The Take · The Roost

Six Feet Under: the Best Kept Secret of TV's Golden Age? | A Cinematic Analysis

February 21, 2026·18 min·1 clip

Why did Six Feet Under, often called one of TV's best shows, fail to stake its spot in cultural memory like The Sopranos?

The Take frames Six Feet Under as a critically acclaimed but culturally underappreciated show from television's golden age, sitting alongside The Sopranos and The Wire yet somehow less embedded in collective memory. The show follows the Fisher family — three siblings and their mother — who run a funeral home in suburban Los Angeles after patriarch Nathaniel Sr. dies in the first episode. Each episode opens with the death of a stranger, chosen to thematically mirror the episode's central conflicts, a structural device the host illustrates with two specific examples involving a limo accident and a woman dying alone. The show's writing is described as operating in two worlds simultaneously: dark humor and emotional earnestness, with characters whose feelings are always near the surface rather than repressed. Rachel Griffiths, who played Brenda, is quoted from Entertainment Weekly noting that America was not in a cultural conversation about death or human frailty when the show aired. Nate Fisher is discussed as a womanizer who, unusually for the era, is allowed to openly express fear and self-doubt rather than stoic detachment. David Fisher's arc as a gay man slowly accepting himself is highlighted as one of TV's first fully realized gay lead storylines, with creator Alan Ball quoted from the New York Times confirming he drew on his own experience. Claire's struggle with artistic identity and Ruth's late-life reckoning with regret are also examined as examples of the show's commitment to morally complex, emotionally transparent characters. The symbolism section focuses on the show's ghost sequences, which are framed not as supernatural events but as psychological projections the living use to process unresolved grief, with Nathaniel Sr.'s appearances fading as his children heal. The show's use of sex as a counterpoint to death is analyzed, with each character's sexual behavior linked to their specific fears and repressions. Cinematographer Alan Casso is quoted describing the use of deep focus to visually reinforce the characters' emotional isolation from one another. Sia's 'Breathe Me,' used in the finale, is identified as the show's most iconic musical choice, described as a perfect encapsulation of vulnerability and fragile hope. Alan Ball's deliberate choice of Los Angeles as a setting is explained through his own words: LA is the world capital of death denial, a place people come to reinvent themselves and seek immortality. The show's portrayal of the death industry — including the Fisher family's conflict with the megacorporation Kroner — is noted as a way of grounding surreal themes in economic and social reality. The finale is described in detail: Nate's death from a brain hemorrhage, the family's grief, and the iconic closing montage showing every major character's death intercut with Claire driving to New York, set to 'Breathe Me.' The host argues the finale's willingness to show each character's end is the show's definitive statement that life's journey matters more than its conclusion. The episode closes by suggesting that Six Feet Under's emotional directness, once seen as out of step with prestige TV's preference for brooding opacity, is now finding new audiences on streaming platforms in a cultural moment more open to confronting mortality.

As heard by us

A thoughtful case for Six Feet Under as a dark, intimate Golden Age classic still finding its full audience.

The Take revisits Six Feet Under as the Golden Age favorite that still feels oddly under-remembered beside The Sopranos and The Wire. The episode is at its best when it treats the show not as prestige TV homework, but as a strangely funny, bruising series built around death as a…

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

You want a deeper take on why Six Feet Under still matters.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from The Take