Q: What do you think will surprise viewers about you and your family on “Mathis Family Matters”?

A: That I have no authority at home and no one listens to me and I’m very marginalized by everyone.

Q: Despite your legal credentials?

A: Yes, and they all know I don’t know more than anyone because they’ve all been to college so they all think they know more than me. And they’re all out working in the professional world themselves … . But I know so much more than them. Hey, this is the way you put it: I’ve forgotten more than they have ever learned but yet they think they know more than me and they blow me off when I try and give them advice and try and exercise some authority over the household. I’m Rodney Dangerfield, that’s who I am off the bench. I get no respect.

Q: Who is the biggest culprit at blowing you off?

A: Linda, she sets the example. She won’t let me tell her what to do. I just don’t understand it. … Don’t the vows say she’s supposed to do everything I ask her? I think, yeah, that was in my vows. And I guess with the equality movement, she just quit on me. I’m all for women’s equality but my goodness, a man should at least be able to keep some of the privileges. And perhaps not.

Q: Does you legal training and experience on the bench come into play when you’re dealing with the family?

A: Well, I try and make it handy. I try and use those professional skills that I was trained in, and that is logic and reasoning. But you’ve got to listen and no one listens to me. … There’s a general perception that I give too much unsolicited advice and I talk too much and I cut into others when they talk. And so I have that general reputation around here so they kind of blow me off after 30 seconds when they see it’s going to be a long-winded soap box lecture.