The Gift

1The Billionaire (1)

Sep 22, 1987

Matlock flies all the way the England to represent Eric Gordon, a man accused of murdering his wealthy businessman father. His sister Laura is convinced of his innocence, but brother Mitch isn't so sure.

2The Billionaire (2)

120 minSep 22, 1987

Matlock flies all the way the England to represent Eric Gordon, a man accused of murdering his wealthy businessman father. His sister Laura is convinced of his innocence, but brother Mitch isn't so sure.

3Blind Justice

60 minSep 29, 1987

Michelle agrees to defend college chum Andrea Morrow after she is accused of murdering her abusive lover, Clay Graham. Matlock soon becomes convinced that the murderer was Clay's blind 'friend', Arthur Hampton, but will have a devil of a time proving how a blind man managed to carry off a near-perfect murder.

4The Annihilator

60 minOct 13, 1987

Matlock reluctantly agrees to represent a famous wrestler when he's accused of killing a long-time rival, but only when Cassie begs him to. The key witness in the case is a young girl who was a die-hard fan of the dead wrestler, but whose story might not be completely accurate.

5The Husband

Oct 20, 1987

When Matlock agrees to defend Cassie's friend Judy, he is shocked to learn that Judy's husband had another wife. As the case continues, Matlock learns that there was also a third Mrs. Benson, and that Kevin Benson managed to successfully maintain three separate wives in three separate households.

6The Power Brokers (1)

60 minOct 27, 1987

Matlock reluctantly takes the case when Melinda Stuart's source is murdered. The biggest problem is that she's more interested in listening to what FBI Agent Paul Davies has to say than she is in listening to him.

7The Power Brokers (2)

Nov 3, 1987

After Agent Davies offers Melinda an exclusive, she changes her plea to guilty. Matlock tries to talk to her, especially after it's revealed that the person Melinda was talking to was an imposter.

8The Network

Dec 1, 1987

Network programming chief Paul J. Bartel is murdered, leaving Hollywood baffled as to the identity of the killer. Matlock comes to town to represent the television producer accused of killing him, and finds more than his fair share of suspects. It seems everyone had a motive to kill Paul J. Bartel!

9The Best Friend

60 minDec 8, 1987

Matlock agrees to defend Vanessa Douglas when she's accused of murdering Stephen Cassidy, and author who destroyed a political families ambitions with a tell-all book. When Matlock realises his client is indeed guilty of the murder she is charged of committing, he sets up a plan to implicate her best friend, Sarah, with the crime, knowing that Vanessa will not let her friend take the blame for something she did.

10The Country Boy

60 minDec 15, 1987

Jimmy le Grand is Matlock's favorite country singer of all time. When he's accused of a hit-and-run, Matlock leaps at the chance to defend him and to house the country legend in his own home, and soon realises that is hero has turned into an alcoholic and a generally unenjoyable person.

11The Gift

60 minDec 22, 1987Now viewing

When Brian Emerson is arrested and charged with his wife's murder, Matlock takes the case, waiving his usual fee. His efforts to get the father out on bail fail when he lands a judge who has lost his Christmas spirit, and Matlock takes the young girl in with him.

12The Gambler

Dec 29, 1987

Matlock goes to Las Vegas to defend his friend, Jim Manning, after Jim is accused of murdering his girlfriend Laura, who worked for the mob laundering money.

13The Body

60 minJan 5, 1988

Matlock agrees to defend Donna Stewart when she's accused of murdering Christie Huntley, an aerobics instructor at Pinewood Spa who slept with her husband. Matlock soon realises that Christie's death had nothing to do with who she slept with and everything to do with why she slept with them.

14The Reunion

Jan 12, 1988

Matlock heads to an old law school reunion where he meets up with his former classmates. After the reunion, one is murdered, and another stands accused of the crime, and Matlock faces the unpleasant task of having to prove that one of his former classmates murdered another.

15The Gigolo

Jan 19, 1988

Matlock agrees to defend dance instructor Scott Lazar after he is charged with the murder of his married lover. It would be a lot easier to prove Scott's innocence if there wasn't another woman in the wings also claiming to be his lover.

16The Umpire

60 minJan 26, 1988

When a baseball umpire is murdered, Matlock has a whole team full of suspects. It seems like everyone had a reason to...kill the ump.

17The Investigation (1)

Feb 2, 1988

Sam Gerard is a well-known mobster who is about to be exposed. His estranged son, Craig Gentry, is arrested for murder, but refuses to go to Sam for help, and instead, goes to Ben Matlock.

18The Investigation (2)

60 minFeb 9, 1988

Craig continues to turn away from his father as Matlock keeps trying to investigate the case. When the Gentry family is almost caught in the middle of a mob war with the Hernandez family, Matlock realises that someone on the inside is pulling the strings.

19The Hucksters

Feb 16, 1988

Matlock needs to prove that one of three people murdered a scheming huckster. This Episode also aired at later dates with a total of 3 alternate endings. Only the last 2:24 of the show is altered for each version.

20The Lovelorn

Feb 23, 1988

Matlock agrees to defend a man who has been accused of murdering the relationship columnist whose response ended his relationship.

21The Genius

Mar 15, 1988

When Matlock's nephew Irwin is charged with murder, Matlock investigates at a high-tech computer firm to clear his name.

22The Magician

Mar 22, 1988

After a night at the magic show with Julie, Matlock agrees to defend magician Daniel Fontaine when he's charged with the murder of his assistant / lover Sandy Farrell, a woman who was as devious as she was beautiful.

23The Fisherman

Mar 29, 1988

Matlock defends a Vietnamese fisherman and his son when a racist fisherman is killed, and the Vietnamese fisherman is charged with his murder because the two had words. It isn't just the fisherman that Matlock ends up defending, as he also becomes a target of the racist townspeople.

24The Heiress

May 3, 1988

As a young child, Allison Tate had discovered the bodies of her parents, apparently killed by an intruder. Shortly after her twenty-first birthday, she found the body of Marsha Gold, killed in a similar matter. When this thrust her back into the Linder Sanitarium in which she'd spent most of her life since her parents murdered, Bob Ranier (her father's former business partner, like an uncle to her) hires Matlock to prove that Allison is innocent of her murder. Matlock has an unlikely ally in Warren Kreitzer, an insurance attorney who is supposed to be on vacation, but will do whatever he can to protect Allison.