Has a TV show ever changed the way you thought about your life -- or your death? Todd Zuniga writes about the lingering effect of the HBO series Six Feet Under, and shows how to maintain the appropriate distance when discussing death with friends. Read the article One Year in the Grave, or reply to this post to discuss.

HBO's promos for the second season of "Six Feet Under" showcase Mr. Zuniga's point about the multiple layers and dimensions of the characters. In them, each person is shown from several different perspectives: their clothes, pose and emotions altered in each one. It is a fine way to showcase their personalities, and it quickly signals to the viewer that this is not a cookie-cutter family.

But really, what family is? That "Six Feet Under" dares to show each person at their best and their worst is a welcome change from the stale TV world. The producers know that we will embrace the characters, warts and all, because we are able to connect with them. As Mr. Zuniga said, they feel like us.

All fine and good, but I'd like to hear more about Mr. Zuniga's doomed trip to Paris to meet a phantom Oklahoman.

Everytime you fly for eight hours to meet up with someone you mistakenly fall for, everyone keys on it. Should've known. Death, life, cremation. Nothing captures one's imagination like doomed love. I wrote a story on McSweeneys.net called "32 1/2 Things I Learned on a Blind Date with a Pretty Girl Named Heather." I was shocked by the response. The what-happened of it all. Maybe I'll pen a piece on doomed love sometime soon.

But more important: did anyone catch episode one of season two? Back to the glory days of Six Feet Under, methinks.

I confess, all I really want to know is what's happening in Mr. Zuniga personal life -- but I figure the best way to do that is to keep him writing -- so I guess I'll respond to his plea for a substantive reaction to the show.

Glory days, indeed! What an episode ... The two dinner conversations -- one hilarious, intimate one and one hilarious, semi-public one when significant others were invited -- were masterful. So much to break down and wonder. But Mr. Zuniga is right -- it's all about the characters -- they are drawn and acted to perfection, down to every sigh or roll of the eyes.

One of the things Six Feet Under does so well is to bring in the dreamstates and fantasies of the characters without looking in the least bit hokey. I keep thinking of Ally McBeal and all those failed sitcoms that supposedly showed us what the characters were really thinking. They always seemed like cheap jokes. But when Six Feet Under does it (and they did it a lot last Sun. night), it reflects a deepening of a character or it reveals their struggles in a new light. It's never done gratuitously.