David E. Kelley's Quirky Drama Survived Four Seasons In TV's Friday Night Death Slot

Television's "Friday night death slot" has been the demise of many shows over the years — but one of prolific creator and producer David E. Kelley's quirky dramas managed to survive the precarious block. His 1992 CBS series "Picket Fences" — a drama about a mysterious Wisconsin town where weird things happen — had the odds stacked against it from the beginning of its run due to the network's decision to program it on Friday evening. But the series withstood that test, going on to build a dedicated audience in the four years from its premiere to its end in 1996.

The series managed to maintain decent ratings throughout its run, though far from top of the pack as far as rival programming was concerned. Despite this, "Picket Fences" was met with acclaim, even garnering a whopping 27 Emmy Award nominations in that time. The Emmy recognition for "Picket Fences" resulted in 14 wins, including two back-to-back wins for outstanding drama series in 1993 and 1994. Additionally, stars Tom Skerritt, Kathy Baker, Fyvush Finkel, and Ray Walston were recognized with nominations and wins in the acting categories. Baker even went on to win the Golden Globe for best performance by an actress in a television series in 1994 for her work.

The strength of the performances in "Picket Fences" — as well as creator David E. Kelley's innate knack for crafting compelling television shows — seemed to help the series maintain its supportive mid-tier audience. That, in turn, kept it firmly out of the danger zone within the "Friday night death slot." From a programming perspective, Friday evening has its pros and cons. A major boon for Friday evening programming is that audiences have finished their work week and are available to give their full attention to television programming at the start of the weekend — but the big con hinges on that fact as well.

The "Friday night death slot" got its name because, during the 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. block, most viewers were out doing non-TV-related activities, which made it a difficult environment for a show to survive in. But if the show in question has an audience that makes it a priority, like "Picket Fences" did, then it can survive nearly any time slot curveball that comes its way. That said, Kelley's show is unavailable to stream for free anywhere as of the time of this writing, so these days, the series has fallen out of the cultural conversation.