PaleyArchive ColorBars TopBanner2

MATLOCK: MADAM (TV)

Summary

One in this legal drama about Ben Matlock, an expert yet unconventional lawyer and his experiences both in and out of the courtroom.

A prostitute named Janie Ladd is fired by her madam, Ann Rawls, for withholding some of her income. She attempts to blackmail three of her clients into talking to Ann using taped conversations with them. Later an unknown assailant breaks into Janie's room and electrocutes her in the bathtub, murdering her. Ann finds Janie's body and is taken in by the police. Matlock meets with her and agrees to represent her. Ann flirts with Matlock and invites him to dinner; a flustered Matlock declines. Matlock and Conrad check out Janie's apartment, looking for her tapes. The building superintendant enters as well and shows them out, but Conrad notices his name is not on the directory. Before they can flag him down, the man drives off; Janie's tapes are with him.

Michelle investigates a local radio station, where a prominent radio psychologist named Dr. David Campbell works. He was one of Janie's clients, and one of the three whose conversations she recorded. He claims he was at home at the time of the murder, but will not divulge the name of the patient he was on the phone with at the time in the name of medical ethics; he tells her he will get the patients' permission first. Conrad discovers that the man claiming to be the building superintendant was actually employed by another of Janie's clients, State Senator Jeffrey Paul. Matlock meets with Senator Paul and he gives Matlock the tape Janie made of his conversations with her in exchange for leaving his name out of the trial; he was being interviewed live for the news during the time of the murder. He also reveals that the tape contains conversations between Janie and another client, Reverend Morley Phelps, in which she accuses him of murdering her sister.

Matlock visits Reverend Phelps at his church. He asks him about Janie's accusations, but Reverend Phelps does not give a clear answer, saying he was in church at the time of Janie's murder. Ann comes over to Matlock's house that night and explains that Janie's sister died ten years ago from a drug overdose. She hits on Matlock again, massaging him. He gets her to leave before she gets too far. Dr. Campbell introduces Michelle to the patient he was on the phone with at the time of the murder, Dominick Sinclair. Dominick reinforces Dr. Campbell's alibi. Matlock follows Reverend Phelps into Janie's apartment, where he reveals he is actually Janie's father. He explains that Janie and her sister Pamela hated him because he was alcoholic and abusive to them as children. His wife and daughters left him and issued a restraining order, and a year and a half afterwards Pamela suffered her overdose, which Janie blamed on Reverend Phelps. Eventually he entered the service of the church, but Janie still hated him so much that she charged him money just to talk to her. This convinces Matlock of the Reverend's innocence.

Michelle speaks with Dr. Campbell's manager, who says that on the night of the murder Dr. Campbell went home sick and he was unable to reach him. While investigating Janie's apartment, Matlock gets curious and hits the redial button on Janie's phone. In court, Matlock puts Dr. Campbell on the stand, speculating that he had motive to kill Janie due to him wanting to keep his standing in the eyes of his listeners. Matlock shows the court a phone record detailing the station manager's attempts to reach Dr. Campbell and notes the lack of a busy signal. He reveals that when he hit redial on Janie's phone, it contacted Dominick, thus proving that Dr. Campbell made the call from Janie's apartment just after the murder. Ann is found not guilty and offers a parting kiss for Matlock. Commercials deleted.

Details

  • NETWORK: NBC
  • DATE: October 2, 1990 8:00 PM
  • RUNNING TIME: 0:46:55
  • COLOR/B&W: Color
  • CATALOG ID: B:20607
  • GENRE: Drama, legal
  • SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, legal
  • SERIES RUN: NBC - TV series, 1986-1992; ABC, 1992-1995
  • COMMERCIALS: N/A

CREDITS

  • Joel Steiger … Executive Producer
  • Fred Silverman … Executive Producer
  • Dean Hargrove … Executive Producer, Created by
  • Joyce Burditt … Producer
  • Richard Collins … Producer
  • William S. Kerr … Co-Producer
  • John M. McLean … Associate Producer
  • Jeff Peters … Supervising Producer
  • Leo Penn … Director
  • Gerald Sanoff … Writer
  • William Ross … Music by
  • Dick Debenedictis … Theme Music by
  • Andy Griffith … Cast, Ben Matlock
  • Nancy Stafford … Cast, Michelle Thomas
  • Clarence Gilyard Jr. … Cast, Conrad McMasters
  • Maureen Arthur … Cast, Ann Rawls
  • David Froman … Cast, Lt. Bob Brooks
  • Kenneth David Gilman (See also: Kip Gilman) … Cast, Dr. David Campbell
  • Elizabeth Gracen … Cast, Janie Ladd
  • Robert Pine … Cast, State Sen. Jeffrey Paul
  • Diane Shalet … Cast, Ms. Hawkins
  • Noble Willingham … Cast, Rev. Morley Phelps
  • John Apicella … Cast, Bert Ginsberg
  • Lewis Dauber … Cast, Roger Chapman
  • Will Jeffries … Cast, Asst. D. A. Ferber
  • Richard Newton … Cast, Judge Cooksey
  • Jonathan Palmer … Cast, Dominick Sinclair
  • Kevin E. West … Cast, Tom Marshall