History Series / PicketFences

* CaliforniaDoubling: Although set in Wisconsin, the show was filmed in Monrovia, California.

Only the first season has ever been released on DVD thanks to ExecutiveMeddling and various legal battles.

The show revolved around the residents of Rome, in particular the functionally dysfunctional Brock family headed up by the town Sheriff, Jimmy Brock. Sheriff Brock, along with his deputies at the Rome Sheriff's Department sometimes struggle to maintain order faced with such strange crimes and occurrences as cow udders exploding and a spate of people turning up dead in freezers. During its tenure, the show also dealt with unusual (for the time) topics not limited to abortion, homophobia and LGBT adoption, transsexualism, racism, belief in God, medical ethics, polygamy, polyamory, adolescent sexuality, date rape, cryonics, the Holocaust, shoe fetishism, masturbation, {{spontaneous human combustion}}, and constitutional rights.

Welcome to the small town of Rome, Wisconsin where everyone knows everyone and the bizarre is an everyday occurrence. Created by Creator/DavidEKelley, the Emmy Award winning family/cop/legal/medical dramedy ''Picket Fences'' ran for four seasons and 88 episodes on Creator/{{CBS}} from 1992-1996 before it was cancelled for being a little ''too'' weird for its own good.

* SpiritualSuccessor: The show is a pretty clear spiritual successor for ''Series/TwinPeaks'' which ended in the year that ''PicketFences'' began and heralded the beginning of the trend of 'quirky small town' dramas that persisted throughout the nineties. Twin Peaks was a lot darker and more surreal then Picket Fences however, and Picket Fences never overtly veered into the supernatural.

* CrossOver: The show crosses over with DavidEKelley's other show ''ChicagoHope'' in the episode "Rebels with Causes".

The show revolved around the residents of Rome, in particular the functionally dysfunctional Brock family headed up by the town Sheriff, Jimmy Brock. Sheriff Brock, along with his deputies at the Rome Sheriff's Department sometimes struggle to maintain order faced with such strange crimes and occurrences as cow udders exploding and a spate of people turning up dead in freezers. During it's tenure, the show also dealt with unusual (for the time) topics not limited to abortion, homophobia and LGBT adoption, transsexualism, racism, belief in God, medical ethics, polygamy, polyamory, adolescent sexuality, date rape, cryonics, the Holocaust, shoe fetishism, masturbation, {{spontaneous human combustion}}, and constitutional rights.

* SpiritualSuccessor: The show is a pretty clear spiritual successor for ''TwinPeaks'' which ended in the year that ''PicketFences'' began and heralded the beginning of the trend of 'quirky small town' dramas that persisted throughout the nineties. Twin Peaks was a lot darker and more surreal then Picket Fences however, and Picket Fences never overtly veered into the supernatural.

These days the show, rather tragically, doesn't quite have the devoted cult following that it really deserves to have due to the fact that only the first season has ever been released on DVD thanks to ExecutiveMeddling and various legal battles.

* BookEnds: The opening scene in the pilot episode and the final scene in the series finale both involve the townspeople all together at a public setting, the Town Player's performance of ''TheWizardOfOz'' in the pilot and [[spoiler: the triple wedding of Max/Kenny, Carter/Sue and Wambaugh/Miriam in the finale.]]

* ArtisticLicenseGunsafety: Sheriff Brock ought to know everything there is to know about keeping guns secure at home, yet [[spoiler: Zachary]] has no trouble retrieving Jimmy's pistol and pantomiming pot-shots at [[spoiler: Matthew's]] attacker when no one else is around. Played ''completely serious'', and chilling.

The show revolved around the residents of Rome, in particular the functionally dysfunctional Brock family headed up by the town Sheriff, Jimmy Brock. Sheriff Brock, along with his deputies at the Rome Sheriff's Department sometimes struggle to maintain order faced with such strange crimes and occurrences as cow udders exploding and a spate of people turning up dead in freezers. During it's tenure, the show also dealt with unusual (for the time) topics not limited to abortion, homophobia and LGBT adoption, transsexualism, racism, belief in God, medical ethics, polygamy, polyamory, adolescent sexuality, date rape, cryonics, the Holocaust, shoe fetishism, masturbation, spontaneous human combustion, and constitutional rights.

* HighTurnoverRate: Mayors of Rome have died from spontaneous combustion, being pushed into freezers, and gunshots. Others have gotten thrown into jail or run out of office for making porn.

** Interestingly the show was also originally going to have an episode crossover with ''TheXFiles'' where Mulder and Scully would travel to Rome to investigate bizarre genetic experiments on cows but it never materialized because CBS and Fox wouldn't agree to it - the only traces of it existing are the Picket Fences episode "Away in the Manger" and the X-Files episode "Red Museum".

Welcome to the small town of Rome, Wisconsin where everyone knows everyone and the bizarre is an everyday occurrence. Created by DavidEKelley, the Emmy Award winning family/cop/legal/medical dramedy ''Picket Fences'' ran for four seasons and 88 episodes on CBS from 1992-1996 before it was cancelled for being a little ''too'' weird for it's own good.

-->''"This place is nuts!"''

* PromotionToOpeningTitles: The opening titles in the first season contained only Tom Skerritt (Jimmy), Kathy Baker (Jill), Costas Mandylor (Kenny), Lauren Holly (Max), Holly Marie Combs (Kimberly), Justin Shenkarow (Matthew) and Adam Wylie (Zach). The second season saw the addition of Fyvush Finkel (Wambaugh), Ray Walston (Judge Bone) and Zelda Rubinstein (Ginny). The third season then also added Don Cheadle (D.A. Littleton) and Kelly Connell (Carter) and removed Zelda Rubinstein after she left the show. The fourth and final season added Marlee Matlin (Laurie) and later removed Don Cheadle after he also left mid-way through the season.

The show revolved around the residents of Rome, in particular the functionally dysfunctional Brock family headed up by the town Sheriff, Jimmy Brock. Sheriff Brock, along with his deputies at the Rome Sheriff's Department sometimes struggle to maintain order faced with such bizarre crimes and occurrences as cow udders exploding and a spate of people turning up dead in freezers. During it's tenure, the show also dealt with unusual (for the time) topics not limited to abortion, homophobia and LGBT adoption, transsexualism, racism, belief in God, medical ethics, polygamy, polyamory, adolescent sexuality, date rape, cryonics, the Holocaust, shoe fetishism, masturbation, spontaneous human combustion, and constitutional rights.

* SliceOfLife: The show was this much more in it's early days, focusing heavily around the Brock family and the dynamics of town of Rome itself. Over time it seemed to shift towards the police procedural and courtroom drama plots more heavily but still managed to juggle the different elements pretty successfully.

* WillTheyOrWontThey: Kenny and Max's relationship is based off of this.

* {{Fetish}}: The season two episode ''My Left Shoe'' deals with the town's Catholic Priest who, it is discovered, has a shoe fetish.

* MayflyDecemberRomance: In "Thanksgiving" Jill's father shows up to thanksgiving dinner with a beautiful 26 year old fiance, much to Jill's horror. Eventually subverted as it's revealed that the fiance is suffering from Cystic Fibrosis and Jill's father will most likely end up outliving ''her'', not the other way around. Jill, seeing their genuine love, eventually helps to mend fences between them.

Welcome to the small town of Rome, Wisconsin where everyone knows everyone and the bizarre is an everyday occurence. Created by DavidEKelley, the Emmy Award winning family/cop/legal/medical dramedy ''Picket Fences'' ran for four seasons and 88 episodes on CBS from 1992-1996 before it was cancelled for being a little ''too'' weird for it's own good.

The show revolved around the residents of Rome, in particular the functionally dysfunctional Brock family headed up by the town Sheriff, Jimmy Brock. Sheriff Brock, along with his deputies at the Rome Sheriff's Department sometimes struggle to maintain order faced with such bizarre crimes and occurences as cow udders exploding and a spate of people turning up dead in freezers. During it's tenure, the show also dealt with unusual (for the time) topics not limited to abortion, homophobia and LGBT adoption, transsexualism, racism, belief in God, medical ethics, polygamy, polyamory, adolescent sexuality, date rape, cryonics, the Holocaust, shoe fetishism, masturbation, spontaneous human combustion, and constitutional rights.

* ActorAllusion: In one early episode Judge Bone (Ray Walston) attends a Halloween party dressed as Uncle Martin from ''Series/MyFavoriteMartian''.
** In another episode, Carter (wanting to examine a body who may have been exposed to extraterrestrial forces) says he doesn't believe in Martians. Judge Bone says he doesn't either.

* FridayNightDeathSlot: Averted. The show did very well on CBS's Friday Night Schedule.

* MayflyDecemberRomance: In "Thanksgiving" Jill's father shows up to thanksgiving dinner with a beautiful 26 year old fiance, much to Jill's horror. Eventually subverted as it's revealed that the fiance is suffering from Multiple Sclerosis and Jill's father will most likely end up outliving ''her'', not the other way around. Jill, seeing their genuine love, eventually helps to mend fences between them.

Now with an added [[Characters/PicketFences character page]] that could always do with some more love.

** In another episode, Carter (wanting to examine a body who may have been exposed to extraterrestrial forces) says he doesn't believe in Martians. Judge Bone says he doesn't either
* {{Adorkable}}: Kenny on some occasions
* AlterKocker: Douglas Wambaugh, an Ashkenazi Jew.
* AmoralAttorney: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]]. Wambaugh takes any case for a fee, and isn't above using highly dubious tactics to win, but it eventually becomes clear that he's just playing a character.
* ArtisticLicenseGunsafety: Sheriff Brock ought to know everything there is to know about keeping guns secure at home, yet [[spoiler: Zachary]] has no trouble retrieving Jimmy's pistol and pantomiming potshots at [[spoiler: Matthew's]] attacker when no one else is around. Played ''completely serious'', and chilling.
* AwfulWeddedLife: Wambaugh and his wife (who eventually divorces him because even she is sick of his antics) [[spoiler:although in the finale, they remarry.]]
* BelligerentSexualTension: Kenny and Maxine.
** A one-sided example would be from Sheriff Brock and his ex-wife, much to Jill's chagrin.
* BodyInABreadbox: A corpse was discovered stuffed into a dishwasher.
* BunnyEarsLawyer: Wambaugh.

* ButtMonkey: Carter is unlucky in love, and all his attempts to appear as an authority on a variety of subjects have a tendency of backfiring on him
* CatchPhrase:
** Wambaugh--"Douglas Wambaugh, for the defense!"
** Judge Bone--"Now, get out!"
** Carter Pike--"Let me exhume the body!"

* CaliforniaDoubling: Although set in the Midwest, the show was filmed in California.

* CowboyCop: The Rome Sheriff's Department occasionally dips into this, such as when Kenny beats up a SmugSnake corrupt businessman who had beaten a witness who was going to testify against him
* DeathBySex [=/=] OutWithABang: How [[spoiler:Pike's]] mother ended up dying (subsequently of a heart attack soon after). Around ''Christmas.''
* DinnerAndAShow: Whenever they have dinner guests. Wambaugh [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] it when urging another guest to accept an invitation: "Strange things happen when they ''eat''."

* FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling: Subverted with D.A. Littleton, whose brother wasn't just foolish, but also an escaped convict who he had previously sent away.

* FridayNightDeathSlot: Averted: The show did very well on CBS's Friday Night Schedule.

* JerkAssHasAPoint: Douglas Wambaugh isn't really a JerkAss, but he is viewed with contempt for his constant volunteering of himself as defense attorney, no matter who the client is. However, several times he is able to point out that his clients have been mistreated by the police or the community, and he often calls people out when they're wrong, such as when he pays Frank the Potato Man's bail because he views his imprisonment as being motivated by prejudice, or tells Jimmy he's being stupid when he tries to prosecute Kimberly's boyfriend for statutory rape.
* JewsLoveToArgue: Wambaugh.

* LittlePeopleAreSurreal: Ginny Weedon - Portrayed by Zelda Rubinstein, who basically plays the same part that she did in ''Film/{{Poltergeist}}''. It never stopped her from complaining about little people stereotypes, though.

* LonersAreFreaks: Frank the Potato Man, who lives alone in the woods and has a tendency to loiter around schools staring at the children. He gets suspected of breaking into the homes of teenage girls and bathing in their tubs while masturbating [[spoiler: It turns out to be the popular, young, handsome District Attorney]]. Frank leaves Rome in disgust by the end of the episode
* MiddleChildSyndrome: Matt. Even [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in an episode where he accidentally injured Zack.

* MrFanservice: Kenny.
** D.A. Littleton, too.
* MsFanservice: Maxine, to the point where [[LikesOlderWomen Matt]] (who is just getting into puberty) starts having very sexy dreams about her seducing him, one of which had her in a [[WalkingSwimsuitScene bikini]], offering him a Game Boy, a slice of chocolate cake, and [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers herself]].

* OverprotectiveDad: After walking in on Kimberly having sex with her boyfriend, Jimmy tries to have the boyfriend arrested on the spot for statutory rape.

* PatientOfTheWeek: Seen by Jill, who has up-to-date knowledge of every disease and the latest treatments.

* RefugeInAudacity: Wambaugh, in his courtroom antics. In one episode, a drunk driver is allowed to drive home with police following her. After she causes a wreck that injures a young man, she calls Wambaugh, who tells her to drink in order to discredit the breathalyzer. When Judge Bone calls him on this, and gives him a very harsh dressing-down, Wambaugh decides to plead the case out for a suspended sentence. He then represents the victim of the wreck in a lawsuit against the town, using the driver's testimony that she was too drunk to drive. Legally, they couldn't do anything to Wambaugh for this, but Judge Bone gets so mad that he throws him in jail for contempt.
* ShockParty
* SingleMindedTwins: For a while Kenny dates a pair of SeparatedAtBirth twin sisters whose connection is so strong that it draws them together. They're the ones who insist on dating him jointly. In their first appearance, one sister has to pull her car over on the side of the road and orgasm while her sister is having sex with Kenny -- and they haven't even met yet.

* WillTheyOrWontThey: Kenny and Maxine's relationship is based off of this.

Welcome to the small town of Rome, Wisconsin where everyone knows everyone and the bizarre is an everyday occurence. Created by DavidEKelley, the Emmy Award winning family/cop/legal/medical dramedy ''Picket Fences'' ran for four seasons and 88 episodes on CBS from 1992-1994 before it was cancelled for being a little ''too'' weird for it's own good.