Terminal City is one of the many victims of bad timing. Either that or it is a hastily concocted doppelgänger produced for the sole purpose of replacing a rival networks hit show that was soon coming to an end. Unfortunately from my own perspective, it appears to be the latter. When HBO unleashed Six Feet Under onto the airwaves in 2001 it was an immediate sensation. The morbidly fascinating ensemble drama about a disconnected family reuniting after the death of the patriarch was exciting and new, heartfelt and absurd; every minute of the hourlong was engrossing to a disturbing degree and shows in the five seasons it stayed on primetime cable television. The blending of drama and comedy with a dash of fantasy and the occasional musical number was a revelation for viewers bored with the parade of uninspired dribble that clogged every channel for hours until infomercials were a welcomed distraction. Needless to say, I was a fan of Six Feet Under and miss it dearly. Thusly it was painful to watch the ten episode season of Terminal City. From the eerily appropriated title sequence to the oft used fade to white for dramatic effect: a disturbing sense of deja vu enveloped me as every passing moment of the show seemed ham-handedly ripped from Six Feet Under and executed in a less than skilled manner to showcase the sappy story line being attempted by the shows writing staff. Accusing the show of plagiarizing is difficult when those points of contention could be viewed by some as merely a reflection of the current trends in film and television, however, when entire scenes of awkward dialogue and character development are almost entirely played out in similar fashion, one has to wonder. I will however credit the creators of the show for the apropos title of the show which was all too evident in the last moments of the shows final episode in which the pain and suffering I felt throughout the ten plus hours of the series runtime came to an end.