Picket Fences in 2005? (1 Viewer)

[LeonaB]

I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned this....

The August 20/27, 2004 issue of Entertainment Weekly (Fall Movie Preview with Johnny Depp on the cover) has a sidebar about wanting Picket Fences on DVD. It's on page 110. The article ends with the following: "Fox Home Entertainment, owner of the DVD rights, seems to agree: According to exec Steve Feldstein, the studio is mulling a 2005 release."

I so hope this is true. Although Picket Fences doesn't seem to have a "cult" or an active fan base, it's one of the greatest dramas I have ever seen and I'd really like to have it on DVD.

 

[JoshuaB.]

It's one of David E. Kelley's best shows before he stretched himself thin in the late 90s. The show owes a lot of its eccentricites to Twin Peaks and Northern Exposure, but it also did a good job dealing with a lot of the then-relevant social issues of the early-mid 90s (though it did get a bit preachy at times). The first three years are good, but the show went into the toilet in its last year, after Kelley left.

Tom Skerritt shines in the show, especially when he shouts and shakes his clenched fists like a madman (a Skerritt trademark). Lauren Holly and Holly Marie Combs are hot (and good actresses for the material), the obnoxious old lawyer is definitely not hot (but a standout on the show) and that monosyllabic deputy is just plain awful.

I'd buy season sets of the show!

 

[Pete Battista]

I would buy this show site unseen... for no more reason then my favorite actress (Holly Marie Combs) is in it. I really have no idea what it is about... but since first seeing her in Charmed and then catching her in an old horror movie (Dr. Giggles) I am in absolute lust with her. So even though this is one show I never seen... would definitely buy atleast the first season :p)

 

[SarahG]

I didn't watch Picket Fences but this sounds a little bit like the new show coming out this fall -- just saw a commercial for it recently and have been reading reviews -- Desperate Housewives on ABC. A nighttime drama with a killer cast. Has anyone else heard about this?

 

[LeonaB]

I've seen the pilot for Desperate Housewives. I liked it a lot and plan to watch the series, but it didn't remind me of Picket Fences.

If you take the best of David E. Kelley from his best shows (Ally McBeal, L.A. Law, The Practice), you'll get a feeling for how good Picket Fences was.

Oh, and Holly Marie Combs was fantastic on PF. I checked out Charmed just because I loved her work on PF. I always considered Kimberly Brock to be the center of that show. She was the one person in town who seemed to really have it together.

Oh, I'm so hoping Picket Fences makes it to DVD!!!

 

[Aryn Leroux]

Oh man i hope this pans out because this show is simply brilliant all the way around. please fox make it so!!

 

[Robert Ringwald]

I loved this show when it used to be on. I remember it always getting put off for some other show in the usual time-slot, and missing it a lot.

Only time I've ever seen a potato used as a weapon too...

 

[JoshuaB.]

There were some weird plots: a woman steamrolls over her husband's head and claims menopause as a form of temporary insanity; Frog Man! (RIP Mr. Jeter); a rampaging elephant; a man dies from internal combustion; Cows give birth to human babies; an unofficial crossover with The X-Files (officially nixed by CBS, the bastards, but there's still a subtle connection)and Kimberly's family surprises her during sex (something I can relate to)...so many great episodes.

Seasons 1 and 2 were heavy with the quirky plots, but seasons 3 and 4 tone it down in favor of preachiness. Actually, season 4 is just horrible because Kelley left and the shows tries to be a bucolic picture of small town life and the surreal aspects are really missing (so many godawful "humourous" episodes).

Still, the first three years are some of the best TV of the past decade.

 

[LeonaB]

Agreed, Season 4 isn't even worth remembering. It was horrendous. But Seasons 1-3 were brilliant!

 

[JulianK]

You forgot the weirdest - death by dishwasher!

Great news about this terrific series!

 

[Robert Ringwald]

It will be nice to revisit this one.

I remember liking that Tom Skerrit and Zelda Rubinstein were both in it, and at the time, I had just taped Poltergeist 3 off of TBS... and they're both in that, and I thought it was a bizarre connection, cause nobody really likes that movie...

 

[Chris Minogue]

What happened to this release?

Picket Fences is currently #1 on my DVD wish list.

 

[Aryn Leroux]

I wish i knew, I still don't think a david kelley show is available on dvd. Unless you count Doogie Howser but that was a co-produced show with Bocho. Picket Fences deserves a release more than just about anything. Hopefully we will be surprised by an announcement in the coming weeks. But i won't hold my breath.

 

[Simon Massey]

I'll certainly pick this up. I especially thought the interplay between the lawyer and the judge was great and some of their exchanges were hilarious.

 

[Chris Minogue]

I doubt music clearances is keeping this show from us. I've been going through my tapes and there are very few instances of copyrighted music. All I saw in the entire first season (the only one I have surviving on tape) were two songs from Wizard of Oz and a couple of Motown tunes - all of which were performed by cast members, NOT recordings.

I wonder what is holding it up?