Six Feet Under

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322
HBO (ended 2005)

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AJMeredith

User Score: 86

9.0
out of 10
User Rating
4,183 votes
111

SHOW REVIEWS
By TV.com Users

Six Feet Under

Show Summary

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.
Justina Machado

Justina Machado

Vanessa Diaz

Peter Krause

Peter Krause

Nate Fisher

James Cromwell

James Cromwell

George Sibley (episode 40+, recurring previously)

Mathew St. Patrick

Mathew St. Patrick

Keith Charles

Frances Conroy

Frances Conroy

Ruth Fisher

Lauren Ambrose

Lauren Ambrose

Claire Fisher

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Fan Reviews (111)

SUBMIT REVIEW
  • Compelling and a must watch

    10
    One of my favourite shows. Six feet under is a amazing show that tells the story of The Fishers and how they run their funeral home. The show is different from much of HBO''s offering as it tackles the issues of close knit family and how they deal with everyday life problems. Death is the main theme of the show but at later seasons the families issues are more explored. It is one of the shows that draws you deep and makes you connect with the characters and has one of the best finales ever ofmoreless
  • This used to be one of my favorite shows. Then the fourth season aired.

    7.0
    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
  • Art.

    10
    "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
  • 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
    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
  • A smart choise.

    6.5
    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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    More Info About This Show

    Categories

    Drama

    Themes

    coping with death, dead parents, dysfuntional families, ensemble cast, fish out of water