The BEST episodes of Picket Fences
Every episode of Picket Fences ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Picket Fences!
Before Ally and The Practice, David E. Kelley was behind this superlative series. Picket Fences followed the lives of the residents of the small town of Rome, Wisconsin, where weird things happened. Cows giving birth to human babies, a spate of people turning up dead in freezers, sex change teachers, a revolving door of mayors who never lasted very long - and one who even spontaneously combusted! Struggling to maintain order in this Twin Peaksesque environment is Sheriff Jimmy Brock. Married to the town doctor, Jill, they are attempting to bring up their three kids Kimberly, Matthew and Zachary against the odds.
#1 - Turpitude
Season 2 - Episode 1 - Aired 10/22/1993
Mayor Pugen is caught between a Brock and a hard place when the Sheriff arrests him for murdering a disarmed carjacker, leaving him to rely on Wambaugh for his defense. Frightened at the level of violence creeping up on the Rome people, Jill buys a gun to protect her family.
#2 - The Lullaby League
Season 1 - Episode 22 - Aired 5/6/1993
Zach plays horn for an ailing blues legend but Jill is frustrated when the woman takes ill and fails to appreciate medicine's ability to keep her alive. Max delivers a criminal's baby and begins procedures to adopt it.
#3 - The Dancing Bandit
Season 2 - Episode 5 - Aired 11/12/1993
Marlee Matlin guests as Laurie Bey, the Dancing Bandit who has become a bit of a folk hero for her heists where she and her very talented gang rob from rich bureaucrats and give back to families who have gotten screwed by the system.
#4 - Divine Recall
Season 2 - Episode 15 - Aired 2/11/1994
Mayor Rachel scolds Father Barrett for giving a pep talk colored with religious ideals to a public school's hockey team. Meanwhile, a risque video from Rachel's past jeopardizes her career as Kenny admits their affair to Jimmy.
#5 - This Little Piggy
Season 4 - Episode 8 - Aired 12/8/1995
Animal-rights activist Kimberly is arrested for a felony. A woman's medical treatment is inhibited by her daughter's religious beliefs.
#6 - Dem Bones
Season 4 - Episode 10 - Aired 1/5/1996
A skeleton discovered is that of a suspected Nazi murdered 50 years before and Wambaugh's son returns to prosecute the case.
#7 - Abominable Snowman
Season 2 - Episode 13 - Aired 1/28/1994
With his mind failing due to Alzheimer's, Howard Buss proposes that doctors harvest his heart for the transplant his son needs. Meanwhile, Wambaugh pleads with the city to house Frank the Potato Man.
#8 - Duty Free Rome
Season 2 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/28/1993
Wambaugh appeals Mayor Pugen's conviction and uncovers a technicality that could secure a new trial. Max's therapist admits his attraction to her and the feeling is mutual, raising ethical issues. Father Barrett confronts his church's stand on birth control.
#9 - Sugar and Spice
Season 1 - Episode 21 - Aired 4/29/1993
Attraction to a girlfriend confuses Kimberly. Max and Kenny vie for undersheriff but Max loses out on the promotion.
#10 - Guns 'R' Us
Season 2 - Episode 11 - Aired 1/14/1994
Embarrassed by a prank, Matthew tries to get even with some boys, but the practical joking gets out of hand, which may result in paralysis for him. Meanwhile, budget cuts hit the sheriff's department and Max fills in as sheriff.
#11 - Fetal Attraction
Season 1 - Episode 18 - Aired 4/1/1993
Jill asks Dr David Williams, her ex-fiance, to perform a controversial foetal tissue transplant on a man suffering from Parkinson's Disease.
#12 - Dairy Queen
Season 2 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/26/1993
Jimmy, Jill, Rachel and Father Barrett debate employing a scantily-clad pin-up model, a battered wife, to help promote the dairy industry in Rome. Kimberly considers getting breast implants.
#13 - Systematic Abuse
Season 3 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/30/1994
Littleton feels Brock's department is hampering the investigation of a girl's murder.
#14 - Buried Alive
Season 2 - Episode 19 - Aired 4/8/1994
A visit by Jill's father leads to a lively evening of therapy in the Brock household. Jimmy invites Max to dinner after she arrests Jill's father for disorderly conduct.
#15 - Blue Christmas
Season 2 - Episode 9 - Aired 12/17/1993
The drug war comes to Rome in place of Santa: controlled substances are found on the high school campus during a drug sweep, Kimberly's friend is arrested and a federal witness turns up in town. Carter is devastated when his mother dies of a heart attack, and it brings out the worst in him.
#16 - Frogman Returns
Season 3 - Episode 12 - Aired 1/13/1995
The embarrassed son of the Frogman sues for emancipation. Jill strikes Matthew for accidentally injuring Zack.
#17 - Frog Man
Season 1 - Episode 13 - Aired 1/8/1993
Investigating a burglary with Max, Kenny is shot and seriously injured by the Frog Man, a burglar who leaves live frogs at the scene of his crimes.
#18 - The Bus Stops Here (1)
Season 3 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/7/1994
As temporary co-mayor, Jill copes with racial tensions from a judge's decision to bus tough black students from Green Bay to Rome's schools.
#19 - Bad Moons Rising
Season 1 - Episode 14 - Aired 1/15/1993
When Alice Freeman is charged with murdering her estranged husband by running him down with a steamroller, Wambaugh defends her by claiming insanity as the result of the menopause. The onset of puberty unsettles Matthew.
#20 - Remote Control
Season 2 - Episode 12 - Aired 1/21/1994
The debate over crime reaches a fever pitch Wambaugh blames violence in the media for his client's assault on Matthew. Rachel launches a war on crime and moves forward with new legislation to curb violence.
#21 - Paging Doctor God
Season 2 - Episode 10 - Aired 1/7/1994
Jill does her best to uphold the Hippocratic oath when she performs emergency surgery on a pregnant Christian Scientist, who has refused care and whose husband takes the fight to court. Zach wants to convert to Judaism.
#22 - Supreme Courting
Season 2 - Episode 14 - Aired 2/4/1994
Valentine's Day brings love and controversy to assorted age groups: Max helps Carter woo a widow he is smitten with, Zack finds his first love but gets in trouble for kissing her, and Kimberly's boyfriend is too prudent as they struggle with sexual-consent guidelines.
#23 - Howard's End
Season 2 - Episode 22 - Aired 5/13/1994
Howard's struggle with Alzheimer's affects his family and the town. Jill's decision during surgery may revoke her hospital privileges.
#24 - System Down
Season 2 - Episode 18 - Aired 4/1/1994
Jimmy becomes the unlikely foreman of a jury deciding the case of a suspect accused of murdering two policemen.
#25 - The Body Politic
Season 1 - Episode 16 - Aired 2/5/1993
An HIV-positive dentist sues the city of Rome after being fired. A man and his mother-in-law battle over whether to keep his brain-dead pregnant wife alive.