Matlock (TV series)

Matlock
Genre	Legal drama Mystery
Created by	Dean Hargrove
Starring	Andy Griffith Lori Lethin Alice Hirson Kene Holliday Linda Purl Nancy Stafford Julie Sommars Kari Lizer Clarence Gilyard Jr. Brynn Thayer Daniel Roebuck Carol Huston
Theme music composer	Dick DeBenedictis
Composers	Dick DeBenedictis Artie Kane William Ross[1]
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	9
No. of episodes	193 (+ pilot movie) (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Fred Silverman Dean Hargrove (1986–91) Andy Griffith (1991–1995)
Running time	45–48 minutes
Production companies	Intermedia Entertainment Company (season 1) The Fred Silverman Company (seasons 1–9) Strathmore Productions (seasons 1–2) Dean Hargrove Productions (seasons 3–9) Viacom Productions
Original release
Network	NBC (1986–1992) ABC (1992–1995)
Release	March 3, 1986 (1986-03-03) – May 7, 1995 (1995-05-07)
Related
Jake and the Fatman Diagnosis: Murder
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

Matlock is an American mystery legal drama television series created by Dean Hargrove and starring Andy Griffith in the title role of criminal defense attorney Ben Matlock.^[2] The show, produced by Intermedia Entertainment Company (first season only), The Fred Silverman Company, Dean Hargrove Productions (called Strathmore Productions in the first two seasons) and Viacom Productions, originally aired from March 3, 1986, to May 8, 1992, on NBC, and from November 5, 1992, to May 7, 1995, on ABC.

The show's format is similar to that of CBS' Perry Mason (both Matlock and the 1980s Perry Mason television films were created by Dean Hargrove), with Matlock identifying the perpetrators and then confronting them in dramatic courtroom scenes. One difference, however, was that whereas Mason usually exculpated his clients at a pretrial hearing, Matlock usually secured an acquittal at trial from the jury.^[3]