I finally saw it. I know I saw bits and pieces of it when it originally aired, but as I recall, they kept changing the air date and time towards the end. As I could only watch television on Monday nights back then, I missed a lot of episodes.
I never felt the urge to watch the season before because I had heard so many negative comments about it. But even though I wouldn't call it the best season, it's still some of the best television ever produced.
It still holds its charm for the most part, but there's a huge hole in it due to the two new characters and Fleischman's departure. The final episode is bittersweet.
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as far as the end is concerned, when i saw it as it first aired i thought the two episodes about maggie and the microscopic dust mite phobia and joel showing her the "largest living creature on earth" where a brilliant juxtaposition/pair. i remarked upon it to young people i know as one of the trippiest, most interesting pairing of concepts. the show blew me away in the mostly worthless late 90s.
shareSeason 6 has many problems as, overall, it has the feel of simply going through the motions, but as you say, there is still some quality programming in it.
It actually starts as a continuation of Season Five and a few strong episodes ("Dinner at Seven-Thirty," "Shofar, So Good," "The Letter") along with some lackluster ones.
For me, Joel is at his best when he goes to Monanash, and there are a few more strong episodes ("Upriver," "Mi Casa, Su Casa") mixed with some dire ones ("Sons of the Tundra," "Realpolitik"), all culminating with "The Quest," definitely on my short list of all-time NX faves. I'm not an NX purist in that I don't think the Capras are that bad; really, they just split Joel into two halves--Phil is the hate-Cicely Joel while Michelle, particularly in "Sons of the Tundra" and the finale "Tranquility Base," seems to be anointed as Joel's spiritual replacement--but they were stopgaps, ultimately untenable, to finish the season with a Joel-like presence.
After Rob Morrow left, though, NX stumbled to the finish line, and this is where the season gets its reputation as being awful. Certainly the Bizarro Chris who shows up with a power-suit fetish ("Realpolitik") and who gets ridiculed by adolescent girls ("Let's Dance") feels like desperation, while "Little Italy" joins "Gran Prix," from the prior season, as the most bland, generic episodes in the series. Nevertheless, "Balls" has emotional power with respect to Ed's relationship to Maurice, and "Buss Stop" shows flashes of the heyday along with a peek into Cicely's recent history. "Tranquility Base" is fairly awful, though, with only the return of Rabbi Shulman (reinforcing the idea that Michelle was Joel's spiritual replacement) a bright spot--and even that feels forced.
Given what had come in previous seasons, Season Six is very disappointing, but it is not a total loss. And then things become extinct.
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"Here is the ice you ordered, Mr. Ismay." – Titanic Captain E.J. Smith