Picket Fences

Jimmy consults Jill when a terminal cancer patient dies of a morphine overdose.

Jimmy goes outside of his department to get the help he needs to find Ed Lawson, who is wanted for murder. Meanwhile, the town launches its own search to find a new mayor, and Kenny and Max are caught kissing on the job.

The hearing impaired Dancing Bandit is arrested when she visits Zach on his birthday. Federal authorities want her trial to be set in Rome, where the jury reaches a surprising verdict.

When a child molester moves to Rome after spending 16 years in prison it causes big problems for the local residents, especially with Jill and Jimmy, who are struggling to reconcile parental concerns with their professional duties.

Carter pronounces a woman dead after she collapses while singing, but she later "wakes up" in the morgue and sees Carter as her soulmate. Meanwhile, Kenny and Max take their relationship to the next level.

Jimmy Brock's ex-wife, Lydia, visits unexpectedly and brings with her an unusual request — she wants to have another baby, and she wants Jimmy to father it.

The Frog Man's son tires of his father and goes to court for emancipation. Meanwhile, Zach is injured in a terrible accident and Jill overreacts, striking Matthew for accidentally hurting Zach.

A masseur known for giving erotic massages to many female residents of the town is found dead in his freezer. Jimmy Brock is upset when he learns that his wife, Jill, was one of the masseur's clients.

Carter Pike suspects that bizarre genetic experiments are being carried out on cows at a remote farm. This episode was originally planned as a crossover with The X-Files.

While Brian Latham continues to proclaim his innocence, Kenny and Max review the evidence of the case and begin to believe he is telling the truth. Jimmy turns 55 and suffers a midlife crisis.

Wambaugh realizes the dream of a lifetime when he presents oral arguments before the Supreme Court.

Wambaugh accompanies Jill Brock to Chicago where he receives a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis at Chicago Hope Hospital in this series crossover episode. Jill clashes with Dr. Jeffrey Geiger (Mandy Patinkin) who, she feels, looks down on her as a small-town doctor.

Jill's mayoral campaign is damaged when Zach writes a school report filled with racist content, which he copied from an out-of-date book. Kimberly befriends Aisha when her classmate is bullied over good grades.

After a young girl spray paints a pentacle on a wall at school, Sheriff Brock removes her from the custody of her mother, a practicing Wiccan, and a court custody battle ensues. Max and Kenny discover Ginny frozen to death in her own freezer. Her brother (played by Paul Williams) holds a memorial service at which he sings "The Rainbow Connection" (a song written by Williams for The Muppet Movie).

Jill and Judge Nance air their feelings in a heated face-to-face exchange after she is arrested when she reveals that she performed surgery on the Christian Science man. Meanwhile, Kimberly has a run-in with one of Green Bay's transfer students, named Aisha, who initially responds with hostility. Also, Littleton asks Maxine out on a date.

A Wisconsin Federal judge orders that 400 black students from the Green Bay ghetto be bused to Rome's schools, prompting panic among Sheriff Brock and the parents, knowing that a good number of them are lowlifes and drug dealers that come from that neighborhood. Meanwhile, Wambaugh gets a surprising response to his appeal of the Brian Latham murder conviction to go the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington DC. Also, Maxine makes a mess of her relationship with Littleton.

District Attorney Littleton and defense lawyer Douglas Wambaugh prepare for the upcoming murder trial of Brian Latham. Littleton is concerned that his case will be hampered by the absence of hard evidence.

A local girl disappears and Sherriff Brock suspects her boyfriend, Brian Latham, is involved. Meanwhile, Jill opposes a grade school teacher who is teaching creationism.

A high-profile murder trial in which the defendant is accused of murdering two police officers is transferred to Rome. Sheriff Brock winds up as the foreman of the jury that must decide the defendant's fate.

A 500-pound woman confesses to murdering her husband by sitting on his head. Douglas Wambaugh is expelled from his synagogue and seeks a ruling in a Jewish religious court to be reinstated.

Kimberly is kidnapped and held hostage by a man (Louis Gossett, Jr.) who wants revenge over her father, Sheriff Brock.

A 25-year-old softcore pornographic video of Mayor Rachel Harris surfaces. The town clergy lead a movement to remove her from office. Howard Buss, as senior member of the town council, becomes acting mayor.

Valentine's Day brings romance to many members of the community. Maxine helps Carter woo Stacy Halford, a local widow. Kimberly and her boyfriend find they have different attitudes regarding sexual-consent guidelines, and Zack takes a dare and kisses his girlfriend only to find himself in trouble.

Howard Buss's son Kevin will die without a heart transplant so Howard, suffering from Alzheimer's disease, seeks a court order to allow him the right to assisted suicide so he can give his heart to his son. Frank the Potato Man sues the town for a place to live, claiming an implied social contract.

Littleton and Wambaugh go head to head again in the courtroom as Wambaugh argues that his latest client, Timmy Hendricks, was predisposed to violence because of his exposure to television and movies. Meanwhile, Sheriff Brock reacts with anger against Mayor Harris' attempts to impose a strong police presence in Rome, including fingerprinting all the citizens and random searches of vehicles for weapons.

Matthew's attempts to get revenge for a humiliation by some high-school bullies by threatening them with a gun takes an unexpected turn, which lands one of them in the hospital and Matthew in jail for attempted murder. Meanwhile, Mayor Harris' decision to roll back deputy salaries inspires a round of "blue flu" with Kenny and Maxine.

Jill is arrested after she performs surgery on a woman whose Christian Science beliefs prohibit medical intervention. Zach wants to convert to Judaism because Jews do not believe in hell.

A locker search for drugs at the local high school leads to the arrest of Kimberly's best friend, Lisa Fenn. Meanwhile, a protected Federal witness turns up in Rome which leaves Sheriff Brock and his force concerned. Also, Carter has a melancholy reunion with his brother when he arrives in Rome for the funeral of their mother.

Jill testifies for a man suffering from a rare neurological disorder that distorts vision after he is arrested for the shooting death of his brother. Dr. Vernon Leaky, a specialist on the condition, shows a romantic interest in Ginny. Maxine learns that Kenny and Rachel are having an affair.

A young woman in a coma following a car accident is found to be four months' pregnant, despite being a virgin. When her father seeks an abortion to try to save her life, the town's Catholic and Protestant clergy intervene, citing possible divine causation. Matthew tells Zack that there is no Santa Claus.

The town is divided when Jill and the Mayor back a sexy model to be the town's "Dairy Queen," but Sheriff Brock is more interested in the woman's apparently abusive husband and manager. Kimberly and Matthew work on a documentary called "A Day in the Life of a C-Cup," but Kimberly finds herself considering drastic options after seeing how people treat her.

Jill and Zack are among the hostages taken by a group of bank robbers led by a deaf woman (Marlee Matlin) who calls herself "the Dancing Bandit." Jimmy works with the FBI to stop the standoff, but the group proves far craftier than anyone expected.

Max lets a drunk driver continue the short distance to her home, but the woman is involved in an accident that leaves the other drive paralyzed. The situation is complicated by Wambaugh's advice to the drunk driver to drink some Scotch to "calm her nerves," and Max's relationship with her therapist. The mayor accuses Jimmy of having problems with having a woman as his boss.

Kenny and Max respond to a report of a rape and find a man and woman fighting. Under pressure from Kenny, the man says that it was she who raped him. Following a probable cause hearing, Judge Bone advises the district attorney and Wambaugh to reach a plea bargain. The woman gets a year sentence, suspended, after pleading guilty to misdemeanor assault. Local businesswoman Rachel Harris is sworn in as mayor and she and Jimmy clash over her plans for his office. Max's former therapist manipulates her into dropping charges and they enter into a sexual relationship.

Douglas Wambaugh appeals Mayor Pugen's murder conviction but the mayor spontaneously combusts. A Catholic couple who carry the genes for Hurler syndrome are tormented by the church's prohibition on contraception. Max's therapist attempts to manipulate her into a sexual relationship and she has him arrested.

Mayor Pugen kills a carjacker after the carjacker drops his weapon and Sheriff Brock must decide whether to press murder charges. When he does, the new district attorney has to choose how to prosecute the case.

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

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."

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.