Pilot

"Pilot" is the first episode of the HBO original series, Six Feet Under. The episode was written and directed by series creator, Alan Ball. It originally aired on Sunday June 3, 2001. On Christmas Eve, while driving in his brand new hearse, Nathaniel Fisher, owner of the Fisher & Sons Funeral Home in Los Angeles, is killed when he is hit by a bus. His passing reunites the family (which would have happened anyway since it was Christmas) however, Nathaniel's death makes the following days more painful than they would already have been. Nathaniel leaves behind his wife Ruth, two sons Nate and David and a daughter Claire. As Ruth cooks Christmas dinner, she receives a phone call from the police informing her that Nathaniel has died. Ruth throws the phone and starts screaming. David, who is attending to the family downstairs in the slumber room, hears Ruth's rampage and hurries up the stairs. Ruth tells David that there has been an accident: that the new hearse is totaled and that his... full article at wikipedia