Matlock is an American television legal drama, starring Andy Griffith in the title role of attorney Ben Matlock. The show originally aired from September 23, 1986 to May 8, 1992 on NBC, where it replaced The A-Team, then from November 5, 1992 until May 7, 1995 on ABC. The show's format is similar to that of CBS's Perry Mason , 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. The show... centers on widower Benjamin Leighton "Ben" Matlock, a renowned, folksy and popular though cantankerous defense attorney; the character was based on attorney "Big" Ben Baker from Young Harris, Georgia. He has solved and subsequently won at trial almost every case he has taken, especially murder cases in which everyone else was sure his client was guilty. Usually, at the end of the case, the person who is on the stand being questioned by Matlock is the actual perpetrator.
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