Picket Fences - General Discussion

[NotChristine]

Decided to create a thread since the full series is now available to watch on Hulu.

[Thomas Crown]

Love this show.  Such a great cast of characters played by some wonderful actors.  

[auntiemel]

Going through this series again. Great acting and a lot of the stuff I remember I loved, but DAMN is the look back on the prevailing views on social issues (even what is presented as the "progressive" views) SO incredibly painful. Like, right now, I'm watching the episode where Kimberly kisses Lisa Finn, and OH MY GOD, the way that Jimmy rails and screams at his ex-wife for having once been honest with Kim about having a lesbian fling in college is just....so hard to watch.

In fact, I'm noticing through this series that Jimmy spends a LOT of it screaming pretty violently in women's faces as they speak back to him relatively calmly, all because they have the temerity to disagree with him and not back down, and it makes me SO uncomfortable in a way that it didn't when I watched it on airing, and didn't even when I did a rewatch about ten years ago.

Nothing against the show. I think the way that it hits me now is indicative of how time has marched on. Which is good! But it's shocking to view through this new lens.

[Egg McMuffin]

I think this was the first show in the David Kelley oeuvre where it was good for a few seasons and then drastically declined when Kelley lost interest in it (see also Chicago Hope, Ally McBeal, Boston Public). I remember Kelley stepped down as showrunner before PF’s last season, which wasn’t worth more than a glance.

[rubaco]

Just came looking for a thread on this show (thanks, @NotChristine!) because I saw it's on Hulu now. I watched every episode back in the day (which apparently was the early '90s... who knew? I woulda guessed it was an '80s show), and I definitely loved it. But I can't remember specific outstanding episodes to seek out. Recommend me a great episode! 

(Yeah, of course I could watch the whole series in chronological order, and maybe I will eventually. But for starters, I just want to check out a few eps to see how committed I want to be about this.) Thanks in advance. 

[Raja]

Season 3 episode 10 Away in the Manger, the aborted crossover episode with the X-Files. My mind was blown when Rome's resident FBI agent was fighting off Carter Pike trying to link what was going on in Rome with the cows against what I just saw on the X-Files the hour before.

[Thomas Crown]

I had to look up the episode titles but the following ones from Season 1 are my favorites as they showed how truly great PF was.   One week you would get a court case, then the following week an episode focusing on a family drama, another week you would get a crime of the week procedural, etc.  I loved that all the characters got to shine and got their own individual story arcs. 

The Body Politic

Thanksgiving

Be My Valentine

Season 1 and 2 are fantastic in IMO. You can't go wrong by watching them all. Season 3 drops a bit in quality and of course Season 4 goes off the cliff once DEK is gone. 

[rubaco]

Thanks, @Raja and @Thomas Crown, for the suggestions! That'll get me started for sure. Most likely, once I've reacquainted myself with the Brocks, I will find myself watching the series in its entirety again. 

[AgathaC]

23 hours ago, Thomas Crown said:

Be My Valentine

Oh man, I haven’t seen this in years, but I remember it well! I was a kid, watching alone in my room and I can remember getting so freaked out over the course of the episode. By the big reveal, I was too scared to go find my parents so I just sat there for a while trying to recover. That was my first experience with a creepy tv serial killer.

[Broderbits]

1 hour ago, AgathaC said:

Oh man, I haven’t seen this in years, but I remember it well! I was a kid, watching alone in my room and I can remember getting so freaked out over the course of the episode.

I was an adult and still got freaked out! That episode actually makes me dizzy every time I see it.

[Thomas Crown]

Be My Valentine was a well constructed mystery with a great twist at the end.  Even better than the episode Remembering Rosemary that aired earlier in the season.  

BMV aired right after "Body Politic" and showed how great PF was to me.   After a thought provoking court case the previous week, viewers are treated to a clever police procedural episode the following week.    

 

 

Edited December 19, 2021 by Thomas Crown

[Darian]

I loved this show when it aired initially. I don't have Hulu and won't be getting it, and used up my free trial (I'm about to transfer to hospice, which is a good thing, so I don't think I can do a full-rewatch anyway). So asking a favor if anyone knows or as you watch, you see it. I've read every episode description and can't figure out what episode Kimberly makes a speech about when some man hugs you "accidentally" brushes you in a way you know is wrong...it's basically a monologue on unwanted touching (I could be remembering the few specifics I'm mentioning wrong, but at the age I was, those words resonated and I've never forgotten the feeling of getting something so deeply) . If anyone comes across that episode and wants to share the title, can you let me know.  Post or DM. Thanks. And whether or not anyone responds, enjoy having this show back!

[Thomas Crown]

20 hours ago, Darian said:

I loved this show when it aired initially. I don't have Hulu and won't be getting it, and used up my free trial (I'm about to transfer to hospice, which is a good thing, so I don't think I can do a full-rewatch anyway). So asking a favor if anyone knows or as you watch, you see it. I've read every episode description and can't figure out what episode Kimberly makes a speech about when some man hugs you "accidentally" brushes you in a way you know is wrong...it's basically a monologue on unwanted touching (I could be remembering the few specifics I'm mentioning wrong, but at the age I was, those words resonated and I've never forgotten the feeling of getting something so deeply) . If anyone comes across that episode and wants to share the title, can you let me know.  Post or DM. Thanks. And whether or not anyone responds, enjoy having this show back!

Hi Darian.  The scene is from the season 1 episode called "Frank, the Potato Man",   Kimberly confides in Kenny about unwanted sexual advances from teachers or the fathers of her friends.  It's another one of the great season 1 episodes from PF. 

Edited December 22, 2021 by Thomas Crown

[Darian]

3 hours ago, Thomas Crown said:

Hi Darian.  The scene is from the season 1 episode called "Frank, the Potato Man",   Kimberly confides in Kenny about unwanted sexual advances from teachers or the fathers of her friends.  It's another one of the great season 1 episodes from PF. 

Oh, my gosh. I want to bake you cookies! Thank you so much. I've searched and searched and never been able to find which episode it was. I am so grateful! 

[Shermie]

Love this show, such great casting and a starting point for some good actors, like Don Cheadle and Jack Black.

[Raymond Duncan]

Can anyone answer a couple questions about Season 3, Episode 11, "Freezer Burn"?

I had great unexpected laugh, deliciously black humored, when the Sheriff(?) was removing the frozen body from the freezer and accidentally knocked its head off on a porch rafter or something.

Am I remembering this correctly? I always thought it was a woman that was found, but have since learned that it is a male masseur and he is found bent up a little, though my "memory", is that the woman was discovered frozen straight out.

Anyone care to answer my questions? I would appreciated anything else yo might want to share.

TIA Raymond.

[Commando Cody]

On 2/14/2022 at 1:18 PM, Raymond Duncan said:

Can anyone answer a couple questions about Season 3, Episode 11, "Freezer Burn"?

I had great unexpected laugh, deliciously black humored, when the Sheriff(?) was removing the frozen body from the freezer and accidentally knocked its head off on a porch rafter or something.

Am I remembering this correctly? I always thought it was a woman that was found, but have since learned that it is a male masseur and he is found bent up a little, though my "memory", is that the woman was discovered frozen straight out.

Anyone care to answer my questions? I would appreciated anything else yo might want to share.

TIA Raymond.

They found a woman in the freezer in an earlier episode.  I won't write any more details just in case someone hasn't finished the series before reading this. 

I didn't see this series in its original run.  I saw a few episodes which I remembered.  The series episodes were very hit-or-miss for me.  I found the series on Hulu and just finished watching all of it.  Season 4 was unwatchable.  Just cringeworthy.  It was like the entire cast had already moved on. Season 1-3 were worth watching.  

[partofme]

2 hours ago, Commando Cody said:

  Season 4 was unwatchable.  Just cringeworthy.  It was like the entire cast had already moved on. Season 1-3 were worth watching.  

Season 4 was the worst.  David Kelley had left the show and the new producers changed the whole tone of the show.  I stopped watching early in the season and never bothered watching the finale.  

[Commando Cody]

Just wondering, since I didn't watch the series when it aired on network TV, on Hulu, are they playing the final few episodes out of order? 

[jah1986]

So I just realized this show was available on Hulu and have been re-watching on my lunch breaks. I remember watching live when it first aired in the 90s but forgot so many episodes. The only one I really remembered was Be My Valentine because of the gun Max used.

I'm at the beginning of season 2 with Max and her therapist, what an awful guy, I have no memory of how it ended so looking forward to it. Just finished the episode where a male teacher (a young Alan Ruck) was raped by a woman. Completely forgot Jason Beghe was on the show, only remembered Don Cheadle as the DA.

I'm now dreading when I get to season 4 but glad to have to warning.

[Readalot]

On 2/14/2022 at 11:18 AM, Raymond Duncan said:

Can anyone answer a couple questions about Season 3, Episode 11, "Freezer Burn"?

I had great unexpected laugh, deliciously black humored, when the Sheriff(?) was removing the frozen body from the freezer and accidentally knocked its head off on a porch rafter or something.

Am I remembering this correctly? I always thought it was a woman that was found, but have since learned that it is a male masseur and he is found bent up a little, though my "memory", is that the woman was discovered frozen straight out.

Anyone care to answer my questions? I would appreciated anything else yo might want to share.

TIA Raymond.

The mayor was the third person found in the freezer. When they were taking him out, his head popped off 

[GHScorpiosRule]

I loved this show when it aired originally. I must have stopped watching during the last season because the only episode I remember was the one where Zack stopped eating meat and turned orange from eating nothing but carrots.

I started rewatching when I saw it’s on Prime. And you guys weren’t wrong-season 4 is a totally different show played by the same actors.

I hated Lauren Holly’s character on NCIS, but I know I liked her in other stuff, but I HATE Max. She’s just downright insufferable in the last season. And I know it’s FICTION, but her thinking that the Pope was sexually attracted to her and how she tried to get him to see and react to her sexually was DISGUSTING.

The only characters I found rootable were Matthew, Zack, and the Judge.

I tried to keep liking Jimmy because I love Tom Skerrit, but it was difficult. Jill, I started to dislike from the end of season one. And Kimberly was also insufferable.

I’ve never liked Costas Mandylor because he’s so one note and better suited to play killers and thugs.

With all of the David E. Kelley shows now streaming, the one he did with Bochco STILL isn’t: L.A. Law!

Bochco’s other shows such as Hill Street Blues and N.Y.P.D. Blue are, so what gives?

But I’m a masochist, so I’ll probably suffer through the final season.

I did think it was hilarious that we got 5 seconds of Michelle Pfeiffer in “Freezer Burn” though! I’m sure everyone here knows she and David are married in real life.

ETA: I was wrong. By the final season, not even Matthew and Zack are rootable! THE FUCK?!

Edited March 20, 2023 by GHScorpiosRule

[GHScorpiosRule]

 

Finally zipped through the final season, as the gif above attests to my reaction.

Someone who watched in real time, please help me out. Was the show cancelled early? Because CLEARLY, episode 18, "Three Weddings and a Meltdown" was the series finale. With Kenny/Max, Carter/Sue, and Wambaugh/Miryiam getting married/renewing their vows, right?

But what in the BLUEDILLY FUCK did the writers do to Jill? What WAS that meltdown on Zach's birthday? The utter meanness? Were they going for a DiD or something? And then again in the finale?

And just what was the point of those "burned" off episodes when they didn't make any sense storyline/timeline wise? Kenny not married; Wambaugh still separated, and no Kim, Zach, or Max.

Not a fan of the recast Miryiam. I much prefer "The Nanny's" Yetta.

Way to ruin an adorable, lovable character such as Zach, Harding! In the end, I only cared about Judge Henry Bone.

I'm tempted to rewatch the pilot just to cleanse my palate.

[Electricmastro]

Watching this show on Amazon. The court cases with Wambaugh are prob my favorite part so far.

[Raja]

I got a kick out of the cameos from the actual CBS Morning News introducing a story from Rome Wisconsin,,     again.