Product Details

• Actors: Peter Krause, Michael C. Hall, Frances Conroy, Lauren Ambrose, Freddy Rodríguez
• Directors: Alan Ball, Alan Poul, Alan Taylor, Allen Coulter, Daniel Attias
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 9
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Hbo Home Video
• DVD Release Date: July 6, 2004
• Run Time: 1560 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0001M3MZC
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #91,766 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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  Movies & TV > Drama > Television > Six Feet Under

• For more information about "Six Feet Under - The Complete First Two Seasons (2-Pack)" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

In some ways, HBO's Six Feet Under plays kid brother to stellar BMOC The Sopranos: it's spunkier, less refined, chancier, and a bit of a punk. Nevertheless, the show set in the Southern California mortuary Fisher and Sons deserves its place in the pantheon of great television series. Ruth (Frances Conroy) is the stern matriarch who has trouble expressing emotion and snaps at the slightest problem. Daughter Claire (Lauren Ambrose) is an underachiever who cultivates a moody, mysterious loner image in high school (she's indulging in illegal substances too). Brother David (Michael C. Hall) works in the family business, and is uptight beyond belief (he's indulging in a secret homosexual relationship too). Elder brother Nate (Peter Krause) is the black sheep, who, eschewing responsibility, fled to Seattle but got lured back. And Dad (Richard Jenkins) watches it all bemusedly. Did we mention Dad's dead? Oh, and that the Fisher family business is a funeral home? It might sound off-putting, but coming from the mind of Alan Ball, the man who strip-mined suburban life to find the mordant wit underneath in American Beauty, Six Feet Under is a trenchant, stylish spin on standard family dysfunction.

This HBO series initially aspired to fits of Twin Peaks-like whimsy, with each episode starting with a death more outlandish than the previous, but soon settled into a comfortable groove that harkened back to the most familiar of TV family dramas (in fact, it's almost a mirror image of '70s drama Family, down to the three sibling archetypes). Of course, its HBO roots allowed it ample leeway with sex, drug usage, profanity, and violence. While the writing strove to be a little too clever, the overall look and tone of the show remained solid and sometimes profound (sometimes absurd too, but usually with good reason). Krause and Hall, as initially warring brothers who come to a wary understanding, are solid anchors, but it's the women in the cast who do the most phenomenal work. Conroy infuses her almost stereotypical mom with an obstinate but ultimately accepting heart, and Ambrose's Claire is by far the show's most appealing character. And stealing scenes left and right is Rachel Griffith's Brenda, a mystery woman with an outlandish backstory who meets Nate on a plane, has sex with him at the airport, and infiltrates his life. Like Brenda herself, Six Feet Under is fascinating--and highly addictive.

Slowly, the major force in season 2 is the unassuming lead, Peter Krause. Part of the long line of good-looking actors who never get respect because they make it look too easy, Krause (Sports Night) finds the perfect blend of optimism with a wonderful, bittersweet anguish as Nate, the prodigal son. The initial season's happy ending is forgotten as relationships change, the business is still under fire from the evil conglomerate Kroehner, and a lively dream sequence is just around the corner. The eccentricities of the characters are shaped, and not always suddenly. Take daughter Claire (Lauren Ambrose), who sheds her bad boyfriend only to find more complex relationships on her road to discovering her own groove. One person in the mix is Ruth's beatnik sister (Patricia Clarkson, in an Emmy-winning role), a joyous embodiment of thriving--if aging--counter culture. Another new character is Nate's old girlfriend, the granola-loving Lisa (Lili Taylor). For fans who groove with the wild, serio-comedic world of the Fishers (and let's face it, many didn't), the second season goes down like a fine meal of fusion cuisine. The show shares an unfortunate family trait with its HBO big brother: although both were lavished with multiple Emmy nominations the first two seasons, both took home only token awards. But then there's always next year.

Product Description

The opening two seasons of Alan Ball's series concerning the surviving members of Fisher & Sons Funeral Home in Los Angeles, and the personal matters that arise when your life is Six Feet Under.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Six Thumbs Up for Six Feet Under, March 6, 2005

By	marvista2004 - See all my reviews

The first two seasons of "Six Feet Under" are quirky, unusual, and different - it's not every day that you find a TV show that deals head on with death yet still somehow maintains a playful sense of humor.

As satisfying and rewarding as a good play, film or novel, this series is nonetheless definitely not for the timid. This disturbing, provocative show often makes its viewers uncomfortable - this is a show that asks its viewers to think and respond, not just sit and be passively entertained.

"Six Feet Under" is an excellent show in the same league (in terms of the quality of its writing and the acting of its ensemble cast) as "The Sopranos," "The Wire," "The West Wing" and "Deadwood."

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ***OUTSTANDING***, December 11, 2005

By	Pearls Perspective (Georgetown, TX USA) - See all my reviews

I look forward to my weekly dose of Six Feet Under with relish! A superb cast! Amazing, haunting, provocative, disturbing, full of humour, life and death! Brilliantly written and very addictive! If you've never seen it, or like me, kept missing episodes, -buy the series and enjoy at your leisure! You're sure to keep coming back for more!

3.0 out of 5 stars Not widescreen?, August 1, 2007

By	S. A. Gattuso "QueenCrimson" (East Texas) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

So these are not available in widescreen? I'm wondering if the box set of all 5 seasons has Seasons 1 & 2 in widescreen?