BringSix Feet Underup to any TV fan and youll hear two words: That finale.
Pretty much the last four episodes, people were crying all the time.
But it was good.
Credit: HBO; Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival
It was pretty cathartic.
I thought that was too depressing and not necessary, Ball says.
Those, obviously, were nixed in favor of one writers idea to simply kill everybody.
I said, thats perfect.
Im embarrassed I didnt think of it, he jokes.
I didnt want David and Keith to be the gay characters, Ball says.
I just wanted them to be characters.
I was like, Oh, okay.
So we made Brenda become a sexual compulsive.
Despite HBOs affection for David and Keith though, some writers were ready to end their relationship.
Balls own history with death informed some of the show
My sister died when I was 13.
My father died when I was 19.
I told my mom, Im going to stay here and take care of you.
She said, No.
Go live your life,' Ball remembers.
And that was a huge gift, one of the greatest things my mom ever did for me.
I hallucinated that this beast that I was fighting with was trying to kill me.
And years later, it ended up on television.
Ball had a good feeling about his cast from the very beginning
Especially Conroy.
I thought, okay, whos this quirky person?
And then she read, and it was like, okay, we found her.
And then we actually dressed her kind of the same way throughout the show.
I said, you gotta trust me on this, he says.
Luckily, he ended up being great.
So great that he nabbed his first Emmy nomination for his performance in the shows first season.
But I do know that I was really, really fearful of death and fearful of grief especially …
