Ratings Report: ‘Matlock’ Locks In Its Audience, ‘The Perfect Couple’ Is Not So Perfect
Broadcast: CBS’s rebooted take on the procedural series, Matlock, aired on September 22nd, starring Kathy Bates (American Horror Story, The Office) as Madeline Matlock who is an ex-lawyer, now working at a firm in New York City where she will be taking on cases that are civil rather than criminal. In its premiere week, the series got 7,742,000 viewers in the P2+ group and reached the fifth spot on the Nielsen Traditional TV Top Ten and its first episode received a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes by certified reviewers. The original Matlock, with Andy Griffith (The Andy Griffith Show, Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C.) playing Ben Matlock, aired between 1986 and 1995 and mostly focused on the titular character solving murders and took place in Atlanta, Georgia. It has yet to be revealed whether Bates’s character is related to Griffith's but aside from the name, the character seems to be an entirely new take on the tenacious investigator. The cast of Matlock includes Jason Ritter (Frozen 2, Gravity Falls), Skye P. Marshall (NCIS, Coup!), Leah Lewis (Nancy Drew, The Half Of It), Beau Bridges (The Neon Highway, Bloodline), David Del Rio (Pitch Perfect, Dead Drop), Nicole De Boer (Cube, Haven) Andrea Londo (Super Fly, Narcos), and more. The next episode of Matlock airs on October 24th on CBS.
Streaming: Netflix’s murder mystery drama series, The Perfect Couple, released all six of its episodes on September 5th and is about Amelia–played by Eve Hewson (Behind Her Eyes, The Luminaries)–who is about to marry into one of the wealthiest families in Nantucket, until a shocking death derails the wedding and turns everybody in attendance into a suspect. The series appeared on the Nielsen Original Streaming Top Ten at the first place spot with 1,970,000 minutes watched. The Rotten Tomatoes score for this series does tell a slightly different story, with both the critic review and audience score coming to 65%. The cast also features Nicole Kidman (Just Go With It, Eyes Wide Shut), Dakota Fanning (The Watchers, Man On Fire), Liev Schreiber (The Omen, Scream), Meghann Fahy (The White Lotus, The Bold Type), Isabelle Adjani (Possession, Nosferatu the Vampyre), Ishaan Khatter (Dhadak, Pippa), Billy Howle (On Chesil Beach, The Infinite Storm) Michael Beach (Third Watch, Inheritance), and more.
