Life is better 'Six Feet Under'

Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

"Are you mad at him or at the fact that we're all gonna die?"

This question is asked during the first episode of Six Feet Under, an HBO original series that explores the issue of death through a dysfunctional family that owns a funeral home.

While the series only premiered here on Saturday (it will also be shown on Monday, after HBO's Monday Action at 8 p.m.), the series has been generating a great deal of buzz in the United States since it premiered last year.

In the U.S. it has consistently out-rated network programming in homes that have HBO, and earned higher ratings than The Sopranos did in its first season. An estimated 8.3 million viewers reportedly see Six Feet Under each week.

It has won two Golden Globes, one for Best Drama Series and the other for Best Supporting Actress for Rachel Griffiths.

At the recent 2002 Primetime Emmy Awards, it nabbed 23 nominations and brought home six awards.

So, what exactly is the attraction of the series?

First, the show was created by screenwriter Alan Ball, who earned an Oscar for American Beauty.

It is immediately clear in the first episode that the characters are a bunch of messed up people. Everyone, meet the Fishers: control-freak Mom (Frances Conroy), carefree and irresponsible son Nate Jr. (Peter Krause), closeted homosexual son David (Michael Hall) and angsty teen daughter Claire (Lauren Ambrose).

OK. So this is another take on a dysfunctional family by American television. Typically there has to be a troubled teen, a homosexual and a freaky mom.

And then there is Nate's commitment-phobic girlfriend Brenda (Griffith), who has a manic-depressive brother.

The first episode is filled with tension: Dad is killed when a bus runs over his new hearse, Mom is guilt-stricken by an affair with her hairdresser, Nate and David do not get along, while Claire is dating some guy who is on crack.

Pretty heavy, indeed.

One of the devices used to lighten the mood are witty "commercials" for funeral home products, such as coffins and embalming fluid.

However, starting with the second episode the show settles into its true tone.

Each episode opens with a death, sometimes a very stupid one, and then shows how all of the characters deal with it and with themselves.

Death, however, is dealt with in a playful way -- a dark irony that sparks laughter.

"I just try to do a story that's interesting and surprising and funny. I want it to be playful instead of wallowing in morbidity," Ball said.

The narrative is frequently interrupted by fantasies that pop into the characters' heads. These include the dead counseling the living about life.

The ghost of Dad makes frequent visits to share his observations, gems of wisdom -- which are actually sometimes wise -- and sarcastic comments.

The actors are especially excellent. While they are lesser- known, they give stunning performances, especially Conroy and Krause.

Conroy is brilliant as the snappish and sarcastic mother who does not know how to communicate with her sons or particularly with her daughter, the youngest child.

It is both funny and moving how she is concerned about her daughter but constantly asks her the wrong questions ("Have you been having sex?", "Are you on drugs?", "Do you have an eating disorder?"), which of course Claire declines to answer.

Conroy also succeeds in portraying a housewife who married young and then, later in life, tries to loosen up and explore life.

And Krause, as Nate Jr., shines in presenting a watchable and multidimensional character that really grows on you.

In the end, the drama succeeds in not just portraying death in another, far less terrifying face. It also fills our hearts and minds, and gives us something to delight in and celebrate.

Because, as Ball put it, "it's not a show about death. It's a show about life, in the presence of death -- which is life".

In one of the "commercials", there is a line saying "real life is better".

The show is sometimes overly and unnecessary dramatic. But the thing that makes this series work is how it convinces the audience that real life is indeed better, and subtly tells us to appreciate it.

Six Feet Under premiers Oct. 12 on HBO. Following its premier, it will appear every Tuesday.