Jason Ritter Explained Why He Had 'This Weird Feeling Of Connection' To Beau Bridges Before Working With Him On Matlock, And It Involves Dad John Ritter
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After a season of legal twists and family strife, the relationship between Beau Bridges and Jason Ritter's Matlock father and son characters is at a crossroads in the 2025 TV schedule. In real life, though, the collaborators are actually quite friendly. Part of the reason for that is because of a strange way that the late great John Ritter and Bridges would be included in a lot of the same conversations.
During a Paley Center event on behalf of Matlock's early campaign for the upcoming 2025 Emmys, Ritter admitted that his paternal figure on CBS' hit legal drama bore a striking resemblance to his actual father. Through a TikTok video clipped from this panel interview, Jason Ritter shared as much with this anecdote:
You know, there's this strange thing, when Beau was cast, throughout my entire childhood in my life, my dad and Beau would get mistaken for each other all the time. And there is a bit of a physical similarity.
I can kind of see where the man behind Matlock's treacherous yet tragic lawyer is coming from. Which is funny, because at first I was kind of resistant to the idea, as John Ritter and Beau Bridges both have their own trademark smiles.
Paramount Plus: from $7.99 a month/$79.99 a yearWhether it's the Essential plan at $7.99 a month, or the Showtime inclusive/ad-free Premium plan from $12.99 a month, a Paramount+ subscription is never a bad idea. With both classic and modern runs of Matlock ready for viewing, the courtroom drama fun doesn't have to end for some time. Though I hear those Yellowstone shows are also might fine, should you want to switch things up. View Deal
But as if he was ready to fight off any challenges to that claim, Jason Ritter shared this next piece of the tale that cites a compelling piece of evidence you don't need a Paramount+ subscription to enjoy. He said:
…my dad, one time, got a fan letter from someone who had listed all of these things that he had done and the performances that they loved and said, 'Could you please sign the enclosed picture?' It was Beau Bridges on the beach. So I already had this weird feeling of connection to him.
Now if you pull up that very photo from decades earlier that Mr. Ritter mentioned, it shows the shaggy-haired smoke show that is Beau Bridges, smiling away on the beach. That particular mane of hair is what swayed me in the end, because between that and The Millers star's high-wattage smile, Beau absolutely looks like our beloved Three's Company icon.
And now that scene where Bridges' Matlock character mourns his brother kind of hits harder for me, because John Ritter playing that role could have been spectacularly funny. (Which is, of course, no slight against Beau's actual brother, the equally legendary Jeff Bridges.)
You watch all of Beau Bridges and Jason Ritter's Season 1 antics on Paramount+. Don't forget that CBS' 2025-2026 fall TV lineup is still waiting to provide a date for Matlock Season 2 to kick off and bring Kathy Bates back to the TV fold in grand fashion.
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CBS News
22 minutes ago
- CBS News
WorldPride is in Washington, D.C., this year. The Trump administration is prompting fears, mixed emotions.
What we know about canceled LGBTQ events at the Kennedy Center This year, WorldPride is coming to Washington, D.C. A series of events, organized by the nonprofit InterPride, aims to bring visibility and awareness of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer issues to an international stage. This year's location is leaving the community conflicted about showing up to the nation's capital amid an administration that has targeted them. Zoe Stoller, a licensed social worker based in Philadelphia, said they're excited to be amongst the queer and trans community at WorldPride, but told CBS News the Trump administration has "definitely been on my mind." "D.C. is not necessarily a place that many people would think of as super safe and comfortable right now, given the current administration and their attacks on the LGBTQ community, especially trans people, especially trans youth," they said. Meg Ten Eyck, founder and CEO of travel platform EveryQueer and vice chairman of the board of directors for the International LGBTQ Travel Association, has been to dozens of Pride events across the world, from the miles-long parade at New York City's WorldPride to a Pride in Kyiv, Ukraine in 2015 that was targeted with Molotov cocktails amid protests. "What is happening socially and politically changes the feeling of the Pride that you are attending," she said, adding she anticipates WorldPride this year is going to bring "an astronomical amount of fear and sadness from people" as well as some potential violence. "I think the community is terrified, and I think our instinct as humans is to want structure and to want answers," she said. "There will be a lot of people who are drawn to this particular pride as a giant 'F*** you' to the administration, and there will be a lot of people who are incentivized into negative behaviors that may not necessarily be characteristic of who they are because of that fear and misinformation and general dissatisfaction with human rights violations that are happening in a lot of different ways." New York City's annual Pride March commemorates the 1969 uprising by members of the LGBTQ community at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village. Bing Guan/Bloomberg via Getty Images Comments across social media have also highlighted the mixed emotions. In a video about WorldPride posted to TikTok earlier this month, a top comment with more than 2,000 likes says: "Being real... I'm not going this year. I'm scared." Another reads: "Couldn't pay me enough to attend a mass gathering like this in this political climate." 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"If you're a federal employee who can fight from the inside, if you're a teacher who can fight from the inside, if you're a public health professional who can fight from the inside, we need you more in those roles than we need you on the National Mall," she said.
Yahoo
34 minutes ago
- Yahoo
'60 Minutes' reporter Lesley Stahl says she's angry with CBS' Shari Redstone over Trump lawsuit
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CBS News
36 minutes ago
- CBS News
Western Pennsylvania to see sunny weather Monday with 80 degree temps on the horizon
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