Six Feet Under: How HBO's Family Drama Has Aged Like Fine Wine

HBO's five-season family drama, Six Feet Under, just gets better with each passing year. HBO's list of incredible prestige TV shows only seems to get better every year with every new release. What makes HBO Max stand out is that every year, even its old dramas seem to get better with each passing year.

It would be a bit disappointing if HBO Max were filled with a catalog of once-beloved TV shows that have since slid into obscurity, or worse, didn't age well. As it were, a show like Six Feet Under, even 25 years after the show premiered, has not just held up, but gotten even better over the decades.

What Is Six Feet Under About?

Six Feet Under is a drama series that follows the members of the Fisher family, led by Nathaniel Fisher Sr. (Richard Jenkins), who owns Fisher & Sons funeral home. After Nathaniel Sr. passes away and bequeaths the funeral home to his children, the next five seasons see the Fishers keeping the home running and dealing with traditional family drama issues.

These "typical" drama storylines are only the surface of each episode, and behind every storyline is a philosophical examination of death and life, with each cold opening of an episode showing the last moments of the person whose body is currently housed in Fisher & Sons. Each death ends up tying back into what's happening with the living characters.

Six Feet Under Has Aged Well

Six Feet Under has aged incredibly well, and going back to the series now is as rewarding as it was when it was airing. The series does two things extremely well. It tells an intriguing family drama and offers a unique insight into life, using death as the vehicle. On their own, either would make for excellent TV shows.

Together, those two different styles combine for something unique that other shows have attempted to replicate over the years, but which have never managed to nail as well as Six Feet Under does. The lessons and ideas Six Feet Under imparts in every episode are as relevant now as they were many years ago.

Six Feet Under Delivered One Of The Best Finales In History

Along with being an incredible show, Six Feet Under cemented its place in television history with one of the great finales in TV history. The final episode of the show ties up the most important lingering strands of the series, neatly laying to rest nearly every remaining question and unfinished storyline.

The Six Feet Under finale also makes sure to bring home the ever-present specter of death to the series. The final moments of the show are laced with flashforwards, showing the deaths of the main characters in the same style as the cold opens. It's a hair-raising, tear-jerking finale that is hopeful but also unflinching in its showcase of life.