Six Feet Under finale flies in ratings

HBO's Six Feet Under peaked in a doubleheader season finale Sunday night with the highest ratings of its rookie season.

The dark comedy/drama about a family in the mortuary business drew a 13.0 rating, 19 share for the opening episode, topping that with a 13.8/21 for the climactic segment in Nielsen overnight ratings among HBO households. That translates to around 4.3 million cable households for the opener, and 4.55 million for the closer. (Each rating point represents approximately 330,000 households.)

That high rating matches the season high for Six's summer lead-in, Sex and the City, which scored a 13.8 for the second episode of its double-episode season premiere. Six's ratings climbed steadily as it consistently drew critical kudos. - Richard Tedesco