Six Feet Under (TV series)
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| Six Feet Under | |
 The Six Feet Under cast. |
|
| Genre | Drama |
|---|---|
| Created by | Alan Ball |
| Starring | Peter Krause Michael C. Hall Frances Conroy Lauren Ambrose Freddy Rodriguez Mathew St. Patrick Rachel Griffiths James Cromwell |
| Theme music composer | Thomas Newman |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 5 |
| No. of episodes | 63 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Alan Ball Robert Greenblatt David Janollari Alan Poul (Seasons 2-5) Bruce Eric Kaplan (Seasons 4-5) Rick Cleveland (Season 5) |
| Running time | approx. 55 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | HBO |
| Original run | June 3, 2001 – August 21, 2005 |
| External links | |
| Official website | |
Six Feet Under is an American television drama series created and produced by Alan Ball. It premiered on the premium cable network HBO in the United States on June 3, 2001 and ended on August 21, 2005, spanning five seasons and 63 episodes. The show was produced by Actual Size Films and The Greenblatt/Janollari Studio and was shot on location in Los Angeles and in Hollywood studios. Six Feet Under revolves around the Fisher family, who run a funeral home in Los Angeles, and their friends and lovers. The series traces these characters' lives over the course of five years. The ensemble drama stars Peter Krause, Michael C. Hall, Frances Conroy, Lauren Ambrose, Freddy Rodriguez, Mathew St. Patrick and Rachel Griffiths as the show's seven central characters.
Six Feet Under received widespread critical acclaim, particularly for its writing and acting, and consistently drew high ratings for the HBO network. The series is noted for its exploration of mortality and death in western society. It won numerous awards, including three Golden Globes and nine Emmys. It also generated controversy for its graphical depiction of sexuality and some of the themes it addressed.
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
The show stars Peter Krause as Nathaniel Samuel ("Nate") Fisher Jr., the son of a funeral director who, upon the death of his father (Richard Jenkins), 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 on-again, off-again 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 dark humor and surrealism running throughout.
A recurring plot device consists of a character having an imaginary conversation with the deceased; for example, Nate, David, and Federico sometimes "converse" with the person who died at the beginning of the episode, while they are being embalmed or planning or during the funeral. Sometimes, the conversation is with other recurring deceased characters, most 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.
[edit] Concept
Although overall plots and characters were created by Alan Ball, there are conflicting reports on how the series was conceived. In one instance, Ball stated that he came up with the premise of the show after the deaths of his sister and father. However, in an interview,[1] he intimates that HBO entertainment president Carolyn Strauss proposed the idea to him. In a copyright-infringement lawsuit,[2] 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.
[edit] Major themes
The show focuses on human mortality and the lives of those who deal with it on a daily basis. When discussing the concept of the show, creator Alan Ball elaborates on the foremost questions the show’s pilot targeted:
| “ | Who are these people who are funeral directors that we hire to face death for us? What does that do to their own lives — to grow up in a home where there are dead bodies in the basement, to be a child and walk in on your father with a body lying on a table opened up and him working on it? What does that do to you?[1] | ” |
Six Feet Under introduces the Fisher family as the basis on which to explore these questions. Throughout its five-season, 63-episode run, major characters experience crises which are in direct relation to their environment and the grief they’ve experienced. Alan Ball again relates these experiences as well as the choice of the series’ title, to the persistent subtext of the program[3]:
| “ | Six Feet Under refers not only to being buried as a dead body is buried, but to primal emotions and feelings running under the surface. When one is surrounded by death — to counterbalance that, there needs to be a certain intensity of experience, of needing to escape. It’s Nate with his womanizing — it’s Claire and her sexual experimentation — it’s Brenda’s sexual compulsiveness — it’s David having sex with a male hooker in public — it’s Ruth having several affairs — it’s the life force trying to push up through all of that suffering and grief and depression. | ” |
As Shoshana and Teman suggest in their sociological analysis of the "life-self" and the "death-self" embodied by the members of the Fisher family, "The series hurls death provocatively in the viewer's face, each episode consciously serving as a "memento mori" for its audience. Consequently, death is starkly present within the life-world of the series, challenging the strict binary between life and death. The blurring of these boundaries evokes the idea that the living can be more lifeless than the physically deceased and the departed can be livelier than the living."[4]
[edit] Character histories and cast
| Actor | Character | Relationship |
|---|---|---|
| Peter Krause | Nathaniel Samuel "Nate" Fisher Jr. | Eldest son of Ruth and Nathaniel; co-operator of Fisher & Diaz. |
| Michael C. Hall | David James Fisher | Middle child of Ruth and Nathaniel; co-operator of Fisher & Diaz. |
| Frances Conroy | Ruth Fisher | Matriarch of Fisher family. |
| Lauren Ambrose | Claire Simone Fisher | Youngest child of Ruth and Nathaniel; artist of the family. |
| Freddy Rodriguez | Federico Diaz | Business partner and embalmer at Fisher & Diaz with Nate and David; husband of Vanessa. |
| Mathew St. Patrick | Keith Charles | Los Angeles police officer with an on-again, off-again relationship with David. |
| Rachel Griffiths | Brenda Chenowith | Daughter of Margaret and Bernard Chenowith; sister of Billy; on-again, off-again partner with Nate. |
| Jeremy Sisto | Billy Chenowith | Brenda’s younger brother who has bipolar disorder; son of Margaret and Bernard Chenowith. |
| Justina Machado | Vanessa Diaz | Registered nurse; wife and high school sweetheart of Federico. |
| James Cromwell | George Sibley | Geologist/professor; second husband to Ruth. |
| Lili Taylor | Lisa Kimmel Fisher | Nate’s former girlfriend and roommate while living in Seattle; she subsequently becomes involved again in his life. |
| Actor | Character | Relationship |
|---|---|---|
| Richard Jenkins | Nathaniel Samuel Fisher Sr. | Patriarch of Fisher family and owner of Fisher & Sons Funeral Home before his death in a car accident in 2000. Husband of Ruth; father of Nate, David and Claire. |
| Patricia Clarkson | Sarah O’Connor | Younger sister of Ruth Fisher, an artist who lives in Topanga Canyon. |
| Kathy Bates | Bettina | Sarah’s friend and caretaker who becomes Ruth’s friend. |
| Joanna Cassidy | Margaret Chenowith | Psychologist mother of Brenda and Billy; wife of Bernard. |
| Robert Foxworth | Dr. Bernard Chenowith | Brenda and Billy’s psychiatrist father; husband to Margaret. |
| Peter Macdissi | Olivier Castro-Staal | Professor of Form and Space at LAC-Arts; lover to Margaret Chenowith. Aspects of this character may be based on Nathan Oliveira |
| Rainn Wilson | Arthur Martin | A young intern from Cypress College mortuary school who works for the funeral home briefly. |
| Ben Foster | Russell Corwin | A friend of Claire. |
| Mena Suvari | Edie | Free spirited lesbian artist and friend of Claire. |
| Sprague Grayden | Anita Miller | A friend of Claire. |
| Marina Black | Parker McKenna | A friend of Claire. |
| Eric Balfour | Gabriel Dimas | Claire’s high school boyfriend who was a drug addict. |
| Ed O'Ross | Nikolai | Owner of Blossom d’Amour Flower Shop; boyfriend of Ruth Fisher when she worked as a florist. |
[edit] Music
The series' main theme, written by composer Thomas Newman, won an Emmy award for Outstanding Main Title Theme Music and Grammy awards for Best Instrumental Composition and Best Instrumental Arrangement for title theme.
[edit] Promotionals
[edit] Season promotionals
The following songs were played during the teaser trailers for the seasons following the first:
- Season 2: "Heaven" by Lamb [2]
- Season 3: "A Rush of Blood to the Head" by Coldplay [3]
- Season 4: "Feeling Good" by Nina Simone [4]
- Season 5: "Breathe Me" by Sia Furler [5]
[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] Soundtracks
Two soundtrack albums, featuring music that had appeared in the series, were released:
[edit] Books
- Ball, Alan (2003). Alan Poul. ed. 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] 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
- ^ a b Six Feet Under: In Memoriam Interview
- ^ Funky Films vs. Time Warner Legal Case
- ^ Finale episode Audio Commentary with Alan Ball, Six Feet Under: The Complete Fifth Season DVD
- ^ Shoshana, Avi and Teman, Elly, "Coming Out of the Coffin: 'Life-self' and 'Death-self' in Six Feet Under[1]
[edit] External links
 |
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Six Feet Under |
- Official website
- Six Feet Under at Allmovie
- Six Feet Under at the Internet Movie Database
- Six Feet Under at TV.com
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by The West Wing |
Golden Globe - Best Television Series - Drama 2002 |
Succeeded by The Shield |
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