Getting your questions ready
Getting your questions ready
Beat the crowd
10 questions No timer
This Matlock trivia quiz has 48 free questions with answers and covers the original 1986 to 1995 series and the 2024 CBS reboot. On the Andy Griffith side: Ben's grey suits and grey Crown Victorias, the hot dogs and the $100,000 retainer, daughter Charlene, partners Michelle Thomas and Cliff Lewis, investigators Tyler Hudson and Conrad McMasters, DA Julie March, Don Knotts next door, the move from NBC to ABC and from California to Wilmington, and the Jake and the Fatman spin-off. There is a round on Griffith himself, from Mount Airy to Broadway to A Face in the Crowd, and a round on Kathy Bates's Madeline "Matty" Matlock and the firm of Jacobson Moore. Questions start easy (what does Ben eat?) and climb to the details for people who watched every rerun. Difficulty is marked on every question. Every answer has been checked against the Wikipedia articles on both series and on Andy Griffith, and each question shows its citation.
30 of 48 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What is Ben Matlock's profession?
Defense attorney
Most episodes end with him cross-examining a witness on the stand until the real culprit cracks.
Q 02In which city does Ben Matlock practise law?
Atlanta
He lives in a modest farmhouse in the suburbs and likes to visit crime scenes himself.
Q 03Matlock debuted on which network in March 1986?
NBC
It moved to ABC in November 1992 and ran there until the finale in May 1995.
Q 04Who created Matlock?
Dean Hargrove
Hargrove also created the 1980s Perry Mason TV films, which explains the family resemblance.
Q 05What colour suit does Ben Matlock almost always wear?
Light grey
Ben Matlock's light grey suit appears in nearly every episode across all nine seasons, a trademark as fixed as his Southern drawl.
Q 06What is Ben Matlock's favourite food?
Hot dogs
The season eight episode "The Diner" plays the obsession for laughs.
Q 07What retainer does the famously frugal Matlock usually charge his clients?
$100,000
Ben Matlock charges a $100,000 retainer, though he waives it often enough when he believes a client is innocent or broke.
Q 08Which car does Ben Matlock drive throughout the series?
A grey Ford Crown Victoria
Ben Matlock drives a grey Ford Crown Victoria as drab as his suit, replaced by newer Crown Victorias as the series goes on.
Q 09From which law school did Ben Matlock graduate?
Harvard
Ben Matlock graduated from Harvard Law School and worked as a public defender before opening his own practice.
Q 10Matlock's first private investigator, Tyler Hudson, had what other talent?
He was a stock market whiz
Tyler Hudson, played by Kene Holliday, was a stock market whiz who traded on the side and often went undercover in disguise; Holliday was let go after season three.
Q 11Matlock's most frequent courtroom opponent, district attorney Julie March, comes from which state?
Nebraska
Julie Sommars played her; the two become good friends despite facing off in court.
Q 12Where does Matlock meet his second law partner, Michelle Thomas, at the start of season two?
London
Ben meets Michelle Thomas, an American lawyer practising in London, while visiting England in the season-two opener; she follows him back to Atlanta.
Q 13Investigator Conrad McMasters, played by Clarence Gilyard Jr., had which two former careers?
Deputy sheriff and rodeo rider
Conrad McMasters was a former deputy sheriff and rodeo rider; Clarence Gilyard Jr. played him from season four until leaving after season seven.
Q 21Which CBS series was spun off from a two-part season-one Matlock episode called "The Don"?
Jake and the Fatman
William Conrad's prosecutor J. L. McShane debuted there; Diagnosis: Murder was in turn spun off from Jake and the Fatman.
Q 22In a Diagnosis: Murder crossover, what 1969 investment does Matlock blame on Dr. Mark Sloan?
8-track tapes
Matlock claims Mark Sloan talked him into sinking $5,000 into 8-track tapes in 1969, which, the story goes, is why he lives on hot dogs.
Q 23Which production outfit, named for a former network president, produced Matlock with Viacom?
The Fred Silverman Company
Q 14Which series did Clarence Gilyard leave Matlock to join in 1993?
Walker, Texas Ranger
Clarence Gilyard joined Walker, Texas Ranger as Chuck Norris's partner Jimmy Trivette when it premiered on CBS in April 1993.
Q 15Which Andy Griffith Show co-star turned up on Matlock as neighbour Les "Ace" Calhoun?
Don Knotts
Don Knotts played Ben's neighbour Les 'Ace' Calhoun from 1988 to 1992, two decades after his five Emmy-winning seasons as Barney Fife.
Q 16Brynn Thayer joined the regular cast in season seven as Leanne MacIntyre, who is what to Ben?
His older daughter
Leanne MacIntyre is Ben's older daughter and Charlene's sister, a lawyer who joins his Atlanta practice in season seven; Brynn Thayer played her.
Q 17Who played Jerri Stone, the private investigator of Matlock's final season?
Carol Huston
Carol Huston played private investigator Jerri Stone in the ninth and final season, 1994-95, working alongside Ben and Cliff Lewis.
Q 18In which year did Andy Griffith receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom?
2005
George W. Bush presented Andy Griffith with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in November 2005, honouring four decades of television work.
Q 19Where was Matlock filmed for its NBC seasons?
California
The NBC seasons were shot in California at studios in Los Angeles, a long way from Andy Griffith's home in Manteo, North Carolina.
Q 20When Matlock moved to ABC, production shifted to studios in which North Carolina city?
Wilmington
Production moved to Wilmington for the ABC seasons so that Andy Griffith could work near his home in Manteo, on the North Carolina coast.
The Fred Silverman Company, founded by the former ABC and NBC chief, produced Matlock with Viacom and Dean Hargrove Productions.
Q 24Matlock's format is closest to which earlier legal series, whose 1980s TV films came from the same creator?
Perry Mason
Perry Mason, revived by Dean Hargrove in TV films from 1985, usually cleared his client at a preliminary hearing; Matlock won acquittals from juries.
Q 25Which Matlock cast member later created the sitcom The New Adventures of Old Christine?
Kari Lizer
Kari Lizer, who played Cassie Phillips on Matlock, created The New Adventures of Old Christine, the CBS sitcom starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus from 2006 to 2010.
Q 26Which actor played Dr. Mark Sloan opposite Matlock in the Diagnosis: Murder crossover?
Dick Van Dyke
Dick Van Dyke played Dr. Mark Sloan throughout Diagnosis: Murder's 1993-2001 run; Andy Griffith guested as Ben Matlock in a crossover episode.
Q 27Kari Lizer's Cassie Phillips held what job in Matlock's office?
File clerk
Cassie Phillips was the file clerk in Ben's office, an aspiring lawyer who later vanished from the show without explanation.
Q 28Who played Lieutenant Bob Brooks, Ben's police contact in the early seasons?
David Froman
David Froman played Lieutenant Bob Brooks of the Atlanta police; James McEachin's Lieutenant Frank Daniels had been Ben's contact in season one.
Q 29Andy Griffith was born in 1926 in which North Carolina town?
Mount Airy
Andy Griffith was born in Mount Airy, the model for Mayberry, on June 1, 1926; as a baby he slept in dresser drawers because his parents could not afford a crib.
Q 30Andy Griffith's 1953 comic monologue has a country parson trying to make sense of what?
A football game
"What It Was, Was Football" was picked up by Capitol Records and became a hit.