Edgar Allan Poe got there before reality television, a reader lets me know:
I had now gone so far as the conception of a Raventhe bird of ill omenmonotonously repeating the one word, "Nevermore," at the conclusion of each stanza, in a poem of melancholy tone, and in length about one hundred lines. Now, never losing sight of the object supremeness, or perfection, at all points, I asked myself"Of all melancholy topics, what, according to the universal understanding of mankind, is the most melancholy?" Deathwas the obvious reply. "And when," I said, "is this most melancholy of topics most poetical?" From what I have already explained at some length, the answer, here also, is obvious"When it most closely allies itself to Beauty: the death, then, of a beautiful woman is, unquestionably, the most poetical topic in the worldequally is beyond doubt that the lips best suited for such topic are those of a bereaved lover."
This article available online at:
http://www.theatlantic.com/daily-dish/archive/2007/03/americas-next-top-dead-model-ctd/229867/
