Six Feet Under, 2001 - 2005 (spoilers)

[Zeus]

Spoilers coming up, so don't keep reading if you haven't seen the last ep.

Man, I'm going to miss this show. This last ep was just great, an excellent ending to an excellent series. I really love how they did the whole future deal with all the main characters' eventual deaths (Claire not being able to see her pictures and Keith's deaths were my favs) so as to not really leave loose ends. Tying it to Claire leaving to New York was the best way to present it too, much better than anything I would have thought of. I mean, they all (I guess) just had normal lives after that. The best part is, they didn't lame it up.

I really thought the show was dead after the disappointment that was Season 3, but I think Ball got off of his ass and realized that the show was about the great ensemble cast and not Nate, even though he was the main character. Season 4 was excellent and Season 5 is up there with 2 as the best seasons in the show's history.

Man, after Soproanos is done next season, I'll only have 24 to watch. Argh. I'll have to give Carnivale and maybe Lost another shot.

And yes, the subject was a lame attempt at a spoof of the death screens that come up when someone dies on the show :-)

[Tortolia]

I kinda wish I hadn't stopped watching mid-season 4, but eh.

As for new shows to pick up, while Battlestar Galactica and Lost get deserved credit for having stellar first seasons, another one to look into would be Veronica Mars. Watched the first season over a week or so, and it was exceedingly well written and put together. I'd actually rank it above Lost in terms of my favorite new shows from last season - and I figure that the odds of it sophomore slumping are a lot less than Lost's (rather than going for apparently one huge overall arc, VM seems to be setting up season-long story arcs that actually do wrap up - the first season's main plot ended with the season finale).

[Zeus]

My wife loves Battlestar Galactica and we have all of the new eps, so maybe I'll give it a shot. And I've always meaned to get back into Lost. Veronica Mars? Really? That looked so shitty in the previews. I'll have to give it a shot.

Trust me, watch the rest of Six Feet, it ends very, very well.

[Tortolia]

Veronica Mars? Really? That looked so shitty in the previews. I'll have to give it a shot.

Yeah. Much, much better than you'd think, given the advertising, and the fact it's on UPN. Great writing.

[SineSwiper]

Yeah, the last 15 minutes of the last episode mostly made up for whatever bad shit happened during the other seasons. I stopped watching at around mid 2nd season because I dunno, I was tired of nothing going right for these people. On the last episode, they finally give everybody some amount of purpose and closer, that you feel sorry for these characters going through so much shit.

Alan Ball should really stick with mini-series or movies. Letting the drama drag on for so long just sucks out all meaning from the characters' lives. I mean, so many people die or get victimized because the writers feel like it's good drama. It's really depressing.

I didn't quite catch that thing with Claire death, but I guess it makes sense. Overall, it looked like they had good lives. Keith and David get into the business, and teach their sons. Rico and Vanessa start their own. Claire gets into photography and marries Ted. Ruth finds a way to live the rest of her life.

Read the Obituaries

[Zeus]

Well, everything going right for a person in a drama is just boring. You kinda have to expect that things will go wrong. What's odd about SFU is that it usually happened because of the people themselves rather than extraneous circumstances (David's abduction and the deaths are an exception). That's what was the strength of the show and what gave the characters depth.

[Torgo]

I'm gonna miss this series as well. I never saw much of Season 3, but pretty everyone seems to agree that it sucked. My girlfriend filled me in once Season 4, and I've been back on track since. And the ending sequence kicked all ass, of course.

And yes, the subject was a lame attempt at a spoof of the death screens that come up when someone dies on the show

I actually thought they were gonna show something like that after the end credits.

Also, there was one loose end, which was Maggie at the doctor's office. Pregnant perhaps? Who knows?

As for other shows, Rome looks like it might be pretty good. I also recommend Carnivale, but don't count on it ever being completed.

[Shellie]

Who knows about Maggie...but keep in mind, she IS a drug rep..

[Zeus]

Yeah, I thought she was applying for a job or something

[Zeus]

While I'm waiting for the rest of Season 1 of Lost to download, I watched the last ep of Six Feet to ween myself off of the show. And I noticed one more thing in the end: Anthony, Keith and David's youngest adopted son, also becomes gay. It was quite obvious that his brother became a mortician, but it was just a brief clip of Anthony holding hands with a guy at Claire and Ted's wedding for about 2 seconds, that's it.

Nothing really for or against it one way or the other, just noticed it my second time through. I just thought it was just very subtle.

[SineSwiper]

Not a big fan of the "nurture = gay" theory, but okay.