After a few heavy, emotionally involved months of playing catch up with this show on DVD, I have to say that Six Feet Under tops my list of all time favorite television shows. Never before has a show made me feel such raw emotion. It heavily deals with death and with the realities and after-effects thereof and it makes you realize that no matter what you do for a living, where you live, what music you listen to, who you marry and who you f--- and who you love and who your family is, you are going to die. No exceptions. I never expected a show to force me to confront my own mortality, but Six Feet Under did just that. The message: life is SHORT and don't waste your time doing things that you don't want to do or that don't make you happy, because when you're on your deathbed it will suck

The characters and actors that portray them do so perfectly to the point that you feel like these the Fishers are a part of your family. They're just so real and aren't cardboard or cookie cutter in any way; it's hard not to relate to them and feel for them when they're sad or be happy for them when things are going well. There are so many twists and turns and a TON of character development over the show's five seasons - more so than just about every other show I've seen. And the series finale was immaculate.

I highly recommend that everyone at least give this show a chance if you haven't seen it. It makes most other TV shows seem pointless.

I've made it to the beginning of season 4. I thought the first season was absolutely terrific... but later seasons have had more padding. Still, it always remains beautifully acted and provoking.

My wife was into it for awhile there, but then we stopped renting the DVD's.  Never gave it a shot myself.

Well said.  Most one hour dramas on TV these days just keep you involved with the story for 60 minutes and then you forget about it.  With SFU, I used to think about certain episodes for days and days.  I won't list anything in particular due to heavy spoilerage factor but my fellow "yes I cry at TV shows" buddy Zane knows what I mean.  Also, the series finale was BY FAR the most powerful thing I've ever seen on TV.  Again, no spoilers, just do yourselves a favor and watch this series.  You will never look at TV shows the same way again.

FYI, Six Feet Under is my second favorite show.  First place goes to another HBO series, Oz.  Yeah I know, most people hear Oz and they think homosexual prison drama with lots of penis shots and butt sex, blah blah blah.  Best show on TV for me, hands down.  It's another series that plays with ALL of your emotions just like SFU, even some you never thought a TV show could bring out of you.. uneasiness to the point of slight nausea, pity, rage, sadness, realization of one's own mortality, the list goes on.  I know, feeling nauseous doesn't sound like a good thing but man, when a TV show has that kind of effect on you, you KNOW there's something special about it.  Maybe it's true what they say: It's not TV, it's HBO!

Anyway, sorry for slightly railroading your topic Tommy boy.. feel free to either throw me in jail or kill me!

-Mike

Hm, with Pushing Daisies, I'm not sure I could handle TWO shows about death at the same time.

Now that's a juicy little tidbit of info that could come in handy someday.   Agent Mike, you've done well. :)

I'll definitely have to check that one out, man!

That's no secret; I was sobbing uncontrollably by the time the finale was over. I can't even listen to the song "Breathe Me", which was used in the show, without getting all choked up.

Yeah dude.  I downloaded that song right after watching the finale and even if I put it on right now, I will have a moment.  Note that I haven't seen the finale in over three years (it aired on August 21, 2005 and that's the last time I watched it).  I am ALWAYS reminded of those final scenes when hearing that song.  It's the same thing with The Sopranos actually, they used Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" in their final scene and whenever I hear it now, that's all I think of.  Ahh the power of raw emotion combined with the power of music.

-Mike

Any of you seen some episodes of MAD MEN airing on AMC channel and got any opinions on that?

I haven't but I do wanna check it out.  It's got a lot of good actors in it and the creator is a guy who had a pretty big hand in The Sopranos.  Some day I'll start watching it.

-Mike