From: John Wilks <daubber@leland.stanford.edu>
Subject: Laura Walker - yuck  (was Re: Picket Fences - yuck!)
X-Xxmessage-Id: <A77770C1CD0100F0@naranja-pc-175.stanford.edu>
X-Xxdate: Mon, 11 Jan 93 18:45:21 GMT
Organization: CaveMakers, Inc.
X-Useragent: Nuntius v1.1.1d17
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 93 02:45:07 GMT

In article <1993Jan11.161243.20305@b23a.b23a.ingr.com> Laura Walker,
alfa@b23a.b23a.ingr.com writes:
>picket fences bites the big one.  I made the mistake of watching the last
>episode -- the one where the tough-guy cop gets shot.  That was the last
>straw - I'll watch no more.

Atleast you watched ONE episode before you gave up on the second best one
hour show on TV.  You will make a bigger mistake if you don't watch any
more.  Even for NX, it took me 5 episodes before I knew there was
something special about the show.  If you watched the show, you would
probably understand what's behind the tough-guy cop and the relationship
with his partner, who he refers to as supercop.

>What - do the three cops work all the time?  What - does the chief's
>wife do everything? - psychiatrist, heart surgeon, loving mother. 
>Notice how I don't use their names - everything's forgettable about this
>show.

Do you know anything about the show?  I hope you are just trying to be
silly.  

The reason why there are only two main deputies and one shariff is that
(1) it is a small town of a few thousand stretched over a rural setting
and (2) it is to expensive to hire a larger cast, and if you add more
officers, you clutter up the story.  "Commish" is about a surburban NY
police dept. with 40-70 officers (I forgot the exact amount), yet they
mainly focus on two officers.

They live in a small town, so she is one of the few doctors in the city
of Rome.  Did you even watch the episode?  She did not perform heart
surgery, she just removed a bullet.  And no where did she get paid for
her psychiatric services, her character does have a background in
psychology (not uncommon amoung women who are doctors) and she is the
sheriff's wife, so any medical matters that come up during a crime or a
trial are directed to her.  It's just like Gov. Bill Clinton sending all
that work to the law firm Hillary worked in back in Little Rock.

As for the doctor, she is just another one of those dynamic women you see
more and more of on TV.  Maggie is a pilot, an instructor/tester for the
FAA, a landlord, a carpenter, a plummer, a landscaper, a hunter, a real
estate agent, a legal secretary, a mystery for Joel...

You mean after one episode you can't remember the names of the 10
characters on the show, you must be stupid (j/k)...  OF COURSE YOU DON'T
KNOW THERE NAMES because you only watched one episode, I have watched
almost all the episodes and I still don't know the names of some of the
characters, but that doesn't keep me from enjoying the show because the
show is not dependent on knowing the names of the characters (one of the
reasons I don't know many of their names).  Except for Wambaugh (sp? the
Jewish lawyer) and Maxine Stuart (the female deputy), I don't remember
many other names being mentioned.  Even with NX, when there is a new
character introduced, I never remember the name after only seeing it once
(maybe after I see it a few more times on tape I'll remember the names).

>I found myself cheering for the Frogman.

You must be one sadistic, cynical little gal if you were cheering for the
Frogman.  I guess you could cheer for him because he got a raw deal, but
you were supposed to feel either pitty for this mentally messed up family
or anger for him getting off.

>Please refrain from comparing this show to northern-exp, which offers
characters
>we care about, lively but realistic story lines and subtle, gentle
quirkiness.
>Picket Fences is self-conciously quirky - Hey look at me! I'm an off-beat
>show too!

THE ONLY COMPARISON I HAVE SEEN ON A.T.N-X IS THE FACT THAT NX AND PF ARE
BOTH GREAT SHOWS, AND THEY ARE.  Sure PF is not as good as, lets say the
first 2 seasons of NX, but no show is.  But when looking at the group of
mediocre episodes of NX this season, PF starts to look pretty good.

After the first episode of NX I ever saw, I didn't give a damn about any
of the characters.  You only watched one episode.

I have to agree with your statement that "Picket Fences is
self-conciously quirky - Hey look at me! I'm an off-beat show too!"  But
if you remember the first season of NX (and it carried on to the next
season, too), it was just as quirky, off-beat inorder to get some
attention on thursday nights oppisite "LA Law" re-runs (there, I made a
comparison).

I wasn't going to reply to this lame and unjustified attack on PF because
every person has a right to his/her/it's opinion.  But your call for us
to refrain from making comparisons between NX and PF was uncalled for. 
Who died and made you moderator of this group.  From what I can see, that
is the purpose of a.t.n-x, to debate these trivial little arguments.  If
we want to compare PF and NX, we are going to do so, no matter what you
think (although us open minded would love to hear your opinnions on these
trivial subjects).  

I wish you would give PF another chance when ever you are home on Fridays
(I tape it every week), and I hope that you are not going to watch the
show looking for things to hate, just so you won't like it.