We had occasion to speak with a licensed funeral director back in December of 2010. He told us the technical aspects of the show were spot on too. After an episode would end on a Sunday night, he and his embalming buddies would get on the phone and dish about that night's episode. Being HBO, we weren't surprised by the accuracy. They've always been the best.
Time for my funeral home story. When I was a teenager I went to work at the flower shop my Uncle managed. It was part of the funeral home next door and they got a lot of funeral business. The embalming room was in the basement where I would occasionally sort out flower crap. The two embalmers (one of them was really freakin' cute and drove a Corvette, but I digress) would get me to help them load the bodies onto the gurney so they could work, and yeah, the stuff on Six Feet Under was accurate to the limited knowledge I have of that stuff. The woman who came in to do hair/makeup was a trip. I used to hide in the viewing rooms to crash after a bad night or read CREEM. The person in the casket didn't seem to mind.
Neither my wife nor I watched the series during its original run, but four years ago, over the course of several months, we watched the complete five seasons on DVD. We were both knocked out by the show. The series finale is outstanding.
At first, but after a while it's just another job. The funerals for mobsters were a hoot, they needed an entire room for the flowers.
I initially started watching it for Lauren Ambrose .....but kept watching because it was a really interesting show.
without a doubt one of the best series finales of all time. Simply gutted me the first few times I watched it. A phenomenal show that stayed strong throughout the entire run.
Saw her play Eliza Doolittle in the revival of My Fair Lady when it was on Broadway a few years back, and she was incredible. Acting chops and a voice to match.
The series was great, and the final episode was amazing… but so painful I don’t think I could watch it again.
Regarding the bolded, I do not agree. For one, they always seemed to recognize the good work he did, and as for family events, the three siblings always acted like any family event was something all but forced upon them by Ruth, so it's not like they were excited about them most of the time, so they rarely felt the need to invite anyone anyway, except maybe whoever their significant other was at the time. Besides, Rico wasn't family, and let's not forget that he bolted for the enemy in S1 (before returning), so it's not like he had any loyalty anyway. Not that he should have, as his job 1 should have been to take care of his family, so I have a hard time thinking that he should have been treated like family when he rarely acted like their family. That all said, I think the separation from his wife, and he realizing that it was all his fault, humbled him a bit and made him less judgmental later in the series. I think Rico was a good guy at heart, but had just too much bravado for me to really wrap my arms around as a character I could really like. I didn't like Nate that much either for the bulk of the series the first time through. He is still hard to like at times after several re-watches. I always like David, Ruth and Claire.
Her acting chops were really impressive throughout Six Feet Under, and you could actually see her get better as each season progressed. A true professional. Her facial expressions and body language were always so good.
I spent the first 23 years of my life in the funeral business. The show wasn't exactly 100% correct. There was artistic license. Speaking of "license." Once upon a time I was a licensed funeral director and embalmer, from the ages of 19-23. Technically, I still held my license beyond 23, but I no longer practiced. I joined the service in late 1995, and wouldn't you know that the Marine Corps wanted me to put me in Graves Registration? I flat declined and went 0311, no OCS either, as a college grad. Screw the funeral business!
I watched all of Six Feet Under in real time when it was first broadcast. I loved the earlier seasons. As the show went along it became so dark to me. I found the later seasons to be a chore to watch. I stuck it out to the end though.
They used to have special "flower cars" in their funeral processions. Something almost like Cadillac cars turned into open bed El Caminos. I think I have that right. They were still Cadillacs.
I agree. Perhaps I shouldn't have used the word "always". Rico did have to push himself for the first two seasons, and made them recognize him. There were still times when they disregarded him, but I think it was because they had so much drama going on in their own lives and they tended to be very selfish.
I have only seen the final episode. So I know how and when everyone dies, but have no idea who any of those people are.
For being such intelligent characters, they do some pretty dumb stuff at times. I guess the point might be that emotions can steamroll right over intelligence sometimes, especially if you had a weird childhood growing up in a strange house. Regular network shows have this problem in spades by comparison—everyone’s got “attitude”: their hackles always up, always a ready sarcasm, a never-ending “I deserve better” thing going on. Which is why 6FU is still better—the great writing overcomes the network meddling.
To wit, has Peter Krause done anything on par with his performance in SFU? I would say no. The writing and directing made him hit way above his weight.
I have to agree, Krause was someone I expected to see do amazing after the show and most of his roles since then have been forgettable since then. Michael C Hall has had a couple of good roles and Dexter was amazing for the first three seasons or so, he's been reliably good for the most part. Lauren Ambrose hasn't caught on much as I hoped but "Ruth" has been really good too. I think its arguable that Rainn Wilson had the biggest career outside of the show aside for Hall.
If I remember correctly, the final show turned out the way it did because Alan Ball wanted to make sure the show could never be brought back.
I watched the whole thing not too long ago, and I believe he mentioned that some of the other writers suggested it to him when they were figuring out the ending. He did say that he definitely knew that going into the fifth season (before it started), it would be the last one for sure. Still the greatest show of this century!
Great show. I need to do a re-watch. Here's a bit of looking back with Alan Ball and some of the cast.