Here is what passes for metanarrative on CBS. The new Matlock “reimagining” of the classic 1984-1995 show, resuming Oct. 17 after its Sept. 22 “sneak peek,” takes place in a world in which the Andy Griffith original still aired. Booyah! Take that, Gramps and Gran! But wait, there’s more. The new series looks at the opioid crisis, #MeToo, and police misconduct, among other shopworn political concerns. If this baby were any more 2017, it would star Meghan Markle. 

Instead, the series features Kathy Bates, now in her fourth decade of playing frumpy ladies of a certain age. In 1991’s Fried Green Tomatoes, Bates spoke for a generation when, wrecking two bimbos’ cherry-red Volkswagen, she declared herself “older” with “more insurance.” During a 2003 guest turn on Six Feet Under, her character justified a shoplifting spree on the pretext that “women our age are invisible.”