Celeb-Hab
The story goes that sometime in 1980s, rocker Jerry Lee Lewis checked into the Betty Ford Clinic to dry out from booze. Early in his stay he was presented with a mop and bucket and informed he’d be swabbing hallways. The Killer immediately walked out and never looked back. Two decades later, VH1 presents us with a very different picture on the reality show
Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew. In an idyllic setting, showbiz shrink Drew Pinsky – a suave, better educated, and less aggressive version of Dr. Phil – conducts endless soft-centered group sessions with the quasi-famous – including actor Daniel Baldwin, porn-star Mary Cary, and Jeff Conaway (late of Taxi), who seems to sign up for any celeb problem show – and the narcissism of the patients is only rivaled by the prurience of we who watch. Between these sessions with Pinsky, the participants lounge by the pool endlessly discussing their rotten relationships, or text each other from their rooms. But the reality of this reality series seems wide open to question. I have visited friends in rehab, and the ambience resembled a Ukrainian minimum security prison, not the flower decked luxury spa where Celebrity Rehab with Dr Drew takes place. Maybe it’s different for the semi-famous, but, although the participants bemoan their bouts with substance abuse, their primary addiction appears to be an unconquerable need to be on TV at any cost to their dignity or plausibility.
VH1, Thurs. at 10 p.m.
2008-02-14
Published: 02/13/2008
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