"Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew": Real Help or Exploitation?

Reality television is constantly pushing the envelope in terms of what kinds of shows they come up with to increase ratings.

VH-1, certain to make sure they outdistance their chief rival- MTV- in terms of offering shock value in reality shows, is now airing an original program- "Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew."

For those of you who have no idea who the heck Dr. Drew is, you may vaguely recall him as one of the talking heads that appears on CNN, as an "expert" commenting on screwy celebrity behavior. As it turns out, he is indeed a real counselor, who specializes in dealing with addictive behaviors, his focus mainly being on the rich and famous.

On this painful reality show, we follow the progress (or lack of it) of eight individuals who fall pretty much into differing levels of "celebrityhood." Some still have viable careers, while others are in professional limbo or have only managed to achieve temporary fame that has long since passed. They have agreed to come to Dr. Drew's rehab facilities to get treatment for their professed problems with addiction.

Participants include:

Daniel Baldwin, brother of Alec,William and Stephen, who has appeared in movies and on television, and who is a veteran of both reality television shows ("Celebrity Fit Club") and drug rehabilitation programs.

Brigitte Nielson, former wife of Sylvester "Sly" Stallone, whose career basically died on the vine after her divorce from the action star. She is also acquainted with reality television, having appeared on such shows as "Big Brother 3" and "The Surreal Life 3."

"Shifty" Benzer, front man for the rock group Crazytown, who is one of the participants on the show whose career still has a relatively healthy pulse.

Mary Cary, porn actress, who ran for office as an Independent candidate when California held an election for governor in 2006. She did not win, despite her somewhat colorful platform, which included the suggestion that lap-dances become tax deductible.

Jaimee Foxworth, former child actress, who starred on "Family Matters" before her character was unceremoniously written off, definitely not a morale booster. She later admitted on a segment of "Oprah Winfrey" that she had made a few porn films, out of desperation.

Jeff Conaway, who most of us remember from his more fortunate days, when he starred as Bobby on the classic comedy "Taxi." Conaway is also an alumnus of "Celebrity Fit Club," where his drug addiction was a very present issue.

Chyna, ex-female wrestler and current actress. Despite her reputation as a bodybuilder and wrestler, it turns out that she is a "closet" intellectual, who can speak a number of foreign languages and who actually majored in Spanish lit in college.

Ricco Rodriguez, a martial arts champion and single dad.

It's still too early to determine whether most of these folks are there because they truly want help or if they have ulterior motives, such as trying to bolster faltering careers or get attention for an upcoming project. (I am less likely to take Brigitte Nielson too seriously, due to her clamoring for attention on past reality shows.)

The one person who very obviously is in dire need of treatment is Jeff Conaway.

He is probably the most intriguing person out of the eight, as he vacillates between severe self-loathing and a sincere desire to overcome his demons. It's almost irresponsible that VH-1 would be so willing to exploit a man who is so frighteningly self-destructive and at the point where he has expressed the wish to commit suicide.

There just seems to something very creepy about watching individuals with serious addiction issues trotted out before probing television cameras, all for the purpose of providing a macabre form of "voyeurism" for viewers.

No doubt there will be a vast audience for "Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew". However, to exploit something as life-threatening as alcohol and drug addiction is reckless on the part of VH-1.

By: Ezriela Devereux
Published: 01/22/08

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6 Posted Comments:

Where is the line?

@ 3:05 am 01/22/08 by Douglas

I agree, where is it that we draw a moral line to these reality shows? What's sad is that there is a viewing audience for this crap. Whose more absent minded?

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@ 11:29 am 01/25/08 by Dave M.

How did this writer get her job? MTV and VH1 are not rivals; they are owned by the same parent company. The moderator of this particular show is not a "counselor", he is an actual medical doctor (unlike "Dr. Phil" who is not even a licensed psychologist). It is becoming tougher and tougher to diagnose the bigger problem in mass media today: (1) the constant focus on celebrities, or (2) the epidemic of unprofessional and unqualified media people.

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The Writer's Response

@ 8:27 am 01/26/08 by Ezriela Devereux

I stand behind my opinion that MTV and VH-1 are rivals, regardless of the fact that they are owned by the same company. Let's use this analogy: My sister and I may belong to the same household, but still compete against one another for attention, achievements, etc.. Therefore, in that respect, these two networks do compete against one another for ratings. I also never insinuated that Dr. Drew was not a legitimate medical person, but part of the capacity he serves is, in my opinion, as a counselor, so it's pretty much a matter of semantics. Those are all really moot points, however, since the focus of this article is about a specific reality show. My problem is with the whole premise of it, which I feel is somewhat exploitative of people who are at their weakest point. I do, though, respect differing opinions than my own and thank you for reading my article.

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Good program

@ 12:46 pm 01/30/08 by Dawn

I saw this program for the first time last night and I find it very interesting.
It is hard watching Jeff going through withdrawl, but it is the painful reality of drug abusers.
As a mother of 3 kids, ( 21,16, and 10)i think
its a good thing that it is on vh1 because alot of teenagers will see this.
Maybe it will strike a cord with some

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YOU ARE UNPROFESSIONAL

@ 4:14 pm 02/23/08 by Patrick

What he is doing is not exploitative. The Real World, Bad Girls Club, ect. are exploitative. They are showing sick people acting sick and then capitalizing on it. They are showing trainwrecks in the making. I have spoken to people who went through Celebrity Rehab and they say that it changed their lives. You have no medical degree, therefore you have no right to judge what he is doing on the basis of it being exploitative. The media showing Britney in her meltdowns is exploitative and we see virtually no criticism of them. Then we see a man, who has gone through medical school, who is trying to educate the public about addiction through the media using people who have experience with cameras and people who we all know and have seen sober. We call him exploitative. If you are going to judge somebody on their treatments of drug and alcohol addicts then make sure you have 1) an M.D. or Ph.D. and 2) You are able to critically think about what is going on and 3) You stop with all of this ulterior motive nonsense. When your first expectation is an ulterior motive then you will never be able to listen or open your mind. You have no right to criticize a treatment if you have not studied it in a classroom. And if your argument is that you have been through treatment then my reply would be that just because you were in a program does not make you an expert on the program nor does it make you any sort of authority figure on treatment processes.

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Calling Dr. Drew

@ 10:29 am 02/27/08 by Peter

Patrick is right about the Britney stuff. It is the media and the stalkerazzi (and perhaps Britney herself) that are putting the spotlight on the personal problems that she and other celebs are having. Admittedly, we as an audience have always wanted to know about scandals in the hierarchy of America. Human nature? As for Dr. Drew, he would be lying to himself if he didn't think he was getting something out of this. The semi-famous that he has gathered on the show, Mary Carey for instance, I've seen the girl on Howard Stern, and she is very likeable I find. But I would have a hard time accepting that she did not jump at this opportunity to be on TV. I think that it IS real help, but all the players have an agenda. Jeff Conaway (and I have no room to talk: I live with mental illness), seems to be a real mess, although fellow actor Daniel Baldwin seemed to think that he was feigning a bit. Even a terrific actor like Tom Sizemore, he did a reality show documenting him trying to salvage perhaps himself as well as his career.
Sorry, this comment is so long. The writer of the article is not the first to question whether Celebrity Rehab is exploitative. I heard it in the TV news before I found this article. I guess it's our nature to be skeptical as well. Hasta la pasta!

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