Oscars - Season 51 / Year 2003

Karl Alberg moves to a quiet coastal town to soothe a psyche that has been battered by big-city police work. But this gentle paradise has more than its share of secrets, and Karl will need to call upon all the skills that made him a world-class detective in solving the murders that, even in this seemingly idyllic setting, continue to wash up on his shore.

Sheriff Country focuses on straight-shooting sheriff Mickey Fox, the stepsister of Cal Fire's division chief Sharon Leone, who investigates criminal activity as she patrols the streets of small-town Edgewater while contending with her ex-con father, Wes, who is an off-the-grid marijuana grower, and a mysterious incident involving her wayward daughter.

In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate, yet equally important, groups: the police, who investigate crime; and the district attorneys, who prosecute the offenders. These are their stories.

After achieving success in her younger years, the brilliant septuagenarian Madeline Matlock rejoins the work force at a prestigious law firm where she uses her unassuming demeanor and wily tactics to win cases and expose corruption from within.

In Fire Country, seeking redemption and a shortened prison sentence, young convict Bode Donovan joins a firefighting program that returns him to his small Northern California hometown, where he and other inmates work alongside elite firefighters to extinguish massive blazes across the region.