Picket Fences — Season 1

Aired 18 September 1992 • 87 min

A beloved local man is killed during a stage production of The Wizard of Oz. Suspicion initially falls on the town pharmacist when the sheriff learns the dead man was having an affair with the pharmacist's daughter. The dead man's wife confesses but her confession is suppressed in court. She is then murdered and the Sheriff's department discovers that she and the pharmacist conspired to kill her husband and then the pharmacist killed her.

Aired 25 September 1992 • 42 min

After a child brings a severed human hand to school for show and tell, the Sheriff's department teams with the FBI to pursue a serial kidnapper, the "Green Bay Chopper", who severs the right hands of his victims.

Aired 2 October 1992 • 42 min

Max falls for a dwarf who rides into town on an elephant, which the dwarf says was being abused at a circus. Jill tells Kimberly's favorite teacher, Mr. Pankow, that he has a brain tumor.

Aired 16 October 1992 • 42 min

The candidates in the upcoming mayoral election are using such outrageous smear campaigns that Sheriff Brock considers running for Mayor himself.

Aired 23 October 1992 • 42 min

A rash of break-ins leads to an investigation of a "serial bather". Suspicion initially centers on "Frank the Potato Man", a vagrant who, it is learned, was tried for aggravated rape 15 years earlier.

Aired 26 October 1992 • 42 min

When a catatonic housemaid utters the word "murder" after a decade of not speaking, the Sheriff's department learns that the "suicide" of a beloved town figure a decade prior was actually a homicide.

Aired 30 October 1992 • 42 min

Town doctor Jill Brock, fed up with the mayor's failure to address women's issues, declares herself a write-in candidate in the upcoming mayoral election. Deputy Kenny Lakos arrests a former boxing world champion and convinces him to engage in a charity match before extradition to New Jersey.

Aired 6 November 1992 • 42 min

An elderly patient is murdered at a nursing home. A "singing serial mercy-killing" nun is arrested, sparking controversy over the ethics and legality of euthanasia.

Aired 13 November 1992 • 42 min

Jill's father arrives in Rome with his new 26-year-old girlfriend. Wambaugh finds his wife in bed with another man.

Aired 4 December 1992 • 42 min

Max, Brock, and Kenny investigate the mysterious death of a woman who may or may not have committed suicide.

Aired 11 December 1992 • 42 min

A rabbi seeks to block the town from staging a religiously-themed Christmas pageant on public property. The town is shocked to learn that beloved teacher Louise Talbot, scheduled to play the Virgin Mary in the pageant, is a post-operative transsexual.

Aired 18 December 1992 • 42 min

When the Brock family inadvertently finds Kimberly having sex with her 19-year-old boyfriend on Christmas Eve, Jimmy wants to prosecute him for statutory rape. A man claiming to be Santa Claus takes Max and dispatcher Ginny hostage and Jimmy tries to talk him down.

Aired 8 January 1993 • 42 min

Kenny is seriously wounded by the Frog Man, a burglar who leaves live frogs at the site of his crimes.

Aired 15 January 1993 • 42 min

When Alice Freeman is charged with murder in the death of her husband, Wambaugh defends her by claiming insanity as the result of menopause. Brock's son, Matthew, begins to experience puberty.

Aired 22 January 1993 • 42 min

When her friend becomes pregnant, Kimberly fears that she is the victim of incest. However, the man purporting to be her father is actually her husband and they are involved in a polygamous relationship. Max investigates a religious sect that engages in animal sacrifice. Guest Stars: Liz and Jean Sagal

Aired 5 February 1993 • 42 min

A fugitive doctor seeks a court order to allow him to keep his brain-dead wife on life support to allow her to bring her pregnancy to term. The mayor fires the town dentist for refusing to disclose that he is HIV-positive. Guest Stars: Liz and Jean Sagal

Aired 12 February 1993 • 42 min

Deputy Max goes undercover when a response to her personal ad leads her to believe that she is being targeted by a serial killer known as "Cupid."

Aired 1 April 1993 • 42 min

Jill enlists her former fiancé to perform a fetal transplant on a patient with Parkinson's disease over the objections of the town hospital. Jimmy feels threatened when he catches Jill and her former fiancé exchanging a kiss

Aired 8 April 1993 • 42 min

Carter believes a sheriff who mysteriously disappeared 38 years earlier may have been killed by radiation emitted by an Unidentified Flying Object.

Aired 15 April 1993 • 42 min

A group of heavily armed Chippewa Indians declares war on Rome, seizes, and barricades the courthouse. Ginny stages a protest when Jill begins administering growth hormones to a short boy. Matthew takes on the school bully.

Aired 29 April 1993 • 42 min

Kimberly and her best female friend exchange a few kisses during a sleepover, leading to rumors that Kimberly is a lesbian. She turns to her birth mother, who had a lesbian affair in college, for advice.

Aired 6 May 1993 • 42 min

Max delivers a baby and begins adoption procedures when the natural mother disappears. Jill transplants a pig's liver into a blues vocalist after the woman collapses on stage. Guest star: Della Reese.