MATLOCK: THE PERSONAL TRAINER (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.
Harry Slade is a personal trainer with a number of lovers. On one night he goes to bed with his girlfriend Dee Dee Lambert, a married woman named Joanna Wilton, and tries to seduce his ex-lover Brigette Laird. Joanna gives Harry a book as a present, as he has an appreciation for classic literature. The next morning, Joanna's husband George finds a cigarette lighter in his bedroom, engraved from Joanna to Harry. George becomes enraged and Joanna warns Harry not to go to work that day. George arrives at Harry's gym with a gun, causing panic. Harry is not there, and Brigette manages to get George to calm down and leave. Harry is reading at his house when he answers the door and is shot dead by an unknown assailant. George arrives at the house and finds Harry's dead body. He is found there by the police and held on a murder charge.
George hires Matlock to represent him in court. Matlock has his own issues with George, as he runs a roofing company which has been dragging its heels to fix Matlock's leaky roof. All evidence points to George, including the fact that his gun was used to kill Harry. He points out that someone could have stolen his gun. Matlock speaks with Dee Dee, but receives little information before she has an emotional breakdown. When Matlock goes to visit George, he finds him and Brigette together; it soon becomes apparent that George is having an affair with her. George is shocked to learn that Brigette was once one of Harry's lovers and gets into an argument with her. Matlock breaks them up and gets George to leave, making him promise that he will remain silent about his relationship with Brigette. Matlock surmises that Harry stopped by Brigette's house after he saw Joanna. Brigette claims to have been shopping at the time of the murder.
Michelle questions Joanna about her encounter with Harry that night. She makes no secret of the loathing she feels for her husband. When Michelle asks for an alibi, Joanna provides none, feeling that it is unnecessary. Suspicious, Matlock and Michelle follow Brigette to an apartment building, where they discover her true whereabouts at the time of the murder: she was posing as a nude model for Alex, her cousin's husband and an old friend. Joanna's daughter and George's stepdaughter Bobbie visits Matlock in his office, claiming that she was also one of Harry's lovers and that he visited her for an hour before he met Joanna on the night before his murder. She explains that her mother was with her at the time of the murder; Bobbie was convicted of shoplifting and forced to perform community service at a daycare center as punishment. Joanna drives her there and back.
Matlock and Michelle visit the daycare center to confirm Bobbie's story. The counselor on duty says that Joanna is usually upstairs exercising during Bobbie's work hours. Matlock parks in the same spot Joanna used, and receives a ticket for parking in a street cleaning zone. While questioning Dee Dee again, Matlock finds out about the book Joanna gave to Harry as a present; it was missing when the police inspected his body. Fed up with waiting for George's company to come through for him, Matlock attempts to fix his roof himself. He falls off and injures himself, necessitating the use of crutches and making him late for court. He manages to parley this situation into getting a higher fee from George.
The trial commences and Matlock brings Joanna up to the stand. Matlock attempts to make the point that due to the circumstances of her marriage, Joanna attempted to engineer a situation that would land George in jail, granting her access to his money. Matlock presents the engraved cigarette lighter as evidence, pointing out an inconsistency in Joanna's story about where she had her encounter with Harry. He uses this to force Joanna that she knew about Bobbie's tryst with Harry. Matlock then offers the proposition that Joanna had enough time while she and Bobbie were at the daycare center to leave, kill Harry, and return. She parked in the same spot that Matlock did but didn't receive a ticket because she wasn't there long enough. Matlock then presents the book Joanna gave Harry as evidence; it was found in the trunk of her car. George is found not guilty and thanks Matlock. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: NBC
- DATE: October 9, 1990 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:46:50
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:20608
- 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
- Jeff Peters … Supervising Producer
- Joyce Burditt … Producer
- Richard Collins … Producer
- William S. Kerr … Co-Producer
- John M. McLean … Associate Producer
- Burt Brinckerhoff … Director
- Lincoln Kibbee … Writer
- Don Davis … Music by
- Dick Debenedictis … Theme Music by
- Andy Griffith … Cast, Ben Matlock
- Nancy Stafford … Cast, Michelle Thomas
- Fran Bennett … Cast, Betty Harding
- Phil Brock … Cast, Morrie
- George DiCenzo … Cast, George Wilton
- Leslie Easterbrook … Cast, Joanna Wilton
- Mary-Margaret Humes … Cast, Brigette Laird
- Peter Marc … Cast, Harry Slade
- Rosa Nevin … Cast, Bobbie Wilton
- Romy Walthall … Cast, Dee Dee Lambert
- Everett Greenbaum … Cast, Judge Katz
- George ne Jame … Cast, Assistant D.A.
- John O'Leary … Cast, Doorman
- Sebastian Anzaldo … Cast, Boy
- Michael Consoldane … Cast, Stenographer
- Gordon Lett … Cast, Alex
- David Wyler … Cast, Jury Foreperson