Ranking Every HBO Drama Series From Worst To Best

Alan Ball’s triumphant portrayal of the California Fisher family is one of the best acted, most ingeniously observed shows in television history. It’s macabre and often devastating without being depressing, a wry and funny show that will have you feeling more connected to fictional characters than most anything before or after.

As the title suggests, it’s obsessed with mortality - the Fishers run a funeral home, and each episode begins with an often graphic death, starting with the shocking exit of patriarch Nathaniel (Peter Jenkins, who regularly features in ghost form). His death brings black sheep son Nate back to the family fold, where he reluctantly joins the family business.

The familial relationships - mother Ruth, daughter Claire, and best of all middle child David (Michael C Hall, heartbreakingly good) feel lived in from the off, and they grow naturally across the five seasons. Six Feet Under is about death, but it’s about life, too - every character here feels unfulfilled, and to varying degrees they chase, catch, and sometimes lose their dreams.

Its ending is among the greatest of all time, and it maintains its pace brilliantly across five seasons. Not as easy a sell as some of HBO’s other top tier stuff, but absolutely deserving of a place in the pantheon.