme. After a little snooping at the undertaker's office uncovers a suspicious fact, Matlock drives off to inform the local sheriff about it, only to have a man try to run him off the road with a pickup truck. Matlock begins to suspect the sheriff is in on it too. He brings Conrad in to help, but Conrad is shot and Matlock must ask the owner of the hotel, Alice , to put her own life at risk to help him save Conrad and unravel the dirty secrets of Oak Creek once and for all. He then decides to return to Atlanta and come out of retirement, realizing he loves helping people too much to quit. (en)
- Matlock and Leanne continue to defent judge Eller of murder his lover.
Guest Stars: Eddie Jones as Chief Colin Young and Daniel Roebuck as Prosecutor Mr. Sodowsky
Note: This is the final appearance of Michelle Thomas and final regular appearannce of Julie March. This was also the final episode to air on NBC. (en)
- The real murderer winds up being killed, which does not help Matlock's client much. Not only that, but there's a real estate scam looming in the wings that also affects the case.
Note: Nancy Stafford and Julie Sommars do not appear in this episode. (en)
- Teenager Danny Hayes is on trial for the murder of his father, Frank, though Matlock claims it was justifiable homicide. Danny honestly believed that his father was about to kill his mother, Christine, but the untrue testimony of his father's best friend threatens Danny's chances at freedom; on Matlock's advice, Danny takes the stand and tells his side of the story. This episode heavily focuses on the long-term effects of unreported domestic abuse. This is also the only episode where Matlock knows from the start that his client actually committed the crime, and his goal in the episode is proving Danny's actions were to defend his mother.
Note: Julie Sommars and Clarence Gilyard Jr. do not appear in this episode. (en)
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