“This Is Us” will soon to bring the “people living their lives” genre back to TV, and it seems to feature character/story paths distinct from each other. So I thought it would be a good time to look back at a similar show, “Six Degrees” (2006-07, ABC). The 13-episode series from J.J. Abrams falls halfway between the genres he’s most associated with: It’s a character piece like “Felicity” or “What About Brian,” but it also flirts with bigger ideas like “Lost” or “Fringe” (albeit much more tangentially).
“Six Degrees” touches upon the theory – scientifically explored in the Milgram Small World experiments – that everyone in the world is linked by an acquaintance path of no more than six people. Many of us have tried this experiment on a smaller scale when we play “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon,” linking Hollywood together. And we’ve all experienced this in life: We meet someone new, find out we have a common acquaintance, and think “It’s a small world.”
The Small World phenomenon can happen in small towns or big cities. Indeed, “Six Degrees” is set (and filmed) in New York City, a big city that has “small towns” within it. The city itself is the seventh major character; I love soaking up the vibe in the establishing shots and in more detailed spaces such as apartments so small that a dining table doubles as a bathtub. The Big Apple is the quintessential “place I like to visit on TV, although I wouldn’t want to live there.”
The six main human characters — all of whom eventually cross paths with the other five — navigate standard primetime-drama job and relationship problems (as with most shows, money isn’t a problem, even with tiny apartments costing $2G a month), but you couldn’t ask for a more charismatic cast.
On this rewatch, I was most drawn to Mae (Erika Christensen), partially because Christensen was also my favorite actor on “Parenthood.” There, she is the most put-together of the Bravermans; here, she is the most troubled person – on the run from a secret past. When she takes a nanny job with Laura (Hope Davis), giving a fake name and asking to be paid in cash, she carries with her a locked box – the classic Abrams Mystery Box that has since become a cliché in his oeuvre, and also a controversial tactic (Is it good storytelling, or a lazy cheat?).
On this viewing, I was also drawn to Steven (Campbell Scott). Although the art of photography is portrayed anachronistically here – Steven uses film and a darkroom in the 21st century, an affectation “Side Order of Life” also tried to get away with – I enjoyed Scott’s understated turn as a recovering alcoholic trying to get his career ramped up again.
His relationship stories are engagingly off-kilter. On my first viewing, I felt “Roswell” girl-next-door Shiri Appleby was playing weirdly against type as Anya, Steven’s two-decades-younger girlfriend, but this time I found her as alluring as Steven does, and I have a new appreciation for her versatility. Still, although Steven bounces between Anya and Laura and Whitney (Bridget Moynahan), he only has chemistry with his ex-wife (Carey Lowell), who won’t give him a second chance. This storyline was no doubt truncated by the cancellation.
The series’ Small World theme is on the surface – we watch these people cross paths, delighting in our voyeuristic knowledge they’re all in the same story – but it’s also a bit ephemeral and spiritual, such as when Laura drops a coin that turns out to be a lucky penny for Damian (Dorian Missick). The fact that we’re all “part of something bigger than (ourselves)” is not a bad thing, the show tells us. At worst, it’s just a fact of life; but it might be a good, life-affirming thing.
At first blush, “Six Degrees” is about the loneliness of the big city. Damian, a cab driver, notes that “the distance between the front and back seat can seem like miles.” And Laura self-deprecatingly says “My therapist went on vacation, so half of my plans for the week are shot.” Laura meets a secret admirer who is too young for her, and he laments that he never thought it’d be so hard to meet people in such a massive city.
But for a TV series awash in missed connections that only the viewer is privy to, it’s also very much about connections that are made. Laura encourages the secret admirer, telling him how he can meet people. Sometimes quick friendships are forged, as with Whitney and Laura, and Carlos (Jay Hernandez) and Damian. Sometimes there’s a barrier, as Carlos struggles to break through Mae’s wall. Although Steven and Anya don’t ultimately have chemistry, I like that this isn’t an age-segregated cast – they range in age from 20s to 40s, plus Steven’s and Laura’s kids pop in. (“This Is Us” is strictly about 36-year-olds.)
“Six Degrees” also serves up some characters we aren’t sure we can trust, like Roy (Jonathan Cake), who seems to be cheating on Whitney but always has a smooth excuse, and Ray (Josh Charles), the mover-and-shaker businessman.
I feel sure that Ray’s double-dealings would’ve been exposed if the show hadn’t been canceled. As with Mae’s Mystery Box and Laura’s Mysterious Videotape of Her Late Husband, Ray himself is a central mystery by the time we get to the final episode. He, like the viewer, knows all the characters in some way. His ability to network gives him a greater degree of power in the business world, but it seems he’ll use it for evil rather than good; as a viewer, I felt protective of all six characters as Ray’s manipulations were about to be revealed.
Ultimately, though, “Six Degrees” has a positive vibe amid streets that come off as quite mean on other Big Apple shows, such as “Law & Order.” In the grace note of the final episode, Whitney meets a man who had admired her from afar at the impound lot a day before. She walks away, but then looks back and decides to continue the conversation. She’s made a connection, and that makes this beautiful, lonely city a bit more beautiful and a bit less lonely.
(Sept. 20, 2018 update: “Six Degrees” is now available for streaming purchase on Amazon Prime Video, so I have moved it from “TV Shows Lost to History” to “One-Season Wonders.”)
Main image: ABC publicity photo