Parlor Games

On Sunday's episode of "Six Feet Under," a Jewish
funeral takes place at Fisher and Sons.

NAOMI PFEFFERMAN
Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles

S

ix Feet Under writer-producer
Jill Soloway admits the HBO
funeral parlor family drama is
like a weekly commercial for
taharah, the Jewish way of death.
Forget the no-open-casket Jewish
tradition: On Alan Ball's quirky hit,
words like "skin slippage" are de
rigueur and corpses are regularly
drained and made up for display.
"It's pretty gross," concedes Temple
Israel of Hollywood member Soloway,
who's invented a rabbi character to
proffer Jewish perspectives on death.
In the April 14 episode, 30-ish, sin-
gle Reform Rabbi Ari (Molly Parker)
— partly inspired by Temple Israel
Rabbi Michelle Missaghieh — visits
the Fisher funeral home after a con-
gregant's husband accidentally com-
mits suicide during autoerotic asphyx-
iation.
"This season we're using the show
to explore diverse religious traditions,"
explains Soloway, 36, who was hired
after Ball read her blackly comic short
story "Courtney Cox's A
" last
year.
Before long, Rabbi Ari is counseling
tormented elder Fisher son Nate about
issues involving God and spirituality.

As research for the episode,
Soloway interviewed Jewish thanatol-
ogists and asked Missaghieh how she
prepares for funerals and approaches
suicides. She also grilled Missaghieh
about how she used to date when she
was single (non-Jews weren't
allowed).
If the fictional Ari says she won't
date Nate, she's not above flirting
with the guy: "In drama, characters
have to be flawed," Soloway says.
"Propaganda isn't good TV."
Apparently Rabbi Ari is. She'll
reappear in a May episode when
Nate takes his half-Jewish fiancee,
Brenda (Rachel Griffiths), to her for
premarital counseling.
Meanwhile, single mom Soloway
— whose office is near the morti-
cian's "prep room" set at Sunset-
Gower Studios — has become con-
vinced taharah is best. "Since work-
ing on the series, not only do I not
want to be embalmed, I don't want
to be preserved in any way," she says.
"That's become a pretty common
sentiment among everyone associated
with the show." 0

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Six Feet Under airs 9 p.m.
Sundays on HBO.

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Broadway production."
Seltzer finds it a bit difficult to
celebrate the Jewish holidays in his
job. He was in Wisconsin during the
High Holidays and spent a few days
in his room, not answering the
phone. He was in Naples, Fla., dur-
ing Passover and attended seders.
"And I always carry a menorah
with me so I can observe
Chanukah," he mused: "But I never
get any gifts because people don't
know where I am." 0

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trative management for 15 years,
and is almost always on the road,
handling a show's payroll, insurance
and "everything that is non-artistic,"
he pointed out.
•
.
"I'm the eyes and ears for the pro-
ducer, taking care of any problems
that arise."
One problem on the current Music
Man tour has been "peaceful picket-
ing" by various local union mem-
bers, and Seltzer expects the same in
Detroit because the 36-member cast
doesn't belong to Actors Equity, a
show business union.
"it's less expensive for us to use non-
Equity actors. It allows us to keep the
show on the road," Seltzer explained.
"It just wouldn't be financially feasible
to maintain the show if we had to pay
the Equity actors from the former

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