Six Feet Under & Dexter

I just finished the fifth season of Six Feet Under and I have been emotionally drained for the past few days. The HBO series stars Peter Krause, Michael C. Hall, Frances Conroy, Lauren Ambrose, Rachel Griffith, and Richard Jenkins.

From the HBO, Six Feet Under website:
Los Angeles, Christmas Eve, Nathaniel Fisher, owner of the Fisher and Sons Funeral Home, is killed when a municipal bus broadsides his new hearse. The tragedy casts a pall on the holiday homecoming of son Nate (who works for an organic food co-op in Seattle), as he must not only deal with the death of a father, but the fragile egos of mother Ruth (who has been having a secret affair with her hairdresser, Hiram), brother David (a closet homosexual seeing a black policeman named Keith), and a sister Claire (a rebellious high-schooler who receives the bad news after dropping crystal meth with new boyfriend Gabe). The only good thing to happen to Nate is Brenda, a passionate women he met on the plane, just before learning of his father's death. At home, David eschews the talents of his young mortician, Fredrico, to personally undo the damage of his dad's accident. The ensuing funeral leaves the family's deepest emotions exposed, and calls into question some of our more absurd rites of passage. At the grave site, David is not amused by the advances of Matthew Gilardi of Kroehner Service Corporation, a funeral- home conglomerate looking to buy out the Fishers business. As for senior Nathaniel, he may have been laid to rest- but has plenty left to reveal to his family.

Of course, how could I RESIST, I had to watch this series and much to my surprise, I LOVED it! What an innovative show; excellent writing and wonderful characters, best show I have ever watched! (And that means better than LOST.)

Now there are some provocative scenes in this series and they push the envelope, but they serve the series well and quite honestly, I was more shocked by Nate Jr.'s (straight brother) behaviour than I was with David's (gay brother) mainly because of the pain he seemed to cause the loves in his life. But I digress; you should watch it simply because it is one of the best shows ever and if you are tired of the same old same old - it is worth putting on your Netflix list or DVDs to buy. I rented it from the library but I know some of you just HAVE to have it on your shelves.

A side note - I discovered this gem by way of catching an episode of Dexter on CBS. It's a series about a serial killer who only kills other serial killers. It stars Michael C. Hall (whom I just love) and I was so intrigued by the episode I rented the entire season from Netflix while I was still in Alaska. Thank goodness I did because the Showtime original series is much better than the "edited for broadcast television" and the bonus of course, NO COMMERCIALS! I looked up Michael on the Internet and discovered that he was in Six Feet Under and after reading the above excerpt - just had to go there.

We just rented Dexter Season 1 again to watch with my son because Season 2 comes out in August and Season 3 begins on Showtime in September (which we got a year free when we signed up for Direct TV, which my hubby could not live without his ESPN and FOX sports; another story).

Anyway, here's my summer watching recommendations if anyone should care. I plan on started The Wire (another HBO series) next all courtesy of my local library. Just a small step in reducing clutter and waste, thereby reducing my carbon footprint on this earth.