Six Feet Under

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Six Feet Under is an American television drama created by Alan Ball that was originally broadcast from 2001 to 2005. It was produced by Alan Ball, Alan Poul, Robert Greenblatt and David Janollari. The series centers on a family-run mortuary, Fisher & Sons Funeral Home, and explores the lives of the Fisher family following the death of the family patriarch (the title being a colloquialism/euphemism for death, six feet being the traditional depth at which a body would be laid). The series is set in modern-day Los Angeles.

Six Feet Under was produced by Actual Size Films and The Greenblatt/Janollari Studio. It first aired on HBO in 2001, and has been broadcast in syndication by basic cable channel Bravo as well as in dozens of other countries. The series ended its five year run on August 21, 2005.

The show received critical acclaim from The Hollywood Reporter, Variety and The New York Times ^[1], among other media, and has garnered praise from fellow television producers and funeral directors ^[2]. In total, Six Feet Under won three Golden Globe Awards and nine Emmy Awards. The series won the Golden Globe award for Outstanding Drama Series and Best Supporting Actress for Rachel Griffiths in 2002. Frances Conroy went on to receive the award for Best Actress in a Drama for the Golden Globes in 2004. The show also won the Screen Actors Guild award for Best Ensemble for a Drama Series two years in a row (2003–2004).^[3]

[edit] Synopsis

See also: List of Six Feet Under episodes

The show stars Peter Krause as Nathaniel Samuel ("Nate") Fisher Jr., the son of a funeral director who, upon the death of his father, reluctantly becomes a partner in the family funeral business with his brother David, played by Michael C. Hall. The Fisher clan also includes mother Ruth (Frances Conroy) and sister Claire (Lauren Ambrose). Other regulars include mortician and family friend Federico Diaz (Freddy Rodriguez), Nate's on again off again girlfriend Brenda Chenowith (Rachel Griffiths), and David's boyfriend Keith Charles (Mathew St. Patrick).

On one level, the show is a conventional family drama, dealing with such issues as relationships, infidelity, and religion. At the same time, it is a show distinguished by its unblinking focus on the topic of death, which it explores on multiple levels (personal, religious, and philosophical). Each episode begins with a death — anything from drowning or heart attack to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome — and that death usually sets the tone for each episode, allowing the characters to reflect on their current fortunes and misfortunes in a way that is illuminated by the death and its aftermath. The show also has a strong dosage of black humor running throughout.

A recurring plot device consists of a character having an imaginary conversation with the person who died at the beginning of the episode. Sometimes, the conversation is with other recurring dead characters, notably Nathaniel Fisher Sr. The show's creator Alan Ball states they represent the living character's internal dialogue by exposing it as an external conversation, yet on some occasions (see the appearance of Nathaniel Fisher Sr. at the end of the last episode of the first season) no living character sees or interacts with the dead character. Also, in many encounters with dead characters the dead character relates information the living one could not know, almost certainly speculation on the part of the living concerning issues which were never solved before the passing.^{[original research?]} Casual conversations with the dead also reflect the genre of magical realism. A similar device is occasionally used where a real conversation between two living characters slips into the imaginary and becomes unrealistic. The shift cannot be clearly distinguished from the normal flow of the scene until an abrupt cut brings the audience back to a mundane conversation, which reveals through contrast the imaginary nature of the preceding moment.

[edit] Concept

Although overall plots and characters were created from Alan Ball, there are conflicting reports on how the series' concept was conceived. In one instance, creator Alan Ball stated that he received the premise to create the show after the deaths of his sister and father. However, in an interview ^[4], he intimates that HBO entertainment president Carolyn Strauss proposed the idea to him. In a copyright-infringement lawsuit, ^[5] screenwriter Gwen O’Donnell asserted that she was the original source of the idea which later passed through Strauss to Ball; the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, proceeding on the assumption that this assertion was true, rejected her claim. Funky Films, Inc. v. Time Warner Entertainment Co., 462 F.3d 1072 (2006).

[edit] Setting

The setting for many of the scenes is in the family owned and operated Fisher & Sons Funeral Home in Los Angeles. The family resides on the upper floors of the funeral home; with the main floor used for the business as viewing and chapel rooms and the basement for the embalming and body preparation areas. There is also a separate apartment above a carriage house adjacent to the funeral home.

[edit] Character histories and cast

Main article: List of Six Feet Under characters

[edit] Recurring cast

[edit] Significant guest stars

• Sandra Oh (Episode 5, An Open Book)
• Leeza Gibbons (Episode 22, Someone Else's Eyes)
• Ellen DeGeneres (Episode 42, Parallel Play)
• Nicole Richie (Episode 51, Untitled)
• Chris Harrison (Episode 52, A Coat of White Primer)
• Susie Bright (Episode 57, The Rainbow of Her Reasons)

[edit] Family tree

[edit] Timeframe of episode settings

The following is a timeframe which features the year the particular episode is set in, which is distinct from the year the episode actually first aired.

• Season 1: 2000 (pilot), 2001 (12 episodes)
• Season 2: 2001 (8 episodes), 2002 (5 episodes)
• Season 3: 2002 (1 episode), 2003 (12 episodes)
• Season 4: 2003 (4 episodes), 2004 (8 episodes)
• Season 5: 2004 (2 episodes), 2005 (10 episodes)

[edit] Promotionals

[edit] Season promotionals

According to creator Alan Ball, music plays an integral role in Six Feet Under, as it depicts the moods of the Fishers.^{[citation needed]}

The following songs were played during the teaser trailers for the seasons following the first:

• Season 2: "Heaven" by Lamb [1]
• Season 3: "A Rush of Blood to the Head" by Coldplay [2]
• Season 4: "Feeling Good" by Nina Simone [3]
• Season 5: "Breathe Me" by Sia Furler [4]

[edit] Episode recaps

The song played during each episode recap is a 1995 single called "Nothing Lies Still Long" by Pell Mell.

[edit] Episode previews

Previews for upcoming episodes feature the Six Feet Under theme. The first and fifth seasons feature the original version of the song while the second, third and fourth seasons feature the Rae & Christian remix.

[edit] Releases

[edit] DVD

Main article: List of Six Feet Under DVD releases

[edit] Soundtracks

Two soundtrack albums, featuring music that had appeared in the series, were released:

• Six Feet Under, 2002
• Six Feet Under, Vol. 2: Everything Ends, 2005

[edit] Books

• Ball, Alan (2003). in Alan Poul: Six Feet Under: Better Living Through Death. ISBN 978-0-7434-8065-9. 
• Akass, Kim; Janet McCabe, Mark Lawson (2005). Reading Six Feet Under: TV To Die For. I. B. Tauris. ISBN 978-1-85043-809-0. 

[edit] Scheduling changes

In March 2005, HBO announced that the final season of Six Feet Under would be moved to Monday evenings starting June 6, the reason being to add an additional night of programming to the HBO lineup for their upcoming summer season which included Entourage and The Comeback. The series had traditionally been scheduled for Sundays. The Monday night experiment ultimately failed due to decreased ratings and complaints. HBO chairman, Chris Albrecht admitted the move was a mistake ^[6] since the network has always been committed to airing programs on the weekends. Six Feet Under returned to its old timeslot on July 10, 2005 after having been in the "new" timeslot for only five episodes.^[7]

In Australia, the Nine Network infuriated fans by consistently delaying and rescheduling episodes past midnight during the broadcast of seasons 1 to 5.

[edit] Trivia

The creative talent of the show — actors, writers, and directors — have interconnections within and apart from the show. Freddy Rodriguez had a recurring role on Alan Ball's earlier ABC series, Oh, Grow Up!; the program aired in 1999, two years prior to Six Feet Under. Actors Lauren Ambrose, Freddy Rodriguez, Eric Balfour (Gabriel Dimas) and Peter Facinelli (Jimmy) were all in the 1998 movie Can't Hardly Wait. Peter Krause had a recurring role in the 90's sitcom Cybill, which was co-written by Ball. Additionally, actor Kathy Bates, who was a director during the first three seasons, went on to pursue a recurring role on the series as Ruth's friend, Bettina.

Six Feet Under had various real-life Los Angeles connections. Many of the sculptures and paintings seen on the show are the works of local sculptor and artist Bruce Gray. There are many stills from several episodes on his website that feature his work.^[8] The Fisher & Sons Funeral Home was located at 2302 West 25th St. in the West Adams section of Los Angeles^{[citation needed]}, which was actually the location of The Filipino Federation of America. Caskets for the show were made by a local company, ABC Caskets.

Kroehner Sevice International (KSI) bears many similarities to Service Corporation International (SCI) Which has a similar market strategy of purchasing funeral homes and maintaining the original staff and funeral home name.

[edit] Additional facts

• The pilot episode features several spoof commercials for funeral homes and products. This was intended to be a recurring feature throughout the series,^[9] but was dropped after the first episode.
• Brenda's last name, Chenowith, was that of Alan Ball's high school baseball coach.^{[citation needed]}
• Peter Krause, the actor who plays Nathaniel Fisher, originally read for the role of David Fisher.
• It is mentioned in the series commentary that it is illegal to own crows in the United States, and therefore a trained pied crow was painted black for the opening sequence. "All native species of migratory birds, their parts, nests or eggs may not be possessed, transported, imported, exported, purchased, sold, bartered, or offered for purchase, sale or barter without appropriate permits."^[10] The pied crow isn't indigenous to North America, and therefore could be used as a stand in.
• Also mentioned in the commentary, when Alan Ball directed episodes, he would place characters around scenery that fit the characters' personalities. For example, Brenda was often seen near water - sprinklers, water fountains, or pools.
• Of all the characters dying in the last episode, just Federico Diaz and Claire Fisher are played by actors different from the cast.
• Federico Diaz son in the series, Julio, is also his son in real life.
• Federico Diaz' full name is not revealed until the last episode as Hector Federico Diaz.

[edit] HBO broadcast history

• Season 1: Sunday June 3, 2001–Sunday August 19, 2001—10:00 p.m. ET and PT
• Season 2: Sunday March 3, 2002–Sunday June 2, 2002—9:00 p.m. ET and PT
• Season 3: Sunday March 2, 2003–Sunday June 1, 2003—9:00 p.m. ET and PT
• Season 4: Sunday June 13, 2004–Sunday September 12, 2004—9:00 p.m. ET and PT
• Season 5: Monday June 6, 2005–Monday July 4, 2005—9:00 p.m.
  • Sunday July 10, 2005–Sunday August 21, 2005—9:00 p.m. ET and PT

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official website
• Six Feet Under at the Internet Movie Database
• Six Feet Under on Bravo
• Coming Out of the Coffin: Life-Self and Death-Self in Six Feet Under

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