Changes
Originally, the series premiered with Ben Matlock having a law practice with his daughter Charlene (played originally by Lori Lethin in the pilot movie; Linda Purl took over the role when the series went to air). Matlock also employed Tyler Hudson, a stock market whiz (played by Kene Holliday), as a private investigator. Tyler would often go undercover for Matlock in various guises trying to gather information. Matlock's most frequent prosecutorial adversary was Nebraska native Julie March, (played by Julie Sommars, who's also a Nebraskan in real-life). Although the two had a professional rivalry- with Julie being a prosecutor and Matlock a defense lawyer- their relationship outside of court was very cordial and the two often spent time together outside of court.
Toward the end of season one, Matlock also took on Cassie Phillips, a cocky young lawyer (played by Kari Lizer), as an assistant. After the season was over, Linda Purl departed from the series due to disputes regarding her character and her castmates and Charlene was written out of the series by having moved to Philadelphia to start her own law practice. To begin the season, Matlock went over to England to try a case and met Michelle Thomas, a young American lawyer living in London (played by Nancy Stafford), while doing so. After the case was over, Michelle followed Matlock back to the United States and took over Charlene's role as partner. Cassie stayed on as file clerk until the end of the second season, when she disappeared for reasons never made clear. With Lizer's departure Julie Sommars became a regular cast member.
After season three, Kene Holliday was fired due to his ongoing battle with drugs and alcohol, and Tyler was written out as having quit. Matlock hired a former young North Carolina deputy sheriff, Conrad McMasters (played by Clarence Gilyard, Jr.) to be his new private eye. Like Tyler, Conrad would go undercover to gather information about the cases at hand. However, since the two characters were polar opposites — Tyler, being the day trader he was, carried himself with more of an aristocratic air while Conrad was more of a blue-collar worker type man— there were some differences in the manner in which Conrad went at his job. He and Matlock became fast friends as well, as they were alike in many ways. Also during this time, Andy Griffith's old co-star (played by Don Knotts) began making frequent appearances as "Ace" Calhoun, Matlock's annoying next door neighbor.
On the last episode of the sixth season, Brynn Thayer made a guest appearance as Ben Matlock's other (and to that point unmentioned) daughter Leanne MacIntyre, who had become a prosecutor in Philadelphia and who had married and divorced. She joined the cast full-time the next season playing a similar role to Linda Purl's as her sister Charlene in the first season. Daniel Roebuck joined Thayer as a new regular for the seventh season, playing the role of ne'er-do-well Cliff Lewis, a young private investigator and associate who seemed to bounce around from job to job. Warren Frost also joined the cast in a recurring role as Cliff's father Billy, an old nemesis from Matlock's past as Ben had stood his sister up at the altar in order to pursue his law degree. The move to ABC caused a fair amount of cast turnover as Nancy Stafford left the series and Julie Sommars followed, although she would play a recurring role in several episodes, while Don Knotts' character was cut from the series. Clarence Gilyard remained on, but with the addition to Roebuck to the cast and the character of Cliff Lewis becoming a second private investigator, his role was diminished somewhat. After season seven, Gilyard left to play Texas Ranger Jimmy Trivette on Walker, Texas Ranger and Cliff took over Conrad's role as Matlock's chief PI.
Matlock had largely become, like Silverman and Hargrove's Perry Mason revival, a "movie-of-the-week" type series by its ninth season. Part of the reason for this was Griffith's advancing age, as he was wanting to spend more time with his family as he was pushing seventy. Before that season, Brynn Thayer departed from the series and Leanne was never heard from again. Carol Huston joined the series as Jerri Stone, a secondary private investigator helping out Cliff in his duties. Like Conrad McMasters, Jerri and Matlock had shared hobbies including singing.
Coinciding with the move to ABC was also a change in filming venues. After taping in California for its entire run on NBC, requiring Griffith to commute from his home in North Carolina to the west coast, ABC moved production to DEG Film Studios in Wilmington to ease the travel burden on Griffith. The Perry Mason-style whodunit format was also adjusted to a more Columbo-style howcatchem format.
Although never officially confirmed, a widespread rumor suggests that the character of Ben Matlock was based largely on well-known Georgia attorney Bobby Lee Cook. Cook, whose practice also includes representation of plaintiffs for personal injuries, is frequently called the dean of Georgia criminal defense attorneys.
The long-running show finally ended in 1995, when Andy Griffith, who in the lead role was the only actor to appear in all 195 episodes of the series, decided that at the age of 69, he wanted to take a break from acting to spend more time with his family.
The show has been mentioned on TV's longest animated series The Simpsons by two of their characters Grandpa Simpson & Jacqueline Bouvier as devoted fans of the series.
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