Dead now about a week, Charles Nelson Reilly was in life important on TV if not in cinema. From Wikipedia:

In the 1990s Reilly made guest appearances on The Drew Carey Show, The Larry Sanders Show, and most notably, as eccentric writer Jose Chung in the television series The X-Files ("Jose Chung's "From Outer Space"") and Millennium ("Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense"). Reilly was nominated for Emmy Awards in 1998 and 1999 for his performances in The Drew Carey Show and Millennium, respectively.

Because I so admire the above-cited work, I can't really agree with the title thesis of this article:

Charles Nelson Reilly played himself better than anyone
by Charles McNulty

I am watching, on DVD, the last season of Six Feet Under.

This series started out great, but it has gone downhill, chiefly as the characters became increasingly less likeable. It was as if the writers wanted to write about complex, ridden-down people, and concocted an oppressive series of incidents to weigh them down.

I am especially disliking the character of the mother and the character of the dauther. Both are played by fine actresses. But I'm pretty sure were the characters they play to show up in my life, I'd turn the other direction. The mother, especially, is a horrible woman.

The theme almost seems to be People who don't know what they want, and can't articulate what little they do know.

The show does get me to think in broad generalities, though. The women seem almost crazy, haunted by their biology, driven by some rather indecent entelechies. The men, two of whom are certifiably crazy, seem just a tad less so, on average, but only a tad. But they, too, can barely keep any emotion under control, and seem to spin off into baroque fancies.

The way things are going, I wouldn't mind seeing half the show's characters buried by the final episode.

But they don't seem to be doing much dying.

They are merely dying inside.

Great theme music, though.