Matlock had a shocking start to its second season. David Del Rio was fired following an investigation into a report of an alleged sexual assault in October. His character, Billy Martinez, will be written out of the series, and will likely have exited by the time of the midseason premiere in February. Outside of that, how are Matlock‘s ratings doing?
Matlock has not been renewed for Season 3 as of the time of publication. In 2024, it scored the first renewal of the fall broadcast TV season. This year, freshman dramas Boston Blue and Sheriff Country were the first to be renewed. The Blue Bloods spinoff is a top-performing show for CBS each week, according to the network, hence its early renewal after airing just six episodes. While Matlock didn’t get that first early renewal this season, that doesn’t mean the show is in trouble. In fact, its weekly viewership is higher than Boston Blue‘s.
Matlock‘s Season 2 ratings are holding strong at around 4 million viewers per week, according to Nielsen data. The Season 2 premiere had the highest viewership, unsurprisingly (premieres and finales tend to be the hits).
It opened on October 12 with 6.58 million viewers with a 0.51 rating in the 18-49 demo. Episode 2, which came out the same week on October 16, decreased in viewership to 4.203 million and a 0.18 rating. Episode 3 had 4.440 million with a rating of 0.24. Episode 4 increased to 4.682 million viewers but decreased to a 0.20 rating. Episode 5 had a slight viewership decrease to 6.643 million, but it had a big ratings increase to 0.30. Episode 6 decreased again to 4.479 million viewers and a 0.26 rating.
For comparison, Boston Blue opened with 4.681 million viewers and a 0.23 rating in the 18-49 demo. Episode 2 had a slight decrease to 4.140 million and a 0.20 rating. Episodes 3-6 all have viewership in the 3 million range, and the ratings range between 0.15-0.21.
Matlock stars Kathy Bates and Skye P. Marshall were also nominated for Critics’ Choice Awards for their performances in Season 2 (Bates won a Critics’ Choice Award for Matlock Season 1). The numbers are stronger than new shows that got renewed, so we’d bet that a Matlock Season 3 renewal is only a matter of time.
Matlock, Thursdays, 9/8c, CBS
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