Reading Six Feet Under: TV to Die For Read Online Free PDF

(http://slate.msn.com/
    id/2102442) advertising HBO’s Sunday night line-up with its group of office workers gathering to discuss the latest episode of their favourite
    ‘must-see’ TV show plays up this notion. Promoting the ‘what the customer wants’ idea enables HBO to trade on the fact that it is offering a unique product – something that audiences cannot get elsewhere, and will take time out to watch. Scheduling is tailored to allow for flexible viewing ( Six Feet Under is first shown on Sunday evenings and then repeated throughout the week) as well as recognising that busy lifestyles must be accommodated. Even this works to the benefit of HBO, as it takes the cumulative rating into account when calculating viewing figures, which means the series compares favourably to a network show like NBC’s E.R . that is only shown once a week. The ideas of customer choice, branding and niche audiences are increasingly becoming important indicators of television quality.
    Another feature of quality relates to product differentiation in a diverse market place. Despite heavily promoting original programming (and any visit to the website confirms this notion), and 7
    READING SIX FEET UNDER
    HBO executives endlessly talking about ‘its riskier, artier ventures, emphasising just how different it is’ (Friend 2001: 90), it is surprising to find a lot of regular TV on the cable channel. After The Sopranos it is not Six Feet Under (as one might expect) but boxing and salacious documentaries like G-String Divas and the Real Sex series (dealing with sexual fantasies) that prove ratings winners and fill the schedules. It would seem that HBO might not be so different after all – especially considering HBO is a branch of the Time Warner Inc. empire, which also includes Warner Bros. Television, producers of E.R . and The West Wing . Free from competition, it gives us an insight into why HBO can be patient with its shows and explains why Albrecht can say: ‘[with] a dark ironic show like [ Six Feet Under ] unless it’s a creative or critical disaster you’ve almost got to give it two years for it to have a chance to build an audience’ (Friend 2001: 88). These kinds of strategies allow HBO to be seen as cutting edge, yet ‘HBO is not a band of artistic guerrillas who occasionally hijack the airwaves but an elite alternative to the parent company’s mass-market brands’ (Friend 2001: 89). HBO can dare to be different and push itself into new and often controversial television territory precisely because it is part of a vast economic conglomerate diverse enough to speculate and wait for a return on its investment.
    Alan Ball, TV Auteurship and Six Feet Under
    Central to HBO’s definition of original programming is its promotion of the TV auteur and top-notch writing. Any survey of the original publicity for Six Feet Under reveals an emphasis placed by HBO on the creative genius behind the show: Alan Ball, creator/
    executive producer. Graduating from the University of Georgia and Florida State, Ball started out in theatre. He helped set up the General Nonsense Theatre Company in Sarasota, Florida, before moving to New York. Here he formed the Alarm Dog Repertory Company (1986–1994) with friends. Writing and producing Off Off Broadway black comedies, he eventually came to the attention of Tom Werner and Marcy Carsey, prominent television producers, who offered him a job. Writing for Grace Under Fire, starring Brett Butler, for one year and Cybill with Cybill Shepherd for three years, where he rose to executive producer, saw Ball move into network 8
    INTRODUCT ION
    television. In 1999 he signed a three-year television development deal with the production company Greenblatt Janollari Studio – the company that now produces Six Feet Under . The first project back in 1999 was a sitcom written by Ball for ABC called Oh Grow Up , a quasi-autobiographical series about three men, two straight and one gay, living together in Brooklyn.