Six Feet Under

The writing is boosted by first-rate acting all around, especially Hall as the severely repressed David and Griffiths as Brenda, whose moody character unfolds slowly and unexpectedly. [2 June 2001, p.5E]

Six Feet Under establishes from the start that it will be unflinching and brazen and, as it happens, scorchingly brilliant. [3 June 2001, p.G01]

Whether darkly funny, deeply moving or spookily surreal, Six Feet Under is seldom less than bracingly original. It's another landmark series for HBO. [3 June 2001, p.3]

So daring, richly multi-dimensional and culturally provocative that it's almost anti-television. [3 June 2001, p.2F]

All the actors are wonderfully credible, even when forced to deal with the occasional creaky line. (Brenda says Nate doesn't know her, and he answers, "Yeah, because you won't let me.") Freddy Rodriguez adds humor as Federico, so talented at restoring corpses that he puts the Humpty Dumpty who was chewed up in the mixing machine back together. And Ms. Conroy's portrayal of the mother is subtle, funny and painful. [1 June 2001, p.E25]

If "The Sopranos" is an explosive show, brimming with layers of deception and betrayal, Six Feet Under is an implosive one, built upon a foundation of repression. [3 June 2001, p.29]

The dialogue is smart, and the comedy is edgy, and from the six already previewed out of this 13-episode run, the characters may drive you crazy with their constant navel-gazing, but they do grow on you. [3 June 2001, p.2]

Alan Ball, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of "American Beauty," has done something wonderfully unusual. He has written a tremendously life-affirming drama about death. [3 June 2001, p.43]

Slightly ghoulish but engrossing.

Extremely well acted, 'Six' is a show I'll keep watching; I'm just not convinced it'll be sucking up the same pop-culture air that 'The Sopranos' did.

A surreal, visually striking, insightful comedy-drama about the American way of death and a troubled middle-class family that deals with mortality every day. [3 June 2001, p.6E]

It's seriously good, though not always serious. [3 June 2001, p.1E]

The gracefully gonzo result is funny and affecting, and sometimes it is downright insightful. Good grief. [1 June 2001, p.1E]

A singularly apt pairing of subject and writer. ... It is often funny but never exactly fun; it's icier, more rarified and easier to admire than to love. It's also audacious, psychologically acute and beautifully shot.

Tender and sometimes humorously bent. Yes, some very nice moments in initial installments of its 13-episode commitment from HBO, but nothing shooting you to the moon. [1 June 2001, p.C1]

While uneven and not as immediately seductive as David Chase's 'The Sopranos,' Ball's Six Feet Under is a daring exploration on a theme, funny to creepy to plain weird. [3 June 2001, p.E-01]

The shame is, after a very slow start, the living members of the Fisher family actually start to grow on you -- though it takes them far longer than it should. [1 June 2001, p.15E]

Frankly, the first episode of "Six" is not impressive. Discomfiting, certainly, and with sparks of promise, but not exactly compelling. But, somewhat surprisingly, after watching two and three and four more episodes, the show grows on you...Six Feet Under is going to be an acquired taste that some will never acquire.[1 June 2001, p.C08]

The problem I have with the show, aside from the death business, is that the Fishers are not a likable family. It doesn't have a James Gandolfini character. [3 June 2001, p.D39]

It's hard to imagine anyone watching Sunday night's plodding and pretentious pilot and coming back for more. [1 June 2001, p.112]

The unhappy Fishers are unlike the unhappy Sopranos in a crucial way: They become less interesting as Six Feet Under unfolds in the first six episodes. And that is the kiss of death in television. [3 June 2001, p.4]