There's No Place Like Funeral Home: HBO's Six Feet Under

By Jonathan Berohn

Ok-so it's usually not really fun, but it certainly can be funny.  And it definitely will keep you guessing.  Now in its third season, HBO's "Six Feet Under" is another outstanding series in HBO's stable of hits. Six Feet Under traces the adventures-or rather misadventures-of the Fischer family, owners and operators of a funeral home.  Yes, the series takes place in a funeral home.  Don't worry, it gets a whole lot weirder from there.

Definitely Made for Cable

Like the Soprano's, Six Feet Under could only be shown on cable.  Violence isn't the issue here-at least not regularly.  It's the sex that would send FCC regulators into shock.  And we're not just talking traditional, man/woman sex.  If fairly graphic homosexual sex puts you off (no-not X-rated stuff by any stretch), then Six Feet Under will test your resolve.  If you can get past the knee-jerk reaction to write it off and switch the channel, though, you are in for a treat.

Dealing in Discomfort

The homosexual sex scenes in Six Feet Under really point out the essence of the shows innovation-it focus on discomfort and does everything it can to make its audience uncomfortable.  Did I mention the funeral home thing?  This isn't just some cruel fantasy from the show's creators, though.  The discomfort that pours out of Six Feet Under actually serves to both show us the underlying humanity in the characters and also tries to shock us out of the complacency of everyday life.

Hits and Misses

Certainly, this isn't to say that everything about Six Feet Under is successful.  The constant melodrama of dysfunctional relationship after dysfunctional relationship has me trying to predict when something will go wrong rather than getting caught up in the plot.  Simply put, when bad things happen to everybody every week, you're no longer surprised, and you start to be come unaffected by them.  Perhaps sensing this, one of this season's episodes takes an unwise foray into suspense and violence.

While a change in plot was certainly welcome, that particular change in plot wasn't very effective or interesting. Where Six Feet Under shines is as a show about people.  If the people could have a little happiness once in a while, it might make the show a bit fresher, but it's still must watch for me.  Given the state of broadcast TV, Six Feet Under is certainly a welcome diversion for an hour.

For More Information:

Six Feet Under airs on Sunday at 9 p.m. Eastern on HBO.  HBO also rebroadcasts each week's episode throughout the week.