This story contains details about the premiere episode ofMatlockon CBS.
this comes with a hardcore twist.
Was that all a part of your original pitch?
Kathy Bates as Madeline Matlock in ‘Matlock’.Brooke Palmer/CBS
How did you get there?
JENNIE SNYDER URMANIt was part of the original pitch.
So I started to think that maybe she isusingthe name Matlock.
I gave myself sort of a challenge.
I can continue to tell the audience theyre underestimating her but then theyre fooled at the end.
Why would a woman like that want to go back into the law firm?
What could be deep and meaningful enough?
Then the story unfolded.
So I pitched it, from beginning to end.
URMANIn the pilot, you really have to feel like youre enjoying a fish-out-of-water comedy.
And then all of a sudden, the ending comes and youre surprised.
Starting with episode two, youre on the inside with her.
So you get the privilege of knowing shes on her secret mission.
Shes a spy, basically.
Is she going to get caught?
Is she not going to get caught?
We start to expand the home life, and you start to learn more about who Madeline Kingston is.
DEADLINE The hardcore part is definitely not comedy.URMANNo.
I like a range of tones in one piece.
URMANWell, at the end of the pilot, shes like, these fking butterscotch candies.
Shes not a fan, but they sell little lady to her.
Madeline Kingston is a much more direct, much more driven, and a harder character than Matty Matlock.
We do get into the differences of who she is, where the Matty Matlock persona came from.
Youll learn about that.
We really make a run at keep revealing things as the show goes on.
So thats really the story.
Then we have the spy, the undercover agent that always runs through, and is the serialized aspect.
When Matty starts this mission, people are sort of players on a chessboard.
As she gets deeper in, theyre real people with real feelings.
URMANIve gone according to gut and trying to play into peoples expectations before subverting them.
A lot of times, we say things so that other people cant hurt us.
Theres a little bit of that.
She uses the fact that people are going to underestimate her.
And shes going to run with that.
Its sort of like, underestimate her, if you dare.
And that, to me, is really thrilling.
DEADLINE How long do you want to keep the secret?
Will you resolve it by the end of the season?
URMANMatty does not want to get exposed, Ill say that.
It will leave us with new problems.
