Category Archives: Picket Fences

Picket Fences S4 E20, E21, E22

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“Forget Selma”

“To Forgive is Divine”

“Liver Let Die”

These three episodes were, in continuity, supposed to be shown before episode 18, “3 Weddings and a Meltdown,” and the fact that they were shown after it did affect the enjoyment of the episodes, especially episode 22, which dealt with a potential cancer scare for Jimmy, but since we know in episode 18, we know Jimmy is fine, it removed any level of question about the diagnosis.

In “Forget Selma,” we saw how Douglas and nuMiriam Wambaugh reunited, and it was one of the worst episodes of the series. It started decent, with Douglas being very jealous over nuMiriam and her new “bridge” partner, a retired stock broker played by Efrem Zimbalist Jr. 

Unfortunately, this fell hard in the second and third acts. The whole showdown at nuMiriam’s house was just ridiculous. It felt like a scene out of a conclusion of Moonlighting but without the witty comments of Dave and Maddie.

The second of these episodes included a rape of an Amish woman, and the subsequent case that led to. The Amish Council of Elders had decided that she would not press charges or testify against her rapist because their religion insisted on forgiveness.

There were a bunch of familiar faces in this episode. Kelli Williams, one of the stars of David E. Kelley’s courtroom drama The Practice, was the victimized Amish girl Hannah and Alyson Hannigan (Willow from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) was another victim of the rapist. 

The final release order show was the aforementioned cancer scare for Jimmy. This was a very effective episode which would have been so much more if I did not know that Jimmy made it through. It also made the split between Jimmy and Jill in the finale (E18) make even less sense than it did at the time. After surviving this cancer scare, how does crazy Jill continue to do what she does in the finale?

Crazy Jill storyline is easily the worst storyline in the entire run of the show as it took the character and warped her into something was unrecognizable. 

Episode 22 was one of the best ones of the fourth season. 

However, Maxine was missing in all of these episodes so it still made no sense when she and Kenny started out the finale in bed together.

Season four was definitely missing a lot and was far lower than the first three seasons. Still, Picket Fences is one of my favorite shows of all time and I am very pleased that I got a chance to do this rewatch for EYG. 

Picket Fences S4 E19

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“Winner Takes All”

The crazy Jill storyline continued this episode. She becomes a basketball coach and drives the children to the point where they hire Wambaugh to sue their parents to stay away from the games.

As a former coach, this episode pushed a lot of buttons for me. The know-it-all parents are a major issue in youth sports competition and there is a problem that you see all over the place.

It is kind of weird watching this episode after the finale from episode 18. 

There was a sub-story where Matthew got involved in gambling. Kenny stepped up big time in this side story.

Best part of the episode was the end song, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” performed by Israel “IZ” Kamakawiwoʻole. 

I also enjoyed the story told by Dr. Joey about her own past with her mother and figure staking. Amy Aquino delivered that monologue extremely well.

The worse part of the crazy Jill story is that there is no real reason behind it. It just shows her own character.

Picket Fences S4 E18

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“Three Weddings and a Meltdown”

It is official. I have decided that Jill Brock is one of my least favorite characters on Picket Fences. I am not sure how she has gotten away with all the things she has said or done over the last three and a half season, especially during season four, and still acts as pretentious as she does. 

Jimmy finally called her out about her behavior from a few episodes ago, but it was dropped immediately as Jill promptly made it about him. She then she took off her wedding ring and left him, telling people that she and Jimmy had split up. 

Of course, it was over before the end of the episode and they were back together, thanks to Jimmy’s words.

Douglas and nuMiriam apparently got back together as well. It happened off screen, I guess [EDIT: actually it looks like it happens in one of the next few episodes. It is explained below]. Max and Kenny were also back together. I’m not I remember that happening either.

Carter and Sue decided to get married and Max and Kenny and the Wambaughs joined in on the ceremony. 

Matthew was not here and we have no idea why. This is listed as the series finale on IMDB, but there are four more episodes on Prime. Not sure if they are just out of order or if there were more.

So as I was writing this, I did some research. According to IMDB: “The actual series finale was episode #18, “Three Weddings and a Meltdown”, a feel-good episode that offered happy endings all around. So how did four more episodes wind up showing after the series finale? CBS had canceled the show, and was eager to replace it with a higher-rated new series, so they officially ended its run on April 24 by airing the series finale, without having entered the previous episodes. There was a possibility that those episodes might have never been shown, once the show was canceled. But when summer arrived, CBS dug them up and broadcast them in June, probably thinking that brand new, unaired episodes of the acclaimed show get better ratings than the typical reruns that usually dominated TV in the summer time. But it’s clear from the various plots in those last four episodes that they were originally meant to be aired before the series finale, not after. Character arcs (such as Wambaugh’s troubled marriage, and Kenny & Maxine’s off & on romance) that were finally resolved in that series finale were suddenly unresolved again in these belated episodes. So, although episodes 19 – 22 are listed as the show’s last four episodes, episode 18 should really be listed as the final episode of the series, regardless of when it aired.“

That made more sense than the storylines that happened in episode 18.

The three weddings were cool. I loved Carter’s story arc. You would expect him to bail on the wedding, but he did not. And he was able to convince Kenny and Max to not give into their doubts and to go through with the wedding. 

It was a nice wrap up to the series, although it does kind of ruin the remaining four episodes of the series.

Picket Fences S4 E17

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“Bye-Bye, Bey-Bey”

Some uncomfortable discussion going on in Rome on the episode “Bye-Bye, Bey-Bey” of Picket Fences. Turns out that Laurie Bey had given birth to the baby for her brother and his husband. Laurie announced this at the baby’s baptism that she was giving the baby to be raised by the gay couple.

This led to so much hatred and homophobia in Rome as this small town has so many hate groups and repressed angry people that it is amazing. 

So many of the comments made throughout the show, including by some of the main cast members, were disgusting and so very much language of the 1990s. In 2024, this sounded way out of touch.

Although they do not come out, during this episode, Jill feels very judgy when she is treating Laurie’s brother. During this rewatch, I have to say that I am not a big fan of Jill Brock. She is very judgmental and does not seem as liberal as I expected her to be. Especially after the episode 15 of this season, I have found myself really disliking the Jill Brock character.

Picket Fences S4 E16

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“Dante’s Inferno”

This Picket Fences episode was quite the step up from the last one. 

It is also an episode that feels very current day and was filled with hatred. The way Chuck Dante, as played by Charles Rocket, is portrayed here made me think very much about some of the political discourse that happens regularly in our society today.

Admittedly, this episode was certainly pointed more toward Howard Stern than it was Donald Trump, as Chuck Dante was a thinly veiled caricature of the shock jock. Still, it felt very much like something that could happen today.

The influence Dante showed in this episode over his listeners was eerily similar. The anti-feminist hatred that the character spewed on his radio show felt much like some of the hatred that happens on the Internet on a regular basis. 

Wambaugh used the words of Dante to defend his client, a man who shot Maxine who had been appointed as the acting mayor while Laurie Bey was on maternity leave. The shooter was just as unlikable as Dante. As Wambaugh cross examined Dante, the defendant would snicker at some of the outrageous comments he made during his testimony.

Of course the jury found him no guilty which was horrendous. Judge Bone sent the shooter to a mental institution for observation. 

After the case, the people turned on Dante, which is something I wish would happen today to these people who try to use their words to rile up the influential of the country.

By the way, Jill Brock was back to her normal routine after her complete psychotic break last episode. She said things last episode that were really cruel and she said them for no reason. I guess we are meant to forget about that.

Picket Fences S4 E11, E12, E13, E14, E15

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“Bloodlines”

“Snow Exit”

“My Romance”

“The Z Files”

“Bottled”

I watched a run of the fourth season episodes of Picket Fences this afternoon. They were all fairly low on the overall list of Picket Fences as a group of characters were acting out of character and there was plenty of mean-spiritedness.

The best of these five episodes was “Snow Exit” when a blizzard crippled the city and Mayor Bey had to give birth at the police station. By the way, this was the last time we saw her, She had asked Kenny to help be her Lamaze partner and he had to tromp through the blizzard to get to her. Then she named her child Michael. You know… Michael Bey. Is that a joke or is Michael Bay the son of Marlee Matlin? 

One of this episode’s problems is that everyone had a storyline, but there was no through line. They were all separate. Henry Bone had a heart attack. Max got stuck with Jack Black, who was dressed as a cat. Jill got stuck at a bar with Lydia singing. Nothing was sensible.

Henry and Doug seemed to bury the hatchet with their fight over the Pope, but that changed a few episodes later. 

In another episode, Carter nearly gets run over by a bus, gets electrocuted and is dead for 3 minutes before being revived. It led to an after death moment for him, and caused a major upheaval in his relationship.

The first episode was called “Bloodlines’ and it was actually not bad. Matthew saw a classmate who had killed himself with a shotgun and the sight messed with his head. So Jimmy took him on a trip to chase the Cocaine Bear. Well, it may not have been the Cocaine Bear, but it was a giant bear that was roaming freely around the county. That bear, by the way, left the county and there was never any resolution to that storyline. Matt did some nice acting in that episode. Of course, he then spent time kissing the young girl who Zack liked.

The worst of all of these episode was the old Brock party episode in “Bottled.” Jill thought she was going through menopause and she spent the whole episode being cruel and totally out of control. Even after she discovered that she was not going through the change, she was just as cruel and as crazy, saying such horrendous things as you could imagine to Jimmy and her kids. It was totally inexcusable and there was no reason given for her behavior. If I did not know better, I’d say these people all hate each other. This went well beyond family squabbling or saying unhappy truths to work through issues. This was just obscene.

Matthew had the best joke, saying that they always make up at five minutes to 11, which was a breaking of the fourth wall type joke as that was the time the show aired. Of course, there was no resolution of the arguments or anything but apologies that felt empty. This was not the Jill Brock that I have watched for three seasons + before this.

Henry was also going crazy as he was being totally rude to Douglas, who began to take his rudeness to heart. They came to an understand, sort of, but I got the implication that Wambaugh was not a forgiving as he usually was.

By the way, Zack was allowed to invite four people to his birthday party and he chose Wambaugh, Henry Bone, Maxine and Kenny. Why did he not pick Mayor Bey? Weren’t they so close that she got caught as the Dancing Bandit coming back to see Zack on his last birthday?

I did not mention about the Z Files, where Zack used an internet site to create a dirty picture of his teacher and then he gave it to his friend Kevin who put it on the internet. 

Honestly, this Brock family probably all grew up to become serial killers or master criminals. 

It is a good thing that this is in the middle of the final season of Picket Fences because if this show continued to rape these characters as it has been doing, I’d be ready to stop watching. As of now, I have only seven more episodes left so no sense in stopping now. 

Sad fact is this is just not the same series as it was in the first three seasons.

Picket Fences S4 E10

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“Dem Bones”

The discovery of a skeleton in the woods in Rome leads to the investigation of a fifty year murder case and the reigniting of hatred between Neo-Nazis and Jewish people.

Right in the middle of the hate was Douglas Wambaugh, defending the 70 year old Jew accused of the murder of a cruel German man who had tormented him. But Doug was not the only Wambaugh involved. His son David arrived in Rome as the prosecuting attorney in the case. Wambaugh vs. Wambaugh in front of Judge Bones. It did not stop them from pulling the old joke of Bone saying “Wambaugh” and both Douglas and David saying “What?”

The horrors of the Holocaust are the undercurrent for everything happening in the episode, but it also deals with the relationship between father and son and how the father’s own self-doubt. 

This is the closest any 4th season episode ha come to matching some of the first three seasons. Douglas Wambaugh has been incredibly inconsistent this season, but this feels to be the closest he has come to being the man I remembered.

Picket Fences S4 E9

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“Witness the Prosecution”

Season four of Picket Fences has been a disappointment so far, but this episode, although it truly stretches the level of believability, is a much better one. It does harken back to an earlier season where shocking things would happen in a courtroom in Rome, Wisconsin.

Say, for example, the Pope would testify in a murder case.

This was definitely a wild episode with some solid work going on, There are plenty of problems with it though. The whole set up for the last minute visit of Pope John Paul II to Rome to visit small town America did not feel accurate. I can’t believe the Pope would do something this spontaneous. 

Secondly, the whole Maxine lusting after the Pope because he was ‘unattainable’ was repulsive and the character did not deserve such a character trait. Maxine has not been treated very fairly in this season of shows.

Another character that has been terribly inconsistent is Douglas Wambaugh. It is as if the writers write him depending on the episode. Some weeks he is a good man with a heart of gold and other weeks he is a slimy lawyer who will do whatever is good for his case. Wambaugh has not been written well during season four either.

I did like the idea that the only witness to a murder was the Pope and that they needed his testimony for a conviction. Admittedly, I do not think that the Pope would ever be in a courtroom testifying, but I do like the premise. And if anyone could get him in the witness stand, it would be Judge Bone.

It was used to put forth the thoughts of the Catholic Church toward homosexuality. That was the topic of the week.

Overall, I liked this episode, but in reflection, it had its share of flaws that a better written episode from season 2 or 3 would not have.

Picket Fences S4 E8

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“This Little Piggy”

The season four episodes of Picket Fences have been consistently lower on my list than the first three seasons. ”This Little Piggy” is a little better than most of the season four episodes so far, but it is still far from the heights this show reached in its first three seasons.

Animal rights take front and center on the show as Kimberly gets mixed up with a group who wanted to end the yearly pig wrestling that went on at the Rome fair. The group started having their protests escalate from words to actions, including an exploding pig balloon filled with feces during a city council meeting to the planting of a smoke bomb to cause more chaos.

Kimberly was involved with the leader of the group and she wound up volunteering to set the smoke bomb, which nearly got her shot and did get her arrested. 

The whole animal rights bit in the episode was heavy-handed at times, using a video of horrendous treatment of these animals. It got Zack to swear off meat. That whole part of the story only got me thinking one thing… when Zack was weakening with his resolve and was opening the fridge, seeing a plate of fried chicken… all I could think was, “Why is that plate of fried chicken in that fridge uncovered? That’s dangerous, isn’t it?”

There was another story on the show of a patient of Dr. Joey who had terrible cancer and it brought up pain for her watching him struggle through the treatments. This felt odd and was one of the key issues with this season. In previous seasons, this patient would have been a character we had seen before, even if it was a background character. The recurring aspect of the show made the town feel like a real town. I had less connection to the old guy because I just met him and his daughter. 

Overall, better than most of the shows so far in season four, but still a huge step down from most of the first three seasons.

Picket Fences S4 E7

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“Down the Tubes”

John Littleton finally returns to the show after getting shot earlier in the season only to head out the door. Don Cheadle was always too big for the show. He is an excellent actor and he wound up leaving Picket Fences for bigger things in the world of cinema.

Meanwhile, Jill is scheduled for a tubal ligation, which has been driving her crazy. It was leading to some feelings that did not make a ton of sense. 

Then, Jimmy was dancing the polka with Laurie Bay for charity. 

Then, lots of weird things happen from out of nowhere.

  • Jimmy seemed to start having feelings for Laurie.
  • Laurie, by the way, is five months pregnant. 
  • Jimmy sucks at basketball
  • Littleton started laughing during a court case.
  • Littleton had a dream that led him back to Chicago, and his way out of Rome.
  • Jill and Joanna try on wigs.

Things just happened this episode that did not seem to come form anywhere. It felt rushed and chaotic, much like most of season four has felt. 

Picket Fences S4 E6

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“Heart of Saturday Night”

Saturday night in Rome.

What does everybody do when there is nothing to do?

They sit around bored? Like me.

This was not my favorite episode of the series. There was not much to it. It felt very forced in a lot of moments. Jimmy gets his penis stuck in his zipper. Maxine is thinking about buying a vibrator. Matthew spends about the first twenty minutes with his friends driving around chanting “party” in the most annoying way possible. One of Judge Bone’s friends dies at their poker game. Wambaugh wins the pot. 

It just felt very muddled.

There were some sweet moments in there too, so it is not the worst of the episodes, but there just is nothing of note.

Season four has been a real downer so far.

Picket Fences S4 E5

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“Dog Eats Dog”

Jack Black guest starred in this episode, playing a man in a giant bratwurst costume. He got in a confrontation with Maxine and she ends up shooting him in the shoulder. He ends up suing her and the city for excessive brutality.

I have to say that this episode was not very good. Once again, the show tried to to take the situation and make it a character piece, but I wasn’t buying it. They tried to undermine Max’s confidence in her choice, but that seemed outside of the character. 

I kept waiting for Wambaugh to bring up all the great things that Max has done in her time as a Rome Deputy, the Green Bay Chopper, Cupid, etc. but he never did. It feels as if the show has been trying to tear this character apart for awhile, and I have not liked it.

At this point in season four, I have not seen that same spark from the first three seasons, with just a few exceptions. 

Picket Fences S4 E3, E4

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“Pal Joey”

“Bloodbrothers”

It was weird today as I watched episodes three and four of the fourth season, but on Amazon Prime, The episode three was entitled “Pal Joey” and episode four was titled “Bloodbrothers” but the truth was that those titles were backwards. The episode I saw in the morning was “Bloodbrothers” and the one I watched tonight was “Pal Joey.”

Bloodbrothers was one of the better episodes of the fourth season. It was a self-contained episode focusing on John Littleton whose brother, Dale, escaped from prison and showed up on his doorstep looking for money.

This, obviously put John in a bad situation, being the Rome District Attorney. However, it got worse as the other prisoner who escaped along with Dale, showed up with a gun in hand. This led to John getting shot and Dale being killed.

I have to say that the only drawback I had of this episode was the score did not feel as it fit the story that it was telling and was a distraction of the episode.

In Pal Joey, we are introduced to Dr. Joey, played by Amy Aquino. A talk show/doctor who shows up and tries to strong arm Jill into selling her practice. It turned into a partnership between Jill and Dr. Joey. 

There was further advancement of the marital strife between Douglas and nuMyriam. I have really not liked this story arc because it turns Douglas Wambaugh into a real jerk. Wambaugh has always been a shyster lawyer who would do anything, but he had a heart of gold and was a good man deep down. This whole episode made Douglas look terrible. There may be more coming with this, but this does not feel like the character that we have seen over the last three years.

It was weird considering I only intended on watching one Picket Fences today, but with the strange mix up on the episode order, I had to watch “Pal Joey” in order to stay in the right stretch. It was much like the Twilight Zone during this past summer’s Daily Zone as there were several episodes that were out of order according to the list of Twilight Zones episodes. Not sure why this happens on Amazon Prime, but I have it straightened out as of now. I am going to have to keep my eye on these last season episodes to make sure they are in the correct order.

Picket Fences S4 E2

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“Reap the Whirlwind”

A tornado was on its way to Rome, Wisconsin and it sent the populace into a tizzy.

It was also the longest tornado I have ever seen. It was raining there for what felt like multiple days at a time. I’m just not sure this was the way weather worked.

Lots of storyline arcs taking place during the tornado.

  • Carter decided to take up quilting and meets a new woman.
  • Kenny is having sex with a hooker.
  • Maxine sets up a sting and catches said hooker.
  • There is a new Miriam Wambaugh.
  • Doug and nuMiriam had an anniversary party where Doug made a bunch of dumb jokes about her and their marriage.
  • Zack gets worried about Kimberly and rides his bicycle ten miles through the tornado to get to her.
  • nuMiriam leaves Doug after the tornado.
  • Carter was worried that his reputation was going to chase the new woman away- so he gives up on her and quilting.
  • Judge Bone talked Carter out of his stupidity.

Honestly, this episode was not a very good one. None of these storylines felt as if they had any sort of connection or throughline to them. So far, season 4 is not off to a great start.

Picket Fences S4 E1

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“A Change of Season”

The first episode of the finale season of Picket Fences started with a solid episode with a lot of character development.

Carter’s house burned down, and he had to be carried out. Turned out that he took some pills. mixed with some wine that caused him to fall asleep while there was something on the stove.

We learn that he took the pills with the idea that he might die. He was not exactly suicidal here, but the concept was definitely there. Judge Bone offered to have Carter move in as a border in his big house.

We also had Kimberly decide that she did not want to become a lawyer and instead go into medicine. That created some conflict with Jill.

Another storyline was Marlee Matlin, new series regular, trying to make changes at the police station, including uniform changes that Jimmy balked at.

Maxine dyed her hair blonde (I remember always hating it, by the way) and that led to a deeper conflict with Kenny. They split up as a couple.

There is no major storylines going here, but there were a lot of little things that will play into the fourth season.

Honestly, my memory of the fourth season was that it was a step back from the first three seasons, but we’ll see how it goes.