User reviews

When using superlatives with this show it is totally fair. This show does something all other movies, shows, etc cannot do: it can safely apply any genre and still function as a deep and very entertaining show. As everybody episode goes by the show only becomes more addictive. It taps into almost every aspect of life. Every emotion is shown; love, hate, forgiveness, triumph and the list goes on and on. In fact this show depicts life the most realistically. The strangeness and peculiarity of the many themes perfectly displays the confusion in life and how it affects us. The show displays confusion in the clearest way making it almost impossible not to some how relate to the characters in the show. Not to mention also the series ends on one finest note you will ever see not just satisfying the viewer but taking the show to a level far and above anything else I have ever seen before. This show does the impossible twice over.

Never gets old, never will.

If you have never seen this gem, do yourself a favor and watch it.

If you watched it almost 20 years ago, do yourself a favor, and watch it again.

I watched Six Feet Under when it originally aired on HBO. Hard to believe that was almost 20 years ago. At the time I remember thinking this was the best thing I'd ever seen on television. It was too good for television. It just transcended anything I had ever seen. Over the years I've recommended the show to countless others. After recommending it to another friend recently I decided to rewatch the show. I finished the series in less than two weeks and it is still one of the best things I've ever seen on TV. The effect this show has on me is even more profound today than it was the first time I watched it. This show punches you in the gut. It makes you think. It makes you reflect. It makes you question your choices. It makes you evaluate life. A lot of incredibly great television series have come along since Six Feet Under originally aired but none of them will hit you as deep as this show.

Six Feet Under is meticulous, beautiful, daunting, and powerful. One way or another, it will connect with you, perhaps in places you didn't expect and aren't willing to expose. At times wrenching, at other times cathartic, but always staring back at you knowingly, this show stands head and shoulders above the advertising-driven fare that clogs network TV with mediocrity, token minorities, and jarring commercial breaks. It changed the way I view television, and I recommend it to anyone who's tired of the same old crap.

After watching the series finale (which I won't spoil, don't worry), I sat in bed, unable to sleep. After poring over everything I'd seen over the past season, it struck me that SFU is the most raw and personal television show I've ever seen. Even more, there are no stand-alone episodes for easy syndication. Every single installment is part of a huge puzzle, or a few more miles on the Fisher family's road. I've always found Peter Krause to be a disappointingly flat performer, which is unfortunate because his character anchors the show, but the other actors are often transcendent. Regardless, every one of them radiates with a sometimes painfully familiar pathos. The cinematography is also staggering sometimes, taken from film rather than typical 3-camera TV work. If that's not enough, the music they choose to score the episodes is almost symbiotic; it seems ingrained into the film itself, even when you know it was just licensed.

This is not really a family-friendly show, though, encompassing profanity, nudity, violence, drug use, "alternative lifestyles" ... So in other words, it's just like real life. And despite the interpersonal conflicts that fuel the narrative to the point of melodrama, the show isn't afraid to pause every once in a while and let the show communicate without dialogue.

I feel very gratified to have watched SFU, and I've never felt that way about any other show in the almost-27 years I've been alive. Hopefully it will start a trend, if only on premium cable.

I started watching this show cause it was on cable HBO on-demand a few months ago. I always heard good things about it. Plus I figured HBO has provided me with some of my favorite shows in the past few years (Entourage, The Sapranos, True Blood) so this should be pretty good.

The show came out while I was in college, where we had no cable since I lived on campus but my friends and stuff that went home on the weekends raved about this show.

So needless to say I gave it a try. I was hooked…every month HBO on demand would give us 7 new episodes and I would watch them all within the first 3 days.

4 months later I was up to the first half of season 4. Finishing those episodes pretty fast I went online and started watching the second half and all of season 5 online cause I could not stop, I was SO hooked.

I just finished watching the final episode… WOW.

This show came full circle and ended so perfectly. Watching all 5 seasons, I was moved. The final 8 minutes I watched 4 times cause it was done so well, I was moved… I lost a best friend of mine a year ago to a tragic accident. I think about her every day. Death has always scared me, its my biggest fear and watching this show sometimes made me go nuts with all the analyzing of death and life but I still watched and sometimes it made me feel better and gave me some perspective on the subject.

I really related a lot to the character of Nate. He reminds me of me in a lot of ways and I liked Clair also but towards the end of the series I fully understood each character, their pain, their lives, everything… I have family and friends just like them, we all do.

This show really captures life. The bad and the good… and the really bad…and the moments in between.

I am 26 years old, and I don't think their will ever be another show like this on TV ever again. I am even a little bit sad that I wont be keeping tabs on the Fisher family and their friends ever again now that the show is over.

"Everyone, Everything, Everywhere, ends" and so did Six Feet Under.

Thank you to the writers, producers, director, and actors for making this important show about life and death. It helped me in some ways with my own views on death and life…Thank you.

I watched this series weekly when it first came out and fell in love with the Fishers. I watch it faithfully once a year. The finale is the best finale of any show ever.

I hear there might be a reboot. Please don't ruin my all time favorite show with a whack reboot. It's perfect as it is.

It's got everything. Comedy, drama, sorrow, intrigue, sex,drugs, musical numbers and plenty of dead bodies. Probably one of my favorite aspects of this show is how every episode begins with a death. Some are weird, some are quite, some are gruesome.

And the commercials in the show for embalming fluid etc are hilarious.

What can be said about Six Feet Under that hasn't already been said. I never watched this show while it was actually on even though I heard nothing but great things about it. Well, I recently got around to watching it and have to say I really enjoyed it. While I don't think it's quite the masterpiece that a lot of other people seem to think, I still think it's a pretty good show and would recommend it. It's a family drama that is so well written and acted that you forget it's a tv show. The show just feels real. Alan Ball finds a way to make death both sad and funny in only a way he can. I promise you'll love watching the Fisher family as you'll find yourself rooting for every member of the family.

As a viewer and human, Six Feet Under is an incredibly moving experience that goes beyond traditional television drama. It's a show that doesn't just entertain but also challenges and provokes deep reflection about our own lives and mortality. Watching the Fisher family navigate the complexities of death, grief, and personal growth is both heart-wrenching and enlightening. The series skillfully captures the bittersweet nature of human existence, blending dark humor with poignant moments that resonate on a profoundly personal level. It's a testament to the power of storytelling to explore the most fundamental aspects of our humanity and remind us of the beauty and fragility of life.

This show is truly brilliant. It has been with me through different life phases and never disappointed. After watching it today I decided that I want this show to continue following me through this weird thing called life.

Why is it more then a masterpiece?

Because it covers all the range of possible human emotions, all the range of cinematography (from comedy to drama and thriller and beyond) and finally all the range of life - from birth to death in such an elegant manner.

This show has made me closer to accepting death then anything in my life so far. What really struck with me are the character develompents that are all so beautifuly investigated and displayed through the course of time. Nothing is rushed, yet everything is happening. I can't point any character out as my favourite cus they are all so beautiful, nasty and human on their own path that it is a pleasure to watch.

Finally what I really adore about the show is the fact that it teaches a great lesson, the one about learning to accept and make peace with things, people and mostly with ourselves while on this interesting ride.

I've been hearing about how great Six Feet Under is since it was on nearly 20 years ago and thought I'd finally give in and watch with the pandemic hitting and having so much free time. I'm glad I finally gave it a chance. I can now see why it won so many awards and why so many people love this show. It's about a messed up family who run a funeral home and the lives of each of the family members. Each episode begins with a death and shows the lives about that person and how they died. It really is an interesting show. While I wouldn't rank it among the best shows I've ever seen it's still a good show that's definitely worth watching. They say the writing and acting are some of the best in television history, especially Michael C. Hall & Peter Krause! It also has one of the best final episodes of any show ever.

What a series. What a last season. What a finale!

I started watching it without knowing too much about it, I just knew from hearing about it a few years ago that it was one of those "Amazing HBO series" and that it was about a family owning a funeral home.

The actual "plot" is indeed about a family-owned funeral home in which the father of the family dies (this is at the very beginning of the first chapter, so I'm not spoiling anything), and the series follows the life of the rest of the family: The 3 sons (2 male of 30ish and the girl who is in the last year of school), the widow wife, and some supporting characters

If you ask me, the acting and the writing are everything in this show. Characters are complex, they evolve they don't always move forward - sometimes lessons need to be learned multiple times, as real people do. And each actor does an amazing job in portraying their character.

Each one has 2/3 major arcs throughout the show, so it is very interesting to see them navigate them.

Different topics are touched across the episodes, many of them very controversial, but the show portrays them in a very serious way. There's some dark humour though; after all it's about a funeral home where death comes with customers in every episode.

Definitely a must watch. And even though it is more than 20 years old, it has aged very well.

This started as a great and unique show, but like most shows it struggled to fill content. The characters became gradually more unlikeable as the seasons progressed and even Nate turned into a total d-bag. The real struggle was with Claire. If the point was to create a character that absolutely no one could stand to be around without punching much less like them, then Lauren Ambrose nailed it. I think she was over dramatic most of the time, and found her to be the one to usually drag down the episodes, even when they were good. By the end she cracked the top 5 of most annoying characters ever. Not surprising the career didn't take off after this role.

Sex, drugs, death, hate and every possible liberal angle was played out by the end. There were positive performances and it had its charms. Don't like giving 7's but this felt like a 7.

And I rarely even watch television. I'm a book person.

Not since the "X-Files" has a TV show been so intriguing. Every time I watch an episode, I am struck back be depth of storyline, the intricate characters and the left-of-the-middle storytelling. I literally cannot control myself from discussing each new episode with (bored) family members.

SFU is a very introverted show - it resembles more a book or play than television. While the latter is extroverted and relies on events happening to characters (eg: the overboard emergencies of ER or the romances in soaps) to carry the story, Six Feet Under wants to communicate the deepest feelings and ideals of the people on screen. As a result, it not only stimulates the mind but also helps us analyse ourselves.

In the hands of any other creators, this would make for a very dull hour of suburban spirituality, but Allan Ball's menagerie of ghosts, (past characters influencing the present) trippy daydream sequences, surreal atmosphere and some wicked black humour make for a very entertaining show and sell what would otherwise be a marketing disaster to the masses. On top of that, every component from acting to directing to screenplay is flawless. (the dead boy's ghost in "a private life" still chills me to the bone).

Most, of all I admire the characters: some of the most complex and enchanting creatures ever to grace the idiot box. After a few episodes, they feel like a second family.

While I do have my complaints about the amount of obscenity, (I can swear that sometimes the writers want to offend us just for fun) I have to give my show the highest commendations. There are, of course, moments when I feel like throwing my chair at the television, but that is simply the consequence of watching a show that challenges me, rather than offer cheap amusement.

SFU may take a while to get into, but the rewards are bountiful.

One of the best series I've watched in my life without a doubt enters my top 5.

I consider Six Feet Under to be one of the most complex, beautiful, horrible and inspiring works of fiction to capture the wonderful chaos that is both life and death. As a young gay man it was inspiring to see an ensemble drama where a gay character was not a focus, but rather an essential part of life. The stories are both funny, scary, sad and happy all at once, much like life. The acting is incredible and the performances are both over the top and nuanced. There is not a single episode that I feel "lags" and the finale is almost perfect (including the episodes leading up to it). Watch it in order and watch it many times. It is an extremely rewarding viewing experience that doesn't just give you a slice of life, but gives you the whole loaf from the oven to the grave. A+

I know, I know, I'm like 20 years late to this game. I found this show on Netflix when I was bored and searching for something, anything good to watch. Saw the little pop up preview and thought, ok we'll try it and see.

This show hooked me from the first episode. It was so well done. Showing the day to day life and death of the Fisher family. It's not an "everyone is perfect" kind of show. Everyone has their issues, some worse than others. Depression, death, grief, addiction, mental instability, sex, assault, sickness, birth, you name it, it has it.

I love the way they started each show as well, with just some random person out in the world somehow dying of one thing or another. Then the name and dates.

But the very last episode, the ending...WOW!!! That was powerful!! I have watched A LOT of tv shows in their entirety and this is probably the absolute best ending to a series I have seen. I won't spoil it for anyone, all I can do is tell you to watch it for yourself. It really gives you a perspective of life and how short our time here really is. And just how we impact those around us.

The series is beautiful. It's ending a masterpiece. Without revealing anything here, it's worth watching the full series for that finale.

This isn't so much a review as it is a reflection about how well this show has held up and what a joy it is to rewatch on Netflix. I'd previously seen the first four seasons on HBO in the early aughts, but I missed the fifth and final season. My husband has never seen it and it comes up enough in pop culture and is on many best-ever lists, so we slotted it in for one of our current dramas (we're also watching "3 Body Problem" and "True Blood", another one by Alan Ball).

We just finished S01 and I'm loving it all over again and agree with all the accolades the show has received over the years. After watching Lauren Ambrose as an adult in the recently concluded Apple TV+ series, "Servant", it's nice to be reminded how great an actress she's always been. With David's coming-out storyline in the first season, it's also a good reminder of what life was like in the early 2000s and how things have changed (though not all for the better, definitely). Everybody has probably watched this already, but if not, add it to your queue. It is well worth it.

Having just watched the series finale I sit here at my work desk unable to cope with the "real world". What can I find now that will fill the void left by this deeply moving and profound masterpiece?

SFU deals with many taboo life events and leaves one with a sense of empathy and sheer admiration at how beautifully the writers roll up their sleeves and sully their hands with topics such as incest and drug abuse.

Having recently experienced the death of my own father I can honestly say SFU invoked feelings and emotional responses that I didn't realise I was capable of experiencing. I would even go as far to say it has helped me identify and ultimately cope with my own loss.

Superb characters, inspired story lines and a thoughtful soundtrack make SFU easily the best TV programme I have ever watched (and I have watched a lot of TV in my 30 odd years).

I make no apologies when I raise my hand to my heart and honestly state that watching SFU has put a new perspective on my life and made me a better person.

Congratulations America for making this superbly refreshing and often dark masterpiece.

Six Feet Under is a critically acclaimed American drama television series created by Alan Ball. The show aired on HBO from June 3, 2001, to August 21, 2005, for five seasons. The series follows the lives of the Fisher family, who own and operate a funeral home in Los Angeles.

Six Feet Under is a beautifully written and acted show that explores the themes of life, death, and everything in between. The show is not afraid to tackle difficult subjects, and it does so with a refreshing honesty and humor. The characters are complex and relatable, and the show's depiction of grief and loss is both heartbreaking and ultimately uplifting.

Six Feet Under is also a visually stunning show. The cinematography is often breathtaking, and the show's use of music is masterful. The show's pilot episode, in particular, is one of the most visually stunning episodes of television ever made.

Six Feet Under is a show that has stood the test of time. It is still as relevant today as it was when it first aired. The show's depiction of death and grief is still as powerful, and the show's characters are still as relatable. If you haven't seen Six Feet Under, I highly recommend it. It is a truly special show that will stay with you long after you've finished watching it.

Here are some of the things that make Six Feet Under such a great show:

* The writing is sharp and witty, but it also deals with serious subjects with sensitivity and intelligence.

* The acting is superb, with all of the main characters giving award-worthy performances.

* The show is visually stunning, with beautiful cinematography and a memorable soundtrack.

* The show is thought-provoking and challenging, but it is also funny and heartwarming.

If you're looking for a show that will make you laugh, cry, and think, then Six Feet Under is the show for you. It is a truly special show that will stay with you long after you've finished watching it.

Here are some of the reasons why Six Feet Under is still relevant today:

* The show's depiction of death and grief is still as powerful as it was when the show first aired.

* The show's characters are still as relatable, as they deal with the same issues that we all face in our own lives.

* The show's themes of life, death, and everything in between are still as relevant today as they ever were.

If you're looking for a show that will help you understand the meaning of life and death, then Six Feet Under is the show for you. It is a show that will stay with you long after you've finished watching it.

I absolutely loved seasons 1 and 2, they were clever, with the right mixture of dark humor and drama, the characters were still interesting, and the stories were entertaining. However, at some point in season 3 things began to go downhill, character development started to go nowhere. I grew sick of the characters, especially Nate and Brenda, everyone became a narcissistic sex-addict asshole, they cheated on each other all the time, argued all the time, and complained and whined about everything, to the point there was no one to root for. The show turned in an unbearable soap opera with characters that weren't likable at all. There were glimpses of quality in season 4 and 5, but the clever writing wasn't there anymore, and most of it felt like filler, unfortunately.

It's hard to describe to those who haven't watched this brilliant show what it's like. Six Feet Under is simply in my opinion, the best hour on television, and one of the best shows ever. Of all time. Brilliantly written, brilliantly told, brilliantly acted, brilliantly brilliant. I've never used brilliant so much in a review before.

First off, it's a show about a very real family, with very real issues to deal with. The family, who have just recently lost the father consists of the mother Ruth, two sons Nate and David, and sister Claire. The two brothers run the business prviously owned by the father, a funeral parlor. I just love this show. There is not a single bad actor on the show, in every role. The family is probably one of the most real ever portrayed on TV, the characters being all easily relatable to, I myself can relate to two of them in particular. It's fresh, at times funny, at times sad, at times everything. Every single actor is amazing in their roles from Brenda to David to Keith to Ruth to Frederico to everybody. And the story lines are just so brilliant, dealing with life and it's purpose, seen throught the eyes of these people who work with death in a funeral home. It's just amazing.

I could rave on and on for hours about how great this show is and how much I love it, but I have to stop sometime. If you haven't yet watched Six Feet Under please do yourself a favor and do. I love it and it's one of my all time favorite shows. Simply, yes, you guessed it, brilliant.