PICKET FENCES: HEROES AND VILLAINS (TV)
Summary
One in this series of off-beat dramas that often focuses on social issues as it chronicles the lives of Rome, Wisconsin, residents, including town Sheriff Jimmy Brock; his wife Dr. Jill Brock; their three children, Kimberly, Matthew, and Zachary; and his two deputies, Kenny Lacos and Maxine Stewart. Zack covertly meets with Laurie Bey, the “Dancing Bandit,” who has come to wish him a happy birthday. However, they are surrounded by the FBI and Laurie is apprehended. She is brought to the Rome police station, where they tell Jimmy that Zack has been communicating with Laurie on the internet. Jimmy is upset at this; Zack says he didn’t tell him because he was afraid Jimmy would shoot her. Jimmy grounds Zack. Laurie is taken to court, where Wambaugh serves as her defense. The proceedings are interrupted by Janice Neiman of the United States Attorney’s Office, who says she wants to try Laurie in Rome rather than in a federal court for her crimes. She explains that Laurie’s bank robbery in Rome is the only offence that she is officially registered for, thus making it a local matter. Janice tells Jimmy and Jill that in any other court Laurie would be seen as a hero, but the local populace also looks up to Jimmy and that could be used against her. They want to finish the case quickly before Laurie’s popularity grows further. Janice wants Jill to serve as a witness against Laurie because she was present at the bank robbery, but Jill is reluctant to do so, taken with Laurie’s kindness to both her and Zack. Janice reveals that she knows that Jill allowed Laurie to escape in her helicopter by lying to the FBI and threatens to prosecute her if she doesn’t testify against Laurie. Jimmy is taken aback by this news. Zack visits Laurie in jail. She confides in Zack that she knew the FBI would capture her due to hacking into their computer system, but had hoped to keep Zack out of it. She elaborates that she wanted to get caught because she is “tired of running,” but didn’t turn herself in because it would betray her ideals. Despite this, she does not want to be convicted and gets Wambaugh to try and get her an acquittal. At Zack’s birthday dinner, Jimmy is angry at his family for breaking the law. Zack coldly says that Jimmy can’t tell him who his friends are, and that he doesn’t want Jill to testify. Jimmy believes Jill set a bad example for Zack when she let Laurie escape. He says she must testify but she still doesn’t want to. As the trial begins, Wambaugh immediately admits to the robbery charges, much to D.A. Littleton’s displeasure. The counsel discusses it in Judge Bone’s office; Littleton explains to Janice that Wambaugh is doing this to prevent them from calling witnesses, garnering the jury’s favor by seemingly invalidating their case. Judge Bone agrees to let the prosecution call a single witness. Zack visits Laurie in jail again, but is interrupted by his father, who warns Laurie to stay away from Zack. Janice and D.A. Littelton try once again to convince Jill to testify. Zack overhears their conversation and voices his opinion that laws aren’t necessarily correct and that “government sucks.” When Jimmy argues, Zack gives him the finger and runs up to his room, leaving Jimmy speechless. Jill agrees to testify against Laurie. During Jill’s testimony, Wambaugh cross-examines and gets Jill to admit that she helped Laurie to escape and was glad she did. However, Janice gets her to testify that she has since changed her mind about it. Wambaugh brings up Janice threatening to prosecute Jill for not testifying and the prosecution objects, outraged. Out of court, Jimmy talks to Jill about Zack’s recent behavior. During the trial, Laurie asserts that the money she stole was federally insured, and furthermore that she took it from being spent on a seemingly useless government survey program to being used to help flood victims. Wambaugh draws his own conclusions and Janice objects. Laurie garners applause from the courtroom, flustering Janice. Wambaugh’s questions draw Judge Bone’s ire and he threatens to hold Wambaugh in contempt of court if he continues; Wambaugh backs down. During her cross-examination of Laurie, Janice questions her eponymous “dancing” habit, asserting it is a way of humanizing her crimes and garnering sympathy with potential jurors. Laurie simply claims she loves to dance. Janice brings Zack forward from the court audience over Wambaugh’s objections. She describes Zack’s anti-government speech he gave and his recent behavior, pointing to Laurie as the influence behind it. This, she maintains, is far worse than any crime she has perpetrated. Wambaugh asks Laurie to deliver her own closing argument. She is scared at first, but then agrees. During her closing argument, she apologizes for sending the wrong message about law and the government to Zack. Her intent was to get people to look at laws from an outside context, claiming she doesn’t believe in “heroes.” She asserts that all one can do is work hard to make things better, much like Jimmy has done. She maintains that whether she is thrown in jail or not, she vows not to commit any more crimes. She ends by saying that if she is sending the message to kids that all government or all police are bad, then Janice was right about her. As she finishes, she nonchalantly walks out of the courtroom, only to return, playing a bit of a joke. Janice offers her closing argument. She says Laurie, however sympathetic she may be, is still a dangerous criminal. She urges the jury to convict her for the sake of “justice.” While awaiting the verdict, Zack apologizes to Jimmy for his recent behavior. The jury quickly reaches a verdict, finding Laurie not guilty. Judge Bone is outraged and takes it upon himself to insult the jury for their lack of factual basis for their verdict. He takes Laurie and the counsel into his office and offers to sentence her to 3,000 hours of community service. Laurie accepts his proposal, calling it “fair.” The episode ends as Laurie congratulates Jill for testifying against her and calls Jimmy a “good influence” on Zack. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: CBS
- DATE: March 3, 1995 10:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:58:52
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:60555
- GENRE: Drama, police
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, police
- SERIES RUN: CBS - TV series - 1992-1996
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- David E. Kelley … Executive Producer, Created by, Writer
- Michael Pressman … Co-Executive Producer
- Geoffrey Neigher … Producer
- Jonathan Pontell … Producer
- Robert Breech … Producer
- Steve Robin … Associate Producer
- Michael Nankin … Supervising Producer
- Ann Donahue … Supervising Producer
- Alice West … Supervising Producer
- Richard Masur … Director
- Stewart Levin … Music by
- Tom Skerrit … Cast, Sheriff Jimmy Brock
- Kathy Baker … Cast, Dr. Jill Brock
- Costas Mandylor … Cast, Officer Kenny Lacos
- Lauren Holly … Cast, Officer Maxine Stewart
- Holly Marie Combs … Cast, Kimberly Brock
- Justin Shenkarow … Cast, Matthew Brock
- Adam Wylie … Cast, Zack Brock
- Fyvush Finkel … Cast, Douglas Wambaugh
- Kenny Connell … Cast, Carter Pike
- Don Cheadle … Cast, D.A. John Littleton
- Ray Walston … Cast, Judge Henry Bone
- Marlee Matlin … Cast, Laurie Bey
- Cecil Hoffman … Cast, Laurie's Interpreter
- Lisa Chess … Cast, Rebecca
- Sam Anderson … Cast, FBI Agent Donald Morrell
- Jane Kaczmarek … Cast, Janice Neiman
- Wren Brown … Cast, Foreman
- Ed Waterstreet … Cast, FBI Agent