Six Feet Under

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HBO (ended 2005)
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Show Summary

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When death is your business, what is your life? For the Fisher family, the world outside of their family-owned funeral home continues to be at least as challenging as--and far less predictable than--the one inside.Oscar(R)-winning screenwriter Alan Ball's breakout series that takes a darkly comic look at members of a dysfunctional L.A. family that run a funeral business.moreless
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Episode Guide

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S 5 :  Ep 12 Aired 8/21/05
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S 5 :  Ep 11 Aired 8/14/05
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S 5 :  Ep 10 Aired 8/7/05
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S 5 :  Ep 9 Aired 7/31/05
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S 5 :  Ep 8 Aired 7/24/05
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Fan Reviews (110)

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  • This used to be one of my favorite shows. Then the fourth season aired.

    7.0
    "Good"
    By jekyll, Nov 26, 2011 Report Abuse
    The saga of the Fishers (mother Ruth and children Nate Jr., Claire, and David) and their funeral home rapidly joined The Sopranos as an HBO signature show. Every show starts with a death of someone soon to come to the funeral home, and the personal stories of the Fishers always were mirrored/metaphored by the recently deceased they were processing, and these conversations with the dead (including the patriarch, who dies at the start of the series) always left the characters with a better sense of what they were doing/where they were going. The show possesses a quirky and slightly dark sense of humor that keeps things from getting too morbid. Much like the first two seasons of The Sopranos, the first season was a great set-up; the second, near perfect. The third season saw a slight departure to heavier drama, and the show started to suffer a bit for it. The fourth season was nearly unwatchable. Everything that made the show what it was was sadly eliminated, and even the opening deaths were often there only for tradition's sake, having nothing to do with the plot, while the characters' lives were torn to shreads. It was almost as if the writers were having a competition to see who they could make suffer the most, and in doing so they unwittingly chose the audience. I even changed the channel a few times, but came back, hoping the show's former greatness would return. Save for a relatively satisfying finale, it never did. After last night's pretty decent season 5 premiere, I'm hopeful for a resurgence to greatness during SFU's final season, but when slighly whacko Brenda (Nate's longtime lover and current wife) is rapidly becoming the most normal character on the show, there is pause for doubt on my part.
    First season: 9.0
    Second season: 10.0
    Third season: 6.5
    Fourth season: 2.5
    Average comes to 7.0moreless

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    1 6

  • Art.

    10
    "Perfect"
    By cavanagh15, Oct 25, 2011 Report Abuse
    "TV as an art form" was the tagline for this show for many seasons and after watching all of the episodes I can finnaly agree with that statement. This show is by far the best show on Television. The emotional connections associated with this small town fmaily running a funeral home seems like such a bad idea on paper, but becomes art when put on the tv screen. Between the rich character development and continous story development, Six Feet Under is one of the greatest TV shows ever made. Without a doubt a must see for anyone who hasn't seen the show yet. 10/10moreless

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    2 0

  • this show is off and on for me, mostly off the writing is horrible and the characters aren't very smart, at least the way they view world situations. I would put a lower score, but this site doesn't let you put below 1.1 on some pages for some reason.moreless

    1.1
    "Abysmal"
    By kevinb4444, Oct 25, 2011 Report Abuse
    I have been watching it in re-runs on Bravo, and it's all right, I don't really think it's that great, but I have been to alot of funerals. so funeral homes aren't exactly the best place for a show to take place. This show is full of people who have been in good shows, and some are in good shows right now. The actors are pretty good, the story isn't the best from the few I have seen, but I have only watched a few episodes so I think I have seen this show enough to stop watching it. I thought it's a decent show, but, maybe it's not worth watching.moreless

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    0 15

  • A smart choise.

    6.5
    "Fair"
    By da_dunker, Oct 25, 2011 Report Abuse
    A drama series about undertakers shouldn't really be compelling drama, but when I heard that this was to be a drama about undertakers created by the writer of American Beauty and developed by HBO I took notice. Those pedigrees instantly suggest a great series and I am happy to say I am not disappointed. First of all this is television of almost redefining brilliance. The series is hard edged (some of the death scenes of the clients (i.e the guess characters whose funeral takes center stage of each episode) tends to be quite graphic, such as the auto-erotica asphyxiation scenario), the language frequently strong (the c-word has been uttered frequently) and there are many number of sexual scenes. However, unlike HBO's other golden child, The Sopranos, Six Feet Under may be undeniably adult fare, this is a series with heart and emotional integrity and is frequently very moving, but does so without dipping into the realms of sentimentality. Don't kid yourself if you haven't seen this series yet, we're not in made for television film territory here. This is dark stuff, full of disturbing dream sequences, downright strange dream sequences and sex of every kind (heterosexual and homosexual both get an equal look in here).

    A great series would be nothing without great characters and Six Feet Under has them in abundance. The Fisher family are at the forefront of the story and each one has their inherent little pet foibles that mark them out as superb to watch. Nate is laid back and is starting a serious relationship with Brenda, his brother David is gay (for the first season heavily closeted), sister Clare is a teenager coping with peer pressure and boyfriend trouble, mother Ruth is severely insecure while father Nathaniel senior is, well, he's dead and his ghost shows up every so often to give guidance to his family, most often to David. Then there's Brenda, Nate's girlfriend who has a crazy, psychopath of a brother, and her subsequent problems with sex addiction. If this all sounds crazy, then you're right, Six Feet Under is crazy, but with television getting increasingly lazy by relying on formulaic reality television show, Six Feet Under is breath of fresh air. It's surreal, downright strange yet compelling and beautiful. The wonderful music score by Thomas Newman, the great scripts and wonderful direction, and let's not forget the fantastic Emmy nominated performances, all help to make this one of the most moving shows on television. The way that the family deal with the funeral at the heart of each episode and the way that the writers deal with the story makes Six Feet Under one of the most poignant shows on television today.

    A series that is disturbing, puzzling but eventually moving, this is truly one of a kind.moreless

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    0 3

  • A groundbreaking show in a number of respects.

    10
    "Perfect"
    By farscapefanuk, Oct 25, 2011 Report Abuse
    This show is a recent favourite of mine. While I discovered it quite late I absolutely loved it. The writing and characters are so strong and its truely compelling to watch. Although its not particularly long ( 5 seasons 63 episodes) it really will make you sad to see it go. I absolutely loved the final episode where it flashforwards to the future. The main premise of the show is about a family (the Fishers) who own a funeral home. In the first episode Nathanial Fisher dies and the rest of the family are brought together. The show revolved around Nate, Claire, Ruth and David Fisher and they love interests and career paths. I truely enjoyed watching this show so much. Also the fact it was a cable show on HBO means that its a bit more "gritty" and the characters swear and such making the show that little bit more realistic. If you havnt seen the show already I advise you do its fantastic.moreless

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    1 0
 

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Coping With Death, Dead Parents, Dysfuntional Families, Ensemble Cast, Fish Out Of Water

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