I watched one episode of the highly acclaimed Six Feet Under, and that was enough. It's well-written but heavy and dark (both in tone and in actual lighting). I thought it was just me but Slate's Emily Nussbaum articulately says she is not impressed:
http://www.slate.msn.com/?id=2068478

I knew the Tribune's TV critic, Steve Johnson, was one of the show's supporters, so I asked him what he thought of Nussbaum's review:

Debunking a crowd favorite is certainly a fun thing to do when you can, in good conscience, do it. She convinces me that she believes what she's writing, which is, amazingly, often not the case with attempted debunks. And while I certainly recognize the show in her characterization of it, I disagree with most of her key opinions, especially about Brenda. As for the melodramatic piling-on, I've come to believe that's just something you have to accept if you are to live with a TV series. When you like a show, you make peace with the absurdity; when you don't, it is, of course, absurd.