You know, 2016 can dial it back any minute now.
We awakened Friday to learn that actress Florence Henderson, who played mom Carol Brady on the ’70s TV hit “The Brady Bunch,” has died due to heart failure. It has been a horrible year for famous and influential people. So far we have seen the passing of boxer Muhammad Ali and legendary women’s basketball coach Pat Summitt, Nobel laureate Elie Weisel and PBS journalist Gwen Ifill, Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia and former First Lady Nancy Reagan. Also silenced were musicians David Bowie, Prince and Merle Haggard, along with actors Gene Wilder, Alan Rickman and “Everybody Loves Raymond” mom Doris Roberts.
Those names just scratch the surface. There are others equally or more famous, equally or more influential who have died this year, but Henderson’s death brought about some reflection. I recalled how growing up, my sister and I always made time to watch “The Brady Bunch” along with the other Friday night ABC family-oriented comedies of the time: “The Partridge Family” and “Room 222.” We’d also usually stick around to watch “The Odd Couple” with our parents.
Not to sound too much like Grumpy Old Man, but until about a decade ago entertainment and popular culture was a much more shared experience. There typically were three or four television stations to choose from, and radio stations primarily stuck with the Top 40 in its programming genre (pop or country). So we all were exposed to the same artists, enhancing their fame across the board. Back then, boys nationwide crushed on their favorite of “Charlie’s Angels” while girls bought copies of Tiger Beat with pics of Leif Garrett and Shaun Cassidy on the cover.
The advent of the Internet and the explosion of alternative media platforms from satellite radio to online streaming video has splintered the entertainment landscape. There still are those who rise to universal notoriety, name brands such as Taylor Swift, Beyoncé and Duane “The Rock” Johnson, but fame seems to be a much more shallow pool today because there are so many more diverse ways to share information and art. This is not a slight at today’s famous and influential personalities, it’s just a product of today’s popular culture condition.
In September, musician Stanley Dural Jr. passed away. The notice didn’t mean a lot to the general public, but to his fans, the death of Buckwheat Zydeco (Dural’s stage name) was a sad day for Louisiana’s Creole culture and good-time music. Dural was nowhere near as influential as singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen, who died earlier this month, but his fame was built on expanding ability to explore out-of-mainstream music.
At the height of its popularity, NBC’s “The Cosby Show” was pulling a 34.9 rating each week; today, the highest rated non-sports program is AMC’s “The Walking Dead,” which gets a 9.6 rating (in essence, ratings are the percentage of people potentially watching TV who are tuned into that specific show).
Keep in mind, “The Cosby Show” did not get the benefit of DVR viewings, which helps drive “The Walking Dead’s” numbers. The barometers for success and fame are very different now.
No matter whether they watched “The Brady Bunch,” an entire generation knew Henderson, whom CNN referred to as “America’s Mom,” both by name and appearance. The same can be said for Bowie, Prince and golfer Arnold Palmer. Their fame remains universal. So the question is, when their time comes, will current stars Norman Reedus or The Weekend be mourned to such a degree? If you had to look up who they are, I would bet the answer is “No.”
When we look back, 2016 likely will be remembered – among other things – for the dozens of influential leaders, artists and athletes who passed away. With the changing face of fame, we also may not see another year like it.
