Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2314 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, Subtitled
• Original language: 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

good show
When six feet under aired in 2001 it was so fresh and invigorating that it just swept me off my feet,it was a show that mixed dark humour with surreal comedy and a deep hurtful glance at the world,it had it all,in the following years it has lost some of its shine and appeal but not much,but i must whip out a fair review for all.
Six feet under deals with the fisher family,they are funeral directors who deal with death and emotion and expression at every turn,but they hide their own while they help strangers deal with theirs.
Each episode starts with a death and then we move on from there,we get the dead talking to members of the family and in truth this is a good tactic,it is sort of like their conscience talking to them,thats my opinion anyway,we also get surreal comedy much like that of the mind of J.D in scrubs and that makes for funny viewing,of course alot of what you view is tragic and a tear can take shape at any juncture if you are willing to suppress the fact that this is tv,and in many ways this is vital telly,it has a self belief of its own,there is a sense of pushing the envelope of pain too much in places,the use of billy makes for annoying viewing at time and the screaming and weeping can bring you too your knees at times but this is what it is ,great stuff but not as magic as i once thought.

another reason to love HBO
Sorry 'Al', but six feet under is sublime teleivision and another true reason to love HBO. as good as the sopranos and a special show that goes in a small catagory of shows that has a certain quality built into every episode, thanks, mainly to Alan Ball. an amazingly realized confident (not too confident) brave and dark but beautiful piece of work that takes you on an emotional rollercoaster. if you are going to see a show as sophisticated, well established, well written or as beatiful as this you must be dreaming. the fact is so irritating that im 15 years old, so no people my age respect or enjoy shows like this, but would rather watch 'pimp my ride'. eugh! HBO has clearly established into the best network on TV, with the dramatic and gripping Sopranos, the simple yet intricate curb your enthusiasm and the fabulous Sex and the city. cant wait for season two!

Room for improvement, but I hope it will.
This is the first of five seasons of 'Six Feet Under.' This series is based around the Fisher family who own the Fisher independent funeral home. The first episode depicts the death of the patriarch of the family Nathaniel Fisher who dies in a hearse accident leaving the ownership of the funeral home to his two sons Nate and David. Nate who has a terrible fear of death had moved to Seattle to get away from the funeral business is not altogether pleased with the prospect of having to run the funeral home but Dave has always worked at the business and to inherit it is only a continuance of what he is already doing and the two end up running the business together.
The first season follows the family coming to terms with the death of Nathaniel, Dave coming to terms with his homosexuality, Nate coming to terms with his fear of committment by embarking on his first ever real relationship with equally emotionally fearful Brenda (who by the way has a manic-depressive brother, Billy who becomes increasingly obsessive and dangerous as the season progresses) and also the daughter Claire who is the almost obligatory angst-ridden teen with boyfriend troubles. We also have Ruth the mother who despite being repressed and desperately needing a makeover manages to be in a love triangle.
Six Feet Under is a black comedy with it's fair share of weird moments but it is extremely well-written and compelling if slightly self-important in places. I've given this three stars because it does have room for improvement and all series like this take a while to bed-in. As this first season is only 13 episodes long it doesn't really get much of an opportunity to do that so I'm hoping this is something that will be rectified when I start watching the second series. The box-set is very well presented and there are a couple of extras including featurettes and commentaries. This is not the best show I've seen, but it is certainly better than the majority of things that are churned out.