Author:  [log in to unmask]
Date:    12/14/94 9:10 AM
 
[Editor's note:  This message was submitted to SCREEN-L by the "Author" noted
above, and not by Jeremy Butler ([log in to unmask]).]
 
In response to the request for opinions about Picket Fences' handling of race
issues this season, I must say I have been disappointed.  Last season I thought
it was the best program on television, delicately balancing quirkiness with
emotional truth.
 
This year, it seems to have lost that balance.  The whole storyline involving
integration of Rome's schools seemed awfully didactic to me.  Some of the
characters' actions seemed untrue to their personas; the military standoff at
the school when the first busloads of kids from Green Bay arrived was over the
top.  The writing has seemed forced and predictable, rather than organic.
 
Do others agree with my observations, or want to refute them?  The great acting
and compelling characters will hold me for a few more episodes, at least...
 
Joe [log in to unmask]