Kathy Bates triumphs: ‘Matlock’ ends first season as TV’s top new series
It's official — Matlock is a certified hit. The CBS legal drama starring Oscar winner Kathy Bates is TV's top new show — drawing an average of 17 million viewers across the broadcast network and Paramount+ in the Live+35 ratings category, according to Nielsen (the metric tracks the total number of viewers who watched a program within 35 days of its live broadcast, including both live and delayed viewers). It's also the No. 2 series overall behind CBS' Tracker starring Justin Hartley.
The twisted two-hour season finale on April 17 delivered 5.6 million viewers and was the night’s number one primetime program — a consistent spot for the freshman series that has dominated its competitive 9 p.m. time slot. In broadcast alone, Matlock delivers 9.67 million viewers with live plus seven-day ratings, up 53 percent in its time period from last year.
Bates stars as Madeline "Matty" Matlock, a widowed lawyer returning to the workforce after her late husband's gambling debts leave her in financial ruin — or so it seems. As revealed in the pilot, none of that is true. She’s actually Madeline Kingston, a wealthy, happily married grandmother grieving the loss of her daughter to an opioid overdose. Now, she’s on a quest for answers and justice within the law firm she deems responsible.
After cleverly securing a position at the Jacobson Moore law firm, Matty becomes the protégé of powerhouse attorney Olympia Lawrence (Skye P. Marshall). Each week, the legal drama tackles a new case while unraveling the larger mystery of Matty’s true identity and the missing case files tied to her daughter’s death.
"When I first met [Bates] I wanted to bend the knee and say, 'Your Grace,'" Marshall recently told Gold Derby. "Then, she reminded me very quickly that she is a woman from Memphis. She didn't come from money. She was the underdog who booked Misery when she had to go toe-to-toe up against some [big] names, just like I had to do for Matlock. She's so grounded and so real. She's always a student — way more than she wants to be the teacher. She's way more the cheerleader than she wants to be the coach. Her goal is to be supportive and lift me up — and everybody involved. She knows every single background actor and crew member's name. She's living her life on purpose and not on entitlement."
For her role as Matty Matlock, Bates won a 2025 Critics Choice Award and was nominated for a Golden Globe and SAG Award. She currently leads Gold Derby's odds for Best Drama Actress at the 2025 Emmys.
Matlock has been renewed for a second season and all episodes are available to stream on Paramount+.