Jason Ritter’s Joke Idea For An Unexpected CBS Crossover Could Work

Many Matlock fans are keeping a close eye on Jason Ritter after his character had a striking reveal in the season 1 finale. Ritter’s Julian will certainly be at the center of the drama heading into Matlock’s second season.

Though Ritter is one of the stars of the CBS drama, he has his eyes on another series on the network. Ritter recently joked about a crossover idea between Matlock and another CBS TV series while being interviewed at an event. The idea is a surprising one, but a crossover between the two series could work.

Ritter Joked About Matlock Crossing Over With Tracker

Tracker Is The Most-Watched CBS Show

Justin Hartley as Colter Shaw with a gun in the woods in the Tracker pilot

Jason Ritter was preparing to host The Festival of Arts’ California Dreamin’: A Benefit for the Arts when he spoke with US Weekly about his work for CBS. He jokingly floated a crossover idea to the magazine in which his Matlock character could appear on Tracker instead of speculating about Matlock season 2.

Tracker has become one of the most popular shows on CBS. It follows Justin Hartley’s Colter Shaw, a self-proclaimed rewardist, who earns his living by tracking down the missing for reward money.

Ritter told the outlet, “If Tracker ever wants a partner [for Justin Hartley’s character, Colter], maybe Julian leaves the firm and he starts a new life.” Ritter’s Julian actually did decide to leave the firm his father runs at the end of Matlock season 2.

Julian Markston, however, does not exactly seem like the kind of character who could keep up with Colter Shaw while traversing rugged terrain in search of a missing camper – something Tracker did devote an episode to.

How A Tracker-Matlock Crossover Could Actually Work

Colter Shaw Could Be Employed On Matlock

Jason Ritter leaning back in a chair during a meeting as Julian Markston in Matlock season 1, episode 1

Though Julian working with someone who tracks down missing people in the field seems unlikely, that does not mean a crossover between Matlock and Tracker is completely out of bounds.

Colter’s job is to find missing people when a reward is offered for them. When a cooperating witness disappears in the middle of a big trial, that can certainly be a storyline that would cause big drama on a legal procedural like Matlock, which largely deals with corporate law and lawsuits.

A crossover could easily see a law firm offer up a cash reward for the retrieval of a missing witness, and Colter Shaw would be the perfect person to track them down. Matlock fans would not even need to be familiar with Tracker for Colter to pay the show a visit.

Conversely, Colter is often in need of a lawyer’s assistance on Tracker. While he usually needs help with criminal cases or background, and he gets that help from series regular Reenie Green (Fiona Rene), a case involving a shady corporation could see Reenie contacting another lawyer for assistance.

That would be an easy enough way to bring over a Matlock character like Ritter’s Julian. Small crossovers like that allow the worlds of the shows to expand and possibly get new audience members interested in them.

CBS Has Crossed Franchises Before

NCIS Has Been The CBS Crossover King

While there are likely a lot of behind-the-scenes puzzle pieces that have to be put together for a crossover between shows that previously had no link to one another, CBS has pulled off crossovers between different franchises before.

NCIS is the biggest franchise on CBS right now. While the flagship series has had several spinoffs, and they have all crossed over with one another, the NCIS franchise has also crossed over with other CBS shows.

The NCIS crossovers with Hawaii Five-0, CSI, and more have created an interconnected universe of CBS shows. All of the different law enforcement agencies in the different series have helped one another out on cases.

Knowing that CBS has been able to pull off these unlikely crossovers in the past makes the potential for one between Tracker and Matlock all the more possible.

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Matlock

9/10

Release Date: September 22, 2024
Directors: Kat Coiro, Brad Silberling, Gina Lamar, Hanelle M. Culpepper, Jennifer Lynch, Jude Weng, Tessa Blake, Yangzom Brauen, Marie Jamora, Daniel Willis