World Famous Comics: Six Feet Under: The Complete First Season
Six Feet Under: The Complete First Season
Starring: Frances Conroy, Peter Krause, Michael C. Hall, Lauren Ambrose, Mathew St. Patrick Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Binding: DVD Format: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC Label: HBO Number of Items: 4 Region Code: 1 Release Date: February 04, 2003 Running Time: 780 minutes Theatrical Release Date: June 03, 2001
Description: From Alan Ball, the Oscar(r) winning writer of "American Beauty", comes a series that digs where others fear to tread. When a bus kills Nathaniel Fisher, owner of the Fisher & Sons Funeral Home in Los Angeles, the tragedy casts a pall on the homecoming of his prodigal son Nate. Together with with mother Ruth, brother David and sister Claire, they must address the family business, and the many more personal matters that arise when your life is Six Feet Under.
Amazon.com: The Fishers are your typical dysfunctional family. Ruth (Frances Conroy) is the stern matriarch who has trouble expressing emotion and snaps at the slightest problem. Daughter Claire (Lauren Ambrose) is an underachiever who cultivates a moody, mysterious loner image in high school (she's indulging in illegal substances too). Brother David (Michael C. Hall) works in the family business, and is uptight beyond belief (he's indulging in a secret homosexual relationship too). Elder brother Nate (Peter Krause) is the black sheep, who, eschewing responsibility, fled to Seattle but got lured back. And Dad (Richard Jenkins) watches it all bemusedly. Did we mention Dad's dead? Oh, and that the Fisher family business is a funeral home? It might sound off-putting, but coming from the mind of Alan Ball, the man who strip-mined suburban life to find the mordant wit underneath in American Beauty, Six Feet Under is a trenchant, stylish spin on standard family dysfunction.
This HBO series initially aspired to fits of Twin Peaks-like whimsy, with each episode starting with a death more outlandish than the previous, but soon settled into a comfortable groove that harkened back to the most familiar of TV family dramas (in fact, it's almost a mirror image of '70s drama Family, down to the three sibling archetypes). Of course, its HBO roots allowed it ample leeway with sex, drug usage, profanity, and violence. While the writing strove to be a little too clever, the overall look and tone of the show remained solid and sometimes profound (sometimes absurd too, but usually with good reason). Krause and Hall, as initially warring brothers who come to a wary understanding, are solid anchors, but it's the women in the cast who do the most phenomenal work. Conroy infuses her almost stereotypical mom with an obstinate but ultimately accepting heart, and Ambrose's Claire is by far the show's most appealing character. And stealing scenes left and right is Rachel Griffith's Brenda, a mystery woman with an outlandish backstory who meets Nate on a plane, has sex with him at the airport, and infiltrates his life. Like Brenda herself, Six Feet Under is fascinating--and highly addictive. --Mark Englehart
It's different, that's for sure! Main characters are: Nate, the black sheep of the family who left years before to get out of working in the family business (a funeral home in L.A.). David, the homosexual brother who is uptight and a workaholic funeral director. Claire, their sister who is like Morticia from the Adamms Family. Moma...at first you think she is the typical mom but then you find out how she somehow attracts the men even though she is portrayed as dowdy. Dad...killed in first episode while driving his new hearse home but continues to hang around to torment the family in off moments for a number of episodes. Brenda, the weird girlfriend of Nate who he met on plane coming home. The show doesn't make you laugh out loud but it does make you chuckle a lot. The characters are all likeable. There's quite a bit of bad language and some sex scenes so it's not a good idea to get for a family movie. Each story has at least one death to bring in business at the funeral home. They are all unusual deaths...like a cat knocked electric hair curler into tub of a porn star, a man gets mixed in a dough mixer...totally bizarre but at least there is some humor to it. The family's trials and tribulations are in each episode and even Claire has a number of spots while dating or going to school. The situations she gets in are very funny. In one episode, business is so bad that they start letting senior square dancers rent out one room in order to bring in money and hopefully get their funeral business later too! They are all great characters and I started at the beginning watching these and now getting ready to go into the second season.
Very Unique After watching Michael C. Hall in Dexter, I happen to find out that he played in this series as well. He is very different and dramatic in this show. He plays David Fischer who is a funeral director and becomes boss one day when his father gets killed in an auto accident. This is a TV series that once you start watching, you get hooked and you can never stop watching. I have had to rewatch some shows to go on to the next series because of lapses in time as far as my personal schedule..
This is not just focused on what happens in funeral homes but what mainly happens in the family's personal lives and the lives of those who are close to the family. It is a very interesting series and I highly recommend it.
A great introduction to a world of strange family dynamics The Show is well worth watching. There is never a dull moment. I would strongly recommended giving the show a closer look.
Excellent condition Not much to say about the movie. Came in excellent condition and in a timely manner.
CLOSED CAPTION GLITCH - NEED RESPONSE We purchased the entire series package and find that on Season I, the closed captioning is ONLY in Spanish. The packaging lists that it is only in Spanish. All other seasons list English, French, Spanish. Is this true of ALL Season I disks? It's Sunday, and I can't get any resolution from the store where they were purchased. Would rate it FIVE Star rather than three if it didn't have this problem!
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Trevor
