"The Seduction" is the fourth episode in the first season of Matlock. It aired on October 14, 1986.
Plot
Matlock is hired to defend Brad Bingham, an aging football star with a reputation as a womanizer who was about to be cut from the team. Charlene is resistant to her father's choice, as she believes everything the tabloids have to say about Brad...not only that, but years earlier, he'd had a brief relationship with her friend Ellen Hawley, who had tried to kill herself after they broke up. As the case continues, Charlene realises that not everything that's printed in the papers is true and that maybe Ellen wasn't quite honest with her, even though a call girl (Caryn Nelson) hired to make Brad look guilty almost convinces her that he is.
Cast
Main
- Andy Griffith as Ben Matlock
- Linda Purl as Charlene Matlock
- Kene Holliday as Tyler Hudson
Special Guest Star
- John Beck as Brad Bingham
Guest Starring
- Nancy Stafford as Caryn Nelson / Caroline Nathan
- Betty Lynn as Sarah
- Richard McKenzie as Lt. Davis
- Robin Thomas as A.D.A. Burton Hawkins
- Alex Hyde-White as Vincent Hyland
- Joshua Bryant as Dave Edwards
- David Froman as Lt. Bob Brooks
- Shannon Wilcox as Marsha Barnes
- and Lenore Kasdorf as Cynthia Hyland
Co-Starring
- Anita Hamilton as Edwards' Secretary
- Jimmy Keegan as Gerald
- Tiny Lister as Johnny Mack
- Michael Milhoan as Bartender
- Nick Savage as Calvin Sykes
- Maxine Weldon as Jury Foreperson
Summary
Matlock defends Brad Bingham (John Beck), an aging football star with a reputation as a womanizer, for the murder of his girlfriend, the team's owner, who was about to eliminate him from the team. Ben's daughter, Charlene, is opposed to her father taking his case, as she believes everything the tabloids have to say about Brad. In addition, years ago, he had a short relationship with her friend, Ellen Hawley, who nearly committed suicide after they broke up. Brad asks Tyler to talk to Johnny Mack (Tommy "Tiny" Lister Jr.), a bouncer in a bar. After Tyler gets jumped by him, flung onto a table, pushed right through the hall and into a room where he falls onto a box, Johnny finally reveals everything he knows to Tyler when they are in private. As the case proceeds, Charlene realizes that not everything that's printed in the papers is true, and maybe Ellen wasn't being honest with her. Caryn Nelson (Nancy Stafford, who plays Ben's assistant Michelle Thomas from 1987–1992), is a call girl who was hired to frame Brad for the murder by providing him with an alibi that she later denied.
Trivia
- Nancy Stafford, who plays a call girl, would become a regular as Ben's associate Michelle Thomas.