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During the 90's David E. Kelley's "Picket Fences" broke
down as many fences as it erected by tackling difficult
themes on television with humor. Playing like a less mysterious
version of "Twin Peaks", "Picket Fences" focused on the
town of Rome, Wisconsin. Featuring a terrific cast including
Tom Skerritt (as the Sheriff and often at the center of
whatever is going on), Kathy Baker (as his wife Jill), Holly
Marie Combs as their daughter, Costas Mandylor (as deputy
Kenny Lacos), Lauren Holly (as deputy Maxine Stewart), Fyvush
Finkel (as attorney Douglas Wambauch the ultimate ambulance
chase) and the late Ray Walston (as Judge Bone) the show
enjoyed a six year run before being cancelled. While the
show had jumped the sharp by the fourth season, even those
lesser seasons are worthwhile with strong performances.
***
Kelly always managed to create episodes with the other
writers/directors/producers that had heart, a burning issue
a bit of mystery and an off-beat sense of humor to keep
viewers glued to their sets. No matter how good the actors
or directors if the writing wasn't top notch, the show would
have sunk but Kelley (who wrote a lot of episodes in addition
to producing the show)and his stable of writers were more
than up to the task during the first four seasons of the
show. ---
Image & Sound:
Fox brings us a transfer that varies from terrific to
so-so depending on the source. Like "Star Trek: The Next
Generation", "Picket Fences" was shot on film and visual
effects or other post-production elements were often added
on videotape to cut the turnaround time from shooting to
airing and production costs. As a result, some of the video
footage included here is noticeably different and of a lower
quality than the film elements. Still, Fox has, wherever
possible, used the original 35mm footage so that most of
the show looks extremely good. Audio sounds fine with a
stereo soundtrack that clearly no one knew quite what to
do with as the format isn't used to best effect. ---
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| Special
Features: |
We only get a single featurette for the show featuring
Kelley and actors Finkel, Skerritt, Baker, Holly and others
discussing the shows impact. Clearly the players are proud
of the success and high quality of their show as is evident
in their comments. Unfortunately we don't get any commentary
tracks which is a pity but clearly Fox spent most of their
production budget on this locating and using the best possible
source for the transfer. ---
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