Dave at Garfield Ridge notes a few TV show errors relating to his home city which reminds me of my fav TV sloppiness.

The show "Picket Fences" supposedly takes place in Wisconsin, but there are Palm trees on the streets and mountains in the distance on all of the outdoor shots. Anyone who has ever been to Wisconsin would know that palm trees just will not grow and that a "mountain" in Wisconsin is a man-made ski hill, usually dug into the ground instead of building up from the ground.

I guees this would explain it:

Exteriors for the show were mostly shot in Monrovia, CA, a suburb of Los Angeles, CA. Generally these were simple exteriors of buildings such as City Hall (side entrance to Monrovia City Hall), the Logan County Courthouse (the United Methodist Church of Monrovia) and Dr. Jill Brock's Office (a Red Cross office at the time, now an Annex to Monrovia City Hall) shot by the second unit. Over the period of 1992-1996 several extensive and large scenes were also filmed in town, these included two parades where many citizens and organizations within Monrovia participated in the filming.

I guess the budget for David E. Kelley shows were much smaller in 1992.

Of course, Wisconsin has a long history of being fake locations for TV. "Happy Days", "Laverne and Shirley" (who thankfully moved to California once the shark was jumped) and the #2 goofiest Wisconsin-based show ever "That 70s Show". I guess it is never winter in "That 70s Show" and that the state of Wisconsin is about the same size as Rhode Island because going to Green Bay for a game and to Kenosha for shopping/Wrestling Match is only a short drive away.

Laverne and Shirley also lived on "Knapp Street", a fairly well known street in Milwaukee, but I don't ever recall the locals pronouncing the "K" like all the characters do on the show.