Join or Sign In
Sign in to customize your TV listings
By joining TV Guide, you agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy.
Matlock Season 4 Episodes
Season 4 Episode Guide
24 Episodes 1989 - 1990
Episode 1
The Hunting Party: Part 1
Tue, Sep 19, 198950 mins
Matlock travels to Manteo, North Carolina, to defend Spencer Hamilton, the brother of Frank, who was killed in a duck-hunting accident. After Ryan Bartell was shot, immediately after Spencer's brother, Matlock also was approached by a handsome young sheriff, Conrad McMasters, to find evidence in killing Ryan.
Episode 2
The Hunting Party: Part 2
Tue, Sep 19, 198950 mins
After Conrad calmed Matlock down, realizing he was framed for all the dope that he had in his car, he investigates the three guys who killed Ryan Bartell, each of whom were all liars. In the end, Matlock hired Conrad as a full-time partner and private investigator in Atlanta, after leaving his hometown of Manteo, North Carolina.
Episode 3
The Good Boy
Tue, Sep 26, 198960 mins
A woman's son who resents that his mom has a new husband doesn't hide it. Her husband feeling that her son needs to be straightened out, wants to send him to a military school. But when he refuses, her husband tells him that unless he goes, his mother is going to know what he has been doing. So he kills him. Eventually his mother is arrested and Ben defends her.
Episode 4
The Best Seller
Tue, Oct 10, 198950 mins
Ben Matlock defends the husband of a very successful romance novelist who is accused of killing his wife's best friend.
Episode 5
The Ex
Tue, Oct 17, 198960 mins
Ben goes to Baltimore to help Julie defend her best friend's brother only to find that the prosecutor is Julie's ex-husband.
Episode 6
The Clown
Tue, Oct 24, 198950 mins
Ben defends a professional circus clown accused of murdering his performing partner.
Episode 7
The Star
Tue, Oct 31, 198950 mins
A new young director is imposed upon an aging scream queen near the end of her current movie. They argue conspicuously and vehemently about artistic differences. After the filming of the climactic death scene, the actress is discovered to be actually dead, and the director is presumed to be the guilty party.
Episode 8
The Con Man
Tue, Nov 7, 198950 mins
When a client of Ben's is taken by some con artists, he decides to get back at them. When one of them is killed and when another one decides to testify against him Ben defends him. Michelle tries to work on another member of the team and is taken with him.
Episode 9
The Prisoner: Part 1
Tue, Nov 14, 198960 mins
After an attempted prison breakout, one of the prisoners is killed, presumably by one of the guards. The prisoners riot and take over the prison, insisting on an in-prison trial for the guard. Matlock is recruited to defend the guard.
Episode 10
The Prisoner: Part 2
Tue, Nov 21, 198960 mins
While Matlock investigates from the prison, Conrad buys time by impersonating the murdered inmate at a minimum security prison. Conrad is approached by thieves who were looking for the inmate to help with a job, and he plays along.
Episode 11
The Fugitive
Tue, Nov 28, 198950 mins
Matlock knew Drew Carey since he was a little boy. He is actually framed for the murder of his uncle, prior to his crazy temper tantrums. Matlock thought Drew was a nice person, when Drew himself turned into a corrupt, young man, who refused to follow his lawyer's orders suspecting that Valerie (a young woman who married Drew's uncle) actually had done it, when she was having an affair with a construction worker. Despite Drew finding himself innocent for not killing his uncle, the judge also sentenced him to an indefinite community service, due to his behavioral problems, both inside and outside the court.
Episode 12
The Buddies
Tue, Dec 12, 198950 mins
On his deathbed, an old friend of Ben's begs him to reopen a cold murder case, suspecting that another of their hunting buddies is the killer.
Episode 13
The Scrooge
Tue, Dec 19, 198950 mins
A crusty old toy store owner is accused of killing his partner, whom he denigrated as too generous and soft-hearted to manage their business.
Episode 14
The Witness
Tue, Jan 2, 199060 mins
Prominent attorney Sandra Townsend leads a double life by "playing the field" and living on the edge. She winds up being blackmailed by her boyfriend to stay in the relationship, and he has the compromising pictures to seal the deal. She plots to murder him and frame an innocent bar patron who vowed to get even after her boyfriend throws him out of the nightclub. Ben's assistant, Michelle is given the job of defending the accused, and in the process is reacquainted with old friend, Sandra Townsend. As the sole "witness" to the crime, Townsend must face Michelle in court and challenges her to prove the events happened otherwise.
Episode 15
The Student
Tue, Jan 9, 199050 mins
A coed student having an affair with a professor threatens him when he rudely dumps her. He is killed that same evening, and Matlock must investigate whether some cheating students had sufficient motive to kill the professor.
Episode 16
The Talk Show
Tue, Jan 16, 199050 mins
Matlock investigates the panel of guests on a popular talk show, suspecting that one of them decided to literally bury the hatchet with the show's host...squarely in his back.
Episode 17
The Victim
Tue, Jan 23, 199050 mins
A businessman suspects that not only is his wife having an affair but that his business partner is his wife's illicit lover. He kills his wife and frames the partner. Ben believes the husband is the real killer, but proving it will be difficult, as the husband is a paraplegic, and Ben has to explain how he could reach the wife's bedroom upstairs.
Episode 18
The Kidnapper
Tue, Feb 6, 199060 mins
Ben is kidnapped by someone demanding that Michelle give him Ben's coin collection as ransom. She and Conrad review three previous cases, from the time before Conrad started working with Ben, to try to figure out who would have a motive for revenge.
Episode 19
The Pro
Tue, Feb 13, 199050 mins
When a young, hot-tempered tennis player, Dave Travis, was found guilty of murdering Victor Tomassio, Matlock, Conrad, and Michelle start all over again to get a new trial and clear his name. His claim of self-defense is marred by the fact nobody likes Dave and no one wants to help him.
Episode 20
The Informer: Part 1
Tue, Feb 20, 199060 mins
Ben takes a case representing a fellow lawyer who is accused of murdering a mobster. Ben considers dropping him after he starts manipulating his case.
Episode 21
The Informer: Part 2
Tue, Feb 27, 199060 mins
Ben continues to investigation the murder of a mobster and finds a chain of events that leads to a murder several years earlier.
Episode 22
The D.A.
Tue, Mar 20, 199060 mins
After successfully getting a man convicted of killing his wife's lover, Julie is threatened by the man's brother and becomes the target of a stalker.
Episode 23
The Blackmailer
Tue, May 1, 199050 mins
Matlock defends Peter Dolan, a state senator accused of murdering Ron Winfield, a comic strip artist who was going to go public on Dolan's affair with another senator's wife.
Episode 24
The Cookie Monster
Tue, May 8, 199050 mins
Matlock investigates the murder of a cookie queen who was out to crumble her competitors with a hostile takeover.
