Six Feet Under was never granted the same gravitas as The Sopranos, despite presenting a far more dynamic vision of what an American family could be

The A.V. Club

"While The Sopranos sometimes ventured away from its main made man, Tony remained the show’s focal point. He was the boss at home, at work, and in the beds of his goomars," says Laura Adamczyk. "It was clear from the beginning that Six Feet Under would go about its drama differently. Less than three minutes into the unforgettable pilot, its paterfamilias is killed. Nathaniel Fisher’s (Richard Jenkins) sudden death by way of an L.A. city bus wasn’t just the show’s initial plot driver, pulling prodigal son Nate (Peter Krause) into the family business and sparking tensions with his younger brother, David; it was also Ball’s way of saying that the series wasn’t going to be beholden to any father figure." Adamczyk adds: "Viewers’ identifying with Tony only goes so far, of course (most individuals’ misdeeds don’t include racketeering or murder), but it’s telling nonetheless. If The Sopranos’ overriding maxim was 'I tried to be good, not very hard, it didn’t work out, so now I’m going to give up and do it the other way,' then Six Feet Under’s was that nothing in life, save for death, is guaranteed, and the trick is to try to be good—whatever that even means—regardless. Ultimately, the difference between the two shows’ ethos is optimism versus pessimism, generosity versus cynicism."