Six Feet Under (TV series)

Six Feet Under
Genre	Drama Black comedy
Created by	Alan Ball
Starring	Peter Krause Michael C. Hall Frances Conroy Lauren Ambrose Freddy Rodriguez Mathew St. Patrick Jeremy Sisto Justina Machado James Cromwell Rachel Griffiths
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	50–60 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	HBO
Original run	June 3, 2001 (2001-06-03) – August 21, 2005 (2005-08-21)
Status	Ended
External links
Official website

Six Feet Under is an American drama television 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. The show revolves around members of the Fisher family, who run their 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. Six Feet Under has frequently been described by critics as one of the greatest television series of all time as well as having one of the greatest series finales of all time.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]} It won numerous awards, including three Golden Globes, nine Emmys and three Screen Actors Guild Awards.

Contents 1 Show synopsis 2 Concept 3 Major themes 4 Character histories and cast 4.1 Main characters 4.2 Major recurring characters 4.3 Family tree 5 Music 6 Awards and nominations 7 Releases 7.1 DVDs 7.2 Soundtracks 7.3 Books 8 References 9 External links

Show 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 (Michael C. Hall). The Fisher clan also includes widow Ruth (Frances Conroy) and daughter 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 long-term boyfriend Keith Charles (Mathew St. Patrick).

On one level, the show is a conventional family drama, dealing with such issues as interpersonal 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.

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,^[13] he intimates that HBO entertainment president Carolyn Strauss proposed the idea to him. In a copyright-infringement lawsuit,^[14] 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. Ball stated in an interview "When I went to HBO and they had read my first draft and Carolyn Strauss said, "You know, this is really, really good. I love these characters, I love these situations, but it feels a little safe. Could you just make it just a little more fucked up," which is not a note that you get in Hollywood very often. And I thought, "Wow!" And that gave me free range to go a little deeper, go a little darker, go a little more complicated".

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?[13]

”

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's title, to the persistent subtext of the program:^[15]

“

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."^[16]

Character histories and cast

Main characters

Actor	Character	Relationship
Peter Krause	Nate Fisher	Eldest son of Ruth and Nathaniel; co-operator of Fisher & Diaz.
Michael C. Hall	David Fisher	Middle child of Ruth and Nathaniel; co-operator of Fisher & Diaz.
Frances Conroy	Ruth Fisher	Matriarch of Fisher family.
Lauren Ambrose	Claire 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 a long-term relationship with David.
Rachel Griffiths	Brenda Chenowith	Daughter of Margaret and Bernard Chenowith; sister of Billy; on-again, off-again partner with Nate.

Major recurring characters

Actor	Character	Seasons	Relationship
Richard Jenkins	Nathaniel Fisher, Sr.	1–5	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.
Jeremy Sisto	Billy Chenowith	1–5	Brenda’s younger brother who has bipolar disorder; son of Margaret and Bernard Chenowith.
Justina Machado	Vanessa Diaz	1–5	Registered nurse; wife and high school sweetheart of Federico.
Joanna Cassidy	Margaret Chenowith	1–5	Psychologist mother of Brenda and Billy; wife of Bernard.
Eric Balfour	Gabriel Dimas	1–3	Claire’s high school boyfriend who was a chronic drug user.
Robert Foxworth	Dr. Bernard Chenowith	1–3	Brenda and Billy’s psychiatrist father; husband to Margaret.
Ed O'Ross	Nikolai	1–2; 5	Owner of Blossom d’Amour Flower Shop; boyfriend of Ruth Fisher when she worked as a florist.
Marina Black	Parker McKenna	1–2	A friend of Claire's during high school.
Gary Hershberger	Matthew Gilardi	1–2	Employer of a major funeral home organisation who attempts to buy out Fisher & Sons.
Ed Begley, Jr.	Hiram Gunderson	1; 5	Had an affair with Ruth Fisher while she was married to Nathaniel.
Patricia Clarkson	Sarah O’Connor	2–5	Younger sister of Ruth Fisher, an artist who lives in Topanga Canyon.
Lili Taylor	Lisa Kimmel Fisher	2–5	Nate’s former girlfriend and roommate while living in Seattle; his first wife and mother of his daughter Maya.
Aysia Polk	Taylor	2–3	Keith's niece, who is under his care for season 2.
James Cromwell	George Sibley	3–5	Geologist/professor; second husband to Ruth.
Kathy Bates	Bettina	3–5	Sarah’s friend and caretaker who becomes a good friend of Ruth.
Peter Macdissi	Olivier Castro-Staal	3–5	Claire's Professor of Form and Space at LAC-Arts; lover to Margaret Chenowith.
Ben Foster	Russell Corwin	3–5	A friend of Claire's from at art school and one-time boyfriend.
Rainn Wilson	Arthur Martin	3–5	A young intern from Cypress College mortuary school who works for the funeral home briefly.
Justin Theroux	Joe	3–4	Brenda's neighbour and boyfriend during season 4.
Sprague Grayden	Anita Miller	4–5	A friend of Claire's from art school.
Mena Suvari	Edie	4	Free spirited lesbian artist and friend of Claire's from art school.
Tina Holmes	Maggie Sibley	4–5	Daughter of George Sibley.
Chris Messina	Ted Fairwell	5	Lawyer at Claire Fisher's temp. office job; boyfriend of Claire Fisher during season 5.
Kendre Berry	Durrell Charles-Fisher	5	Adopted son of David and Keith.
C. J. Sanders	Anthony Charles-Fisher	5	Adopted son of David and Keith.

Family tree

Nathaniel Fisher, Sr.

Ruth Fisher

Bernard Chenowith

Margaret Chenowith

George Sibley

Unnamed prior wife

Keith Charles

David Fisher

Claire Fisher

Nate Fisher

Brenda Chenowith

Billy Chenowith

Lisa Kimmel Fisher

Maggie Sibley

Brian Sibley

Anthony Charles-Fisher

Durrell Charles-Fisher

Willa Fisher Chenowith

Maya Kimmel Fisher

Music

The series' main theme, written by composer Thomas Newman, won a 2002 Emmy Award for Outstanding Main Title Theme Music and two Grammy Awards in 2003 for Best Instrumental Composition and Best Instrumental Arrangement.

The production sound from seasons three through five was mixed by Bo Harwood, and was nominated in 2004 for a Cinema Audio Society Award.

Seasons two through five featured a promotional teaser trailer prior to the premiere of that season. The songs featured in each seasons trailer were "Heaven" by Lamb for season two; "A Rush of Blood to the Head" by Coldplay for season three; "Feeling Good" by Nina Simone for season four; and "Breathe Me" by Sia Furler for season five, which is also used for montage in the series finale. All these songs are included in either of two soundtracks for the show.

The episode recaps for the first two seasons feature the song "Nothing Lies Still Long" by Pell Mell. The episode previews for the first and fifth seasons feature the Six Feet Under title theme, while the other seasons feature the Rae & Christian remix version of the title theme.

Music supervision for the entire run of the series was provided by Gary Calamar and Thomas Golubic, who were also credited as producers for the two soundtrack albums.

Awards and nominations

At the 2002 Primetime Emmy Awards, the series received 11 major nominations for its two first seasons, including a nomination for Outstanding Drama Series. Series creator Alan Ball won for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series for the pilot episode and Patricia Clarkson won for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series. The rest of the ensemble cast, including Michael C. Hall, Peter Krause, Frances Conroy, Rachel Griffiths, Freddy Rodriguez, and Lauren Ambrose all received acting nominations. While guest actors Lili Taylor and Illeana Douglas received nominations in the guest acting category. The series received 9 major nominations at the 2003 Primetime Emmy Awards for its third season, including a nomination for Outstanding Drama Series. Peter Krause, Frances Conroy, Lauren Ambrose, Rachel Griffiths, James Cromwell, and Kathy Bates all received acting nominations. Alan Poul was nominated for directing for the episode "Nobody Sleeps", while Craig Wright was nominated for writing for the episode "Twilight". The series received 2 major nominations at the 2005 Primetime Emmy Awards for its fourth season, for Outstanding Drama Series and Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for Frances Conroy. The series received 6 major nominations at the 2006 Primetime Emmy Awards for its fifth and final season, including a nomination for Outstanding Drama Series. Patricia Clarkson won for the second time for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series. While Peter Krause, Frances Conroy, and Joanna Cassidy received acting nominations. Alan Ball was nominated for writing and directing for the series finale episode "Everyone's Waiting".

For the Golden Globe Awards, the series won for Best Drama Series in 2001, while receiving nominations in 2002 and 2003. Peter Krause was nominated for Best Actor in a Drama Series in 2001 and 2002. Rachel Griffiths won for Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries, or TV Film in 2001, while received a nomination in 2002 in the Lead Actress category. Frances Conroy won for Best Actress in a Drama Series in 2003.

For the Screen Actors Guild Awards, the cast won for Outstanding Ensemble in a Drama Series in 2002 and 2003, while received nominations in 2001, 2004, and 2005. Peter Krause was nominated for Outstanding Male Actor in a Drama Series in 2001 and 2003. Frances Conroy won for Outstanding Female Actor in a Drama Series in 2003.

Releases

DVDs

All five seasons are available on DVD in individual box sets and in a collected volume.

Season	Region 1 Release Date	Region 2 Release Date	Episodes	Discs	Bonus Features
1	February 4, 2003	July 7, 2003	13	4	Two audio commentaries; "Under the Main Title" featurette; "Behind-the-Scenes" featurette with cast and filmmaker; deleted scenes; cast and filmmaker bios; two music tracks
2	July 6, 2004	June 21, 2004	13	5	Five audio commentaries; "Anatomy of a Working Stiff: Life as a Dead Body" featurette
3	May 17, 2005	April 4, 2005	13	5	Five audio commentaries; "A Birdseye View of the Third Season" – An in-depth interview with show creator Alan Ball including the original HBO trailer
4	August 23, 2005	September 5, 2005	12	5	Seven audio commentaries; "Cut by Cut: Editing Six Feet Under" featurette; deleted scenes; Exclusive Bob Costas interview with the cast
5	March 28, 2006	April 10, 2006	12	5	Six audio commentaries; "Six Feet Under: 2001–2005": two 30-minute retrospectives; "Life and Loss: The Impact of Six Feet Under" featurette

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

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. 

References

External links

• Official website
• Six Feet Under at Allmovie
• Six Feet Under at the Internet Movie Database
• Six Feet Under at TV.com

Six Feet Under Crew · Awards and Nominations · Alan Ball · Quotes Characters Nate Fisher · David Fisher · Brenda Chenowith Episodes "Pilot" · "The Plan" · "Everyone's Waiting" Other Soundtrack · 2nd Soundtrack

Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Drama Twin Peaks (1990) · Northern Exposure (1991) · Northern Exposure (1992) · NYPD Blue (1993) · The X-Files (1994) · Party of Five (1995) · The X-Files (1996) · The X-Files (1997) · The Practice (1998) · The Sopranos (1999) · The West Wing (2000) · Six Feet Under (2001) · The Shield (2002) · 24 (2003) · Nip/Tuck (2004) · Lost (2005) · Grey's Anatomy (2006) · Mad Men (2007) · Mad Men (2008) · Mad Men (2009)  · (1969-1989) · (1990-2009)

Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series NYPD Blue (1994) · ER (1995) · ER (1996) · ER (1997) · ER (1998) · The Sopranos (1999) · The West Wing (2000) · The West Wing (2001) · Six Feet Under (2002) · Six Feet Under (2003) · CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2004) · Lost (2005) · Grey's Anatomy (2006) · The Sopranos (2007) · Mad Men (2008) · Mad Men (2009)