Picket Fences

Anybody remember this totally awesome TV series? It first aired in Norway in 1994, if memory serves me correct. To borrow liberally from the plot summary at imdb.com, "The town of Rome is a short distance from Green Bay, Wisconsin - close enough to hear the games on Sunday afternoons, but not close enough to keep normalcy from infiltrating the town. A lot of the usual happens in Rome, but in unusual ways. Home invasions are nothing new, but in Rome, the perpetrator leaves behind dirty bathwater, women's underwear and a rubber duck. Potatoes and household appliances become instruments of violence and death, the mayor is a bank robber sentenced to serve her term in office, the coroner likes his work a little too much and cows incubate human embryos. In the middle of all this weirdness is Sheriff Jimmy Brock ('Tom Skerritt'), wife Jill ('Kathy Baker') their children and a frequently bewildered and endearingly eccentric supporting cast that somehow manages to cope with the bizarre series of events that is day-to-day life in Rome." That pretty much sums it up, methinks.

In addition to the two characters mentioned - the country boi sheriff and his know-it-all, God complex MD wife - you've got Holly Marie Combs (from Charmed) as Kimberly the teenage daughter, prone to every strong opinion and/or orientation possible as dictated by the episode, as well as two little boys, who between them fulfill every stereotype possible for their gender and age bracket (again as dictated by the theme of each episode). Other memorable characters include Fyvush Finkel as stereotypical Jewish lawyer Douglas Wambaugh, Lauren Holly (from Ford Fairlane) as the overachieving cop Maxine "Max" Stewart, Costas Mandylor (mostly TV and straight-to-video flicks) as gun-totin' ex-Chicago hard-ass cop-cum-small-town hick deputy, and Ray Walston as the gruff Judge Henry Bone.

Been watching episodes since my wife got me the first season on DVD for my birthday. Too bad the show got canceled after a measly four seasons. Bring back Picket Fences, says I. Remembah this show, Anders?