We have never had HBO, so we have to watch all their series on DVD. Recently we made a start on “Six Feet Under,” getting the DVDs from Netflix, and we’ve just finished watching episode 8 from the first season.
And i can truly say, after those eight episodes, that this must be one of the best shows ever put on TV. I think the writing is brilliant, the directing is excellent, and the performances are almost uniformly outstanding. I’m not quite sure who my favourite character is—it changes from one episode to another—but Frances Conroy is magnificent as Ruth, and Rachel Griffiths is perfect in the role of Brenda.
Anyway, i realise that this show has been going for years, and that i’m well behind the times in my unadulterated admiration for it, but i just wanted to share.
For those who have watched it all, does the show go downhill after a certain point, or is it still just as strong as it ever was?
(No unboxed spoilers please; i don’t want to know what happens)
HBO consistently produces excellent shows and original movies. I assume you’ve already checked out The Sopranos and Deadwood, which are both better than SFU, IMO.
Also, while it was running, The Larry Sanders Show was the best show on television. Not to mention Dream On, which was pretty good.
Freeway, Citizen X, Breast Men, Barbarians at the Gate and Something the Lord Made are all high-quality HBO original movies, and I’ve yet to see any HBO original that I hated.
And let’s not forget Band of Brothers, which is head and shoulders above any WWII epic I’ve ever seen.
If I could only have a few channels, HBO would be in the top 3 of channels I’d pick to have. I eagerly await their new production, Rome.
I’m upset with all the characters at this point, but IMHO the show has maintained its high quality and originality.
I’d like to see that first season again. Sometimes I think the characters have grown tremendously, and other times I think they’ve come full circle, and need to work through issues that should have been settled long ago.
Seeing it all again would help me figure that out.
I agree totally with the OP re the first series. I think the show has dropped off a bit since then, with some inconsistency in the characters… but overall its still way above average. YMMV.
I’ve heard that Deadwood is great, and am looking forward to seeing it.
I’ve seen the first two seasons of The Sopranos, and while i like it a lot, i think that Six Feet Under is more my style. It just seems more real, somehow, and i like the quirkiness of it.
Actually, The Wire is next on my list of shows to check out. I’m rather embarrassed, having lived in Baltimore for almost five years now, that i’ve never actually seen an episode of the show.
I too am recently getting into Six Feet Under. I only recently moved to the US, and while I believe the series was playing on South African TV I was never much of a television watcher at all. I’m currently just starting the third season DVDs.
I would just like to agree with the sentiment already expressed. It’s one of the few shows where I really feel great empathy for many of the characters. Everyone just seems so believable.
On a recent Dinner for Five with Jon Favreau (on IFC), two of the four guests were David Milch and Timothy Olyphant.
The conversations were pretty interesting, but at one point somebody asked Milch if he could envision the networks ever putting on something as high quality as Deadwood. (Yeah, a kiss-ass question to be sure, but still a fair one.)
Favreau commented that HBO simply doesn’t care about ratings. AT ALL. All they’re interested in is quality, and screw anybody who doesn’t watch. Regardless if it’s true or not, I agree with that perception.
You’ll probably love it. The rather frank language could knock you back a step, but it’s sooo worth watching.
It’s interesting that Favreau said HBO doesn’t care about ratings. I thought that the reason this is the last season of SFU is because it never really caught on the way they’d have liked. The end of Carnivale was so abrupt I’m actually kind of ticked. I don’t care what they say, it was not at a good stopping point, the story lines had not been resolved.
They do seem to give their series a good fair chance though, longer than most networks at least.
Heh heh. You must not have seen some of my BBQ Pit performances on this very message board.
Also, having come to the US from Australia, i was actually shocked at how prudish and conservative network and basic cable TV are in this country. In Australia, no-one is especially surprised to hear “shit” or “fuck” on free-to-air TV. The word “cunt” has even been used on occasion.
The constant use of dubbing on American TV, replacing swearing with terms like “mother-loving” and “forget you,” is very quaint and rather pathetic, IMO.
mhendo’s a potty mouth! It’s true that I hardly ever swear out loud, but I teach highschool and you have to have asbestos ears to walk down the halls. On the plus side; I’m fluent in filth in two languages! So Deadwood’s got a bunch of swearing. What’s cool about the cussing is how it’s nearly poetic at times.
And you’re doubly correct about the silly dubbing. I’d rather be scandalized by hearing a ‘naughty’ word than get pulled out of the moment by ridiculous substitutions.
I think that HBO’s model is a strong argument in favor of subscription based versus sponsored entertainment. Make judgments directly on viewer response instead of advertisers and demographics. (Plus, no need to interrupt the action every seven minutes or shoehorn the episode into a set amount of time.)
It’s great that they seem to just say “You’ve got a strong vision? Fine, here’s your budget. Make it good.”
Well, my wife and i watched the first episode of Deadwood last night. We both liked it a lot; the writing is great, it’s beautifully shot, the sets and locations are great, and the characters and acting performances are all top notch. We’ll definitely move on and check out more episodes.
But, for both of us, it still wasn’t as amazing and compelling as Six Feet Under. I’m not even sure exactly what it is that makes that show, for me at least, so fantastic. I think it’s just something to do with the characters, and the pace of the stories.
I love “Six Feet Under.” I was thinking about canceling HBO after it’s done, but I recently started watching “Deadwood” and I’m hooked. Plus I have to see the last season of “The Sopranos.” I’m bummed that they canceled “Carnivale,” though.
I’ve seen all of SFU that’s out on DVD, and it’s all fantastic.
Funny story (spoilers for the end of season 2, beginning of season 3).
So at the end of Season 2, there’s a huge cliffhanger as to whether Nate has just died. After seeing that, I was bound and determined not to be spoiled, so I could find out what happened when season 3 came out on DVD. This is rather hard, because if I ever saw a screenshot or cast picture, I’d be able to see whether Nate was in it. So season 3 finally came out, I rented the first two DVDs without looking closely at the cover art. I put the DVD in, tried to ignore the menu art, tried to ignore the opening credits, settled down, and… hey, Nate is randomly alive, and they aren’t even saying anything about it. He’s just there. And there are plot points I don’t recognize. And… ARRRRRGH!!! I’m watching disc 2 instead of disc 1!!!
Anyhow, I think SFU is WAY better than The Sopranos, which, while good, is vastly overrated. I haven’t seen Deadwood or The Wire yet.
IMHO, yes, and the characters have really started to grate on me because I don’t see any personal growth. Actually, to the contrary–they all seem to be backsliding.
Jon Favreau really has no clue what he’s talking about. HBO cancelled Carnivàle after a season two finale full of cliffhangers despite the cries of thousands of outraged fans. Anyone interested in helping to bring the show back should go here.