Why do old people love Matlock?

It's funny because this was in a cracked article recently I think it was "how you know you're getting old" or something. Anyway, my dad is what some may consider old and he watches matlock EVERY morning. When asking him, he says because the stories are interesting and easy to follow.

I think most of the posts here are non-sequitur. I have no doubt and no problem with people who are young liking Matlock--but that does not exclude nor shed any light onto the question that was asked of whether or not he is a "hero amongst the elderly".

I would say he is. My mother-in-law HAS to watch him whenever she is on. When WGN in Chicago recently took Matlock off of the two hour a day Monday-Friday showing, she was depressed. But she, as well as several of her friends, and some of mine that are in their 60's, watch him like he's the best thing since sliced bread.

I like the show and watch it myself, but I don't understand their intense drive/desire to do so (I mean, after all, it's NOT Star Trek! (OK, I'm a nerd! :) )

I have thought, as is stated in a previous post, that it is perhaps a tie to Andy Griffith himself-from their knowing him in their youth, although I'm not sure why. It's almost like an obsession that some young people have today with an actor/singer for their generation. Maybe when he was in "The Andy Griffith Show", Andy Griffith was the heart throb of the day.

It's because Matlock puts young people in jail...where they belong.

Yes, old people do like Matlock. My ex's great grandmother apparently used to watch it a lot and I used to watch it occasionally as a kid when I was visiting my grandmother.

Just like others have said I also think old people like Matlock because the main character is an older person played by a charismatic actor they might remember from their youth and because it's a harmless show and it's easy to follow since there is no ongoing plot really. It's just episodic cases so there's no need to remember what happened in all the previous episodes and you don't always have to pay so much attention to understand it which is probably a lot easier for older people. Also the show's a throwback to simpler times and even though it may seem rather realistic on the surface it still portrays a sort of idealized world where main characters are nice and good people and murderers are bad guys who always get caught in the end and even murder scenes are also really clean and there's not much blood or gore.


But I like it a lot for the same reasons and I'm 23 now. Maybe it's partly because I used to watch it as a kid so I have sorta nostalgia for it but also Matlock as a main character is so likable and the actor is likable too. It's simplicity just makes it great for escapism.

I think those of us in an older age group grew up with 'kindler, gentler' crime drama shows like Matlock. I enjoy watching 'Charlies Angels' (not just for the girls), Rockford, Murder She Wrote, and others of this ilk because they often infused a bit of humor, ie 'comic relief', into the stories.

So many of today's shows have a cast full of sour-pusses with long faces, taking themselves way too seriously. As my Dad used to say 'a little bit of that goes a long way', and we get way more than 'a little bit' of that on today's television.

Just as horror movies from the 40's and 50's were fun affairs before the genre turned to intense violence and gore, where many adults attended showings of those oldies but wouldn't be caught dead in a theater showing the current crop, older people watch shows like Matlock and Charlie's Angels for their fun entertainment value, something sorely lacking in the current police procedural murder dramas.

We old timers just don't need to spend hour after hour after hour watching paramilitary police holding a gun in both hands, yelling "Geddown!! Geddown!!! Geddown!!!!" for enjoyment purposes. I personally got so tired of commercials advertising shows like these where there's so much hollaring and screaming in violent situations that I've ignored most of prime-time completely these years, to say nothing of theatrical films.

Thankfully, shows like Matlock are still run on oldies channels and available on DVD, so we can enjoy a good murder mystery without having our evening snack get stuck in our throats.

Because old white people are racist and they love to see a Southern Good Ol' Boy defend other whites against them evil blacks and Puerto Ricans.

Just watch an episode like 'The Starlet' to get an idea of how the Puerto Rican girl is portrayed as an evil bitch, and a black girl isn't much better, but the blonde Aryan girl is depicted as the image of virtue and decency.

When this show came out, I was 28 years old. Did that make me old? I am now 56 and I still love this show. Matlock and Perry Mason are lawyers that I would like to have if I was ever accused of murder which would never happen but I would have either one if need be.

I am not old and I love so many of the "older" mystery/murder shows.
I can watch them several (hundred) times. They are fun, entertaining, family safe, and they calm me somehow. The main character is someone you feel you have always known, who is honest and you trust. These main characters are one's that off camera also are known for their likeable honesty and trustfulness.
Guess probably the most recent would be Diagnosis Murder

New shows are just different. Usually there is bad news come and go about several celebrities of current years. There is not the same calmness in watching the newer shows.