Picket Fences
Survival of the Fittest
TV Flash files “Survival of the Fittest” as a desk essential hour — Picket Fences (1992–1996) on CBS, season 3, episode 1, aired 1994-09-23, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S03E01: listed hour 45 of 88 in the Picket Fences guide, first listed hour of season 3. It aired 1994-09-23 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Howard's End” (S02E22). Next is “Systematic Abuse” (S03E02).
Essential hour: “Survival of the Fittest”. Survival of the Fittest: later-run Wisconsin, family and case still fused, the surreal still the house style.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Sheriff Brock fears the worst when a teenager disappears. Meanwhile a teacher may be advocating creationism in a public school.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Survival of the Fittest sit in the Picket Fences guide?
S03E01 is listed hour 45 of 88 — first listed hour of season 3, season 3 episode 1.
When did Picket Fences S03E01 air?
Survival of the Fittest aired 1994-09-23 and is listed at 60 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…