25 Years Later, Six Feet Under Remains One of TV's Greats

HBO built a reputation for gritty, mature programming, and Six Feet Under distinguished itself by probing life, relationships, and death with an artful authenticity. The series turned dark subject matter into a poignant, occasionally funny encapsulation of human existence, and it still holds up 25 years later.

Six Feet Under follows the Fisher family, who run a funeral home. After the patriarch Nathaniel Sr. (Richard Jenkins) dies, his sons David (Michael C. Hall) and Nate (Peter Krause) inherit the business while caring for their mother Ruth (Frances Conroy) and watching their sister Claire (Lauren Ambrose) grow up.

Each episode opens by showing how someone died before the Fishers prepare them, a device that can be darkly funny, tragic, or unexpected and which underscores how quickly life can be taken for granted. The show invites conversations about the meaning of life, touching on faith, forgiveness, and human frailty, but its longevity rests on well-defined characters who evolve over five seasons.

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