“Can it be more f***ked up?”: HBO’s Demand For More Disturbing Scenes in ‘Six Feet Under’ Led To One of the Most Iconic Revenge Plots in the Show
One of the best television shows ever is HBO’s Six Feet Under, an American drama series produced by Alan Ball that stars Peter Krause, Michael C. Hall, Lauren Ambrose, and other well-known actors. It has a devoted fan base.
The sixty-three-episode series, which spanned five seasons and told the life of a family that ran a funeral house, came to an end in 2005. The show’s distinctive ideas, writing, and acting were all highly praised by critics, but the enduring revenge narrative was the one that grabbed everyone’s interest. Let’s discover more.
Alan Ball recalls HBO asking if he could make Six Feet Under more f***ked up
In an interview with The Independent, the creator of Six Feet Under, Alan Ball, shared that there was no concept or even an idea of exploring death on-screen at the time. He said,
“I feel like what the show is about is pretty timeless. There had never really been a show like that, about that subject. About death.”
The creator also noted that for the show he had to unlearn what he had learned working on television, which meant that he anticipated the notes given by the executives, but it was different with HBO. He explained,
“I don’t want to say that HBO didn’t have any creative input, because of course they did, but it was minimal. There weren’t that many people giving notes, and the notes that we got were good, smart ones.”
According to Brett Martin’s 2013 book Difficult Men: Behind the Scenes of a Creative Revolution as quoted in IMDB, HBO had given Ball just one real note which said,
“We love the characters. We love the story, but the whole thing feels a little safe. Can it be more f***ked up?”
The request from the head did surprise the creator, but he knew what he had to do.
Alan Ball wrote the iconic revenge plot in HBO’s Six Feet Under
Hall decided to make some changes to the script which starred Peter Krause, and Michael C. Hall, which included the iconic revenge plot line of Claire Fisher, played by Lauren Ambrose.
Claire’s high school boyfriend, Gabe, is described as a troubled and rebellious teenager, and in the third episode of the show, she takes revenge on Gabe for blabbering about how she sucked on his toes. She then steals a foot from their family’s morgue and plants it in his locker; explained via CheatSheet.
The revenge plot was described as one of the iconic plotlines of the show, which leads to the duo being cold towards each other until Gabe comes to Fishers’ to plan a funeral for his brother and the two of them meet again, get to know each other, and begin a friendship which leads to a relationship.
Kate Robin who served as one of the writers on the show had mentioned that Six Feet Under was so much more interesting than most other television shows at the time. She added that it found what was epic and universal, hilarious and horrible in the small and large moments of their lives.
