Matlock (season 8)

Ben takes Leanne to meet Martha Jordan, the wife of his very first client back in 1962. Cyrus Jordan (Stan Shaw) was the cook at the local diner, where he was accused of killing the racist local sheriff, Wesley Slattery, after a disagreement in the diner which ended with Slattery dumping his food on Cyrus. Charlie Matlock (Andy Griffith) pushed his son Ben (Steve Witting) who had recently quit his job as a District Attorney to take the case, but not everyone in town was happy with the Matlocks siding with the black cook that was accused of killing the white sheriff. Despite Cyrus Jordan's attempts to get the Matlocks to drop his case for their own safety, father and son were determined to prove that Cyrus never killed anyone.

While out of town at a wedding, an ill Ben witnesses a man attack a woman from the window of the hotel, and learns the next day that the homeowner, Philip Cameron, has been accused of killing his estranged wife, Elaine, who was cheating on him. Ben's convinced that Elaine's lover was the killer, and has a hard time convincing the police that the man he saw through the window was not Philip, whom Matlock had also seen through the window earlier that day. Leanne defends Philip while Ben tries to figure out what happened.

A comedian named Harvey Chase (Milton Berle) is accused of murdering another comic, Billy Jo Walker (Mark DeCarlo), who insulted him. Ben (a fan of his comedy) defends him.

Ben continues his five-year struggle to save a con artist from the electric chair.

Abductors try to kidnap Leanne but kidnap Billy Lewis and hold him for ransom by accident instead.

FBI agent Ed Wingate (J. Kenneth Campbell), who was in charge of Billy's kidnapping, is charged with murdering another FBI agent.

Ben agrees to defend Wally McDaniels, a college professor and fellow choir member, after he is arrested for killing his work colleague, Tom Petrie, who turned him into the police for stealing rare books. Ben suspects another professor, who was performing a fraudulent research project that Petrie was threatening to expose, of the murder.

Matlock reluctantly agrees to spend the weekend as part of a murder mystery with Cliff, Leanne and three other people who each paid $10,000 for the privilege of matching wits with the famous Ben Matlock. When the pretend victim actually turns up dead, they know that one of the three paying visitors killed him. Leanne has her father keep the three suspects occupied with stories of previous cases, while she and Cliff investigate.

In a backdoor pilot, Ben vies with a formidable A.D.A Michael Brennen (George Dzundza) while defending a client accused of killing a city councilwoman, and discovers a secret hiding in the D.A.'s past that is affecting his judgment in this case.

In another backdoor pilot, after Ben briefly meets Jesse Morgan (Tracy Nelson) in the teaser, the remainder is set in Los Angeles and centered entirely on Jesse and her father (George Peppard) with no Matlock characters even mentioned.

Guest star: Jonathan Banks as Jack Starling

Sam Haskins (Scott N. Stevens), an aspiring young lawyer who is a fan of Matlock, is accused of having murdered a P.I., Richard Pepp (Michael C. Gwynne), who tried to blackmail him with spicy pictures.Matlock continues to try to free Sam Haskins.