New Season of "Six Feet Under" starts tonight!

Totally. I was thinking, "somebody already had to find that body once, do you really want to risk it again?"

Hey, there you go. (I feel the same way about all the chemicals and crap they use to pickle you. I just don't understand the fascination with preservation in our culture. The basis for it elsewhere, where there was a notion of an afterlife that included worldly possessions, including the body -- that I get. But I would rather be left to rot, return to the earth. I consume enough of the earth's resources while I'm alive; the least I can do is be recycled when I die.)

Somewhat off topic, but since many "Six Feet Under" fans are also "Dead Like Me" fans, I am relaying that I just learned that "Dead Like Me" will return on SHO on 25 July.

Liked the first season, but can't afford all the premium channels any more...

I've been catching up on "Dead Like Me" on VOD, flyboy.

Both HBO and SHO are treating VOD repeats differently than they originally did. The repeats of currently running shows are now available the day after the original broadcast. There use to be a short wait. Very convenient!! I assume you realized that I was referring to season 2 starting in July.

Yes, but I missed several of the first season so I was catching up. Great writing, very imaginative and smart dialogue. My favorite was when the cook died in the coffee shop and Mandy Patinkin took his place.

Very funny episode last nite!

The Church Lady seeing those blow up dolls floating up, priceless!

Then Church lady creeps me out in Nate's dream, but then she cracks me up preaching about 'rods and staffs' while on top of him, again, priceless!

Keith's remark about hittin'.....that a$$.

Arthur and George matching wits, then apparently Arthur sends Geo a dish of crap!

Surprised that David admitted to his sexual encounter without any anger from Keith?

I thought the guy doing the poem about the clitoris was pretty funny too.

One more question: When did Rico turn into such a pinhead? He's going to get caught very soon.

Yeah, Rico is big time PW'd, and he's not hiding it well at all.

It's Keith who keeps insisting they are in a relationship but "not married." I think David is attempting to show that, okay, so that means there's no question of fidelity.

Who sent the pile of crap? Hmmm. I don't think it was George.

I am very disappointed in this season so far.

Too much violence, too little quirky dark humor.

I think it's great. I loved the whole episode where David got kidnapped. That was really intense stuff. And I am starting to really get into Claire's story, which I always thought was pretty weak in past seasons. Except when she dated that criminal guy. Maybe I'm just hopefully anticipating lesbian scenes though.

The thing that's missing though is the Nate's inner demons. He always was the main focus in the past, and his battles were so deep and interesting. That stuff, I do miss.

Well Brenda may start kicking up Nate's inner demons again, so you may get your wish to see more of them.

I am waiting for more revelations about Ruth's new hubby. That situation has some potential for novelty.

But I am not sure what the kidnapping episode added to the plot. What was the point of it all? David had several chances to drive away from that guy, and he just didn't take them. Is he on some self destructive slide looking for excitement? He also had unprotected sex with that plumber. Is he too jealous of Keith's new glamorous job, and is that causing him to take dangerous risks?

Putting Claire into a lesbian encounter seems just too predictable, although things seem to be headed in that direction. I'd like to see Claire get involved with something or someone really meaningful to her. Something that would really challenge her. She seems to be barking up the wrong tree with her various artwork projects, because she doesn't seem to be particularly creative or talented. I'd like to see her stumble into something that would really get her excited and focused. She's got a lot of undirected passion. Seeing it emerge would be great.

And I am starting to find Brenda very tedious and boring.

I'd love to see one of those sudden musical numbers they had in the first season or two. Those were wonderful. And the comic relief would be welcome.

I agree -- they're getting a bit too dark and with a bit too much angst. It's beginning to resemble Kafka when it was better when it resembled Proust.

I do think the kidnapping scene was the apex of David's fantasies and I don't think he will be picking up any hitchhikers anytime soon. What's fascinating is where the story could lead -- if they reintroduce the mugger/kidnapper in some strange way in a later episode. Like him being one of those who dies in the beginning of an episode at the hand of a victim who gets the upper hand and shoots him? And he's taken to the funeral home for burial? Now that would be quirky.

Speaking of the funny...my favorite line ever is in the first season when they are at the funeral director's convention and all the old guys are sitting there discussing how much they hate Kroener. One of the old guys, who knows David is gay, says, speaking of Kroener, "I'd rather have a plastic screw shoved up my ass then sell out to that bastard!" Then he pauses, looks at David, and says, "No offense." What a great line.

Tonight's episode was back on target in terms of quirkiness and humor. Thank goodness--I was starting to give up hope.

Every family has dark times and I guess it's natural for Alan Ball to want to explore both aspects of a family history. This is a saga of ordinary people. I had an idea they'd bounce back after the characters had to learn their lessons in life, encountering people who don't have their best interests in mind (understatement!)

I had an eerie feeling in several scenes that David's kidnapper would appear by chance but I'm sure they are saving that for later. Ball and Co. have a unique way of introducing the moral of the story. It's like Aesop on a drug high.

My favorite comedic sequence, incidentally, was when David accidentally got Mom high!