Imagine a television show about an ordinary dysfunctional family.
You know the scenario: Father is a hardworking but distant man who owns a small but thriving business. Mother is a controlling and repressed woman who needs to break out. Older brother is an irresponsible screw up who wants nothing to do with his father or the family business. Bitter, younger brother feels obligated to take up the reins, even though he would secretly like to do other things. Littlest sister is a high school rebel who takes drugs and hates everything to do with her family.
We’ve seen hundreds of that type of show on TV. Now imagine that same scenario set in a family-owned and operated funeral home–where death, embalming and open caskets are all part of a normal, fun-filled day.
Sound more out of the ordinary?
Welcome to the sweetly twisted world of HBO’s hit original series Six Feet Under.
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From creator Alan Ball, the Oscar-winning writer of American Beauty, the show first aired in June 2001 and ran for 13 episodes. Deemed by the New York Times as “an amazing dark comedy, full of dry humor” and the Washington Post as “scorchingly brilliant,” the show became a hit almost instantly. Six Feet Under went on to win the Golden Globe for best drama just this past January.
The series revolves around the Fishers: Mom, Ruth (Frances Conroy), a woman who has been prim and proper most of her life but decides to branch out and live a little; Nate (Peter Krause), the scruffy but charming son, who reluctantly gets into the family business at Fisher & Sons Funeral Home and shows little interest in it; David (Michael C. Hall), the anal-retentive gay son who has been taking care of the business but never getting any recognition for it; and Claire (Lauren Ambrose), the teenage daughter who feels like a family afterthought and rebels mightily. Dad, Nathaniel (Richard Jenkins), was the glue that held them together until his untimely death in a car accident, which happened in the first episode. Dad still manages to show up once in awhile (as an apparition), when Ruth or the kids really need to talk to him.
Then there the characters that hover around the Fishers: Nate’s girlfriend Brenda (Rachel Griffiths, winner of the Golden Globe for best supporting actress in a television drama), a highly intelligent woman, whose own family could be characterized as not only dysfunctional but downright looney, including her manic depressive brother Billy (Jeremy Sisto); Frederico (Freddy Rodriguez), Fisher & Sons’ embalmer extraordinaire, who is also a nice family man and just wants a little piece of the business; and Keith (Mathew St. Patrick), an openly gay cop who is David’s on-again, off-again love interest.
From longtime Hollywood veterans Conroy and Jenkins, to the established talent of Oscar-nominated Griffiths, from recent network refugee Krause to breath of fresh air Hall and Ambrose, the cast has found a rhythm and chemistry that make the show a truly ensemble experience.
Why has the show hit the American consciousness like a ton of bricks? Ball tries to make some sense of it in interviews with HBO and Gay.com.
“I wanted the tone of the show to be playful because it is such a potentially upsetting subject. I wanted to establish right from the get-go that we weren’t going to wallow in the morbidity,” Ball explained.
“I just followed my instincts. I think when you write a pilot, the best thing you can do is create as many doors to open as possible. I wasn’t entirely sure where the characters were going to go, or what was going to happen. But if you’re very, very lucky, when you work on something, if you have the right elements, the collaborative project will take on it’s own life. And when that happens, if you’re smart, you recognize it and get out of the way. You stand back and allow it to unfold organically. And that’s really what happened here. I know that sounds kind of mystical.”
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Besides, Ball has said he needs to work issues concerning death, having seen his sister die when he was 13 and his father pass away when he was 19.
He told the Philadelphia Inquirer that, at the time, he was encouraged “to muffle, tamp it down, don’t deal with it. [When] what you need to do is just rip your hair out, scream and kick things. This show was a way for me to process feelings that I hadn’t processed years ago. One of the things about grief is that it’s very necessary, and the only way out of it is through it.”
Plus, Ball continued, “Anybody who knows what undertakers actually do to bodies will want to be cremated. Once I’m dead, why do I need my body preserved and put in a box? ‘Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust.’ Let’s just speed up the process.”
Season two (another 13 episodes) of the Six Feet under is about to get under way, with the first installment set to air Sunday, Mar. 3 at 9 p.m. Here’s a recap of season one and a sneak preview of season two.
Season One: Introducing the Fishers
From the opening haunting theme music by Thomas Newman, you know this isn’t Ozzie and Harriet, folks. Each episode details the demise of some poor soul with whom Fisher & Sons must deal with in some fashion or another and sets the tone for the rest of the show.
Set in Los Angeles, it all starts on Christmas Eve with the death of Nathaniel Fisher, founder and owner of Fisher & Sons Funeral Home, in a horrific car accident. His family is left in a state of shock–and the business is left in the hands of his two sons, Nate and David.
The usually collected Ruth Fisher is thrown for a loop by her husband’s death, but instead of rolling over, she decides to build a new life for herself. First, she ends her two-year affair with Hiram (Ed Begley Jr.) and then gets a new job as a floral arranger, working with the larger-than-life Nikolai (Ed O’Ross), who has provided the flowers to the funeral home for many years. Nikolai has admired Ruth from afar for many years.
The younger David has been running the business with his father and getting little thanks for doing it so well. Still, he rules it with an iron hand, while his older brother Nate, who lives in Seattle, has steered clear from the business altogether. But when their father’s will leaves half the business to Nate, he suddenly develops a conscience and decides to stay in L.A. to help run the business, much to David’s chagrin.
Personally, the two brothers couldn’t be more different. Nate has an intense interlude with a woman, Brenda, he meets on the plane and ends up forming a strong attachment to her. But she isn’t without a bit of baggage herself. Fiercely protective of her emotions, Brenda comes from a screwed up family of psychologists. She also has a co-dependent relationship with her manic-depressive brother Billy, a photographer who intrudes on Nate’s and Brenda’s burgeoning romance far too much.
David, on the other hand, is a closeted homosexual, who has a relationship with Keith, an openly gay cop. When they break up, David has to come to terms with talking about his sexuality, first to his staunch church where he is a deacon (like his father) and then to his own mother.
Claire Fisher, the youngest daughter, is a teenager on the edge. She feels out of place within her own family and certainly can’t connect with her mother. Ruth tries as hard as she can but Claire rebuffs her every time. Instead, Claire finds some solace with the troubled Gabe (Eric Balfour), a drugged-out rebel who is humbled by his six-year-old brother’s accidental death while playing with a gun.
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Frederico Diaz, a young hotshot embalmer who was trained by the elder Nathaniel, loyally works long hours at Fisher & Sons. Frederico, who has a young family of his own, feels a kinship to the Fishers but also feels he deserves a little more than just a job. He wants to be a partner. David and Nate both agree that this is impossible, which sends Frederico looking at other options–namely the competition, Kroehner’s, a national chain of funeral homes that wants to buy out Fisher & Sons with no success.
At the end of the first season, Nate finds out he may have a brain malady and feels more emotionally attached toward Brenda and his family than ever; a raving Billy nearly kills Brenda and she has to have him committed to a mental hospital; Frederico comes back to Fisher & Sons to stay; David resigns as deacon and embraces his homosexuality; Claire tries to hold onto her tenuous relationship with Gabe; and Ruth finally gives into to Nikolai’s advances and starts up a new relationship.
Season Two: What May Come
With a list of guest stars including Mare Winningham (Georgia), Lili Taylor (I Shot Andy Warhol) and Patricia Clarkson (The Green Mile), Ball has promised the new season will be full of surprises and twists.
Will the tone say the same?
“Pretty much the same. As said, the show did sort of take on it’s own life. And I recognize what that is.
“I step in sometimes when I feel the directors are playing things too much for laughs, because I think it’s always funnier if they play it straight. And then I step in also if things are getting a little sentimental. But at the same time, there are these wonderful emotional moments that are tremendously moving and funny at the same time. And that’s my favortie tone,” Ball told HBO.
Here are some highlights we can look forward to in Season Two.
