Six Feet Under

Darkly comic drama series about a dysfunctional family in Pasadena that runs a funeral home, from the writer of ‘American Beauty’. The prodigal son returns home to shattering news., In the tradition of such groundbreaking cable TV series as The Sopranos and Sex and the City, HBO’s weekly, 60-minute Six Feet Under is a delectable combination of provocative drama, black humor, sex, scintillating dialogue, offbeat characterizations, and 21st century urban/suburban angst. Created by Oscar-winning writer Alan Ball (American Beauty), the series centers on a family-owned funeral home (or “grief management center”), Fisher and Sons. When domineering patriarch Nathaniel Fisher Richard Jenkins is killed in a freak accident — the result of trying to sneak a smoke while driving a hearse back to the garage — prodigal elder son Nate (Peter Krause, formerly of Sports Night) returns home to help his family continue running the business. To say that the Fishers are dysfunctional would be giving them the best of it: Mother Ruth (Frances Conroy) has been cheating on Nathaniel for decades; dutiful stay-at-home younger son David (Michael C. Hall) is a closeted homosexual, furtively carrying on an affair with an equally secretive black L.A.P.D. cop named Keith (Mathew St. Patrick); and teenage daughter Claire (Lauren Ambrose) is a loner who is trying to determine her place in the world. Helping Nate and the rest of the Fisher clan sort out their priorities are Nate’s oddball girlfriend Brenda (Rachel Griffiths), whom he met on a plane and immediately had sex with in an airport broom closet; Federico (Freddy Rodriguez), the funeral parlor’s sensitive “restorative artist”; and, from time to time, the ghost of Nathaniel Fisher, acting as a combination Greek chorus and kibitzer while his family soldiers on. A mesmerizing and sometimes shocking study of the game of life and the business of death, Six Feet Under launched its first 13-week season on June 3, 2001, as part of a two-hour HBO Sunday evening drama block with the popular Sex and the City., When tragedy strikes, dysfunctional LA family the Fishers are left to keep their funeral home business afloat. As each new client brings a fresh challenge, mum Ruth, sons David and Nate and teenage daughter Claire battle to contend with their own array of personal problems., In Los Angeles, patriarch Nathaniel Fisher dies in a car crash on Christmas Eve, casting a shadow over the holiday homecoming of son Nate., Life—and death—at a family-owned funeral home in Los Angeles plays out in this provocative, at times macabre series created by Oscar-winning screenwriter Alan Ball (‘American Beauty’). Each episode begins with a fresh corpse (including the clan’s patriarch in the premiere), which usually has something to do with the ongoing dysfunction in and around the Fisher household., Nate, David and Brenda go on an interesting trip to Vegas for a funeral director’s conference., Life—and death—at a family-owned funeral home in Los Angeles plays out in this provocative, at times macabre series created by Oscar-winning screenwriter Alan Ball (‘American Beauty’). A recipient of several Emmys, it’s a compelling, superbly acted drama laced with considerable wit and poignancy. Each episode begins with a fresh corpse (including the clan’s patriarch in the premiere), which usually has something to do with the ongoing dysfunction in and around the Fisher household.