Picket Fences: Tatort Gartenzaun

Another David E Kelley gem that won several Emmys. A wonderful series about Rome Wisconsin. It follows the lives of the sheriff, his wife, the doctor, their 3 children and their circle of friends. It shows them dealing with the frustrations and joys of everyday life, dealing with the town "characters" including, an ambitious deputy sheriff..a young woman trying to make it in a traditionally male profession, a tough but not terribly bright deputy who had an affair with the female mayor, an Alzheimer affected gentleman who had good and bad moments as the mayor, a grandstanding Jewish lawyer who took cases that were colorful and controversial, a world weary judge, and an insecure coroner. This is a wonderful show that stands the test of time.

Loved the show and watched it religiously when it was first aired. Now that I'm re-watching the series again, the many, many flaws are clear. The writing is simplistic and plot lines are quite often a stretch, to the point of being ridiculous. And how many times do I see Tom Skerrit with that quizzical and confused look on his face with a sidelong glance as he appears to practically tip over? Even with all of that, it is a terrific series and always entertaining. One of my favorites.

When ever I open the television and Picket fences is coming, I get a satisfactioned smile on my face and I crawl into sofa to enjoy. Today I saw the very emotional episode "Frogman returns" and now I´m sure that this is one of the greatest American series ever showd onto the daylight. Like many others have said, it has something for everyone. Drama, jokes, family moments, moral questions, children, teens, funny moments, emotional moments... LIFE. And it hasn´t really aged at all. I highly recommend it to everyone.

With all the pap that's passing for entertainment these days, this show stands out all the more. Week after week this show tossed out thought provoking questions in all areas of our society - medical, criminal, religious, philosophical - any aspect of our society and lives was fair game. And it wrapped these questions around the lives of a hugely talented cast of fully realized characters. The show also had the courage to not play it safe. It routinely tackled "hot button" issues from abortion, to homosexuality, to belief in God, to constitutional protection of rights. Is there ANY show on TV now that comes close to this??

Ironically, I "discovered" this show while on vacation in the Midwest when I came across a full page advertisement by a religious organization, decrying it's blasphemy. The advertisement described some of the situations dealt with in the show - and I knew right away this was a show for me.

Entertaining, intelligent, funny, exciting, involving. If they ever get around to releasing the 5 seasons on DVD - jump on it!

i think this was the best series ever to be on television. even after all these years off the air, i still love it. never before or since has a show made my think as much as this one always did. the writers tackled a lot of real and interesting issues, and usually made the viewer see it from both sides. it could be the funniest show on tv, or the most touching, or the most thought provoking. over the course of its run, it made me laugh, cry, get angry, smile, sympathize, and sometimes even hate. as for the cast, they were great. especially worthy of mention are tom skerrit, fyvish finkle, ray walston, lauren holly, holly-marie combs, don cheadle, marlee matlin, and kelly connel. but the best, in my opinion, was kathy baker. she was always so good, even though i didn't always like or agree with her character, jill brock. i don't know the actual episode titles, but a few of my favorite eps were: the dancing bandit; cupid; the green bay chopper; the murder trial when jimmy was the foreman; the cow babies; mayor kills carjacker and mayor explodes; man who can't recognize people kills his brother; howard buss dies (i cried); the shoe fetish (can you believe rachel harris stood up); parkinson's disease. another thing about the show, it always had great guest stars. anyway, i miss rome.