Given the unbelievable upheaval in the world, why not believe in a higher meaning here? Raymond Lee, Jerrika Hinton, Daniel Zovatto and Sosie Bacon do a masterful job of building testy sibling chemistry, and Zovatto sells his character Ramon’s plight: metaphysical visions that are either psychosis or a sign from the universe promising some kind of breakthrough. Their strongest connection with their parents seems to be a familiar shade of angst. For one thing, all four kids–three of them adults now–feel ill at ease in the world. But their ambitious mission has run up against multiple snags. Their family includes three adopted children, from Vietnam, Liberia and Colombia, as well as a biological daughter. Greg and still-avid idealist Audrey (Holly Hunter) began their family with a worthy goal: to make children born around the world feel at home in Portland, Ore. This would be a drag were the characters not so compellingly drawn. At his 60th birthday party, philosophy professor Greg (Tim Robbins), whose teachings urge living in the “now,” takes a moment to reflect on years of activism: “We lost, folks.” Here and Now is aptly titled, as it depicts an identity crisis that’s nothing new–but that feels especially pressing as our own reality grows encroachingly more hostile. On that show, a family’s work with the dead filled them with anxiety about how best to live their lives on this one, a family organized around liberal and libertine philosophy confront the limits of their intellectual framework. It’s a family saga whose gnarled emotions give way to a surprising metaphysical twist, and it advances everything that was so special about Six Feet Under. Six Feet Under creator Alan Ball returns to HBO with the new drama Here and Now. The show’s oddball approach was sui generis in its day, and had remained so–until now. The funeral-home soap opera Six Feet Under helped form the backbone of HBO’s early-2000s industry-shaking success, and yet it remains far less influential than contemporaries like The Sopranos, The Wire and Sex and the City.

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