I wish I’d written all six seasons of Six Feet Under which, for me, is HBO’s finest series to date.
The series ran for five seasons and followed the lives of the Fishers, an extended family whose complicated relationships were all the more poignant because they were dealing with mortality almost every day.
Six Feet Under blended real life and fantasy so seamlessly it was almost like watching a poem being written on screen. The writing was trimmed to the bone: not a word of dialogue or a single scene was wasted. Truly brilliant stuff. I do a lot of fantasy/real-life writing myself and regard Six Feet Under as the bar to clear.
Weirdly, my favourite piece of writing didn’t actually appear in the programme; it was a strap line for the final season DVD. I don’t usually pay much attention to advertising, but I thought this phrase epitomised my whole experience with Six Feet Under: few words spoken, but so very much said:
Everything.
Everyone.
Everywhere.
Ends.