YMMV / Picket Fences

• Anvilicious: Many episodes can be unsubtle about moral or societal messages, but the cow in the manger comes most strongly to mind.
• Best Known for the Fanservice: Altogether now "chocolate cake, Gameboy and me" wet dream of Max in a bikini.
• Better on DVD: The frequent (and often important) Call Backs to earlier episodes can make the show more enjoyable when you watch multiple episodes in order and close together.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Max for obvious reasons.
  • Alzheimers patient Howard Buss only makes scattered appearances across the first two seasons, but the way his tenure as mayor (where he proves to be a refreshing Reasonable Authority Figure in comparison to his predecessors) and struggle with Alzheimer's combine remarkably touching pathos and the occasional comedic moment make him a fan favorite.
  • K.C. "The Snake Lady" Barrett, a python-draped Femme Fatale, only appears in one episode, at the end of which she is Put on a Prison Bus, but is one of the more iconic Eccentric Townsfolk.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • In "To Forgive is Divine," the community of an Amish rape victim is sued after the victim refuses to disclose the identity of the rapist in court (because her religion precludes cooperation with the secular court system/the Amish council declined to press charges). While on the stand, the girl's father tells the court that his community doesn't expect help from the outside world. In response, the plaintiff's attorney asks if they would accept help if the community were under siege by an armed attacker. This was 10 years before the horrific 2006 Amish schoolhouse shooting, when a teacher had to run to a payphone in order to call for help.
  • One season one episode has Jill rebuke a mercy-killer for making the Alzheimer’s-stricken Howard Buss question whether continuing to live in his condition is the right choice, with Jill discussing how much Howard enjoys life. In the season two finale, A different character gives Howard a mercy kill after his condition further deteriorates, and it’s seen as the right choice by many characters.
  • In one season 3 episode, Judge Bone discusses his estranged relationship with his son while urging an estranged father and son to reconcile. Later in the season, Bone's son arrives in town and commits suicide after his father is unable to reconcile with him.
• Jerkass Woobie: Bill Pugen is an enormous Mayor Pain 90% of the time and guilty of things like building a golf course over sacred Native American land and eventually shooting an unarmed carjacker, but he also has moments that show his confusion and misery as he tries to figure out just what he is doing wrong with his job to make his constituency so hostile toward him, and his spontaneous human combustion fate right after the implosion of his career can evoke additional pity.
• Memetic Mutation: The "chocolate cake, Gameboy and me" Wet Dream. Especially popular with those who fancy mature ladies.
• Overshadowed by Controversy: By far the most well-known thing about the show nowadays is its delight in tackling the most controversial social issues of its time (many of which have only gotten more divisive since the show)-such as euthanasia, homophobia, abortion, and medical ethics- and flip-flopping which main characters are portrayed as right or wrong on serious issues, depending on the episode.
• Unpopular Popular Character: Ambulance Chaser Douglas Wambaugh and The Coroner, Carter Pike, are probably the two least liked and respected main cast members (especially in earlier episodes), but are both particularly popular with the fanbase (although neither is universally beloved due to sometimes being on the wrong end of a particularly big Overshadowed by Controversy moment).
• Values Resonance: One plotline was about the local schoolteacher being revealed to be a transgender woman, and resigning due to the overwhelmingly negative reactions from local parents. The writing is sympathetic towards the teacher who was competent and ethical in her job, and nothing about her gender identity is shown as a negative apart from the social reactions to it. Thirty years having passed since has done little to blunt the message of the story.

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