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Q: In "Matlock" Season 2 Episode 8, where exactly is the building that was used as the Los Angeles Superior Court location?

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Author: 
Adam Thomlison / TV Media

The history of "Matlock's" filming locations is both simple and very complicated -- extra complicated in this case.

It's simple because it was mostly filmed on a few different studio lots. It's complicated because it depends on which season you're talking about, and the show's shifting location was part of a lot of behind-the-scenes strife (when the show was canceled by NBC and picked up by ABC, the producers basically demanded that filming be moved to star Andy Griffith's native North Carolina).

For your question, we can at least narrow it down to say that it was actually filmed in Los Angeles, but beyond that we can't even guess, really.

The episode you refer to was called "The Network," and it offered a fun (and network-friendly) twist: Ben Matlock leaves Georgia to visit Los Angeles and gets wrapped up in a TV-biz murder case, which meant that a lot of other NBC stars could appear as themselves.

This is where it gets extra complicated. The first six seasons of "Matlock" were filmed in L.A., though the show was set in Georgia. So the Georgia courthouse where Matlock did most of his litigating in those seasons was actually the Second Church of Christ, Scientist in L.A. (well, the exterior was -- again, the interior scenes were all filmed on custom-built sets). 

But for the episode in question, which was supposed to be in L.A., they needed a different exterior to serve as the L.A. Superior Court. It's presumably also in L.A. (obviously), but there seems to be no record of what location they used.

Interestingly, it may actually have been an L.A. Superior courthouse -- there's more than one of them, and they're used so often for filming exteriors that they list their rules and contact info on the California Film Commission website.

 

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