Review from San Francisco Chronicle

HBO's 'Six Feet' a dark gem

Tim Goodman
Saturday, March 2, 2002

Let's, for argument's sake, say that at minimum, HBO has three of the five best shows on TV. Or even four of the best six. Whatever. The question remains: Is that the kind of math that works for you, that might convince you to finally pony up for pay cable?

There has to be an equation somewhere that makes roughly $12 a month seem like a good investment if you really want quality television.

If you'd like to kick the tires first (assuming you've already seen "The Sopranos" and "Sex and the City," maybe even "Curb Your Enthusiasm"), then head to a friend's house Sunday -- one who gets HBO -- and jump on the bandwagon that is "Six Feet Under."

For what it's worth, "Six Feet Under" is the second-best show on television (behind "The Sopranos" and ahead of "The West Wing," which in turn is ahead of "Sex and the City" and "Curb Your Enthusiasm").

Are you following? It's long division.

Last year's biggest water-cooler hit and critically praised drama (it just won the Golden Globe and should contend for an Emmy), is back for its second season. Mind you, HBO didn't really know this show was going to take off. In fairness, it only got better, episode by episode, as it grew from the mind of "American Beauty" writer Alan Ball (who did the pilot) to become a blossoming black rose by season's end.

This is, after all, the story of a dysfunctional family that runs a funeral home in Los Angeles. Death is the overarching metaphor here, as is life and its precarious nature. What makes it spectacularly good television is that it's a mature work, written for adults, that assumes that viewers can understand subtlety.

"Six Feet Under" went from a pilot with potential (not the same old premise redone, a la some hospital drama), to become a series with vision, one that melded beautiful writing with superb, nuanced acting, then meshed it recklessly with finely tuned humor and storytelling trickery (dream sequences, primarily).

The result is like nothing else you've seen on television. As in "The Sopranos," one key element of "Six Feet Under" is the bold use of silence -- stretches where nothing is said but a point or an emotion is conveyed. On network television, that's not allowed. Pause -- and die. No laugh track? How will the audience know what to do? Long shots of emotionless faces? Not tolerated.

But on "Six Feet Under," that's the selling point. The series treats you like an adult, as if you're watching a manicured feature film that took years to create. The issues -- life, death, sex, sexual orientation, family, fear -- they all unfold with grace or brutal emotional frankness. Along the way, if you laugh -- and you will -- then it's just another layer to absorb. Sometimes an episode ends and you can't believe the brilliance -- like walking out of a great movie into the bright light of an ordinary afternoon. Hard to change the channel to "Fear Factor" after that.

"Six Feet Under" is about a family for which death is a business -- grief management. The father, Nathaniel Fisher (Richard Jenkins), died in the pilot, his new hearse broadsided by a speeding bus. He reappears and talks to the family, and he's a sardonic hoot. The mother, Ruth Fisher (Francis Conroy), is probably the most complex mother on television.

The funeral home is run by brothers David and Nate Fisher (Michael C. Hall and Peter Krause, both sensationally good). David, the wound-tight good son, did what was expected of him -- ran the business. And what was not -- came out of the closet. Nate ran from the stench of death into the abyss of life and back, confronting all kinds of familial and personal issues. Daughter Claire Fisher (Lauren Ambrose) is the black sheep teenager without a rudder or moral compass.

This is one deep cast, given that Nate's girlfriend, Brenda (Rachel Griffiths), manages to get much of the best material (which she turned into a Golden Globe for supporting actress). Other great supporting roles abound. Even the guest roles, episode by episode, shine. "Six Feet Under" is an actor's dream.

A lot of people came to "Six Feet Under" in midrun last season or recently in preseason repeats. Others will find it for the first time Sunday. No doubt all of them will be talking about it and coming to the same conclusion: It's a show to die for.