“Six Feet Under” wrapped up its fourth season on HBO
Sunday, and it came not a moment too soon. Viewership was down a full point from last
year, when the show averaged a 3.2 rating.
“Six Feet Under” is in trouble.
What's most hurting the show are meandering story arcs, which have led to the
usual consequence, a sense that the series is heading off into oblivion. Consider two
moments this season that had “jump the shark” written all over them.
First, there was the interminable ordeal David Fisher (Michael C. Hall) went
through in the July 18 episode “That’s My Dog.” With boyfriend Keith out of
town, a lonely David picks up a hitchhiker, unaware that the man is a gun-toting sadist.
The hitchhiker proceeds to torment and completely humiliate David, in a scene that
played out nonstop for nearly 40 minutes, almost the entire length of the show.
As good as Hall was, his performance was severely undercut by the ungodly
length of the sequence. Not only did the show’s audience numbers shrink in the course
of the hour, they continued to dip the following week as part of a season-long decline.
Then there was the ill-advised fight sequence in “Grinding the
Corn,” the Aug. 15 show that saw Nate and George dispatch two would-be comic book
thieves with superhero-like bravado. About the only thing missing—not that it would
have helped—were a few POWs! and ZAPs! from Batman.
“Six Feet Under” clearly needs fixing, and it can be repaired. It
would not be the first show to go through an off year only to come back far stronger the
following season.
Here’s what executive producer Alan Ball needs to do to fix “Six
Feet Under.”
1. Get Nate out of his funk
Devastated by the death of his wife Lisa in last year’s season finale,
Nate (Peter Krause) has been mired in a melancholic funk all season. Nate’s
depression ran so deep that at one point he quit the funeral business.
Granted, “Six Feet Under” is an existential drama. When you deal
with death as often as Nate and the rest of the Fishers do, brooding is hardly unusual.
But enough already. The problem with existential angst is that it does not
exactly make for gripping dramatic television.
Nate, after all, is the linchpin of “Six Feet Under,” and as he
goes, so goes the show. Ball needs to snap Nate out of his depression before the show
becomes completely unbearable.
2. Drop George Sibley
Nothing against James Cromwell, but the character he plays is perhaps
the biggest drip on television since Darrin Stephens on “Bewitched.”
To his credit, Ball seems to be aware of that. The last four episodes have
shown Ruth (Frances Conroy) seriously questioning the future of her marriage to George.
The implication is that George’s days on the series might well be numbered. If so,
good for Ball.
3. Bring back Kathy Bates, and often
Bates had a wonderful story arc last season as
Bettina, the free spirit who helped Ruth snap out of her doldrums. The screen crackles
with energy when Bates and Conroy are together, as was the case three weeks ago, when
Bates reprised Bettina. 4. Get
back to the basics
Awful though it was to watch, David’s ordeal with the hitchhiker
did provide the impetus for putting Nate back where he belongs, running Fisher & Diaz,
the family business. The stories this season seemed intent on steering “Six
Feet” away from the funeral parlor and more into the direction of soap. That is
entirely the wrong direction. The show is about a funeral parlor, and it needs to get back
to that.
Ball also needs to prune the show's various characters, who all seem to
wander off from the central story. We have Claire (Lauren Ambrose) vacillating over a
lesbian relationship with Edie (Mena Suvari) that's been more tedious than titillating.
Federico (Freddy Rodriguez) and Vanessa (Justina Machado) have become increasingly
juvenile as their marriage continues to crumble.
Then there’s the ghost of Lisa (Lili Taylor), overbearing as ever as she
haunts Nate from the grave. No wonder the poor guy is depressed.
And Nate could certainly use the guidance of his late father Nathaniel
(Richard Jenkins), whose spirit he summons in moments of need. The relationship between
Nate and his dad is at the heart of “Six Feet Under,” yet Nathaniel was absent
most of this year.
Ball should be exorcising Taylor while bringing back Jenkins. This family needs a
ghost, but only one and the right one.
What's at stake with all this repair work?
A lot for HBO. With “The Sopranos” not returning until at least
mid-2006, the burden of sustaining its Sunday night franchise falls entirely on “Six
Feet Under.”
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