Truly a reality check

History isn't usually kind to the second or third person in history to do something, and so was the feeling when I saw the news that Frankie from The Real World: San Diego had died (the second former cast member of the show to do so). In many ways, she's very similar to Danitra Vance, the third Saturday Night Live alum to pass away.

Both shows actually now have a long list of alums, given their seemingly unending runs, but with their limited yet rotating casts, any death to a member of the cast is still notable. But obviously, some passings will get more play than others.

In Frankie's case, she passed on a few years after her original run on the show and many years after the well-publicized death of Pedro Zamora just as his San Francisco season had finished airing. In Vance's case, she died in relative anonymity many years after her similarly anonymous SNL run and more than 10 years after John Belushi's highly notable passing and five years after Gilda Radner's similarly tragic end. Frankie's Real World was season 14, Vance's SNL was season 10 -- by then, both shows were just part of the TV world, you know it's on, but it's not making much noise in the general cultural landscape (recent Survivor seasons are getting that way as well). So you had to be a really hard-core fan or a younger viewer picking up on the show late for both people to resonate in people's minds.

Even how they're often remembered on their shows is relatively similar. Vance was the first African-American female cast member, and while she had a couple of relatively notable characters (Cabrini Green Jackson, for instance), she definitely didn't come out of the show a star. Her lone season, 1985-86, was a transition one, but also produced such longtime stalwarts as Dennis Miller, Nora Dunn and Jon Lovitz.

Frankie was most known for having cystic fibrosis, which likely was the cause of her death, but also had her share of drama (a cutting incident, strife with her boyfriend, fear of working on a boat) and left the show before the end of the season. Like Vance, she had her moments, but in the long run, didn't necessarily seem to fit in with the cast -- especially physically While Frankie did have the cute alternative thing going, her other three female roommates from the show (Cameran, Robin, Jamie) were just off the charts -- all have done Maxim/calendar/bikini modeling gigs since the show's original run in 2003-04.

So rest in peace, Frankie, as you now become a notable footnote in TV history.