Picket Fences
Pilot
TV Flash files “Pilot” as a desk essential hour — Picket Fences (1992–1996) on CBS, season 1, episode 1, aired 1992-09-18, 90 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E01: listed hour 1 of 88 in the Picket Fences guide, first listed hour of season 1. It aired 1992-09-18 (90 min). No earlier hour is listed in this guide. Next is “The Green Bay Chopper” (S01E02).
Essential hour: “Pilot”. Small-town legal drama with fever-dream premises: Kelley-Bochco oddity already asking whether CBS aired a dare.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Murder has come to Rome,Wisconsin! The small town of Rome, Wisconsin gets more excitement than it can handle when a famous rock band hits town just after the Tin Man is murdered during a production of "The Wizard of Oz."
Viewer FAQ
Where does Pilot sit in the Picket Fences guide?
S01E01 is listed hour 1 of 88 — first listed hour of season 1, season 1 episode 1.
When did Picket Fences S01E01 air?
Pilot aired 1992-09-18 and is listed at 90 minutes.
Is it a cozy small-town show?
Postcard setting, fever-dream cases. Legal, family, and stranger-than-fiction share the hour — cozy is the bait, not the meal.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Rome, Wisconsin looks like a postcard until the weekly case goes sideways into the surreal. David E. Kelley and Bochco energy fuse small-town legal drama with fever-dream premises. Quality-network oddity: family, courtroom, and stranger-than-fiction in the same hour. Come for Emmys; stay for the episodes that make you ask whether CBS accidentally aired a dare.
Visual first: a postcard Wisconsin town, then the weekly case going sideways into the surreal — small-town legal drama in a silhouette that will not stay naturalistic. David E. Kelley's CBS drama (1992–1996) fused courtroom, family, and stranger-than-fiction in the same hour. Tom Skerritt, Kathy Baker, Lauren Holly, Costas Mandylor, Holly Marie Combs, Fyvush Finkel. *Fever-dream premises in family-hour lighting.* **This was not cozy; cozy was the bait.**
Filed against
- Tom Skerritt as Jimmy Brock
Tom Skerritt’s Sheriff Jimmy Brock held Picket Fences together while Rome, Wisconsin went sideways from postcard to surreal. David E. Kelley and Bochco energy fused small-town legal drama with fever-dream premises. Family, courtroom, and…
- Kathy Baker as Jill Brock
Kathy Baker's Jill Brock kept Picket Fences from becoming a postcard — Rome, Wisconsin as David E. Kelley fever-dream legal drama, family and courtroom in the same odd hour. Small-town quality-network strangeness with a pulse. The desk…
- Lauren Holly as Maxine Stewart
Lauren Holly's Maxine Stewart policed Picket Fences' postcard town — Rome, Wisconsin as David E. Kelley fever-dream legal drama, family and courtroom and stranger-than-fiction in the same hour. Quality-network oddity. TV Flash marks her…
- Costas Mandylor as Kenny Lacos
Costas Mandylor’s Kenny Lacos walked Picket Fences’ Rome, Wisconsin — postcard town, weekly case gone sideways, David E. Kelley fever-dream legal drama with Bochco energy in the same hour. Family, courtroom, and stranger-than-fiction…
- Holly Marie Combs as Kimberly Brock
Holly Marie Combs’s Kimberly Brock grew up on Picket Fences’ postcard-gone-sideways — 1990s catalog Kelley small-town fever, then Charmed recasting the kid as a Halliwell sister in WB demon-of-the-week soap. TV Flash files her as the…
- Fyvush Finkel as Douglas Wambaugh
Fyvush Finkel worked Rome, Wisconsin as Douglas Wambaugh on Picket Fences — postcard town, weekly case gone sideways into the surreal, David E. Kelley and Bochco energy fusing small-town legal drama with fever-dream premises. TV Flash…