The WORST episodes of Picket Fences
Every episode ever - ranked by fan votes!
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 - To Forgive is Divine
Season 4 - Episode 19 - Aired 6/19/1996
When a young Amish rape victim is encouraged by her community not to testify, her rapist goes free and proceeds to rape another girl. Incensed, her parents sue the Amish community, blaming them for their daughter's rape.
#2 - Liver Let Die
Season 4 - Episode 20 - Aired 6/26/1996
Jimmy is having a rough day. First, he receives some scary news about his health. Then, a young murder suspect, in a desperate attempt to escape, manages to grab Jimmy's gun and threatens him with it. Jimmy manages to calm him down enough to get the whole tragic story.
#3 - A Change of Season
Season 4 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/22/1995
Following Carter's narrow escape from a house fire, Jill fears he tried to commit suicide. Kimberly makes a career decision: she's not going to be a lawyer after all, she's going to be a doctor. Jill is both shocked and a little delighted.
#4 - Away in the Manger
Season 3 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/16/1994
Jimmy investigates cows that are suspected to have been injected with alien DNA, but the Sheriff's department soon finds that the truth is even stranger than fiction and that the cows are being used to help breed human babies.
#5 - When in Rome
Season 3 - Episode 15 - Aired 2/24/1995
After 26 years in prison, a child molester moves to Rome, stirring controversy.
#6 - Cross Examination
Season 2 - Episode 7 - Aired 12/3/1993
Some members of the community don't know what to believe when a woman pulled from a submerged vehicle is discovered to be pregnant - even though she is technically a virgin. Matthew decides to tell Zach about Santa Claus.
#7 - Rebels with Causes
Season 3 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/11/1994
Jill takes an ailing Wambaugh to Chicago Hope Hospital for tests and locks horns with Geiger over how to practice medicine.
#8 - Mr. Seed Goes to Town
Season 3 - Episode 13 - Aired 1/20/1995
Wanting another baby, Lydia Brock wants to use Jimmy's frozen sperm.
#9 - Final Judgement
Season 3 - Episode 19 - Aired 4/7/1995
While Jill awaits sentencing, her lawyers ask Bone to put the euthanasia law on trial. Kenny and Carter investigate an attack on swans.
#10 - Saint Zach
Season 3 - Episode 20 - Aired 4/28/1995
All of Rome is in an uproar after stigmata appear on Zach's hands.
#11 - For Whom the Wind Blows
Season 3 - Episode 9 - Aired 12/2/1994
Jimmy experiences a mid-life crisis on his 55th birthday. Max and Kenny re-open the Latham case.
#12 - Heroes and Villains
Season 3 - Episode 16 - Aired 3/3/1995
The Dancing Bandit returns to Rome to help Zack celebrate his birthday but finds federal agents waiting for her.
#13 - Changing of the Guard
Season 3 - Episode 17 - Aired 3/10/1995
Jimmy asks the Dancing Bandit to investigate the mayor's murder. Max and Kenny are caught kissing on the job.
#14 - Without Mercy
Season 3 - Episode 18 - Aired 3/31/1995
Jimmy arrests Jill for euthanizing a cancer patient.
#15 - Upbringings
Season 3 - Episode 21 - Aired 5/5/1995
A troubled relationship resurfaces when Jimmy's father wants him to take over the law practice.
#16 - May It Please the Court
Season 3 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/18/1994
Wambaugh and Littleton argue their case in the Supreme Court.
#17 - The Song of Rome
Season 3 - Episode 22 - Aired 5/12/1995
Judge Bone struggles to be objective with a youth who shot Father Barrett during confession.
#18 - Enemy Lines (2)
Season 3 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/14/1994
A judge jails Jill for interfering with the busing order. Littleton and Max consider dating.
#19 - Cold Spell
Season 3 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/28/1994
Brock investigates the home life of a girl who spray-painted a pentacle on a school wall. Max and Kenny are horrified to find Ginny, frozen to death after falling into her freezer.
#20 - Picket Fences
Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/18/1992
The sudden death of the Tin Man during a community performance of The Wizard of Oz throws the normally sleepy town of Rome, Wisconsin, into chaos and throws Sheriff Jimmy Brock right into the middle of a difficult murder investigation. Meanwhile, when the favourite singing group of Brock's teenage daughter Kimberly arrive in town, they prove not to be what either she or Deputy Kenny had anticipated.
#21 - Reap the Whirlwind
Season 4 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/29/1995
A tornado threatens Rome and Zach is so worried for Kimberly's safety that he sets out on his bike to warn her. Kenny's hooker is arrested in a sting operation organised by Max, who ends up commiting a felony by covering for him. Wambaugh's wife leaves him after he embarrasses her at their anniversary party.
#22 - Pal Joey
Season 4 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/6/1995
A talk-show-host/physician tries to take over Jill's practice. An Asian man's courting ritual leads to his arrest and Kenny uses a dating-service.
#23 - Pageantry
Season 1 - Episode 11 - Aired 12/11/1992
Zach's teacher, Louise Talbot, defies a court-ordered ban of the annual Christmas pageant on public property, after which disturbing facts come to light about her.
#24 - High Tidings
Season 1 - Episode 12 - Aired 12/18/1992
Brock catches Kimberly in bed with her boyfriend, arrests him and cancels Christmas in the household. At the Sheriff Station, Max and Ginny are held hostage at gunpoint by an elderly man dressed as Santa Claus.
#25 - Thanksgiving
Season 1 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/13/1992
Jill's father arrives for Thanksgiving with a young love in tow. Wambaugh has his wife Myriam arrested after he catches her in bed with Harold Lundstrom. It all adds up to a typically riotous and far from peaceful holiday in the Brock house.