The show is about widower Ben Matlock (Andy Griffith), a renowned, folksy and popular though cantankerous attorney.

Matlock also has conspicuously finicky fashion sense; he generally appears in court wearing a trademark light gray suit and, over the series' entire run, owned three generations of the Ford Crown Victoria—always an all-gray model (Griffith's characters had always driven Ford products since his series, The Andy Griffith Show).

In that episode, Matlock blames Dr. Mark Sloan (Dick Van Dyke) for recommending a disastrous investment in 8-track tapes, in which he lost his savings of $5,000 in 1969 (equivalent to $32,000 in 2023), forcing him into wearing cheap suits and living on hot dogs.

Toward the end of the first season, Matlock took on cocky law student Cassie Phillips (played by Kari Lizer) as an office worker.

After the first season ended, Purl departed from the series and her character, Charlene, moved to Philadelphia to start her own law practice.

To begin the second season, Matlock went to London to try a case where he met Michelle Thomas (played by Nancy Stafford), a young American lawyer.

In season one's "The Seduction", Stafford played Caryn Nelson/Carole Nathan, a high-class prostitute who was paid off to commit perjury against Matlock's client.

Matlock hired Conrad McMasters (Clarence Gilyard Jr.), a young, former North Carolina deputy sheriff, to be his new detective.

In the season finale ("The Assassination", episodes 21–22) she appeared as Leanne MacIntyre, Ben's previously unmentioned daughter who takes on the case of a murdered mayor.

Daniel Roebuck joined Thayer as a new regular for season seven as Cliff Lewis, a naive young lawyer and associate.

In the first episode of season nine ("The Accused") Ben tells Billy that Leanne moved to Los Angeles, seems to like her job, and "has a fella."

In the final season, Carol Huston joined the series as Jerri Stone, a private investigator helping Cliff in his duties.

Griffith, Purl, Holliday, Stafford, Gilyard Jr., Thayer, Sommars, Lizer, Roebuck and Huston were all featured in the intros for their respective seasons.

Jake and the Fatman was a spin-off on CBS based on a character who originated in "The Don" (1986), a two-part Matlock episode from season one.

Executive producers Fred Silverman and Dean Hargrove were responsible for both Matlock and Jake and the Fatman, as well as Diagnosis: Murder, created by Joyce Burditt (which itself was a spin-off of Jake and the Fatman) in 1993, also on CBS; Father Dowling Mysteries in 1988 on NBC and ABC; and the 30 Perry Mason made-for-TV movies from 1985 until 1995 on NBC.

[14] In January 2023, CBS announced development of a new series starring Kathy Bates and Skye P. Marshall, with David Del Rio, Leah Lewis and Jason Ritter supporting and gave a pilot order in February.

[17] The show is set to premiere on September 22, 2024, on CBS and streaming on Paramount+, then start airing in its regular timeslot (Thursday 9pm) on October 17, 2024.