Praised for its unabashed portrait of the 'death care' industry, HBO's Six Feet Under is less about the business of death than the art of living well. Created by Alan Ball (American Beauty) this innovative, controversial show charts difficult territory, from death, dying and bereavement, to female and gay sexualities, laying bare in the process an American cultural consciousness. Six Feet Under first aired among HBO's 'must-see' Sunday night line-up in 2001 and went on to establish itself as a critical and ratings winner. This book on the groundbreaking show examines such themes as the modern sacred and profane, pornography and the dead body, magic realism and the grotesque, American cultural politics, family relationships, homosexuality, the church and gay politics, motherhood and teenage rebellion. Entertaining and enlightening in equal measure, it contains an interview with composer Rick Marvin, an essay by Thomas Lynch whose books inspired the show and a complete episode guide to the first four series of Six Feet Under.