This miserable show was shocking when it was on, taking the "celebrity reality show" to a drug-addled new low. It spurred debate among my friends about whether she was really as drug-numbed and stupid as she appeared, or whether the only possible appeal of the show was watching a trainwreck, and so, Smith was consciously and calculatedly provided that. Her life (on the show) was tawdry and pathetic, and of course she seemed very, very dumb. <br /><br />And what a consistently bizarre final year she had; disclosing a relationship with her TV lawyer, having a baby, the baby's paternity contested, her case going before the Supreme Court & her son overdosing. When I heard about Anna Nicole Smiths death today, the first question that popped into my mind was "Who gets the money?" (which is really sad); followed by the roster of possible figures who might have wanted her dead. But perhaps I'm imposing the Marilyn Monroe storyline on this news item. The comparisons ARE striking. A.N.S. has died, conveniently, at the top of her financial game. Still, a newly wealthy mother and her heir overdose within 5 months of each other? Come on!<br /><br />The next saddest thing I envisioned was a funeral consisting only of the heinous entourage of money-grubbers and hangers-on featured on her show; not a real friend among them; just a Hollywood set that provided a coddling, reality-distortion field for the starlet.<br /><br />The cast dependably ricocheted around this range of freaks who can now vie for the camera as the most aggrieved; the schlep lawyer Howard K. Stern, the horrifyingly shallow, stupid and (spiritually) ugly Bobby Trendy, and that flunky, lesbian apprentice.<br /><br />One can't be surprised that she's dead but an observer can be stunned that so many hoary aphorisms will be affirmed (i.e. Money didn't buy her happiness. The lawyer always gets the money! The in-laws aren't silently cheering this...)<br /><br />Not to speak ill of the dead, but surely the most fortunate aspect of all this is that her daughter will not grow up under her disastrous influence. Now this child has a chance in life. Too bad one can't say the same for Michael Jacksons progeny. Sure, one can suggest that ANS might have got her act together, but really how likely was that scenario?<br /><br />I give this a week to turn into a murder conspiracy. If Robert Downey Junior was considering a relapse, there's a lesson here for him.