Quick Hit

I understand that Michael Jackson is maybe one of the five biggest celebrity deaths of my lifetime. And certainly, especially lately, I've been sensitive to people's deaths (and the people who love them).

But I think that this weekend is a sign of things to come. Four celebrity deaths this weekend -- Billy Mays, Farah Fawcett, Ed McMahon, and of course the King of Pop -- prove a long-standing theory of mine. In the past 30-40 years, we have accumulated so many celebrities through TV, film, and music. We also have infinitely more news coverage than we have had in the past. We have a ton of famous people and they're all getting older. Someday, we will not even have real "news" anymore. The news broadcasts will just be feature after feature dedicated to the memory of the day's list of celebrities who have passed. Every awards show -- Oscars, Tonys, Emmys -- will eschew its modern awards in favor of a rolling list of Lifetime Achievement Awards.

I don't know. I don't mean to desensitize this, but I just think that our celebrity-obsessed culture is spinning out of control. (Barbaro, anyone?)