There are arguably more masterpieces on HBO than any other TV broadcaster, and most of them start as they mean to go on, with inimitably brilliant opening scenes. Yet, one underappreciated work of genius begins with an initial twist so arresting that nothing since it first aired 25 years ago has topped it.

Very few family shows in television history would dare kill off their central patriarch before the end of season 1, let alone the first scene of their very first episode. But Six Feet Under is no ordinary family show. The start of this five-season HBO great is among the best opening scenes in TV history precisely because it’s so unexpected.

With its subversive and profoundly humanizing take on life through the prism of a family in the business of handling death, Six Feet Under is an extraordinary comedy-drama that leaves its mark on whoever watches it. The show’s unforgettable first-episode death sets the tone for everything painful and painfully funny in the seasons that follow.

HBO’s Six Feet Under Is 25 Years Old This Month

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There aren’t many HBO dramas that have aged as well as Six Feet Under. The enduring appeal of the series is particularly impressive given the sensitive subject at the heart of its story. Death is never an easy subject to broach, and countless TV shows have botched their attempts at killing off major characters on the small screen.

But somehow, Six Feet Under blends grace and sensitivity in the face of agonizing family tragedy with a macabre sense of humor. The series is so deftly written that this unlikely combination of seemingly disparate tonal elements fit together beautifully, just as they often do in real life.

Frequently across its five-season run, there are episodes which manage to make viewers both laugh and cry in the space of a single scene. Nothing masters the delicate balance between the humor and horror of death as well as the opening scene of Six Feet Under, which first aired on HBO almost exactly 25 years ago, on June 3, 2001.

Six Feet Under Features HBO’s Greatest Opening Scene

Nathaniel Fisher Sr (Richard Jenkins) smoking a cigarette in Six Feet Under. — Nathaniel Fisher Sr Six Feet Under 2

While death often marks the beginning of a story, very rarely is the deceased a central protagonist of the plot. But, in many ways, Six Feet Under is the most ambitious show HBO has ever made, and the comedy-drama sets its stall out right from the very start with an opening scene even greater than those of its contemporaries.

Not even The Sopranos or The Wire can compare with the jawdropping originality of this show’s first three and a half minutes. Following a hilarious sendup of the whole advertising industry, Six Feet Under’s pilot episode suddenly cuts to the sequence that ends Nathaniel Fisher Sr.’s life.

The head of Fisher & Sons Funeral Home is driving a hearse, having just finished talking to his wife on the phone. When he bends down to light a cigarette, his side of the car is hit by a bus at the junction he’s passing through.

We’re then returned to the kitchen of his family home, where his wife contemplates his potential midlife crisis, and his son bemoans the decision to purchase the new hearse he’s just crashed. The piercing dramatic irony that envelopes their every line of dialogue only serves to underscore the shockingly unexpected nature of what’s just happened.

This opening scene was a revolutionary moment in television history, which had an immeasurable impact on so many landmark shows that came after it, from Lost to The Good Place. HBO has never started a series better since.

Nathaniel Fisher Sr.’s Death Is Still Just As Shocking Today

Nathaniel Fisher leaning over to light a cigarette while driving in Six Feet Under

Viewers and critics alike frequently credit Six Feet Under with having possibly the best series finale in the history of the small screen, but its peerless first scene doesn’t get the attention it deserves. Anyone who’s yet to watch the series will still find Nathaniel Fisher Sr.’s death just as shocking today as back in June 2001.

In fact, even those who’ve already seen the episode before are still caught cold by the sudden appearance of a bus headed for downtown in the side window of Nate Sr.’s new hearse. Six Feet Under moves and shakes us no matter how many times we watch it, stirring up emotions like no other HBO masterpiece.