Shark Bytes

In retrospect, I'll have to admit that last season after Mr. Kelley's departure PF did reek of chum, but it still was watchable TV. My favorite was when the older boy killed that guy with the potato cannon to be honest, PF was unquestionably one of the best series of the 1990's which even better than the re-re-re-recycled crap that is called television now ( if you saw on the home page on this site the only two interesting tv shows to come out next fall are run-throughs from (Austrailia) Kath and Kim and (BBC_England) Life on Mars which was an awesomelallly stunning show in it's BBC form.

Man,this was agreat show. It tackled a lot of sensitive issues. I believe the show jumped the shark when Mayor Lawson was killed by his wife. Mayor Lawson was a great character that you just loved to hate. An arrogant,sexist, racist all rolled up into one makes for an intriguing character. Just when they built him up, they killed him off. I would have loved to have seen him use his power to take on the Sheriff.

I loved this show. The three I loved the most were: Kathy Baker, Fivish Finkle and Ray Walston ("Now get out!!").
And this was not a warm and fuzzy show it had: a serial bather, a Valentine killer, UFO abductions, a wizard of Oz murder, and that was just the first season. BUY PF S1 on DVD!!! (Pratice too!!)

The show jumped somewhere around the middle of season three when Jill Brock became the whole center of the show. Although Maxine going blonde totally spoiled it for me. But for the first two seasons, this was the best show of the 90's

Obviously a weird show, with some albeit classic moments and episodes - who could forget -

1. The priest with the shoe fetish
2. Kenny beating up the crooked real estate developer and his goon - "I'm the man - who stuck a gun - in your face."
3. The lounge singer coming back to life on Carter's autopsy table.
4. Red Forman the rapist.
5. Don Cheadle falling for his high school age intern - and the whole town chastizes him for not going for it.
6. Wambaugh yelling at the Pope.

Best episode ever - The one where they finally find out the mother killed Kimberly's friend after she had aleady been granted immunity - Judge Bone overturns it and charges her with murder in open court, exclaiming - "Another terrible ruling, from the terrible judge" - met with thunderous applause, even Wambaugh withdraws as counsel for the defense.

Picket Fences remains one of my all-time favorite TV shows. To compare it to Twin Peaks, (or to any other show, for that matter) is just dumb. It was just what it appeared to be; eclectic, unique, strange, upsetting,wise, challenging and funny. It was TV for smart people...and baby, those days are long gone. It was too good to last.

Three relatively solid years of interesting, thought provoking television; would have avoided a "shark jump" if not for Kelley's departure and misguided 4th season...

Picket Fences started out so good and then went
downhill so fast. Writers as usual could try a little
harder on their geography. Xfiles had the same
problem. Wisconsin does not have huge forests and mountains just west of Milwaukee to crash
UFOs into. The National Guard being called to
Green Bay because of race riots in the 90s? They
alluded to Rome being near GB, but then bussed
students from Chicago? Thats about 4 1/2 hours.

I think it jumped the episode Max shot Red Forman with a pen gun.

Not making this up - there was an episode where Kurtwood Smith plays a perverted maniac who tries to rape Max with an accomplice, but ends up shooting old Red with a concealed pen gun.

Give Jeff Melvoin a break! The guy is a tremendously talented, hard-working writer with great integrity. All this rubbish you crybabies post about how the show went to Hell after he took over have to stop worshipping at the altar of David Kelley. Jeff made the characters real, instead of the caricatures they had been.

When David Kelley left, the show was done. Picket Fences was the best show of all time it's first 2-3 seasons, period. But as soon as Kelley got bored and left, forget about it. Yes, Max changing her hair hurt too. She was totally smoking as a red-head, but as a blonde, forget it. Also, when Kathy Baker became the center of attention in every episode instead of Tom Skerritt, with all the medical crises known to man ending up in Rome, that's when it lost me. The show was better as a police drama.

When they had an episode when the Mayor, Bill Pugen, supposedly spontaneously self-combusted in his bed and burned to death, without catching the bed on fire or burning the house down. Up until that point, Picket Fences was tightly written, crisp, with good plot lines and a good screenplay. It was obvious the creative well had run dry, and it was quickly downhill after that.

I mean just like White Shadow, they keep repeating the same episode over and over again. They kept repeating the episode where the Holly Marie Combs character has a friend with some really messed up problem. I mean one time she has a friend who thinks she is gay. Then another where her friend appears to impregnated by her father, and then another where, oh I forget, you get the point.

We seem to have a consensus. While there does seem to be a "Max'x Hair" contingency, the exit of David E. Kelley stage left gets my vote thrown on the pile. I do have to comment, however, that it's great to read so much love for what I've long considered one of THE best shows on television...and a show that I greatly miss (the glory days of). Probably the best hour of television that I've EVER witnessed was an episode that I think was called "Away In A Manger" about the "virgin" found in a crashed car who's in a coma and turns out to be pregnant. I'll never forget how I felt watching that episode and how every single break for commercials had me saying, "Oh...my...GOD!!" Brilliant writing. Absolutely brilliant!

I can't believe no one mentioned that awful episode where Carter SANG! He sounded like Tiny Tim with his sack in a vice and a dash of Yoko Ono. The writers were obviously trying to kill that show asap. Also, I remember an episode the last season where Ray Walston and Fyvish Finkel were wading around in some swamp at night discussing the meaning of life. Was that some kinda homo setup?