Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2605 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-07-07
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 4
• Formats: Box set, Full Screen, PAL
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 4
• Running time: 700 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Six Feet Under is not just a smartly written, sublimely acted soap that happens to be set in a funeral home; it's a profound mixture of emotional truths and whimsical black comedy that uses its setting to comment upon the way we live, with the omnipresent spectre of death throwing life's problems into sharp relief. Creator Alan Ball (American Beauty) understands modern neuroses more than most, it seems, and his rich sense of the absurd is given added potency, not to say piquancy, by the sometimes comically ridiculous juxtaposition of life and death.

The first series introduces the Fisher family, whose already weighty emotional baggage is bolstered by the sudden demise of their patriarch, who has willed the family funeral home to his two initially hostile sons, wayward Nate (Peter Krause) and in-the-closet David (Michael C Hall). Teenage younger sister Claire (Lauren Ambrose) and repressed mother Ruth (Frances Conroy) have their own problems, as does put-upon mortician Federico (Freddy Rodriguez). The first year's unfolding story arc includes the family's resistance to a hostile big corporation, Nate's budding romance with wild card Brenda (stunningly good Rachel Griffiths), David's attempts to reconcile his Christian faith with his homosexuality, Claire's self-destructive boyfriend trouble and Ruth's gradual realisation that, although she was a wife and is a mother, she's entitled to have a life too.

On the DVD: Six Feet Under, Series 1 spreads 13 episodes across four discs. Care has been taken to reflect the show's stylish look in everything from the novel external packaging to the menu layouts. Picture is good, but only standard 4:3 ratio, though sound is vivid Dolby 5.1. The bonus features include two episode commentaries from creator Alan Ball, who happily chats about the pilot and the season finale, both of which he wrote and directed. There's a 22-minute "Behind the Scenes" featurette--standard HBO fare with cast interviews. More interesting is "Under the Main Titles", which explores Digital Kitchen's creation of the fascinating opening title sequence and talks to genius composer Thomas Newman about his theme music. The music can also be heard in an audio-only track as well as in Kid Loco's "Graveyard" remix. Text biographies, episode synopses and Web links complete the extras. One minor niggle: there's no "Play All" facility, so you can't indulge the luxury of watching uninterrupted episodes back-to-back. --Mark Walker

DVD Description
DVD Special Features:

• Audio commentaries
  
• Deleted scenes
  
• Featurette on making the opening sequence
  
• Two music track – main theme and remix by Kid Loco
  
• Episodic previews and re-caps

Synopsis
A series that looks at the life of a family that runs an independent funeral home and how they cope with grief of their own.

Customer Reviews

black comedy at its very best
When I found out that Alan Ball, the man responsible for American Beauty, one of my favourite films, was creating a whole new series i felt compelled to watch right from the beginning, and let me tell you, my high expectations were justified.
Six Feet Under tells the story of a family-run funeral home that has just been inherited by two brothers, Nathanial and David Fisher, after the passing of their father. Even though the father dies right in the very first episode, he is present throughout the series. Like in American Beauty, when Kevin Spacey hallucinates about the girl in the rose petals, every member of the Fisher family quite often sees and interacts with the dead father, to an extent that we, the viewers, are not sure if these sequences ARE actually hallucinations or if he is really there.
The programmes revolves around death and the goings-on behind the scenes at a funeral home. One might think this is an odd subject for a comedy but the general irreverence with which they handle the bodies they receive, and the way the characters interact with each other is both hilarious and touching all at once.
Not only that, but each character has their own demons haunting them throughout the first series. David is gay and doesnt want anyone in his family to know which leads to many problems for him through out the series. Nathanial's has to deal with somewhat eccentric girlfriend Brenda and her crazed and obsessive brother Billy. Sister Clare, being the youngest, tries hard to be noticed by being rebellious but always seems to end up making a mess of things, and mother Ruth, is torn between two men for most of the series, eventually ending up with (in my opinion) the right one!!
I said earlier that the fathe reappears in almost every episode, but he is not the only spirit to make an appearance following his death. The people who die along the way, the "clients" of the funeral home sometimes interact with the main characters as well, the most poignant of all being a homosexual who is beaten to death and his relentless, angry spirit hounds David until he can admit what he is.
Never before have I seen anything like Six Feet Under. Everyone I know who watched it over the Summer was truly amazed by its ability to mix comedy and drama so well. This is a must have for any fans of American Beauty, black comedies or even life itself. As soon as this is released on video I will most definitely be adding it to my collection.

The best TV show ever
The second series of Six Feet Under ended not so long ago, and it's gone and left the same void in my life that the first one did when it reached it's dramatic climax last year. Because unless you're into watching talentless teenagers whine on shows like Pop Idol and Fame Academy, there's nothing on TV worth watching. Thankfully the first series of this amazing show is available on DVD and I don't have to live without it until Series 3 comes to terrestrial TV. It's quite weird how this show draws you in, and suddenly you can't bear to live without a weekly dose of the Fishers.

There are few things, either on TV or in the cinema, that blend gripping drama and dark humour together as well as this. The funeral home setting is original and gives the series it's running theme - a family that faces the impact death has on a person every single day. This brings each family member to face something about themselves during the series, and makes for some pretty barmy situations. The central characters are fascinating and likeable and the drama is shocking and arresting. It's difficult to say what's so brilliant about SFU without spoiling it, but the quality of writing and acting is so high throughout...

If you like dramatic, funny TV that dares to be different, you've probably seen Six Feet Under already, and should be getting this now. The extras on the discs are pretty lacklustre, but the strength of the series is enough to guarantee it'll be worth buying.

A quality unknown on TV
Quite simply, Six Feet Under takes everything that is glorious about being a TV show and develops it structure like a fine art, giving us a finished product that is nowhere short of perfection.
The premise of the show is unbelievably simple, it follows a dysfunctional family who run a funeral home. However, you only need to scratch the surface of the show to reveal the complexities of all the characters. Ruth Fisher is going through a kind of mid-life crisis following the death of her husband, David Fisher is being pressured to come to come to terms with his sexuality, occassionally from corpses, Nate Fisher has to deal with running a business/life that he had long run away from, whilst his girlfriend has such unbelivable depth of character that you'd imagine you'd need a series of novels about her to really understand where she's coming from.
Nothing can sum up this show, it simply has to be seen. This DVD release is perfect for beginers, its unbelivable value for money, you get the whole first series so there's no need to wait for the next great episode, and the extras are pretty neat, especially a detailed examination of the making of the opening credits.
Hopefully a second series box set won't be far behind, after seeing the multiple cliff-hanging storylines at the end of this, any length of time to wait would be too long.