All hail Kathy Bates. The Oscar-winning veteran’s return to broadcast TV with CBS‘ Matlock delivered Live+Same Day linear viewership numbers we rarely see anymore. The “sneak peak” premiere of Jennie Snyder Uraman’s reimagening of the Andy Griffin classic with Bates as the eponymous attorney averaged 7.73 million viewers Sunday in time adjusted Fast National L+SD Nielsen ratings.
That was CBS’ largest audience for a non-post-Super Bowl series premiere in five and a half years, since The Code‘s April 9, 2019 debut after NCIS.
While benefitting from some Steelers-Chargers halo effect (and free promotion via Chargers star Scott Matlock’s jersey), Matlock did not immediately follow the game — it aired behind its lead-out, newsmagazine 60 Minutes.
Time-adjusted numbers for 60 Minutes are not available (CBS’ primetime was delayed in a few East Coast markets), but preliminary estimates suggest that Matlock built upon its 60 Minutes lead-in by about 1 million viewers. That is another major feat for the rookie, whose premiere was pushed to this fall from last season due to the Hollywood strikes.
The big ratings start followed strong reviews, with Matlock currently at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. The CBS Studios-produced series also has been embraced by fans who have flooded social media with positive — and shocked — reactions, approving of the pilot episode’s surprise twist, which Urman dissected in an interview with Deadline.
That is a validation for CBS and CBS Studios who supported Urman’s vision for a series with an older lead, casting 70-something Bates as the title character.
In Canada, the Matlock sneak peek premiere was Sunday’s #1 show among total viewers, with nearly 1.2 million tuning in to watch.
The first episode of Matlock is currently streaming on Paramount+ with encore CBS broadcasts scheduled Oct. 8 and Oct. 10. The series will start airing originals in its regular Thursday 9 PM time slot on Oct. 17.
