Spoilers

“Pilot”

It is strange how things work out.

I am starting a DailyView through the month of November, re-watching one of my all-time favorite TV shows, Picket Fences. I hadn’t considered doing another re-watch at EYG for now, especially since I am doing Moonlighting, The X-Files, and American Horror Story already. However, when I discovered that I could see the entire series of Picket Fences on Hulu, well, that changed my mind.

I was watching The X-Files episode called “Eve” when I thought that it was the episode that was intended to be the X-Files/Picket Fences crossover. I did my research and realized that it was not that episode, which was among the X-Files’ second season.

I own season one of Picket Fences on DVD, but I have not seen the rest of the series since it was on TV back in the 1990s. I loved this show very much so I took a chance and Googled whether or not it was available on any streaming service. Lo and behold, I fund that it was available on Hulu, the same service where I watch Moonlighting, The X-Files and AHS.

I couldn’t believe it. This David E. Kelley show was so quirky and clever, with amazing characters and acting. I decided that, not only would I watch the series on a re-watch, I would make it a DailyView through November. I had been looking for something to do for a goal for November and this works perfectly.

The pilot episode is listed as both episode one and two on Wikipedia, but only episode one on Hulu, so I am not sure how to classify it. For now, I am considering this only episode one.

This kicked off with the murder of a man who was playing the Tin Man in a local play of The Wizard of Oz. It appeared to be a heart attack, but thanks to the overzealous medical examiner Carter Pike, an injection spot was found and it was proven that the Tin Man had died via poison.

Sheriff Jimmy Brock (Tom Skerritt) and Dr. Jill Brock (Kathy Baker) are at the center of the case as they always would be. Their relationship was the heart of the show, good or bad, fighting or happy, their love was everything.

One of my favorite television characters of all-time was everybody’s lawyer, Douglas Wambaugh, played by the irreplaceable Fyvush Finkel. Judge Henry Bone is another character that makes his debut here, played by Ray Walston.

The show featured a good chunk of twists and turns and plenty of courtroom shenanigans. It also focuses heavily on its characters’ moral dilemmas, just like this episode’s one where Jimmy used his wife’s job as a doctor to gain a confession with the use of privileged information. As many Picket Fences cases, it put a strain on the marriage as well as their jobs.

One of the standouts from the the Poltergeist movie was Zelda Rubinstein, who appeared as police dispatcher Ginny Weeden. She fit right in with the rest of the eccentric residents of Rome, Wisconsin.

I am so excited about being able to re-live this multiple Emmy winning series. Without the X-Files re-watch, I would have never gone looking for this series and I would not have found that it was readily available. Fate is amazing sometimes.