Compiled by Terry Gaetz [TJG]
Note: This guide is for personal use only and may be distributed freely.
No charge may be made for this document beyond the costs of
printing and distribution.
Last Revised: 1995 Jul 11 [TJG]
=============================================================================
Series Credits
Credits at the beginning of first season episodes (except for the pilot):
Picket Fences
Kathy Baker
Tom Skerritt
Costas Mandylor
Lauren Holly
Holly Marie Combs
Justin Shenkarow
Adam Wylie
Picket Fences
Created by David E. Kelley
[commercial]
[Also Starring credits; Guest Star credits]
Music by: Stewart Levin
[Producer credits]
Co-Executive Producer: Michael Pressman
[Writing credits]
[Directing credits]
Producer Credits:
Episodes 1.02, 1.03, 1.04
Producer: Robert Breech
Producer: Alice West
Episodes 1.05 to 1.13
Producer: Mark B. Perry
Producer: Robert Breech
Producer: Alice West
Episodes 1.14 to 1.22
Producer: Mark B. Perry
Producer: Robert Breech
Senior Producer: Alice West
Credits at the end of the episode:
[more acting credits; production credits]
Credits at the beginning of second season episodes:
Picket Fences
Kathy Baker
Tom Skerritt
Costas Mandylor
Lauren Holly
Holly Marie Combs
Justin Shenkarow
Adam Wylie
Fyvush Finkel
Zelda Rubinstein
and Ray Walston
Created by David E. Kelley
[commercial]
[Also Starring credits; Guest Star credits]
Music by: Stewart Levin
[Producer credits]
[Writing credits]
[Directing credits]
Producer Credits:
Co-Producer: Geoffrey Neigher
Co-Producer: Jonathan Pontell
Producer: Ann Donahue
Producer: Robert Breech
Senior Producer: Alice West
Co-Executive Producer: Michael Pressman
Credits at the end of the episode:
[more acting credits; production credits]
Credits at the beginning of third season episodes:
Picket Fences
Kathy Baker
Tom Skerritt
Costas Mandylor
Lauren Holly
Holly Marie Combs
Justin Shenkarow
Adam Wylie
Fyvush Finkel
Kelly Connell
Don Cheadle
and Ray Walston
Created by David E. Kelley
[commercial]
[Also Starring credits; Guest Star credits]
Music by: Stewart Levin
[Producer credits]
[Writing credits]
[Directing credits]
Producer Credits:
Episodes 3.01 - 3.12
Producer: Geoffrey Neigher
Producer: Jonathan Pontell
Producer: Robert Breech
Supervising Producer: Ann Donahue
Supervising Producer: Alice West
Co-Executive Producer: Michael Pressman
Episode 3.13, 3.15
Producer: Jonathan Pontell
Producer: Robert Breech
Supervising Producer: Michael Nankin
Supervising Producer: Ann Donahue
Supervising Producer: Alice West
Co-Executive Producer: Michael Pressman
Episode 3.14, 3.17
Producer: Geoffrey Neigher
Producer: Jonathan Pontell
Producer: Robert Breech
Supervising Producer: Michael Nankin
Supervising Producer: Ann Donahue
Supervising Producer: Alice West
Co-Executive Producer: Michael Pressman
Credits at the end of the episode:
[more acting credits; production credits]
=============================================================================
Additional Information
_TV Guide_, Fall Preview Issue, Sep 12, 1992
Friday
Picket Fences
10-11 P.M. CBS
STARS: Pictured (clockwise from top left): Costas Mandylor,
Tom Skerritt, Fyvush Finkel, Holly Marie Combs, Zelda Rubinstein,
Adam Wylie, Justin Shenkarow, Kathy Baker, Lauren Holly.
PREMISE: It's *L.A. Law* set in a town instead of an office.
It's *Northern Exposure* without the loonies. It's the tale
of life in Rome, Wis., revolving around Skerritt as the sheriff
and Baker as his wife, the town doc.
STRONG POINT: A lot happens in this small town, even murder.
There's plenty of engaging drama.
WEAK POINT: Sometimes, it just goes too far: a has-been sister
act plays the town bar and ends up in three-way sex with an old
coot, and the show finds new ways to die that even *L.A. Law*
wouldn't believe.
COMPETITION: ABC-s *20/20*, NBC's *I'll Fly Away*.
BOTTOM LINE: It faces the classy drama *I'll Fly Away*. But
that series ranked 78th last season. And this show has sex.
So it could win this contest.
_TV Guide_, "The Couch Critic" by Jeff Jarvis, Oct 31, 1992 issue
It's peanut butter on bacon, Madonna on the arm of Pat Buchanan.
It's an odd mix, *Picket Fences* is - but a wonderful one.
*Fences* boasts the best collection of characters on TV this fall:
Tom Skerritt as the sheriff and Kathy Baker as his doctor/wife are
normal folks - the only ones around. One son's a neurotic
trombonist; another makes the boys on *Home Improvement* look
domesticated; and their teen daughter is eerily and enchantingly
mature. Gorgeous Deputy Max (Lauren Holly) gets her kicks from
autopsies. The tiny phone operator (Zelda Rubinstein) is omniscient.
And attorney Wambaugh (Fyvush Finkel) makes all lawyers look like
fools - and I love him for it.
Strange things happen to these strange folks. The Tin Man in "The
Wizard of Oz" is murdered ("If I Only Had a Heart Attack," read
the headlines), then his wife is stuffed, dead, into a dishwasher.
That's frightening. An elephant is rescued from its mean owners (and
from an elephantine case of constipation) by a little man who falls
for the gorgeous deputy. Quirky. Then a beloved teacher dies of a
brain tumor. Frightening. In any hour, *Fences* is mirthful and
maudlin, magical and mundane. That's the odd mix.
TV's best ZIP codes these days - Cicely, Alaska; Twin Peaks,
Washington; and Eerie, Indiana - are odd burgs filled with odd
citizens who do odd things. *Picket Fence's* Rome, Wisconsin, at
first looks more like the average town of the American dream, where
life's dull and thus safe. Normal things happen here (a mom and dad
worry about their daughter's sex life), but so do bizarre things
(a serial kidnapper who chops off hands just happens to drive
through). It's sometimes hard to tell which is which - to know when
to suspend disbelief and enjoy the fantasy or when to hook up our
human hearts and feel sympathy. Especially in the premiere, when it
tried too hard, *Fences* could cause a person's brows to furrow.
That's partly the fault of expectations caused by critics who, like
network execs, imagine every show is like another. Critics called
*Fences* another *Northern Exposure* - but it's not. I could also
say it has some *Eight is Enough* mixed in, but the truth is that
*Picket Fences* is just *Picket Fences*, a unique show with its own
laughs, sentiment, surprises, and - most important - its own great
characters. They are the reason I'm ready to overcome bewilderment
and overlook excesses and return every week to *Picket Fences*,
fall's most pleasant surprise.
[Photo: To serve, protect, and amuse. Tom Skerritt as Sheriff
Brock.]
_TV Guide_, "Cheers 'N' Jeers" Nov 14, 1992 issue
Cheers
To Ray Walston, for overcoming his TV alienation. Best known for the
title role in the '60s TV series *My Favorite Martian*, Walston later
came to regret having done the show, saying it had hurt his career by
forever typecasting him. But Walston has obviously come to terms
with his otherworldly notoriety, turning up on TV in several parts
that prove he's a good sport: as Boothby, the Star Fleet Academy
gardener on *Star Trek: The Next Generation*; as Ned, and
interstellar explorer on NBC's *Eerie, Indiana*; and as Judge Bone
in CBS's *Picket Fences*, who attended a Halloween party dressed
as...a Martian. To top it off, Walston has also won acclaim for his
turn as Candy, the elderly ranch hand in the new "Of Mice and Men"
flick. Space, it seems, *isn't* the final frontier.
_TV Guide_, "The Couch Critic" by Jeff Jarvis, Dec 12, 1992 issue
*L.A. Law* revisited
Last season I asked: can *L.A. Law* be saved? This season I'll
answer: why bother. [...]
*Law's* real problem: it has simply lived too long. It's a candle
that once burned brilliantly but now has run out of wax and wick.
The blunt truth is, it's time for *Law* to go and make room in the
hearts of drama fans for fresher shows, such as *Picket Fences*.
Which leads me to a special appeal to former *Law* fans - and judging
by *Law's* gravity-stricken ratings, there are many: try *Picket
Fences*. It's a wonderful show from a *Law* alum that's hidden in
a bad Friday slot. Since I praised *Fences* here, it has only gotten
better. One recent show about a singing, serial-killing nun examined
euthanasia, religion, medicine, and the law with more sophistication,
wit, and intelligence than TV is ever given credit for. It is
remarkable TV. It is even better than *L.A. Law* used to be.
_TV Guide_, "Cheers 'N' Jeers", Jan 9, 1993 issue
Cheers to Fyvush Finkel - no, not for having one of the best names in
show biz, but for his scene-stealing turn on CBS-s *Picket Fences*
as Douglas Wambaugh, the shamelessly self-promoting small-town
lawyer and unlikely champion of the underdog. Have a sticky legal
problem? Just call Wambaugh. Better yet, just wait for him to
show up. Much to the consternation of everyone around him, he always
does, cheerfully ready to spring to the defense of the seemingly
defenseless, from a mercy-killing singing nun to a transsexual
schoolteacher. As a character, Wambaugh is an ingenious invention,
providing comic relief while revealing cosmic truths. As an actor,
Finkel is equally amazing, balancing Wambaugh's abrasive extremes
with a humanity that's both convincing and compelling. If only
CBS were compelled to give *Fences* a shot in a better time slot
than Friday nights at 10 P.M. (ET).
_TV Guide_, "TV Update", Feb 13, 1993 issue
Will *Fences* Seek New Neighbors?
*Picket Fences* is down, but not perhaps not altogether out, in
Salt Lake City and Seattle. Although the CBS affiliates in those
cities, managed by companies owned by the Mormon Church, dropped
the show - citing objectionable subject matter - creator David
Kelley says the network may offer *Fences* to local independent
stations. Ironically, Viewers for Quality Television just named
the provocative series the season's best drama.
- Deborah Starr Seibel
Boston Globe, "Broadcast Notes", Feb 12, 1993
By Susan Bickelhaupt, GLOBE STAFF
David Kelley will be coming east this weekend, where he can play
pond hockey in New Hampshire and forget about all the worries a
TV executive producer is heir to - worries like scheduling, ratings
and controversies over story lines.
Kelley is the creator, executive producer and (usually) the writer
of CBS' "Picket Fences" [...], an hourlong drama with a comedic
edge. The show has done well enough with the ratings to persuade
CBS to stay with it all season, and it was just voted best new
drama in a poll taken by Viewers for Quality Television.
But recently it ran into controversy when two CBS affiliates
dropped the show, offended by an episode that included a story
line about Mormons and polygamy. One of the stations, in Seattle,
has since reinstated the show; the other, in Salt Lake City, is
sticking to its position. Both are owned by Bonneville Corp.,
which in turn is owned by the Mormon Church - which, by the way,
stopped endorsing polygamy about a century ago.
"It really did surprise me," Kelley said in a telephone interview.
"After five years of 'L.A. Law,' where I tackled more controversial
matter, we were never censored or preempted," he said. Kelley was
the executive producer of NBC's lawyer drama, which is generally
more serious than "Picket Fences." As he puts it, with the new
show, "at first blush, you're licensed to laugh at it and enjoy."
The show is set in small-town Rome, Wis., and combines an ensemble
of quirky characters with serious plots, which usually revolve
around the action in the sheriff's office and his home. Tonight's
episode, for example, centers on a Cupid serial killer who comes
to Rome.
"It's kind of different, not really typical of the show," Kelley
said of tonight's installment. But who's to say what's typical
on "Picket Fences," which has dealt with everything from a
constipated elephant to an HIV-positive dentist? It has to walk
a delicate line between reality and foolishness, which is no doubt
why Kelley's been responsible for most of the writing.
"I've been pretty hands-on this year, because I figured the tone
is different and there's a certain juxtaposition of comedy and
drama," he said.
If the approach is unusual, the cast boasts enough familiar names
to get viewers' attention: Tom Skerritt ("A River Runs Through It")
plays the sheriff; Kathy Baker ("The Right Stuff," "Clean and
Sober") is his wife and the town doctor; Ray Walston ("My Favorite
Martian") is the judge.
Kelley said he hopes the show will be renewed for next fall.
He thinks the biggest hurdle is its time slot: On Friday nights,
he figures, people are either worn out or not at home. "Also, it
preempts the possibility of word of mouth, the talk about the show
on the following day, which I enjoyed on 'L.A. Law.'"
And if you think creating dramas in LA and Wisconsin has made this
Boston-area native forget his roots, just listen closely to the
dialogue. You'll catch things like a reference to "Fresh Pond near
Route 2," right there in Rome.
Guilty as charged, admitted the graduate of Belmont Hill School and
BU Law. "Hey, my imagination is limited in some ways, and I have
trouble of thinking up new names of places," he said.
Hey, we'll take it, especially when "Cheers" leaves town.
Boston Globe, "Broadcast Notes", Mar 02, 1993
By Susan Bickelhaupt, GLOBE STAFF
Cooler Head: David Kelley will get his wish to make "Picket
Fences" more a "water-cooler topic of conversation" - not to
mention a chance to go head to head with some old friends -
when his CBS drama moves from Friday to Thursday nights, starting
April 1.
The show will be slotted against "L.A. Law" at 10 p.m. Kelley,
the creator of "Picket Fences," was once executive producer of
the NBC drama. "Picket Fences" has made only a fair show in the
ratings this year, and Kelley has theorized that it might
benefit from a night other than Friday, so that people could
talk about it the next day at work.
_TV Guide_ "This Week - Hits & Misses - Reviews by Jeff Jarvis"
Picket Fences (Thurs., CBS) - I've made it a crusade to get
people to notice TV's smartest, most endearing show, *Picket
Fences*. Now CBS is aiding the cause by moving *Fences* from
Fridays to Thursdays. This week's show tackles both sides of
of the hot debate over fetal-tissue treatments while Tom
Skerritt and Kathy Baker wrestle with jealousy and confinement
in their marriage. Want to see *real* quality TV?
Here it is. My score: 10.
TV Ad, early Summer, 1993
Millions of you have never seen Picket Fences.
Maybe you were watching something else.
Guess what - that something else is now in re-runs.
Why not try something totally unexpected
and almost totally undiscovered
Picket Fences: the best show you've never seen.
TV Ad, late June, 1993
A lot of TV's best shows came close to getting the
axe their first year because of low ratings. But
before it was too late people did tune in and save
some great TV. So why not check out the show "TV
Guide" viewers voted most worth saving. Picket Fences
the best show you've never seen.
[The examples of shows that were given in the ad were
Hill Street Blues, MASH, Cagney and Lacey, and Designing
Women.]
TV Ad, Summer, 1993
All season you've read and heard a lot of good things about
Picket Fences. And yet millions of you have never seen it.
Maybe you were watching something else. Well guess what,
that something else is now in re-runs. Why not try something
totally refreshing, totally unexpected, and almost totally
undiscovered. Picket Fences - the best show you've never seen.
Summer, 1993
*Picket Fences* receives an award from Viewers for Quality Television.
Picket Fences Emmy Nominations and Awards (1992-1993) [adapted from a
netnews article; additions & corrections supplied by John David Spiropoulos]
*Picket Fences* received the following Emmy nominations
(an [*] indicates that the nominee won):
The 1992-1993 Primetime Emmy Awards
Nomination announcemant: July 22
Creative Arts Emmy presentation: September 18
Primetime Emmy Telecast (Live; ABC): September 19
*Outstanding Drama Series,
*Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
Tom Skerritt as Jimmy Brock
*Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
Kathy Baker as Dr. Jill Brock
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
Fyvush Finkel as Douglas Wambaugh
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
Ray Walston as Judge Henry Bone
Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series
Michael Jeter; "Frog Man"
Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series
Richard Kiley as Hayden Langston; "Thanksgiving"
Outstanding Individual Achievement in Costuming for a Series
Shelly Levine, Men's Costume Supervisor;
Loree Parral, Women's Costume Supervisor
(for "Pageantry")
Outstanding Individual Achievement in Main Title Theme Music
Picket Fences - series - CBS - David E. Kelley Productions, Inc.
in association with Twentieth Century Fox
Stewart Levin, Composer
_TV Guide_ "Grapevine", Sep 25, 1993: "To the Max"
Last season, the producers of CBS's *Picket Fences* learned a valuable
lesson: A little controversy can do wonders for the ratings. When
a couple of local stations refused to air two episodes - one featuring
two teen girls kissing and another dealing with bigamy - the brouhaha
actually improved the show's Nielsens. "We got a lot of press and
our ratings went up," says Lauren Holly, who, as *Fences'* Deputy
Max, is sure to generate a lot more press when the series returns on
Oct. 22. In a storyline that continues for several episodes, Max
turns into a nymphomaniac and becomes so hooked on sex she even
seduces her therapist. "People kept saying they wanted to see Max
out of uniform more often," says Holly. "Well, you asked for it,
you're gonna get it." Is she worried that any affiliates might want
to put the hex on all the sex? No way. "If anyone wants to make
a big deal out of it, please do. Our ratings will go up."
_TV Guide_ "Cheers 'N' Jeers", Oct 09, 1993
[Re: Emmy Awards] Cheers to the *Picket Fences* sweep (drama,
actress, and actor). [Photo: Skerritt, Baker with Emmys.
Caption: "Tom Skerritt, Kathy Baker: Amidst a thicket of
'Picket' prizes."]
_TV Guide_ "This Week - Hits & Misses" Reviews by Jeff Jarvis
Oct. 16, 1993
Picket Fences (Fri., CBS) - it can be difficult for an amazing
series to keep amazing us, but that's what *Fences* does in
its season premiere. The mayor kills a carjacker - after
the thug dropped his weapon - and even as the townsfolk call the
mayor a hero, the sheriff (Tom Skerritt) arrests him for murder.
Don't miss it! My score: 10.
Boston Globe, "TV Week" cover story, Oct 17, 1993
By Bruce McCabe, GLOBE STAFF
"Picket Fences," the big winner among the drama series at the Emmy
Awards last month, is not resting on its laurels this season; in
fact, you might look for some risk-taking.
So says Michael Pressman, co-executive producer of the series, which
opens its second season Friday night at 10 [...] with what Pressman
says is a "shocking" opening that he hopes will make the show "tough
to leave" for channel-surfers.
In the episode, Brock (Tom Skerritt) finds himself alienated from
the community when he arrests and prosecutes Mayor Pugen (Michael
Keenan) for killing a man who tried to carjack him. CBS newsman
Harry Smith and former New York Mayor Ed Koch make cameo appearances
as themselves: Smith interviews Koch about the Rome case on national
television. And Don Cheadle joins the cast in the recurring role
of District Attorney Jonathan Littleton.
"We want to make it better," said Pressman, speaking by phone from
California. The show's creator and co-executive producer, David
Kelley, "is working harder than ever. We want to make it grittier
and tougher this year. But it's an evolving process.
"We want more controversy in the issues. We want less humor and
more drama. We're trying to get away from words that have been
used to describe us like 'quirky,' 'light' and 'offbeat.' They
denote fluff. We're trying to stay one step ahead of the
audience's expectations."
Pressman says the season's premiere is a perfect example of what's
being attempted.
The carjacker, knowing that Pugen can identify him, threatens to
kill the mayor and his family if he presses charges. The fearful
Pugen shoots and kills the assailant, leading to his arrest for
murder. So the community sees Pugen as a hero, and Brock sees
him as a criminal.
Jill Brock (Kathy Baker) adds to her husband's fears that the
community will start taking matters in its own hands: She buys
a gun and takes shooting lessons from Max (Maxine Stewart, one
of Brock's deputies, played by Lauren Holly). Meanwhile, the
new DA has come to town with his own ideas. He and Brock start
clashing on how to handle the mayor's case.
Pressman says that these dramatic developments are what the
producers think the audience is open to.
"What's going on is that we're asking the audience to come up
to the level of the show," he says. "We're going to be serializing
stories and we want the audience to jump on board with us. Some
stories will be going on for two or three episodes."
On the cover: Tom Skerritt and Kathy Baker star in their Emmy
Award-winning roles. Justin Shenkarow (plaid vest), Holly Marie
Combs and Adam Wylie play their children.
Boston Globe, "Broadcast Notes", Oct 22, 1993
By Ed Siegel, GLOBE STAFF
Timing is everything, in television as in life, and "Picket Fences"
has had nothing but bad timing. Last year CBS scheduled it on a
weekend night until moving it to Thursdays opposite its soulmate,
"L.A. Law." In fact, it moved to Thursdays on the same night that
Steven Bochco and William Finkelstein came back to revive "L.A. Law,"
which hasn't been the same since David E. Kelley went off to produce
"Picket Fences."
Now it's back on Fridays, where is returns at 10 tonight on Channel 7,
just in time for every ounce of its three big Emmy victories to have
dissipated.
That's a shame, because after a year of near-fatal ratings and
multiple-personality scripting, "Picket Fences" seems to have its
act together, at least if tonight's episode is any indication.
Picket Fences was too much of a hodgepodge last year - going from
"Twin Peaks" to "Murder, She Wrote" to "Dallas" to "The Waltons,"
often within the space of one show. Not even a writer as gifted
as Kelley can juggle all those balls, and the result was a program
as unsatisfactory as it was innovative.
This year's model has a much surer sense of itself, and if it
doesn't aim for as many targets, at least it hits those it aims at.
The story centers on the mayor, who pulls a gun on a knife-wielding
carjacker. The bad guy drops the knife, but tells the mayor to
let him go or he'll come back after the mayor's kids when he gets
out of prison in a few years. Pop goes the handgun; down goes the
bad guy.
Sheriff Tom Skerritt isn't about to let the mayor get away with
murder, and the rest of the hour is a skillful examination of the
rights and wrongs of the shooting, in which both the sheriff and
the mayor's lawyer wrestle with their professional ethics as well
as their personal identities. As with Kelley's work on "L.A. Law,"
the episode never comes to easy conclusions. The viewer has to
work as hard as the actors.
Gone from "Picket Fences" is the taste for loonyness that undercut
many of the good things Kelley did. Gone for the most part, anyway.
There's still a stupid scene in which Zelda Rubinstein ("I'm a little
person, not a midget") offers to seduce the new district attorney.
Though the surrealism has been purged, Kelley hasn't lost his sense
of the absurd. Ed Koch is shown on an interview show saying, "If
I had been the mayor I'd've shot the S.O.B. No question about it."
The lawyer petitions to allow cameras in the courtroom because CBS
wants documentary footage for a movie of the week.
In terms of both style and content, "Picket Fences" seems ready to
take off. Tonight's episode justifies last year's Emmy; if the
quality is maintained, the program will be the only drama on
television worthy of regular viewing. If you gave up on it last
year, take it from another towel-thrower: Give it another chance
tonight and you'll most likely be back next week.
_TV Guide_, "The Couch Critic" by Jeff Jarvis, Oct 30, 1993 issue
[provided by John David Spiropoulos]
"Picket Fences" is the best show on television today. Even the
usually nearsighted Emmys could see that, having just named
"Fences" best drama, Tom Skerritt best actor, and Kathy Baker
best actress. When "Fences" premiered last year, it took me a
few episodes to learn to dance to its strange, syncopated rhythm
and to discover that this is more than another "L.A. Law" or
"Twin Peaks"; it's brilliant and new. Now I don't just like
"Fences," I love it. Infact - watch me go out on a limb and hear
it crack under the weight of what I'm about to say - "Picket
Fences" could become TV's best show ever. I can't award that
crown until the show has been on longer, until time and I judge
it against other legends: "I Love Lucy," "Hill Street Blues,"
"Roseanne." But in its second season, "Picket Fences" promises
greatness.
This is the rare television show that's "about" something. This
season's premiere was about crime and how it is changing us all: A
carjacker attacks the mayor, who pulls a gun, disarms the thug,
then kills him. Risking the town's rage but loyal to the law,
the sherriff (Skerritt) arrests the mayor for murdering an unarmed
man. The next show was about trust: A clownish lawyer with a
golden soul (played by the astounding Fyvush Finkel) fears he
abused the mayor's trust in his botched defense. Meanwhile, a
priest feels the heavy burden of trust as he counsels a woman
who cannot have a child because of likely birth defects - but who
will not disobey the church's law on contraception. Every week,
these decent characters struggle to do what is right. This is a
moral show, a show with a conscience.
It is also tautly dramatic, surprisingly hilarious, brilliantly
written, and beautifully acted (add Ray Walston, Lauren Holly,
Holly Marie Combs, Costas Mandylor, and Zelda Rubinstein to its
winners). Yes, it sometimes goes too far - killing the mayor by
spontaneous combustion - but the method to this madness become
clear as Finkel holds his client's powdered remains and recites:
"Ashes to ashes/Dust to dust/This is what happens/When you misplace
your trust." He tells the mourners, not as a lecture or as a
greeting card, but earnestly: "We're not here on this earth
long, people. We have to learn to love better." Coming unexpectedly,
it is a touching moment. And because of such moments, I can honestly
say I always leave this show feeling better for having watched - but
sorry it's over.
Mind you, I hate it when people coerce me into watching shows that
wear the cloak of quality - the "I'll Fly Aways" and "Homefronts" - by
hinting that if I don't, I must be a dolt. So I won't pressure you.
I'll just say that "Fences" hasn't been a hit on Friday or Thursday
(so I suggest Monday). And if I want to keep watching, it has to
grow. So I will beg you: "Watch!"
[Photo: Tom Skerritt standing behind Kathy Baker, his left arm
around her.
Caption: "The best:" Skerritt, Baker.]
_TV Guide_ "Cheers 'N' Jeers" Jan. 15, 1994
Cheers - To some sharp night moves. CBS recently shifted repeats
of *Picket Fences* into Friday's post-Letterman time slot, an apt
pairing of audiences and sensibilities (a whole lot more apt a
combo, we might add, than some of those cheapo action-adventure
hours they've been running after Dave.) [...]
[Photo: Adam Wylie, Holly Marie Combs, Tom Skerritt, Kathy Baker,
Justin Shenkarow.
Caption: "Picket Fences" picks up and moves: CBS experiments with
"Picket" scheduling are among several praiseworthy saves.]
Netnews posting:
From: TAMARB
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv
[1] Re: PF: Picket Fences Question
Date: Thu, 3 Feb 94 04:29:25 -0500
Organization: Delphi
Lines: 49
Brian Stuart Thorn writes:
>First, during the summer reruns, the opening was changed to include
>more scenes from first season episodes. All the credits remained
>the same, and the sky background was blue.
>
>Second, with the second season premiere, the opening sequence was
>changed to include a few different first season scenes (we lost the
>Max-in-Matthew's-dream shot) and the sky background became dark.
>At this time, the opening credits were expanded to include
>Fyvush Finkel, Zelda Rubinstein, and Ray Walston.
I'm an assistant editor on Picket Fences, and it was my pleasure to cut
both the summer season main title and the Season #2 main title. After
the somewhat mixed success of the first season, the show's
producers,particularly David Kelley, became increasingly concerned with
finding an audience. The original main title, created by the
Pittard/Sullivan agency,apparently didn't test well, and David personally
requested that a new main title be immediately assembled that would more
accurately reflect the tone of the past season. David specifically requested
that the old main title be removed as soon as a replacement was
available.Together with co-producer Jonathan Pontell, I cut together the
replacement using clips from the show. Deborah Ross Designs was
contracted to comeup with a new main title for the second season.
Together Deborah and I culled material that would reflect a darker, less
quirky tone. Our concept was that the main title follow the progress of a
typical episode -- scene of the crime/ the community responds (police,
medical)/ characters are thrown into conflict/ the court rules. It was
our personal agenda to keep whatever off-beat stuff we could get away
with -- our first cut featured Wambaugh in prison. This didn't fly with
the producers, and we later replaced it with the close shot of Wambaugh
smoking his cigar. The new main title was first seen by the cast and crew
at our Friday afternoon cast and crew lunch screening. Immediately
after our first screening I received a request from our associate producer
Steve Robin that we find a prettier shot of Maxine (Lauren Holly) for her
card shot. (I can only guess who made the request.) As Max is frequently
all-business, and little usable footage existed of her in uniform and
appropriately framed for a graphic element, our co-executive producer
Michael Pressman shot a new insert specifically for the main title. And
getting back to the original question, I consider the dark sky a personal
victory. Deborah had pulled several hours of cloudy skies from stock
footage libraries, which I then logged and loaded into the AVID Media
Composer (a Mac-based editing system). We each picked our favorite
cloud shots for the opening. I favored the dramatic clouds currently in the
main title, and gently campaigned for their inclusion. David Kelley, of
course, cast the deciding vote, immediately seeing the potential metaphor
suggested by the sun piercing heavy grey storm clouds.
Daniel Valverde
Netnews posting:
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv
From: Danny Moses
Subject: Re: Maxine on Picket Fences
Organization: InfiNet
Date: Thu, 3 Mar 1994 13:00:30 GMT
Lines: 29
Lauren Holly, 29, is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College. Her first
major acting credit was in Michael Mann's 1986 film, "Band of the
Hand," playing Nikki. Lauren met her future husband, Daniele
Quinn(Anthony's son) on the set. In November of 1986 Lauren joined the
cast of ABC's "All My Children" as Julie Chandler, receiving an Emmy
nomination in 1988 for her role. Lauren left the show in December of
1989. Her next screen appearance was on two episodes of NBC's
1987-1990 sitcom, "My Two Dads" as Paul Reiser's girlfriend. In 1990,
Lauren returned to the big screen in Andrew Dice Clay's "Adventures of
Ford Fairlane" as his secretary(?), Jazz. Later in 1990, she appeared
as Betty in NBC's pilot/movie, "Archie: To Riverdale and Back Again."
Even though the show was not picked up by NBC, things were looking
bright for Lauren as she was signed to appear in Penny Marshall's "A
League of Their Own" as a 17-year-old tomboy pitcher. However, the
film, which at that point starred James Belushi, went into turnaround.
Lauren didn't appear in the 1992 film. In 1991 Lauren starred in the
short-lived CBS legal drama, "The Antagonists." Lauren played Kate
Ward, a bright, young, by-the-book prosecutor for the District
Attorney's office. Sounds a bit like our Max, doesn't it? 8-) In 1992
Lauren appeared in a CBS tv-movie, "The Fugitive Among Us," as Suzie
Bryant. Lauren's biggest theatrical role to date followed when she
played Bruce Lee's wife Linda in 1993's "Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story."
--
Danny in Yorktown, VA
Netnews posting:
From: Danny Moses
Subject: Article on Picket Fences' Fyvush Finkel
Date: Wed, 16 Mar 1994 18:02:29 -0500 (EST)
X-To: rec.arts.tv.usenet
X-Mime-Version: 1.0
X-Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Lines: 67
Here's an article from the Friday (3-11-94) Daily News that I thought
Picket Fences and Fyvush Finkel fans would find interesting.
Lawyer episode makes the case for 'Fences'
by David Bianculli
Douglas Wambaugh, the outrageous attorney played by veteran
Yiddish-stage actor Fyvush Finkel on the CBS series "Picket Fences," is
a real character. His business card reads: "Reasonable doubt for a
reasonable fee"; he seems incapable of resisting a punch line or
gauging its appropriateness, and his legal skills far outstrip his
social ones.
Tonight at 10, in an episode written by series creator David E.
Kelley, Wambaugh's character is attacked. Speaking at a Jewish
memorial service, Wambaugh offends so many people that he's barred from
his own synagogue - a move that, at first, crushes him. Then Wambaugh
decides to go on the offensive (so to speak), and demands a Rabbinic
hearing, called a Beth Din, to argue for reinstatement.
"The history of the Jewish people," one rabbi warns Wambaugh
sternly, "is in your hands."
"I read that once," Wambaugh says, managing a meek smile, "standing
at the urinal."
Is it any wonder the guy's in such trouble?
"He's not a bad person," Finkel said by telephone Wednesday,
explaining his take on the popular "Picket Fences" character. "He's
not an ambulance chaser. Had he been in a big city, he'd be considered
a great lawyer. He knows the law; it's his demeanor in the courtroom
that's the problem."
Like most of Kelley's stories, tonight's episode is two-pronged,
taking separate approaches to the same issue. This week, the issue is
prejudice, with one plot examining the feelings of a 500-pound woman
(guest star Darlene Cates), and the other dealing with Wambaugh and
anti-Semitism.
More than any other dramatic series on television, "Picket Fences"
delves deeply into emotional, controversial and topical issues. If
you're coming to the series for the first time, this is a wonderful
point of entry, and Finkel gives a superb performance. So do Tom
Skerritt and Kathy Baker as the town's central family, and, in this
episode, Holly Marie Combs as their daughter, who sticks up for
Wambaugh in his hour of need.
"That's as old as time itself. Portia did it for Shylock," said
Finkel referring to Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice." He added,
however, "I'm sure David Kelley didn't have that in mind."
I'm not too sure. When I watch "Picket Fences" - and both laugh and
cry, as I did when previewing this episode - I have no problem thinking
of it as art, and even as poetry. TV doesn't get much better than
this, and having an entire show that confronts Wambaugh's "shyster"
persona head-on is a bold move, one that pays off handsomely.
"This episode," Finkel promised, "children and grandfathers can see
this and not be embarrassed for one second. It's something that's
really universal, and it's something the whole family can sit down and
watch. It's 'Hallmark.'"
One hallmark of Kelley's writing is the eagerness to employ both his
actors and his show's past story lines to their fullest. Wambaugh goes
on trial tonight for virtually every lapse in taste we've ever seen him
commit; if you've been watching both seasons of "Picket Fences," you
know what a long and entertaining list that is.
If not, this is a great opportunity to get caught up - in the
history as well as the drama.
Danny in Yorktown, VA
_TV Guide_, "Cheers 'N' Jeers" Apr 30, 1994 issue
To a *Picket Fences* episode two weeks ago ["Buried Alive"] that
answered the question: "Why don't they do drama like they used to?"
They do. It began with deputy _Lauren Holly_ handing out a traffic
ticket and snowballed, as little things do, into a funny, human, and
genuinely revealing encounter in the living room of sheriff _Tom
Skerritt_ and wife/doctor _Kathy Baker_. The scene peeled away
layers of guilt, anger, and love in one surprising twist after
another. It was grown-up theater, as good as you'd pay for on
Broadway -- and obviously a labor of love for its writer, *Fences*
creator _David E. Kelley_. The show, Skerritt, and Baker all
received Emmys last year, but *Fences* still isn't winning the
ratings it deserves. All we can say is: What are you folks going
_out_ to see on Friday nights that could possibly be any better than
this?
Covallis (Oregon) Gazette Times, (sent by Loren Heisey)
Patience brings acclaim to aged actor
Fyvush Finkel lays down the law on 'Picket Fences'
By Frazier Moore
The Associated Press
Fyvush Finkel, who plays attorney Douglas Wambaugh on "Picket Fences,"
is one of TV's freshest faces.
At age 71. After more than 60 years in show business.
Go figure.
Of course, there are many reasons to watch "Picket Fences" (which airs
at 10 p.m. Fridays on CBS), maybe as many reasons as there are citizens
of Rome, Wis., the series' anything-can-happen-here hometown.
But thanks to Finkel's cagey old counselor, "Fences" is a pro-bono
blast.
Who is this guy? Jockeying between comic bluster and soul-stirring
dignity in the twinkle of an eye - usually, his own - Wambaugh tells
tasteless jokes at funerals and distributes business cards that read
"Reasonable doubt for a reasonable fee," yet he's a litigious mensch for
the put-upon and, by the way, a devoutly religious man.
"You see," Wambaugh offered in his own defense when his exasperated
rabbi tried to drum him out of the synagogue earlier this season, "I'm a
character! I embarrass MYSELF! But I would NEVER embarrass my God or my
faith."
Spend a few minutes with Fyvush Finkel, and you discover that here, too,
is a man of wonderful expanse.
"On every contract that I have had all my life is that I don't appear on
the High Holy Days," he says, hoisting his formidable eyebrows to vanquish
any doubt. "Never!"
On the other hand, when he took his comic sketches to all those
Catskills resorts long ago. he showed his audience no mercy. "They
SCREAMED!"
Now white-haired and rabbinical-looking in his vest and gray suit,
Finkel remains absorbingly funny. He says he was born that way.
"Jewish people in general have a very good sense of humor," he notes,
his eyes merry crescents. Then, his brows descend like storm clouds for a
somber postscript: "Ninety-nine percent of their humor is based on
tragedy."
Take a time-honored subject of Jewish humor: the waiter.
"He's an old-timer. He works hard all day. He's flatflooted. He don't
hear well.
"So now he's scratching himself while he waits for the order. The
customer says, 'Hemorrhoids?' The waiter says, 'I only serve what's on the
menu.'
"Funny, right? But it's also tragic. He's hurting inside. So to speak."
The Brooklyn-born Finkel was on stage before his 10th birthday, yet he
was middle-aged before he ever appeared in an English-language play. After
40 years, he made his switch from the fading Yiddish theater to mainstream
show business in "Fiddler On the Roof," with which he toured for a dozen
years.
He played the shopkeeper in the off-Broadway musical "Little Shop of
Horrors" for its entire five-year run.
Then, four years ago, he scored a small role as a lawyer in the film
"Q&A." Happening to see it, David E. Kelley knew he'd found the right man
for a series he would introduce come fall 1992.
"David Kelley," Finkel trumpets, "he can write a good script! He can
write a good check! He's a very good writer!
"Great artists, there," Finkel carries on. "(Series star) Tom Skerritt -
a great actor and such a nice man. The whole cast - beautiful people,
everyone of them. It's the happiest set in America, I think."
As he speaks, Finkel is 3,000 miles from his happy soundstage, and from
the hotel suite he and Trudi, his wife of 47 years, share while the show
is in production. They are back home from California for a visit and,
combining business with pleasure, have been sharing lunch with a reporter
at Manhattan's Second Avenue Deli, Which Finkel salutes as his favorite
restaurant.
Napkin tucked at his throat, he is digging into his deli omelet
("salami, pastrami, tongue, all that stuff") as he continues to savor his
new-found success.
"It's a miracle to have this happen to you," he says. "In California,
they're used to film people around. And yet, when we go to the mall to
see a movie, they're holding court with me."
"He lets them kiss him!" Trudi says.
"It's a brand-new life, completely brand-new. But I live the same way,
"he hastens to add. "I just smoke a better cigar."
No wonder. Wambaugh, too, happens to enjoy the occasional stogie, and
Finkel requests only the finest as props for those scenes.
"And then, naturally, you keep a handful, what the hell." Finkel says
with a laugh.
An open-and-shut case of delight.
Picket Fences Emmy Nominations and Awards (1993-1994) [adapted from a
netnews article; additions & corrections supplied by John David Spiropoulos]
*Picket Fences* received the following Emmy nominations
(an [*] indicates that the nominee won):
The 1993-1994 Primetime Emmy Awards
Nomination announcement: July 21
Creative Arts Emmy presentation: September 10
Primetime Emmy Telecast (Live; ABC): September 11
*Outstanding Drama Series
"Picket Fences" - David E. Kelley Productions in association with
20th Television (CBS). David E. Kelley, executive producer;
Michael Pressman, co-executive producer; Alice West, senior
producer; Robert Breech, Ann Donahue, producers; Jonathan Pontell,
Geoffrey Neigher, co-producers; Jack Philbrick, coordinating producer.
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
Tom Skerritt as Jimmy Brock
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
Kathy Baker as Dr. Jill Brock
*Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
Fyvush Finkel as Douglas Wambaugh
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
Ray Walston as Judge Henry Bone
*Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series
Leigh Taylor-Young as Rachel Harris
Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series
James Earl Jones; "System Down
*Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series
Richard Kiley as Hayden Langston; "Buried Alive"
Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series
Marlee Matlin as Laurie Bey; "The Dancing Bandit"
*Outstanding Costuming for a Series
Shelly Levine, men's costume supervisor; Loree Parral, women's
costume supervisor -- "Picket Fences" ("Dairy Queen") (CBS).
_TV Guide_, "Cheers 'N' Jeers" Oct 01, 1994 issue
Cheers
To the sheer exuberance of Fyvush Finkel, who plays the irresponible
public defender on *Picket Fences* ("Wambaugh for the defense,
your honor!") on accepting his Emmy. "I don't care how much time
they gave me!" shouted the veteran of New York's Yiddish theater.
"I waited 51 years to get on this stage!" With so much of what
passes for spontaneity on awards shows limited to outbursts of
vulgarity or political manifestos, Finkel's delight at the podium,
his thanks to his wife of 48 years ("I want to invite you all to
our 50th wedding anniversary!"), and his bow to his agent in the
best tradition of "Broadway Danny Rose" lit up the screen with
something rare - genuine, uninhibited joy. Finkel's graceful
click of his heels at the end was a moment that should go into
a TV treasure chest. Or a show trouper's trunk.
[Picture of Fyvush with the Emmy. Caption: "Fyvush Finkel:
Graceful as well as grateful."]
_TV Guide_, "Cheers 'N' Jeers" Oct 15, 1994 issue
Jeers
To a CBS show we usually Cheer, *Picket Fences*, for letting
Leigh Taylor-Young go, even though she just picked up an Emmy
for best supporting actress. As the lusty mayor of Rome, Wis.,
she was a rare instance of a middle-aged actress given a serious,
if colorful, sexual life on a series. Word is that Taylor-Young
will make a return visit now and then, but her days as a regular
are over. She's not happy about her forced departure, and neither
are we.
[Picture of Leigh Taylor-Young at a desk. Caption: "Emmy winner:
We say, don't 'Fence' her out.]
Contributed by Henry Walter Nunes:
The Washington Post, October 29, 1994
October 29, 1994, Saturday, Final Edition
SECTION: METRO; PAGE B6; RELIGION
LENGTH: 914 words
HEADLINE: The Man Behind ' Picket Fences'
BYLINE: Bill Broadway
BODY:
Picket Fences creator David E. Kelley, 38, is a man of many wordsbut
not spoken ones. He often locks himself in his office to write, seldom
venturing onto the set. His colleagues (and perhaps millions of
others) know about his marriage last November to actress Michelle
Pfeiffer. His colleagues also know that he was a lawyer before
becoming a writer and then executive producer for L.A. Law. But few
could say why religion informs so many of his plots. After he sat down
for a 35-minute interview on the subject, a colleague closely
associated with the show asked, What did he say?
Q. In a recent episode, Officer Maxine Stewart enters what she thinks
is an empty church to ponder a predicament: the unauthorized
publication of explicit photos of her in Boudoir magazine. She finds
District Attorney Jonathan Littleton sitting in a pew, thinking how
he, a black man, should express his opinion at a town meeting on
forced busing. Where does a scene like that come from?
A. Oh, God. I never know exactly how they originate. ... That one
wasn't driven by a religious motivation so much as looking for a space
someone might collect their thoughts and find some solitude.
Did they know specifically why they're going into a church? No. Maybe
the origin of that scene -- I know myself I've sometimes done it. Not
as much here in L.A. because I never happen to be walking by one, but
often when I'm walking down a street in New York or other place and I
see a church -- and I may even walk in out of architectural curiosity.
But when I go in, often I find myself sitting down and thinking, not
necessarily praying, but thinking.
Q. So many of the explicitly religious plots of " Picket Fences"
involve Catholics. Were you brought up Catholic?
A. Nope, I was brought up Protestant and very loosely too. ... I
guess my religious inclinations are along the lines of [Sheriff] Jimmy
Brock's, believing in God but not necessarily the rigidity of
religion. ... Faith sort of starts up where reason, intellectual
matters leave off. It's out there, and it's kind of hard to lasso. And
it's that sense of religious confusion that's pervaded the Brock
family and to a certain extent also the town of Rome, Wisconsin.
Q. What do the people [in Rome] think about religion?
A. We've meant for Rome to typify the small or suburban town in
America. It's not more religious or less so. But religion and
religious upbringings are something that pervade the community. ...
What we've tried to do is establish religion as one of the characters
in the town. ... Some people pay more attention to it, some people pay
less attention to it, but it's there.
Q. When Littleton is giving his closing argument in a murder case, he
asks the jury to consider the forces of good and evil in the world, to
look inside themselves and come out with their integrity intact. How
do you look at morality and ethics, good and evil?
A. The short answer is that there is no answer. In " Picket Fences, "
we've tried to pick [episodes] that offer ... two answers, or three
answers or four answers.
We do question whether or not society today does in fact have a moral
center. It seems children are being raised ... today with a quid pro
quo mentality. The idea is to be moral because it pays dividends: You
will get ahead in life. ...
It's almost the way kids are taught in school. If you study hard, you
will get into Harvard. And if you get into Harvard, then you will get
a great job and make lots of money -- leaving out that ... learning
itself is a reward. And moral behavior, morality I think itself, is
its own reward.
Littleton in that argument and others comes from the place that you
should ... listen to your own barometer of good and evil -- not
because it will keep you out of jail or you'll get another reward for
this kind of behavior, but because it itself will make you better or
more whole.
I guess to a certain extent some of the stuff we raise with religion
is something the kids could grab onto ... for balance and hope.
Q. What does the term spirituality mean to you as opposed to
religion?
A. Well, they're close. But spirituality comes from feelings and
ideas, a sense you don't know where the hell it's coming from. ...
It's different from church.
When I was in law school, I lived with my grandmother. I was just
learning the Socratic method and the best way to practice was on her
with religion. ... My grandmother would say to me ... "You believe in
God, don't you?" And I'd say yes.
She would say, "Well, is it too much to ask that you take one hour of
the week and go down to church?" And I would come back at her: "I hear
you praying in bed at night." And she said, "That's because He hears
you at night. God's everywhere."
"Well ... why do I have to go to church? I can talk to Him right
here."
"By going to church you're paying tribute to Him."
"Aren't you applying a human characteristic, a megalomania, to this
God? ... That makes Him somewhat insecure, doesn't it?"
We would have these battles, but they were friendly ones. At the end
of the discussion, she would say, "I know it's there, and someday
you'll know it's there."
Truth is, I've never doubted it.
My grandmother is still alive -- she's 95 -- and still goes to church
every Sunday, a Congregationalist church in Boston. She sings every
hymn. The hymns you see on " Picket Fences" -- if I miss a word, I
call her up and ask, "What's this one?" And she'll start singing it.
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
LOAD-DATE-MDC: October 28, 1994
---
The Washington Post, October 29, 1994
October 29, 1994, Saturday, Final Edition
SECTION: METRO; PAGE B6; RELIGION
LENGTH: 1602 words
HEADLINE: The Drama Of Faith;
TV Show Explores Religious, Moral Choices
BYLINE: Bill Broadway, Washington Post Staff Writer
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES
BODY:
On Stage 20 at Twentieth Century Fox studios, the scene was set for a
confrontation. Standing in a full-size replica of the courtroom of the
U.S. Supreme Court, an actor prepared to address nine people in black
robes bearing uncanny resemblances to their real counterparts in
Washington. Behind him, men and women in dark blue suits filled the
rows of pewlike benches.
"Quiet! Same pickup," an assistant director said. And the cameras,
suspending disbelief, focused on a small-town defense attorney asking
the court to overturn his client's murder conviction. His argument:
that police in Rome, Wis., had illegally preyed on his religious
beliefs to elicit a confession without counsel present.
It was a big moment for character Douglas Wambaugh of the CBS
television program " Picket Fences" and an example of the kind of
conflict that has earned the show two consecutive Emmys for best
dramatic television series.
Now in its third season, the Friday night program has brought to prime
time an unmatched barrage of plots turning on fine points of religion,
ethics and law. Of the 40-plus shows that have aired, at least
one-fourth have been driven by plots and subplots with religious
themes -- quite a track record in Hollywood, a town that has been
notoriously uncomfortable with religion.
"If we're different from other shows, it isn't that we've accented
religion, but we have not pretended that it's not there," said David
E. Kelley, executive producer and primary writer. "We have recognized
religion as a legitimate entity that enters people's lives. We've
suggested it's not just the zealots, the nuts, that believe in God,
but everyday people."
Along with everyday people, Kelley and his writers have created a
community with as many quirky personalities and problems as any large
city. Each episode is punctuated with at least one weighty moral
issue: drugs in schools, modern-day Robin Hoods, integration,
medically assisted suicides, abortion, AIDS, school prayer, serial
killers and kinky sex. There are never clear answers, just questions
and an almost obsessive presentation of arguments on all sides of
every issue.
In an episode this spring, police discovered a closet full of women's
shoes at the home of Father Barrett, the town's Catholic priest. The
townspeople were forced to confront their own sexual predispositions
as well as the issue of whether a man with a shoe fetish could be an
effective clergyman. In the end, they voted to support him and asked
the monsignor to let him stay.
Last year's Christmas special featured a 20-year-old woman who was
comatose after driving her car into an icy lake. The doctors
determined that she was four months pregnant, but also that she was a
virgin. The possibility of another divine pregnancy had the local
clergy scrambling for an appropriate response and the community
divided over whether the pregnancy should be aborted to save the
woman's life. The religious scare -- and anticipation -- ended when a
gynecologist was arrested after admitting that he impregnated his
patient with a hypodermic needle without her knowledge.
But as a personal issue, religion arises most often with the Brocks,
the paradigmatic American family at the center of Rome and the series.
Like many modern couples, Jimmy Brock, the town sheriff played by Tom
Skerritt, and Jill Brock, a physician and sometime political candidate
played by Kathy Baker, have trouble talking to their children about
religion and even articulating their beliefs. That leaves the
youngsters -- Kimberly, 18, Matthew, 13, and Zachary, 10 -- to fend
for themselves.
In this season's premiere, Zach sues the school committee, on which
both his parents sit, for allowing a teacher to suggest in class that
creationism, the creation of the world and humanity by God, is not
inconsistent with scientific evolution. Meanwhile, the police find the
body of a 16-year-old girl who has been stabbed 23 times. Like his
father, Zach wonders how God could allow such brutality.
Before Judge Henry Bone, in the courtroom where most episodes of "
Picket Fences" end up, Zach calls God a joke and the teaching of
creationism "Catholic dogma."
"That's the kind of insanity religion breeds," Jimmy Brock says.
"No, no," rejoins his wife, "this is the kind of insanity bad
parenting breeds. Jimmy, I want to start taking them to church. I
don't just mean funerals and Easter. I mean on a regular basis." The
episode ends with the family standing in church singing the Doxology
-- except for Jimmy Brock, who looks blankly toward the camera.
As an actor, Baker said, she finds the Brocks' religious struggle
familiar "because I'm in the same place with my own family, searching
for the right religious teachings in our lives. Jill is on the same
journey. I can feel it strongly."
Baker, who was brought up Protestant, is married to a man who was
raised Catholic. They have two boys, ages 4 and 9, and have felt the
need to find a regular place of worship. They plan to go to different
churches and synagogues until they find a place that feels right.
The show's combination of drama, introspection and offbeat humor seems
to be working for Kelley, a veteran of "L.A. Law" and creator of
"Chicago Hope," a new series on CBS. In addition to six Emmys in its
first two seasons, " Picket Fences" has been given awards by the
Viewers for Quality Television, Catholics in Media, the Alzheimer's
Association and the National Easter Seal Society.
But not everyone has been enthralled. Michael Medved, host of "Sneak
Previews" on PBS and an advocate for increased attention to organized
religion in film and television, applauds the show's focus on
religious issues but says it fails to provide balance -- as do most
films and TV programs that address the subject.
Despite recent efforts by Hollywood to get in touch with mainstream
America, where 40 percent of people attend worship services weekly,
many in the industry still harbor religious prejudices, he said.
"Inevitably, you're dealing with people who are not terribly
sympathetic to traditional religious faith," Medved said. So story
lines usually present "secular people teaching something to the
religious people" -- as when the fanatically religious doctor gets his
comeuppance for going to such lengths to get people to "relive the
possibility" of a virgin birth.
Some viewers have reacted negatively as well. A Mormon-owned station
in Seattle temporarily banned the series after a story line on a
Mormon bigamist; Christian Scientists were outraged when physician
Jill Brock performed an emergency Caesarean section despite the
family's protests; and Jewish viewers have objected to the ongoing
portrayal of Wambaugh, a lawyer whose business card reads: "Reasonable
doubt for a reasonable fee." One wrote a letter to the New York Times,
saying that "some Jewish readers find the depiction of the
unremittingly Jewish lawyer to be so repugnant as to be
anti-Semitic."
Ironically, Fyvush Finkel, who portrays Wambaugh, is perhaps the most
outwardly religious actor in the cast. "It hurt me when I read that
letter, personally," said Finkel, who calls himself an
Orthodox-Conservative Jew. He trained in the Yiddish Theater in New
York and for 12 years toured with the first national company for
"Fiddler on the Roof."
Kelley decided to answer the criticism with an episode for which
Finkel won an Emmy this year for outstanding supporting actor. In the
story, Wambaugh takes the podium at a temple memorial service and
tells a racist joke about a Jew and an Indian at the gates of heaven.
The rabbi bans him from the temple, and a devastated Wambaugh calls
for a bet din, a religious court, to rule on his banishment. The court
rules that the rabbi might condemn him as a man but "not as a Jew."
Wambaugh's crowning moment in the series comes when he realizes every
litigator's dream of appearing before the Supreme Court, an episode
scheduled to air Nov. 18.
The issue turns on a scene in the two-part premiere in which Officer
Kenny Lacos approaches a murder defendant privately, "Catholic to
Catholic." He calls on the defendant's Christian decency to reveal the
location of the body so the girl can be buried. "Every Christian
deserves that," he says.
The defendant tells Lacos, cryptically, about a pond outside town
where a person might go to find peace. And there, of course, the
police find the body.
Judge Bone, played by Ray Walston, realizes the police may have
violated the defendant's constitutional rights by taking advantage of
his religious beliefs. But he decides to move forward anyway: "I've
got a novel idea. I'm going to hold that a person can be deeply
religious and still be competent" to waive his right to an attorney.
"I don't give a damn what the Supreme Court says," Bone asserts. "I'm
sick of the judicial system being more about winning and losing than
it is about the truth. Mr. Lathem, you're going to trial. If the
Supreme Court has a problem with that, they can come and get me."
With that, the stage is set for Wambaugh's presentation in Washington.
While he argues that the police compromised the defendant's free will
by invoking his religious beliefs, Jonathan Littleton, the district
attorney, takes the position that legal protections regarding
confessions are too absolutist and should be overturned. The episode
ends with a ruling but, as usual, no resolution.
Don Cheadle, who plays the part of Littleton, said that even the cast
didn't know from the script whether the defendant is innocent or
guilty. "It's real tricky, and I guess that's why David wrote it," he
said.
GRAPHIC: PHOTO, CLOCKWISE: TOM SKERRITT, KATHY BAKER, JUSTIN
SHENKAROW, ADAM WYLIE, HOLLY MARIE COMBS. RICHARD CARTWRIGHT
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
LOAD-DATE-MDC: October 28, 1994
_USA Today_, Friday, March 31, 31, 1995
[provided by John David Spiropoulos, via the ROME mailing list]
By Jefferson Graham
USA Today
Title: Baker's "Fences" role is what doctor ordered
Just another night in Rome, Wis.: A sheriff's deputy arrests her boss's
wife for the third time in three years.
"It's also my third time in handcuffs," says Kathy Baker, Dr. Jill Brock
on CBS's "Picket Fences." "I think (creator) David E. Kelley has this
thing about handcuffs. He loves to see beautiful (deputy) Lauren Holly put
handcuffs on me."
This time, Jill helps a gravely ill patient die. In a two-part episode,
starting at 10 ET/PT tonight, she and the practice of euthanasia go on
trial.
After a movie career that included roles in "Edward Scissorhands," "Clean
and Sober," and "The Right Stuff," Baker is having the time of her life.
"It's not just one of the best roles an actress can have, it's one of the
best roles ever," says Baker, who won an Emmy for "Fences." "Jill is so
complex. She's all over the map in a real and humane way."
Jill has been through a lot this season. The townsfolk nearly ostracized
her for changing her mind on the student busing issue (first she was
against it, then supported it when the town was very anti-busing). Her
favorite masseur, who specialized in the orgasmic "squiggly," was
murdered. And her son Matthew almost ran over younger brother Zach in a
freak car accident. Jill responded by slapping Matt hard in the face.
"That was the toughest episode I ever did," Baker says. "I protested
that one loudly. As a parent, and as someone raised as a Quaker, I don't
believe in hitting children, and I don't believe that Jill would do that."
Baker wants to see Jill more in the medical arena and less at home.
Since Kelley launched "Chicago Hope" this season, the juicy medical stories
go on that show, and folks in Rome spend more time in the courtroom. "I
signed up for this show to play a doctor," she says. "Not to be in 'Rome
Law.'"
But recently, a medical story that could only come from Kelley's pen was
before the "Fences" cameras. Priests were standing by as 10-year-old Zach
gets a stigmata, a mark resembling the wounds of the crucified Jesus, which
are said to appear on the bodies of saints.
Many "Fences" cast members were miffed when Kelley's "Chicago Hope" went
from obscurity on Thursdays to the primo Monday 10 pm time slot, where the
rookie series has become a top 25 hit.
"A lot of us felt like it was a big slap in the face to us," Baker says.
"After winning all those awards (Emmys two years in a row as best drama
series) and the fact that we'd been around for a while, we felt we
deserved the shot at Monday night. But I can't worry about it. Also,
by being tucked away cozily on Friday's, we don't have as much to answer
to the network, and we have a loyal audience."
"I'm also not sure I want to be in the top 10. When I see what's there,
I don't want to be doing that. We're creating art, and you don't see a
lot of art in the top 10."
Picture: Kathy Baker
Caption: Baker: The sheriff's wife gets arrested again on "Fences."
USA Today - Friday, April 28, 1995
[provided by John David Spiropoulos, via the ROME mailing list]
TV Preview: Matt Roush
Title: "Picket Fences" is TV's own little miracle
Picket Fences
CBS, tonight, 10 ET/PT
***1/2 (out of four)
Hand it to "Picket Fences" for continually treading where other shows
fear to go: into the realm of the angels, testing faith, tolerance and a
community's value systems - in the court, the operating room, the school,
the church - with plots that go beyond merely bizarre.
A virgin birth? Baby-bearing cows? Or, like tonight, an 11-year-old
with blood-gushing stigmata? The town isn't called Rome for nothing: a
cultural crossroads of confrontational allegory much more absorbing than
the cornball piety of NBC's dud "Amazing Grace."
This show's creator, David E. Kelley, works in mysterious ways. Brave,
too, when you consider the climate of knee-jerk condemnation that greets
movies like "Priest."
Tonight's whacked parable, written by Kelley and Nick Harding, gets under
the skin of a town's and a family's susceptibility to holy mystery when
young Zach Brock (Adam Wylie) - described as "an open cavity when it comes
to God and religion" - spontaneously bleeds from his palms as he repents
for the killing of a swan.
Wylie, with his freckled Opie face and jug ears, is a winning waif at the
eye of this storm. Local clerics are skeptical: "The last thing we need
right now is a miracle," says the priest. While experts probe with
electrodes, school kids line up to be healed of zits and - gulp - leukemia.
Things are even more explosive at the Brock house, where parents who've
long avoided head-on collisions with the spiritual must face the
far-fetched possibility their son is a saint.
"Rome's not going to be a quiet, ordinary little town anymore?" quips
Judge Bone (Ray Walston) about the hubbub.
He jests. Rome is never ordinary. Just as "Picket Fences" so frequently
is extraordinary. Could it be heading to a third-straight best-drama Emmy?
Picture: Kathy Baker looking at Adam Wylie's hand, with Tom Skerritt
looking on from behind.
Caption: Saints Alive: The Brocks (Tom Skerritt and Kathy Baker) wonder if
their son (Adam Wylie) is blessed.