April 24, 1996
By Manuel Mendoza
Dallas Morning News
During the opening credits, ominous clouds pass over a white picket fence. The symbolism should have been obvious: In the seemingly bucolic burg of Rome, Wis., all was not necessarily well.
But did viewers get ``Picket Fences''? If they did, most rejected its quirky style and heavyweight substance.
Even as the CBS series was collecting back-to-back best-drama Emmys its first two seasons, the audience was small. And through almost four years on the air, its viewership remained a fraction of what a hit show draws.
David E. Kelley, the show's creator and chief writer for the first three seasons, even tried adding gray to the clouds to let the audience know that ``Picket Fences'' was as edgy as ``NYPD Blue'' or ``ER.''
Until now, CBS has settled for the Emmys, the fanatically loyal cult following and the sheer privilege of putting on such a great show. That good will was drained this season as Kelley reduced his role to ``executive consultant'' and wrote just two episodes.
So Wednesday night, ``Picket Fences'' comes to an end, four episodes short of completing its fourth season. And to paraphrase T.S. Eliot, it's going out with a whimper instead of a bang. Two episodes will air from 9 to 11 p.m. ET, and Kelley's mark is on neither.
The first hour concerns Mayor Laurie Bey (Marlee Matlin), who reveals the father of her baby. And the closer, ``Three Weddings and a Meltdown,'' tries to wrap up a number of dangling storylines.
At its best, ``Picket Fences'' dealt with typical modern-drama issues: abortion, teen-age pregnancy, racism. At center stage were the marital and family woes of Jimmy and Jill Brock (Tom Skerritt and Kathy Baker, both Emmy winners for their roles, too) and their three children.
But Kelley eschewed the straight, gritty realism of most TV dramas in favor of a higher-pitched style. He mixed black humor and poignant melodrama in a way that had never been done on television before.
A priest with a shoe fetish - or an obese woman who killed her husband by accidentally rolling over on him in her sleep - may sound like over-the-top premises designed to draw snickers. But in Kelley's hands, they became compassionate looks at what it means to be a human being in the late 20th century.
By setting ``Picket Fences'' in a small Midwestern town, Kelley was able to build his stories around decent, hard-working people who lacked the cynicism that has become so closely associated with modern life. When confronted with cows having human babies or a good kid getting mixed up with drugs, they were at first surprised and confused and sometimes even angry. But eventually, they tried to deal with their problems with a mix of emotion and reason.
The ensemble cast was one of the best ever assembled for a TV drama. Besides Skerritt and Baker, Fyvush Finkel as lawyer Douglas Wambaugh and Ray Walston as Judge Henry Bone won Emmys for their roles. And Kelley also got excellent work from Lauren Holly and Costas Mandylor as Jimmy Brock's mismatched deputies; Kelly Connell as the sensitive and sometimes spacey medical examiner; Holly Marie Combs, Justin Shenkarow and Adam Wylie as the sweet-but-flawed Brock children; and Don Cheadle as the no-nonsense prosecutor.
For viewers who never caught on to ``Picket Fences'' or who would like to see the show's best moments again, the fX cable channel airs it every Saturday and Sunday at 6 p.m. Right now, fX is running episodes from the second season.
This season, ``Picket Fences'' has been a shell of its former self. It still took on big issues, but where Kelley's touch was light, his replacements have been heavy-handed. The more fitting end came earlier this season with a Kelley-scripted episode called ``Bottled.''
With the show's various pairs at each other's throats, it closed with Max (Holly) and Kenny (Mandylor) parked in front of her house late at night, trying to figure out what had gone wrong in their relationship and in their lives.
It was bittersweet and reminiscent of a similar scene that closed the first and only season of ``My So-Called Life,'' a show that may be better remembered because it didn't, like so many TV series, overstay its welcome.
Hopefully, the same will be said of ``Picket Fences.''
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(c) 1996, Dallas Morning News. Distributed by Knight-Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
AP-NY-04-23-96 1657EDT
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February 27, 1996
CBS is pulling Picket Fences off its schedule and plugging a new Don Johnson police drama series, Nash Bridges, into the Friday 10 p.m. time slot starting March 29.
But CBS isn't waiting until the end of March to yank Fences from its schedule; the ratings-lean series had its last broadcast Feb. 16, the network says. Specials have been scheduled through March 8 and the NCAA basketball tournament will be broadcast 8-11 p.m. Fridays, March 15 and 22.
Picket Fences, from David Kelley, languished at 9 p.m. Fridays
at the outset of this TV season with a 6.9 rating before being
moved back to its old 10 p.m. Friday time period where it's now
averaging a 7.1. (A rating point equals 959,000 TV homes.) After
four years and multiple Emmys, Picket Fences never has been able
to bring in big audiences. This season's rating performance is
its lowest.
Copyright 1996, The Detroit News
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