Six Feet Deeper: A while back, I raised a red flag about this year's season of Six Feet Under. I was very impressed with last year's season in my essay, but this year was looking to be a step down. Some of the story lines got a little maudlin, and some of the episodes turned out a bit tawdry. It didn't finish any better. Some plot lines closed, others opened, and we were left with a cliff-hanger as to whether Nate (one of the two male leads) would survive brain surgery.

I don't mean to say it was a bad season, it was certainly worth watching and better than most other TV, but it was definitely a step down. The remarkable thing about the first season was the portrayal of the complicated emotions and motivations of a fairly mundane group of characters. There was a single plot-line about a psychotic brother that was a bit over the top, but beyond that your attention was held by the subtle portrayal of the complexities of the normal events of life.

In contrast, this season we had story-lines involving pseudo-religious cults, the Russian Mafia, sexual "addiction" and perversion, and the soap-opera worthy cliff-hanger.

My advice: Stop now. Don't make anymore. Alternatively, take the time to develop superior scripts, like the first year. Even if it takes more time to come up with them. We will have waited a year and a half since the last Sopranos season for new episodes, just so we can have some high quality material. Do the same or stop now.