Episodes cast for
"Picket Fences" (1992) More at IMDbPro »

Season: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
Year: 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996

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Season 1

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Season 1, Episode 1: Pilot

18 September 1992
In the small town of Rome, Wisconsin, the daily life of the quiet townspeople is disrupted when the Tin Man drops dead during a local production the "The Wizard of Oz" due to nicotine poisoning. Sheriff Jimmy Brock's investigation to the "accident" is further complicated by the fact that his wife, Jill, the local physician, has privileged information pertinent to the case. Meanwhile, Officer Kenny Lacos and Sheriff Brock's daughter, Kimberly, from his first marriage, make the acquaintance of a lounge singer passing through town. The other members of Sheriff Brock's family are his and Jill's sons; the borderline juvenile delinquent Matthew, and the sensitive young Zack. The authority figures introduced are the elderly defense and semi-senile public defender Douglas Wambaugh, the stern Judge Henry Bone, fellow police officers Lacos and Maxine Stewart, and the elderly dwarf receptionist Ginny.

Season 1, Episode 2: The Green Bay Chopper

25 September 1992
At a school show-and-tell exhibit, a student brings in a detached human hand, which alerts Sheriff Brock and his department that a serial killer, called the Green Bay Chopper, has come to town, and Maxine is reluctant to hand the investigation over to an shady FBI agent whom she thinks knows a little more than he knows about the case.

Season 1, Episode 3: Mr. Dreeb Comes to Town

2 October 1992
Maxine gets very involved with a diminutive circus dwarf who has arrived in Rome with a stolen elephant he claims was being abused in the circus. Meanwhile, Jill and Kimberly are in an uncomfortable position when a gifted teacher in Kimberly's high school loses his job and faces losing his life to a brain tumor.

Season 1, Episode 4: The Autumn of Rome

16 October 1992
The Mayor investigates a crooked citizen and crashes with his car just before elections start. Wambaugh runs for mayor with brass band and drums and is shot at.

Season 1, Episode 5: Frank the Potato Man

23 October 1992
The 'Serial Bather' strikes again, leaving a plastic duck in the bathtub. Suspicion falls on Frank the Potato Man who is homeless.

Season 1, Episode 6: Remembering Rosemary

26 October 1992
On Halloween, the only witness to a 10-year-old suicide case breaks her silence to announce "murder" which sends Maxine off to dig into a local history of the victim's life. Meanwhile, Kimberly is reluctant to join her friends in a Halloween prank on Howard the confessor.

Season 1, Episode 7: The Contenders

30 October 1992
Jill declares herself a candidate for mayor when Pugen ignores the Rome Woman's Coalition, but her candidacy reveals something in her past life which she has kept hidden. Meanwhile, Kenny agrees to box with a former middleweight champion in a boxing match for charity.

Season 1, Episode 8: Sacred Hearts

6 November 1992
A woman who is terminally ill dies at the nursing home with an orange in her mouth. 'The singing Nun' is suspected as a serial mercy killer. Judge Bone declares that assisted suicide is under constitutional protection.

Season 1, Episode 9: Thanksgiving

13 November 1992
As Sheriff Brock and his family plan a big thanksgiving dinner, Jill has to deal with the much younger woman that her father brings along for the dinner party. Douglas Wambaugh later appears at the Brock's for he has left his wife after finding out that she was cheating on him. Meanwhile, Kenny and Maxine, alone at the police station with a break in crime, share a meal during their shift.

Season 1, Episode 10: The Snake Lady

4 December 1992
A woman is found dead after an apparent suicide, and suspicion falls on both her husband and her sister, the 'Snake Lady'.

Season 1, Episode 11: Pageantry

11 December 1992
When a local rabbi takes the entire public school to court for presenting a Christmas pageant to the town (because the town of Rome happens to happens to be 50% Jewish), the repercussions reveal that a music teacher, who refuses to obey Judge Bone's ruling not to bring on anymore Christmas pageants, isn't really who she seems to be.

Season 1, Episode 12: High Tidings

18 December 1992
The Christmas chaos of the year only begins when the family returns unexpectedly from a Christmas Eve outing and finds Kimberly in bed with her boyfriend, and Brock arrests him for statutory rape. This brings Brock's first wife, Lydia, to town to try to talk to Kimberly about the comings of womanhood. Meanwhile, Maxine and Ginny finds themselves held hostage for the night in the police station by a crazed homeless man in a Santa suit.

Season 1, Episode 13: Frog Man

8 January 1993
The Frogman strikes again with a fake bomb, and apparently shoots at Kenny in a jewelery store.

Season 1, Episode 14: Bad Moons Rising

15 January 1993
Sheriff Brock and the rest of the town is in a uproar after a middle-aged woman kills her husband by running over him with a steam roller, and Wambaugh attempts to build a temporary-insanity plea around the premise that she was going through menopause.

Season 1, Episode 15: Nuclear Meltdowns

22 January 1993
Kimberly tells her parents that she believes that her girlfriend, Jody, has been made pregnant by her father. Meanwhile, Maxine pursues a killer of ducks at a pond. Elsewhere, Kenny becomes involved with a most unusual young woman, named Elaine, when he stops her for a traffic offense, and who happens to be the other half of a set of twins.

Season 1, Episode 16: The Body Politic

5 February 1993
Jill and Sheriff Brock find themselves on opposite sides when it's revealed that a local dentist is HIV-positive. Meanwhile, Maxine investigates neighbors reports that a new man in town is actually hiding the comatose body of his wife, so he can keep her alive until their child is born. Also, Kenny is officially and unofficially chastised for dating the twins, Elaine and Elena, concurrently.

Season 1, Episode 17: Be My Valentine

12 February 1993
Sheriff Brock is shot with an arrow in his buttock. Maxine suspects the serial killer called Cupid and places a personal ad to meet him.

Season 1, Episode 18: Fetal Attraction

1 April 1993
A citizen gets worse from Parkinson's decease, and the whole town gets engaged in discussions about transplants from aborted fetus organs.

Season 1, Episode 19: Sightings

8 April 1993
The local doctor/corner, Carter Pike, finds himself the center of controversy when he makes an official note that a dead vagrant may have been exposed to radiation from a UFO and refuses to let the body he buried immediately in accordance with his Orthodox Jewish tradition.

Season 1, Episode 20: Rights of Passage

15 April 1993
Sheriff Brock and Mayor Pugen find themselves facing a group of angry Native Americans barricaded in the courthouse as a protest against the municipal golf course planned on an ancient tribal burial ground. Meanwhile, Jill is confronted by an angry Ginny leading another protest of other dwarf people offended by her use of hormones to stimulate the growth of an undersized little boy.

Season 1, Episode 21: Sugar and Spice

29 April 1993
Kimberly develops serious questions about her sexuality after she and another girlfriend of hers, Julie, have shared a romantic kiss, and Matthew reveals the news to his parents which sends them in a panic. Brock's first wife, Lydia, arrives back in town to teach Kimberly about where she really stands on her sexuality. Meanwhile, Maxine and Kenny compete with each other for the post of under-sheriff. When Kenny is chosen to be the one, she responds by filing a sexual discrimination lawsuit against the whole station.

Season 1, Episode 22: The Lullaby League

6 May 1993
Jill finds herself in conflict with an aging blues singer with liver cirrhosis who collapses during a concert in Rome, and is deeply offended when she orders a pig's liver transplanted into her as a stopgap measure to save the singer's life. Meanwhile, Maxine undergoes a profound change when she helps deliver a baby girl and is later asked to care for the newborn by the fugitive mother.

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Season 2

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Season 2, Episode 1: Turpitude

22 October 1993
Sheriff Brock is forced to arrest Mayor Pugen after he shoots and kills a carjacker that tries to steal his car, and the town's new District Attorney, John Littleton, a former lawyer from Detroit, faces an up hill battle as he prosecutes the case.

Season 2, Episode 2: Duty Free Rome

28 October 1993
Douglas Wambaugh finds a loophole that might grant Mayor Pugan a new trial after he is convicted of the shooting of the carjacker. Meanwhile, a very religious Catholic couple, who share a birth-defect causing gene, look to Father Gary Barrett of the local Catholic church for help and guidance about the absolute necessity for birth control. Also, Maxine begins seeing Dr. Sherve, a therapist about her sexual problems about not being able to find a man to love.

Season 2, Episode 3: Unlawful Entries

29 October 1993
Kenny and Maxine arrest a young high school math teacher who reluctantly admits that he was raped by a female colleague of his. Meanwhile, Sheriff Brock finds it difficult to get along with the new mayor, Rachel Harris, who is also an old friend Jill's. Also, Dr. Sherve tries to re-assert his control over Maxine after she refuses to see him again.

Season 2, Episode 4: Under the Influence

5 November 1993
Littleton explodes in court over Wambaugh's questionable defense of a woman accused of driving under the influence. Meanwhile, the crafty Dr. Sherve uses Maxine's confusion over allowing the drunken driver to continue on the road to further separate Maxine from her friends and co-workers.

Season 2, Episode 5: The Dancing Bandit

12 November 1993
A deaf-mute, quixotic bank robber, named Laurie Bey, and her tough, equally quixotic boyfriend, Cole, arrive in Rome and hold a group of people, including Sheriff Brock, Jill, their children, and other people hostage in the bank during a holdup. Afterward, Bey pays a visit to Zack in his classroom to ask for a way to help her get out of town.

Season 2, Episode 6: Dairy Queen

26 November 1993
A sexy young centerfold model becomes the controversial symbol for a dairy campaign. She turns out to have an abusive husband. Kimberly wants a breast implant.

Season 2, Episode 7: Cross Examination

3 December 1993
At Christmas time, a comatose young woman is found pregnant although she is a virgin. Zach is told that Santa Claus is not real.

Season 2, Episode 8: Strangers

10 December 1993
Jill becomes a central witness when a man suffering from a rare visual disorder is arrested and tried for the alleged accidental shooting of his own brother after mistaking him for a late night prowler. Meanwhile, Maxine learns about Kenny dating Mayor Harris, and Ginny acquires a charming suitor.

Season 2, Episode 9: Blue Christmas

17 December 1993
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.

Season 2, Episode 10: Paging Doctor God

7 January 1994
Jill's determination to uphold her Hippocratic oath collides with the religious beliefs of Christian Science couple who try to resist her assistance in a childbirth that has drastic results. Meanwhile, Zach announces to his parents that he wants to becomes Jewish.

Season 2, Episode 11: Guns 'R' Us

14 January 1994
Matthew's attempts to get revenge for a humiliation by some sociopath, 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 rollback deputy salaries inspires a round of "blue flu" with Kenny and Maxine.

Season 2, Episode 12: Remote Control

21 January 1994
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.

Season 2, Episode 13: Abominable Snowman

28 January 1994
Depressed over a recent incident with a cannon, Howard decides to end his own life by donating his healthy heart to his ailing son. Meanwhile, the transient known as Frank the Potato Man is discovered to be living in a cave near Rome and Mayor Harris becomes determined to go to court to force him to leave the area.

Season 2, Episode 14: Supreme Courting

4 February 1994
On Valentine's Day, the long day brings love and controversy to all age groups in Rome when Carter enlists Maxine's help to impress Stacey Halford, the Mourning Widow, so he can romance her. Meanwhile, Kimberly finds herself labeled as promiscuous when she expressed disdain for the new politically-correct sexual content rules, and Zach accepts a dare from his friends to kiss his chosen valentine.

Season 2, Episode 15: Divine Recall

11 February 1994
Mayor Harris reads Father Barrett and Sheriff Brock the new riot act over a pre-game prayer session at the public high school, and in turn, Barrett and Reverend Novotny bring up her appearance in an old pornographic videotape before the town council.

Season 2, Episode 16: Terms of Estrangement

4 March 1994
Kimberly is kidnapped and held hostage by an African-American man who wants revenge over her father, sheriff Brock.

Season 2, Episode 17: Squatter's Rights

11 March 1994
Maxine questions the motives of a 500-pound obese woman who confesses to killing her allegedly abusive husband by sitting on him. Meanwhile, Wambaugh demands a Beth Din when Rabbi Levin finally has enough of the senile lawyer's tasteless remarks and jokes during a funeral service for the obese woman's husband and rescinds his temple membership.

Season 2, Episode 18: System Down

1 April 1994
The trial against an African-American drug dealer is set in Rome because the town has Littleton as their district attorney. Sheriff Brock is chosen to serve on the jury.

Season 2, Episode 19: Buried Alive

8 April 1994
Jill Brock's father comes on an unexpected visit and stirs up the whole family.

Season 2, Episode 20: My Left Shoe

29 April 1994
A fire in the rectory reveals Father Barrett's extensive collection of women's shoes, prompting questions about his fitness to serve and a blistering condemnation by acting Mayor Buss on public access TV. Meanwhile, Kenny and Rachel Harris reevaluate their relationship.

Season 2, Episode 21: Frosted Flakes

6 May 1994

Season 2, Episode 22: Howard's End

13 May 1994
A violent, humiliating incident with Howard leads to his son, Kevin, to shoot him, as Wambaugh claims, in self-defense. Meanwhile, Jill makes a decision in the operating room to operate on a reluctant Christian Science man, which returns to haunt her.

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Season 3

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Season 3, Episode 1: Survival of the Fittest

23 September 1994
Sheriff Brock and the rest of the town fears the worst when a local teenaged girl disappears and they arrest her boyfriend, Brian Latham, as a murder suspect. Meanwhile, Jill and members of the community become alarmed when it appears that a teacher is advocating creationism in Matthew and Zach's school.

Season 3, Episode 2: Systematic Abuse

30 September 1994

Season 3, Episode 3: The Bus Stops Here

7 October 1994
A Wisconson 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.

Season 3, Episode 4: Enemy Lines

14 October 1994
Jill and Judge Nance air their feelings in a heated face-to-face exchange after she is arrested after she reveals of performing surgery on the Christian Science man. Meanwhile, Kimberly has a run with one of Green Bay's transfer students, named Aisha, who initially responds with hostility. Also, Littleton asks Maxine out on a date.

Season 3, Episode 5: Cold Spell

28 October 1994
Judge Bone has a troubling case when a social worker takes a young girl from her mother, who practices witchcraft. Meanwhile, Maxine and Kenny seek out Ginny for advice on the occult and learn that she has met an unusual fate. Also, Jill gets some new opposition in her race for mayor who happens to be Carter, and Ed Lawson.

Season 3, Episode 6: Elective Conduct

4 November 1994
After the innocent Zach gives a school history report which is filled with racist comments, it hurts Jill's mayoral campaign just before a crucial debate and the election. It turns out that Zach got his information from the 1911 edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Both Carter and Lawson take advantage of that to play on Rome and Green Bay's racial tensions. Meanwhile, Kimberly finds herself shunned when she sticks up for Aisha when she's mocked by jealous white students for getting good grades.

Season 3, Episode 7: Rebels with Causes

11 November 1994
An ailing Wambaugh travels with Jill to Chicago for some specialized medical treatment for his liver, where she becomes angered by Dr. Jeffrey Geiger's arrogant attitude. Back in Rome, Sheriff Brock gets upset at an announcement from Kenny and Kimberly that they want to date.

Season 3, Episode 8: May It Please the Court

18 November 1994
Carter has submitted a blood test and is thrilled when the result reveals pregnancy. Wambaugh finally gets his life's greatest moment at the Supreme Court in Washington.

Season 3, Episode 9: For Whom the Wind Blows

2 December 1994
Brian Latham continues to plead his innocence, and everybody starts to doubt his guilt. The real murderer has confessed to Father Barrett, and Judge Bone tricks him into admitting that Brian is not the killer. The really guilty party is revealed.

Season 3, Episode 10: Away in the Manger

16 December 1994
In this cross-over from an episode on 'The X-Files', the week before Christmas has Sheriff Brock, Kenny, Maxine and other deputies searching a farm when Carter suspects that strange genetic experiments involving cows may be taking place there.

Season 3, Episode 11: Freezer Burn

6 January 1995
Again, a person is found dead in the home freezer, this time a male masseur, and people fear that a serial killing is in progress. As it turns out, the victim was giving more than just massages to many of the housewives, so the number of suspects increases.

Season 3, Episode 12: Frogman Returns

13 January 1995
The Frogman's 13 year old son demands emancipation from his eccentric father. Matthew tries to move the car and runs over Zach who is hospitalized.

Season 3, Episode 13: Mr. Seed Goes to Town

20 January 1995
Sheriff Brook's former wife Lydia has kept his sperm and wants to have a new child.

Season 3, Episode 14: Close Encounters

3 February 1995
An African-American woman chokes on the microphone and is pronounced dead. She unexpectedly wakes up in Carter's morgue and recognizes him as her soulmate. Kenny and Maxine continue to test out their relationship.

Season 3, Episode 15: When in Rome

24 February 1995
A convicted child molester with a surprising ancestry moves into Rome and has to tell all the neighbors about his past. Wambaugh refuses to take on a client for the first time in his life, but sings Barbra Streisand's "He touched me" with choir and church organ at his funeral.

Season 3, Episode 16: Heroes and Villains

3 March 1995
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.

Season 3, Episode 17: Changing of the Guard

10 March 1995
Sheriff Brock asks Laurie Bey to help him, Maxine, and Kenny look for Mayor Ed Lawson who's missing and wanted in connection to a murder, while Jill and the rest of the town begin the process of finding a new mayor. After Laurie Bey helps with the police to arrest Lawson, she's surprisingly is chosen to be the new acting mayor of Rome.

Season 3, Episode 18: Without Mercy

31 March 1995
Jill Brock performs a doctor-assisted suicide with morphine on a dying patient, and the authorities want to force the people of Rome to respect the law.

Season 3, Episode 19: Final Judgement

7 April 1995
In the aftermath of Jill's criminal trial acquittal, Judge Bone is asked to run on the validity of a law prohibiting physician-assisted suicide. Meanwhile, Kenny and Carter investigate the killing of some swans at a local pond, and discover their chief suspect is Zack.

Season 3, Episode 20: Saint Zach

28 April 1995
Zach is tormented by guilt over the swan episode. He prays in a church, and blood starts to pour from the palms of his hands. His schoolmates want to make him a saint, and the Catholic Church starts to investigate if he really is a stigmatic. After Jesus comes to him in a dream disguised as the late Potato Man, he heals a boy who has leukemia.

Season 3, Episode 21: Upbringings

5 May 1995
Sheriff Brock's attorney father arrives for an unexpected visit and creates tension the Brock household when he makes a seemingly generous offer that angers Jimmy. Meanwhile, Kenny and Maxine try to deal with a rebellious teenager and his loud motorcycle.

Season 3, Episode 22: The Song of Rome

12 May 1995
After a lowlife teen shoots Father Barrett during an attempted robbery at the church, Mayor Laurie Bey's decision to continue with a planned spring pageant draws fire from Sheriff Brock and the somber townspeople. But a twist comes when Mayor Bey later reveals some surprising news that she happens to be pregnant, and refuses to tell who the father is.

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Season 4

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Season 4, Episode 1: A Change of Season

22 September 1995
Kimberly throws Sheriff Brock and Jill for a loop with her college plans of leaving Wisconsin for law school. Meanwhile, Brock frets over Mayor Laurie Bey's new police uniform regulations. Maxine turns up sporting a new feminine look. Elsewhere, Carter's house burns down, leaving questions about attempted suicide.

Season 4, Episode 2: Reap the Whirlwind

29 September 1995
As a tornado threat hangs over Rome, Wambaugh and his wife quarrel over his remarks at their 50th anniversary party. Meanwhile, the Brocks worry over Kimberly who's away at college. Kenny risks his life and career over a woman. Also, Carter considers quilting as a new hobby for himself to ease his depression.

Season 4, Episode 3: Pal Joey

6 October 1995
A uptight doctor from Milwaukee, named Dr. Joanna "Joey" Diamond, who's also a TV personality, joins Jill in her practice. Meanwhile, Kenny looks into a video-dating service. An Asian immigrant is arrested while trying to marry a woman according to his ancient culture's customs.

Season 4, Episode 4: Bloodbrothers

13 October 1995
Littleton faces a troubled figure from his past when two escaped prisoners make their way into Rome, one of them is his brother seeking revenge against him for sending him to prison nearly five years ago. Meanwhile, Matthew pleads with Zack not to tell their father about a potentially dangerous accident after Matthew accidentally started a fire while smoking a cigarette.

Season 4, Episode 5: Dog Eat Dog

20 October 1995
Max gets into serious trouble when she shoots a man dressed in a bratwurst costume. Jill thinks Kimberly is pregnant because she goes to Dr. Joey and tries to cover it up.

Season 4, Episode 6: Heart of Saturday Night

27 October 1995
Saturday night in Rome. Matthew goes cruising with his pals. Jill and Jimmy's attempt at romance leaves him in an extremely painful position. Meanwhile, Judge Bone and Wambaugh's poker gang loses a player when one of them drops dead at the table.

Season 4, Episode 7: Down the Tubes

3 November 1995
Cryptic dreams after his brother's death lead Littleton to make some drastic changes, including leaving Rome. To satisfy a charity request, Sheriff Brock prepares to do polka with the very pregnant Mayor Laurie Bey. Meanwhile, Jill faces a day of personal and professional turmoil as she contemplates her scheduled tubal ligation.

Season 4, Episode 8: Witness for the Prosecution

8 December 1995

Season 4, Episode 9: This Little Piggy

15 December 1995

Season 4, Episode 10: Dem Bones

5 January 1996
When the bones of a Nazi sympathizer killed in 1943 are found, suspicion falls on Jacob Levine, the son of a Jewish butcher persecuted by the dead mans and his friends. Wambaugh springs to Levine's defense and find himself facing his long-estranged son, David, as the opposing counsel.

Season 4, Episode 11: Bloodlines

12 January 1996
Sheriff Brock tries to help Matthew deal with the suicide of one of his school friends by taking him on a hunting trip for an elusive bear roaming the countryside. Meanwhile, Wambaugh tries to persuade Judge Bone to comfort the dead boy's mother by pretending to be someone who has also lost a son to suicide.

Season 4, Episode 12: Snow Exit

19 January 1996
A huge blizzard strikes Rome, and strands Jill and Kimberly at the high school with others during Lydia's singing debut. Meanwhile, Sheriff Brock and Skeeter are snowed in at the police station with Mayor Bey who goes into labor. Kenny is stranded in his patrol car after it breaks down, Maxine is stranded at her place with the Bratwurst guy and Dr. Joey. Elsewhere, Wambaugh and Judge Bone are stranded at in the hospital ER and are forced by the staff to help them out with the patients.

Season 4, Episode 13: My Romance

26 January 1996

Season 4, Episode 14: The Z Files

9 February 1996
When Zack's friend sends him a picture of his teacher over the Internet, he creates a computerized pornographic picture of the teacher, and it somehow finds it way onto the web. Meanwhile, Maxine finally meets the person she has been chatting with over the Internet only to find he is not quite what she was expecting.

Season 4, Episode 15: Bottled

16 February 1996

Season 4, Episode 16: Dante's Inferno

22 April 1996

Season 4, Episode 17: Bye-Bye, Bey-Bey

24 April 1996
At the christening of Mayor Laurie Bey's baby, Michael, the Rome residents are flabbergasted when Laurie announces that she had the baby for her brother Jerry and his gay lover Gordy, who plan to raise the baby in the town. The Beys' estranged mother, Christine, who turned her back on her children because she was deaf and he was gay, turns up and announces she is taking them all to court to get custody of her grandson. Tension brews in Rome as the people, from Sheriff Brock to Jill, take sides on the issue and a campaign begins to have Laurie removed as mayor, resulting in Jerry and Gordy being attacked at the supermarket by a vicious homophobic gang. Despite attempts by the prosecution to discredit the men and prove their lifestyle is unsuitable to raise a child in, Judge Bone ultimately rules in their favor and allows them to keep baby Michael, saying he doesn't feel they pose a threat to the boy. The court case over, Laurie Bey leaves Rome again under a cloud, and leaves her baby in the care of his two dads.

Season 4, Episode 18: Three Weddings and a Meltdown

24 April 1996
In the series final, Carter inadvertently proposes to Sue after she gets her wires crossed. Nevertheless, he's a man of his word and they announce their engagement to the people of Rome. Their sudden decision to wed prompts Kenny and Maxine to do the same, although they later begin to experience cold feet. Digging in her friend Selma's backyard, Myriam Wambaugh discovers human remains and Selma goes on trial for murder. Persuaded to defend her by his ex-wife, Wambaugh manages to get her off and passion erupts again for him and Myriam, who decide to get re-married in a triple ceremony with Carter & Sue and Kenny & Max. Meanwhile, the Brocks' marriage is in serious trouble, with Jill feeling they've come to the end of the line. She moves in with Joey to do some thinking and Jimmy is left alone to do the same. At the wedding, the three happy couples tie the knot and the wedding fever gets to Sheriff Brock and Jill, who make up and get back together.

Season 4, Episode 19: Winner Takes All

5 June 1996
The coach of the kids' basketball team collapses at a game and the parents group appoints Jill as interim coach. At first she is determined to play fair and give all the boys a chance, but under pressure from more gung-ho adults, she becomes as obsessed as the rest of them. Fed up with all this, Zack and the other boys on the team take out a court injunction against them. Meanwhile, Matthew becomes hooked on gambling and gets himself into serious trouble.

Season 4, Episode 20: Forget Selma

12 June 1996

Season 4, Episode 21: To Forgive Is Devine

19 June 1996
A young Amish girl, Hannah Beiler, is attacked in the streets of Rome and raped, but the Amish community decide not to press charges against the rapist because of their religious beliefs of tolerance and being forbidden to swear oaths. An attempt is made to force Hannah to testify against her rapist but she refuses, on the grounds of her religious convictions. With no other options or evidence, Sheriff Brock has to let the rapist go free. Shortly after this, a second girl, Peggy Patterson, is also raped by the same man. This time, the guy is put behind bars but Peggy's parents, incensed that the Amish people's actions indirectly led to their daughter's rape, take the unusual step of suing the Amish. The Amish hire Wambaugh to defend them in court. Kenny tries to counsel Hannah, confiding in her that his sister was raped the year previous.

Season 4, Episode 22: Liver Let Die

26 June 1996
Sheriff Brock is called out when a homeless man is found murdered behind Reverend Novotny's church but is suddenly stricken with terrible pains at the scene. Dr Joey discovers he has a potentially cancerous growth on his liver and she takes samples from it, telling him they'll know for sure by the end of the day. He pushes on with the murder investigation to take his mind off it. The victim is identified as a former army veteran and a boy named Jack Klausner, known to Kenny through the basketball team, comes forward as a witness and describes the two men he says were the killers. When his statement is found to be a lie, Brock interviews both Jack's mom and his retarded brother, Billy, who tells him that Jack wasn't home the night of the murder, and it emerges he was present when two of his friends killed the man with a brick. He flips out, taking Brock hostage at gunpoint, but Kenny brings Billy to the station and he talks him out of it.