The parallels and similarities between Poe's and Doyle's stories and Matlock are also found in the stories' characters. In the Matlock story The Reporter the main character is a criminal defense lawyer, Ben Matlock. Matlock, when defending his clients, conducts his own investigations. Like Poe's and Doyle's detective stories, Matlock centers on a protagonist, the detective, a lawyer named Matlock, who is constantly in search of the truth. In The Reporter the viewers find themselves identifying and sympathizing with Matlock, because he has faith in the innocence of his clients and looking to set things right. The Poe and Doyle detective stories are written so that the reader will identify and sympathize with the detective for similar reasons, and because these detectives always solve their crime.
Matlock is continually being approached with cases that are full of false accusations and innocent victims that require his recognized superior detective skills to prove them not guilty. This pattern had been clearly established by Poe and Doyle, whose clients approach them directly rather than going to the police because of their superior skills. In the story The Reporter, Matlock is approached by Dan Abrams, the reporter and asked to take the case to defend Lori Palmer because of his renowned ability to successfully defend clients.
The analytical, introverted, eccentric, and encyclopedic- minded hero found in Dolye's detective Sherlock Holmes and Poe's detective C. Auguste Dupin is also found in Matlock's lawyer Ben Matlock. All three investigators are able to solve cases through their superior deductions and simple observation of clues. In The Reporter, Matlock is able to draw on his encyclopedic memory to explain the three drunken men seen entering the house and then a short time later three sober men leaving. Matlock explains, "What if the guy being supported into the house is not Glenn Palmer but the guy walking out of the house is and they made a switch.
