MORMON TV STATIONS PULL `PICKET FENCES'

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, February 4, 1993                   TAG: 9302030096
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BILL CARTER NEW YORK TIMES SYNDICATE
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
MORMON TV STATIONS PULL `PICKET FENCES'
Two CBS affiliates owned by the Mormon Church have told the network they will no longer broadcast the Friday-night drama "Picket Fences" because of objections to the show's content.
The stations, KSL-TV in Salt Lake City and KIRO-TV in Seattle, are managed by Bonneville International Broadcasting, a company owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormon Church. The stations first pre-empted the show on Jan. 22 because their station managers objected to the content of that episode, in which a Mormon character used polygamy as a defense in a legal case.
"These stations have always been incredibly sensitive to content in shows," said Anthony Malara, the president of CBS's affiliate relations division. "In this case, there was clearly a policy that guided the station management's decision."
David Kelley, the creator and executive producer of "Picket Fences," who has also written every episode of this show, said he was stunned by the news that the stations had dropped the series. "In the episode, we had the judge saying that the Mormon Church outlawed polygamy a hundred years ago," Kelley said Monday. "The episode really deals with different views of family values."
In the episode, a teen-age girl tells her father, the town sheriff, that she believes a friend has been sexually abused by her father. But after the father has been arrested, he reveals that the girl thought to be his daughter is actually his second wife.
The general managers of both the stations were not available for comment.
The network will try to place the show on other stations in those cities if the stations do not reconsider, Malara said. "I still hope that we can get it on in Seattle, on an episode-by-episode basis," he said.
But because Salt Lake City is the center of the Mormon Church in America, Malara said, he has no hope of reviving the show on the CBS affiliate there. "I don't see how we can put this program back on there," he said. "End of conversation."

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB