Hey, you punk kids! Get off my lawn--I'm trying to watch Matlock! CBS Home Entertainment and Paramount have released Matlock: The Eighth Season, a six-disc, 20-episode collection of the long-running mystery series' 1993-1994 season. No big shifts in either execution or cast here for Andy Griffith's penultimate go-around as 'ol Ben Matlock...and that's no doubt what long-time fans wanted in this comfy-cozy show (we remember you, Andy, even if Hollywood and the Oscars didn't). No extras, other than episode teasers, for these (expectedly) problematic transfers.

Hot-lanta, GA. Wiley, cagey ol' defense attorney Ben Matlock (Andy Griffith) has more tricks up his sleeve than a monkey on a hundred yards of grapevine. At a fee of $100,000 a case (and rising), Ben keeps the common riff-raff away while remaining the go-to guy in Atlanta when an innocent defendant's case seems hopeless. Aided by his smart, dishy partner, daughter Leanne McIntyre (Brynn Thayer), with vigorous leg-work executed by slightly befuddled young attorney Cliff Lewis (Daniel Roebuck), Matlock always manages to pull his impossible cases out of their nosedives with a combined application of steel-trap logic, coon hound doggedness, and deceptively laid-back Southern charm that masks an ever-probing, always suspicious intellect. Comedic relief is supplied by the occasional pop-in from cranky neighbor/nemesis, Billy Lewis (Warren Frost), the crotchety father of Cliff.

If it aint' broke...don't fix it. That seems to be the guiding rule for this eighth season of Matlock: the majority of episodes featuring a gently comedic tone best suited to Griffith's aw shucks demeanor, with some more serious-minded examples added to mix things up a bit. I've written before about Matlock, so I'm familiar with the evolution of the series, but to be honest, I would be hard-pressed to be able to distinguish most of these episodes as either seventh or eighth season efforts. Everyone is back from the previous season (Clarence Gilyard, Jr., by this point working on Chuck Norris' Walker, Texas Ranger, makes one tiny, inexplicable appearance here before disappearing for good), while the format stays the same: keep Andy's scenes to a minimum while the low-watt and anonymous supporting casts keep the exposition lazily rolling along (no "spot the has-been" here, as in Murder, She Wrote). And while ratings weren't exactly spectacular for the former NBC series' second season on ABC (35th in the Nielsen's), they were good enough...and that seems to be the laid-back, easy come, easy go M.O. for the show as a whole, at this point (more changes were coming, however, for the show's last go-around...).

Along with conventional, unsurprising efforts, such as the well-plotted The Crook, about a rare book thief in Ben's church choir, and clip show The Murder Game, a few oddball episodes manage to pop up. The P.I. is obviously a backdoor pilot from the producers of Matlock, featuring George Peppard and Tracy Nelson as a fire and water father and daughter detective team (Peppard, out of breath and looking unwell, would die soon after this was proposed), while Brennen certainly feels like a pilot, with great character actor George Dzundza doing well as an intelligent, rule-breaking assistant D.A. sparring with Ben. More serious efforts, though, impress this season. The Diner is another one of those marvelous flashback episode with Griffith playing Ben Matlock's father, Charlie Matlock, in a period outing that could be the flipside look at Griffith's fabled Mayberry: a small, bigoted Southern town in the early 1960s rocked by the murder of its white sheriff (the superlative, criminally under-recognized Stan Shaw--The Boys in Company C-- is a stand-out...as usual). The Capital Offense is a nervy, grim little surprise that you first assume is going to be funny (Ben gets a home computer he can't work), before it drives on to its suspenseful ending as Ben tries to save an innocent man from the electric chair. And classy, sexy Brynn Thayer gets a chance to shine in two excellent, zero-jokes outings: The Defendant, where trusting Leanne gets played by a murderer (the obnoxious, ubiquitous-in-the-80s-and-90s Richard Gilliland), and The Temptation, where handsome strong-arm thug Brett Cullen stalks Leanne...and breaks her heart (it's a shame the talented Thayer would leave after this season).

Still, when you think of the typical Matlock episode, you expect at least a modicum of Griffith's trademark folksy humor sprinkled among the bodies, and this season doesn't disappoint. Anytime Warren Frost as cranky, willful a**hole Billy Lewis shows his pissing and moaning mug, I start cracking up, and he has several good appearances this season. In the two-parter, The Kidnapping, he undergoes almost instantaneous Stockholm Syndrome when he immediately identifies with his hapless kidnappers...who hate Ben almost as much as he does (Griffith incredulously yelling into the phone, "Half a million dollars!?!" when he hears Billy's ransom amount, is priceless). In The Godfather, Billy invites an entire wedding party and their guests to crash at Ben's house while a murder is investigated (Griffith does his put-upon/put-out act with consummate skill). And in the two-parter, The Fatal Seduction, Billy loses his sister--the sister whom Ben briefly dated decades ago, an act Billy has never forgiven Ben for--and demands that Ben accompany him to the funeral (Frost, always amusing whenever Billy is at his most grating, has a nice counter-moment at a grave site, where Billy admits to his dead sister what a rotten brother he was to her).

Griffith, though, gets most of the laughs generated this season, and rightfully so (his comedic timing, even if slowed ever so slightly by age, is still impeccable). Whether he's deliberately playing broad (the season opener, The Play, where Ben Matlock proves he's no stage actor; Matlock's Bad, Bad, Bad Dream, a period fantasy episode where he plays an alcoholic Depression-era lawyer), or delightfully strange and whimsical (his solitary laughter at guest star Milton Berle's tired shtick in The Last Laugh is weirdly priceless), Griffith can get more done with less than just about any actor I can think of on TV. In The View, an obvious rip-off of Rear Window, Griffith has a few scenes playing gin with Thayer that are as funny as anything I've seen him do. Pulling out that earlier, louder, more aggressively playful version of Andy Taylor, Griffith taunts and teases Thayer, annoying the hell out of her before she beats him hands down again and again. They're wonderfully funny moments (I wish the series had more of these scenes, rather than all that rather anonymous mystery exposition), touched with a bit of poignancy today now that Griffith--a TV star you somehow thought would always be around--has passed.

DISC ONE

The Play
Matlock plays a detective in a community play. But when an actress is murdered, the spotlight is turned on the play's director.

The Fatal Seduction (Part 1)
While in North Carolina to attend a funeral, Matlock, Leanne and Cliff end up entangled in two murder mysteries.

The Fatal Seduction (Part 2)
Matlock tries to determine the truth when two prime murder suspects have seemingly airtight alibis.

The Diner
Matlock recounts his very first case to Leanne when they visit the wife of his first client. In 1962, Matlock defended a black cook accused of killing a white sheriff...and sparked a racial uproar.

DISC TWO

The View
Out of town and sick, Matlock groggily witnesses an argument at a home across from his hotel. When the wife ends up murdered, he suspects they've accused the wrong man.

The Last Laugh
It's no laughing matter when a stand-up comic is accused of killing a fellow comedian who had insulted him and his career.

The Capital Offense
Matlock's five-year mission to save a seemingly innocent man from death row reaches the 11th hour.

DISC THREE

The Haunted
Matlock's client resembles a dead man, while Cliff becomes a little too involved in his client's malpractice suit. Soon the two realize that their cases are connected.

The Conspiracy
Matlock defends an attorney charged with killing a fellow lawyer in the wake of a controversial case involving toxic waste.

Matlock's Bad, Bad, Bad Dream
Matlock steps back in time to 1932 when he dreams that he, Leanne, Billy and Cliff are embroiled in the murder of a saxophone player.

DISC FOUR

The Defendant
When a philanthropist is murdered, his partner is accused of the crime. Leanne takes the case, and finds herself developing feelings for her client.

The Kidnapping (Part 1)
Kidnappers try to abduct Leanne, but end up seizing Billy. While they hold him for ransom, Matlock attempts to corner the criminals in time to save his friend's life.

The Kidnapping (Part 2)
Billy's kidnapping case gets even more complicated when the FBI agent who was handling the investigation is accused of killing another agent.

The Temptation
Leanne falls victim to a criminal who steals her journal in order to make her fall in love with him.

DISC FIVE

The Crook
After being accused of murder, a choir member turns to Matlock to clear his name.

The Murder Game
Matlock, Cliff and Leanne participate in a murder mystery party where the fake victim is actually killed.

Brennen
While defending a client charged with murdering a city councilwoman, Matlock locks horns with a powerful D.A. hiding a secret past.

The P.I.
Matlock steps in when a private investigator's daughter takes photos that implicate the wrong man in the murder of a Hollywood mistress.

DISC SIX

The Godfather
The wedding of Matlock's goddaughter turns into a killer affair when one of the groomsmen lies dead and the brother of the bride stands accused.

The Idol
When a bright attorney who idolizes Ben is accused of killing a shady private investigator, it's Matlock for the defense.

The DVD:

The Video:
As I've written before in my Matlock reviews...don't expect HD quality transfers here, and you'll be okay. Noisy 1.37:1 full screen image, with muted, washed out color doesn't make for exciting television, but it's good enough.

The Audio:
The Dolby Digital English mono audio tracks are fine, with moderate to low hiss and fluctuation. No subtitles or closed-captions available.

The Extras:
Original episode teasers are included.

Final Thoughts:
Matlock just keeps on grinding along...pleasantly. If you're a long-time fan of the series, you'll find no surprises here in Matlock: The Eighth Season. And that's just fine, isn't it? With the recent passing of Andy Griffith, it's nice to see him here again, a little older than Andy Taylor, a little slower--but just as sharp and funny. I'm recommending Matlock: The Eighth Season.