It's good, but not 'genius' by any stretch of the imagination (as has been the reception here by fans and in the press generally). Like American Beauty, it's essentially a mix-and-match box of platitudes couched in sentimentality and depending on your viewpoint, great or really naff artistic pretence. The characters are formulaic (the teenage daughter... HOW many glossy American dramas have we seen that character in lately? The Sopranos and 24 to name but two) and the setting in dysfunctional-Suburbia is now a bit of a cliche. The surreal sequences are just sort of Ally Mcbeal with dead people. Beneath the surface (admitedly a really good looking surface - especially the opening credits which are beautiful) and its setting in a funeral home it's not really that original and quite formulaic.
However every week i still find myself watching the series, and enjoying it. There's a couple of great ideas (such as the death at the start of each episode, and channelling David's subconscious through the personality-filter of the recently deceased) as well as the high production values which raise it above the level of most other series on the box today or in the recent past.
However every week i still find myself watching the series, and enjoying it. There's a couple of great ideas (such as the death at the start of each episode, and channelling David's subconscious through the personality-filter of the recently deceased) as well as the high production values which raise it above the level of most other series on the box today or in the recent past.