Shark Bytes

Six Feet Under serves as a glowing example of just how great a show can be.

Season 1 and 2 were terrific 3 drops off quite a bit, but they get back to great during season 4. Season 5 was incredibly sad. No show ever makes me cry, but watching Nate die, and the last 10 minutes of the finale had me in absolute tears. I really felt like that I was watching my family on tv. I will miss this show it was 2nd to none.

Someone was asking why they killed Nate off before the final episode. I have always thought that it was because the show began not with the Father's passing, but of Nate returning home for Christmas and deciding to stay. At the end of the show, Nate's death was the catalyst for the other characters to move on to a better part of their life. Claire going to New York, Ruth enjoying the twilight of her life, David finally being vulnerable enough to feel he was deserving of love, and Brenda being able to embrace being a mother.

I LOVED that Claire ended up with Ted. That was possibly the best coupling of the entire show-it had a Mr. Darcy/Elizabeth element to it. And I loved that Brenda died of boredom whilst listening to Billy prattle on and on.

SFU was a great show the first two seasons, but the "overdrama" got to be too much.

I especially hated that they EVER brought Brenda back. In real life, a woman like that would be considered a stalker.

Why do shows now think that you have to have a gay character or at least a gay "arc" to a character? I have gay friends but it isn't THAT common.

BUT! The show did have some of the best episodes ever. Nate's death, Lisa's burial, etc.

It jumped the shark when the Latino partner had the affair with the stripper because he couldn't deal with his wife's depression. He seemed way too smart to hand over $3,000 to help some woman who gave him a BJ get her leaky breast implants removed. Noones heart is that big, and even if it was motivated by guilt, the whole relationship seemed totally out of character. A one night stand maybe, but hanging out with her and her kid? Drama, just added drama.

Probably the most overrated show in the history of HBO. It lost me after about halfway into season 1, and kept getting worse and worse from there. Characters would scream and hurl abuse at one another EVERY. DAMN . WEEK. due to their oh-so-traumatic Issues. The writing was atrociously bad; characters would have the same fights over and over, not to mention the moronic use of "the dead person of the week has just enough similarities to a main character that oh so coincidentally was going through a similar experience, so that "deep" and hopefully thought-provoking comparisons could be made". Vomit. I've seen more subtlety in an episode of Greys Anatomy, a rampaging elephant of transparent writing if there ever was one. And oh my god, the melodrama! Dead husbands (x2), missing (then found dead) wives, quickie marriages (x3), miscarriages, unexpected pregnancies (x2), drugs drugs drugs, drug addiction, sex (x1000000000 these people slept around a LOT), sex addiction, homophobia, gay adoption, cheating (also x1000000000 since they also seemed to love adulterous sex more than anything), more cheating, cheating with the person who cheated on you in the first season, car accidents, carjacking, PTSD, incest, brain tumours (the life-threatening kind), the russian mob, lesbianism, holy crap the list goes ON AND ON AND ON. These people had a constant barrage of crap thrown at them every week- it's no wonder they became such 2-dimensional caricatures.

Of course, the fake melodrama crap was just a poor excuse for characters to go off the deep end (ie. scream, burst into tears, become hysterical, become a drug/alcohol abuser) every other week, so much so that by the 15th or so time the mother, Ruth, screams tearfully about the most recent piece-of-crap-plot-device, you just want to reach through the screen and kill them all. I had to physically force myself to sit through the last couple of seasons just so I could put the dvds away for ever, or, I don't know.. burn them. Not nearly as inventive/quirky/edgy/endearingly dysfunctional-yet-heartfelt as its fans claim. In short, this show was crap. Jumped the shark when they started to go overboard with wacky, overly dramatic shenanigans and utilized insultingly farcical plot devices and inconsistent characterization to generate drama for drama's sake. Beneath the "edgy", faux-hipster, anti-mainstream BS lies a poorly written, glorified soap opera with more tantrums and less attractive people. My reaction to the series finale: "huh". So glad it's over. WORST SHOW EVER.

SFU NEVER jumped. It didn't even put on skis. It came on at the perfect time during America's time of crisis (Sept. 11th) to help most of us to deal with death. And it didn't overstay it's welcome with a perfect series finale. It left me an emotional lump of flesh. You would have thought a family member of mine died as tears rolled down my face seeing Claire drive off towards NYC. And the little glimpes of the future seeing how each of the main characters crosses over left me completely satisfied. Unlike ANOTHER HBO series that left me hanging like a stood up date. Bravo, Allan Ball.

The last episode was undoubtedly the best closing of a drama ever. Sheer genius.

I really hated the carjacking...man they dragged that out, and he became so annoying and whinny for so long because of it even to the end.....loved, loved, loved the ending.

This is the best project to hit TV that I have ever experienced. The last episode was a perfect culmination, and left me devastated.

a shame to say but this is a prefect example of a show that jumped the shark. The first two seasons...what can i say, perfect! They are as good as any season of Sopranos! And that's why it pains me to say that the show lost it by the third. The writing was still good, so was the acting. The fact is the show lost its edge and became a high class soap opera especially in the 4th season. Still the episodes when Lisa went missing and when Nate died were superb. But again I'd critise the show for relying on the 'big crises' too much.

From the very beginning to the end, the entire series was great. The writing was perfect. The characters were believable. I don't even have words to describe the final episode. It ended on a high note and other great shows should follow suit.

I found this show after it had already ended, and blasted through all five seasons on DVD in one several week long binge, finishing last night. I have never seen a show with better writing, acting, and directing (along with Sopranos and Galactica). I love the quirkiness, the depth of the issues addressed, and the reality of the characters and situations. I have never wept as hard from something I saw on TV as I did in the ep when Nate buries Lisa, and the ending of the finale. Absolutely brilliant.

I do have to say that I felt that the wrap-up of the Missing Lisa thread bordered on cheap. And I felt like I didn't enjoy the show as much in the final two seasons as I did the first three. I am tempted to say that the show jumped the shark then, but after seeing the finale, I realize that it didn't. And here's why...

The characters all became very unlikeable at some point during those final two seasons, to the degree that sometimes I had to force myself to keep watching. But in the end, I felt that almost every character (Brenda's mom excepted) redeemed him/herself.

And that's very true to real life, isn't it? The people that you love the most, that are most important to you, all are at times completely unloveable. But you don't stop loving them. That is what life is about. Interesting that a show that was from start to finish about death winds up with an amazing lesson about life.

Re "That's My Dog": a very disturbing episode, but that's not the same as "bad." It wasn't my favorite, but even if it truly was utterly awful (which it wasn't), one bad episode doesn't put The Fonz on water skis. Many gems in the episodes that followed.

Earlier comment: Why kill nate off? peter krause was the best part of the show.

I know what you mean. I think most everyone would agree that once that happened, after another three episodes the show became utterly unwatchable.