George R.R. Martin Says ‘Six Feet Under’ Finale Is the Best in TV History: ‘I Cannot Imagine How Anyone Could Possibly Do Better’

variety.com:

Ethan Shanfeld In the eyes of George R.R. Martin, HBO’s “Six Feet Under” sits atop the Iron Throne of television finales. After Vanity Fair published an article titled “25 Perfect TV Episodes From the Last 25 Years,” which included the Martin-written “Blackwater” from “Game of Thrones,” the “Song of Ice and Fire” author took to his Not a Blog website to weigh in on some of his favorite episodes of television. “If I had to pick one episode that was even more perfect than all the others on the list… it would have to be the final episode of ‘Six Feet Under,'” Martin wrote on his blog. “I liked that series well enough, though I cannot say I loved it as much as I loved ‘Rome’ or ‘Deadwood’ or ‘Fargo’ or a few other shows missing from the list, but that last episode was far and away the best finale in the entire history of television, and I cannot imagine how anyone could possibly do better.” The HBO drama, which ended Aug.

21, 2005, centered on the Fisher family, who ran a funeral home in Los Angeles. The final episode, written and directed by series creator Alan Ball, is widely considered one of the greatest television finales ever made.

Martin also called out his favorite episodes from Vanity Fair’s list, including “The Suitcase” from “Mad Men” and “the heart-wrenching ‘Ozymandias'” from “Breaking Bad.” “‘The Sopranos’ had lots of great episodes, but ‘The Pine Barrens’ was special, and for the entire rest of the series I kept waiting for that Russian to turn up again when we least expected,” Martin added.