I think that’s just a simple miscommunication. (At least with Time Warner) Showtime On Demand is free with Showtime, HBO show on Demand are free if you have HBO etc… This is opposed to paying, say $1.99 per episode.
Yes, but the point is that I don’t have HBO so I can’t see it. That’s their right, of course, but I’m disappointed. And I don’t like the misuse of the word “free”. It’s not free if you have to subscribe to something, it’s “no extra charge”. But the semantics rant really just springs from my overall annoyance.
While the finale was quite good, the series as a whole takes a big drop in storyline quality after the first season, in my opinion.
I don’t want to get into a whole big thing about the comedy/drama argument, because I’m really glad you’ve discovered the show. Like I said, it’s one of my favorites; I own the entire series on DVD and have watched it through more than once.
All I’m saying is that it’s not “a comedy”. Of course it has funny moments, which serve to make the dramatic ones more poignant. Nobody wants to sit there and watch an hour of pure misery and suffering (joke redacted on advice of legal counsel), and when they make us laugh every now and then it makes us care more for the characters, and therefore we hurt more when they hurt.
Enjoy the show! And if you still don’t believe it’s not a comedy, wait 'til you get to Season 4. 
I wouldn’t argue it either, except to say that the first 3 episodes are far more humorous than dramatic. Dark humor to be sure.
I believe you and others that the tone will change, and the characters will develop into significantly different ones than they are at the start.
Right now I’m finding Claire the most annoying – when anyone offers even the slightest hint of a suggestion to her about pretty much anything, the broken record response is, “You’re not my father.” I wonder what she said to her father when he was alive, 'cause she doesn’t strike me as one to take constructive criticism well.
I do kind of like her stealing the foot, though.
She’s a very very…very angsty teenager at first. She grows out of it, just as we all did. And, ya know, her Dad just died.
I think it was the first series that made me laugh out loud and cry within the same episodes.
Often. 
And if anyone either wants to re-view the end <bring the hankies> or watch it to see what the buzz is about, here is a good, nearly 10 minute version. It’s just Claire going off to college, including the ending montage of how everyone carries on later; I really don’t think there are any spoilers in the ending or anything. (Someone correct if I am wrong?) I am trying to view it right now but don’t have hankies so I am turning it off now
Six Feet Under Finale
Apart from telling everyone what the finale is. Well done you.
Not that the ending is any big twist, but when I watched it I absolutely didn’t see it coming.
Not that I have to say this, but for anyone that ever thinks they might watch this show, don’t watch the ending.
Uh, yeah, that was probably a bad judgment call, Taomist. If I were you I would report my own post and ask a spoiler box to be put over it. What you described is kind of the whole point of the show, and what the entire series was leading up to.
I’ve reported the post – I don’t know what Taomist was thinking, posting a fairly descriptive link to the finale in a thread by someone who’s only just starting the series!
(But frankly it was just as silly for the rest of you guys to quote it in your posts too. Yeesh!)
Regardless of whether it’s a major spoiler or not, I think it’s appropriate to keep the details of the finale hidden since the Boyo Jim just started watching the show.
I started out loving this show, but somewhere around season 3 or 4, it became a chore I had to slog through. It was probably around the time that L (you know who) became such a big part of it. The humor became way too sparse after the first season, and it basically turned into a well-acted soap opera after a while. Even The Wire, a show that so meticulously highlights the institutional and personal despair of a dying city, managed to fit way more humor in than Six Feet Under. Sure, the characters are deep and fairly realistic, but the problem was that most of them stopped being sympathetic or even relatable, with the possible exception of Claire. It didn’t help that L and her man were the most boring couple ever, and that most of the cast seemed to be in Idiot Mode about 80% of the time, rehashing the same shit over and over again.
The ending was pretty awesome, and I will admit that my eyes were not terribly dry, even despite these characters driving me mad for most of the last few seasons.
But once you push through the first part of that relationship it gets more interesting. Sure it’s a bit of a soap, but looking at is a whole it’s still a damn good show.
Earlier this weekend I was flipping through channels and saw the description of Six Feet Under. “A Los Angeles family operates a funeral home (Comedy)”
I turned to my husband and said “Wow, that’s a terrible description of Six Feet Under.”
It has its humorous moments, but if you think you’re getting yourself into a comedy, you’re not.
I am through the first six episodes of the show now, and I can see some creepy creeping in. Brenda’s family is beginning to make the Fishers look like the Cleavers.
Well, other than David being gay, the Fishers are quite Cleaver-ish. Deacons of their church, happy family, thriving business, nice home, amusing hijinks of teen daughter, and stay-at-home mom who cooks. Like most families the Fishers are wholesome, untill you get to know them better.
Wally wasn’t fucking total strangers in airport closets – though maybe he would have had the opportunity arose.
The series disappeared entirely from On Demand for about a week, leaving me really pissed off. Yesterday I saw that the 2nd half of season 1 was posted, and I went on a 7 hour viewing marathon that lasted past 3 am this morning. I can see now why you’ve been telling me it’s not a comedy, as it’s gotten a lot darker.
But I LOVE this show. As a reminder to those of you who haven’t seen it in a while, season 1 ends with a seemingly poorly thought out marriage proposal by Nick to Brenda, and David comes out to his church and his mom. Nick has been diagnosed with one of the many brain diseases that can kill you tomorrow or not bother you for 50 years, and Billy is institutionalized. Oh, and Claire is back together with Gabriel, who’s just knocked over a liquor store at gunpoint. Very very busy season finale.
David seems to be really coming out of his shell. I hope that continues. And I hope he stands up to the pastor and refuses to leave quietly.
NATE- Nathaniel Jnr - not Nick.
Please keep watching. Having recently finished - I want to experience it with you.
MiM