THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 27, 1994 TAG: 9410260053
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: LARRY BONKO
LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
HAVE YOU NOTICED ``Matlock'' is back on ABC's prime-time schedule Thursday night at 9?
The river of creativity in network television runs shallow, my friends.
If it didn't, would ABC bring back weary ol' Andy Griffith for his eighth season as the weary ol' counselor, Benjamin L. Matlock?
Griffith injects the courtroom scenes with some energy, but otherwise he sleepwalks through the scenes in that gray or white suite he wears. At times, I think the Matlock character is goofier than Andy's old friends, Gomer and Goover Pyle.
His socks have holes in them. He prefers hot dogs to filet mignon. He strolls on the beach in coat and tie. The Matlock schtick.
Will viewers ever tire of it? Guess not.
``Matlock'' has decent overall numbers - it was 46th in the ratings when I last checked - but doesn't pull in great numbers of young viewers.
Doesn't Hollywood have anything better to offer ABC? Guess not.
There was a time when Griffith and his producers tried to fool viewers into thinking that ``Matlock'' was shot in landlocked Atlanta instead of in and around coastal North Carolina in Wilmington. ``We film Atlanta with rivers, streams and oceans all around it. Works out fine,'' Griffith said not long ago when he met TV critics in Los Angeles.
Lately, the writers have been finding excuses to send Matlock to Wilmington so they don't have to fib about where the series is located. Griffith lives near his roots in North Carolina.
``There are no drawbacks to doing this series in North Carolina,'' said Griffith.
``We work on a small lot at the Carolco studios, and the crew in North Carolina is smaller than it would be in California. But we get the day's work done in the same amount of time. We shoot the same number of pages in the script. It's very good to be in such a small, beautiful city as Wilmington where the people are very helpful.''
Not everyone in the business is wild about North Carolina.
Nancy Stafford is among the former ``Matlock'' cast members who left the show because they didn't want to relocate to North Carolina. ``We accept their wishes,'' said Griffith.
Griffith has no trouble finding guest stars for ``Matlock,'' however.
They can't resist the offer to spend two or three weeks on North Carolina's beaches away from the yucky air in California. In Wilmington, the natives have grown used to seeing Griffith come and go by helicopter.
When NBC dropped ``Matlock'' three years ago, Griffith, 68, assumed that he had mumbled through his last courtroom scene.
``I was terrified,'' Griffith said. His worst fear had become a fact.
He was an actor out of work.
``Like other actors, I'm always thinking that the last job I had will be the last one I'll ever have.''
Why not walk away from the stress? Why not quit? TV has been good to Griffith. I'm sure he can afford to retire in supreme comfort.
``Although doing a series is real hard work, I don't want to retire from television or even semi-retire.''
How would Griffith prefer to spend the rest of his days before the camera?
``To tell you the truth, I'd rather be just another actor who goes up for parts that I get or don't get.''
Andy Griffth just another actor reading for some dumb part in a movie-of-the week? I don't think so. The TV audience prefers Griffith in a solid, signature role, playing a character who is as close to Sheriff Andy Taylor of Mayberry, N.C. as possible.
Griffith says it's a great part, this Ben Matlock character. He says of the Matlock show what he says of the sitcom about Sheriff Andy and his friends, a sitcom that has been playing somewhere on TV for the last 31 years.
``We have something. I don't know exactly what it is.'' by CNB