Cannot Wait for Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew

As if A&E's Intervention wasn't already manna from heaven, VH1 premiere's it's new addiction reality show tonight at 10 p.m. Every channel should have it own recovery programming (remember The Recovery Channel that played on one of the cable stations from 10 p.m.-2 a.m. every night? Why in the world did they cancel that?) But VH1 has something Intervention doesn't -- Dr. Drew!

If this review in Variety is right VH1 will surely have a hit on it's hands!

"Riveting as a car wreck, 'Celebrity Rehab' is the logical extension of VH1's 'surreality' brand -- an assembly of TV-created celebrities willing to be debased under the patina of entertainment. Educational only in its unflinching images of drug withdrawal (there's vomiting aplenty), the show proves as pathetic as it is difficult to turn off, its celebrities leveraging their private suffering as a lifeline to public exposure. VH1 may have another success here, but let's not kid ourselves: If this works, the channel has simply demonstrated it's possible to have your cake and snort it, too."

Sure the show is exploitive. So is Intervention. But if you have ever "self-medicated" or have been confused about the erratic behavior of a loved one, these addiction shows can educate and help heal your traumatized Inner Child. As well as entertain our sick, cynical souls as we watch people so zonked out of their skulls they surely can't have the proper judgement it takes to sign a release form. Wow, we have turned into Rome, haven't we? (Maybe it's time to throw these celebrities to the lions?)

I've enjoyed Dr. Drew Pinsky ever since he co-hosted KROQ's "Loveline" with (oh my god, you gotta be really old to know this) The Poorman! Dr. Drew, always the voice of reason, knew how to cut through the fog of Denial and impart essential medical information and psychological insight to not only the teenage lovelorn but those of us eagerly eavesdropping on those tender wayward ones our car radios late at night.

"Loveline" has had a rotating rooster of co-hosts since The Poorman was given the boot and in the process Dr. Drew has picked up some comedy tips from former "Loveline" sidekick Adam Carolla. Still he never sacrificed the tuff luv. (Just one of the reasons Dr. Drew was one of the first recipients of L.A. Woman's Choice People Awards. Read about the latest 'winners' in the upcoming February issue of PAPER!!)

And now, blessedly, Dr. Drew is going mano-a-mano with the cunning, baffling and powerful in "Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew", a new VH1 reality show that spies on the bottoming-out-likes of Brigitte Nielsen, Jessica Sierra, Daniel Baldwin, Chyna and one very messed-up Jeff Conaway. (Who can forget when they kicked his self-medicated butt off of VH1's Celebrity Fit Club?)

In an article from Wednesday's L.A. Times, one of the suits at VH1 defends the content. "There have been complaints that reality television isn't real. Well, 'Celebrity Rehab' is about as real as it gets," said Michael Hirschorn, executive vice president for original programming and production at VH1. "I just don't think you can watch this show and say, 'Man, it would be cool to be a drug addict.' This is about as scared straight as you're going to get."

From the same article,:

"We're like the Aztecs. We tear someone's heart out every day," said Pinsky, who was in a Florida courtroom this week to help persuade a local judge that more rehab, not jail, time was in Sierra's best interest. "Instead of it being up on a big temple, we do it on television."

"Treatment is not a car wash that you go in one side and come out the other," he emphasized. "It's a long, long process. Addiction is much closer to diabetes or asthma than a skin infection. It recurs. It relapses and you have to get tuned up and re-treated. And then, it's only in remission."

Dr. Drew continues his defense of the show later in the same article:

"The celebrity element is a necessary element, at least in this stage and until people understand what this is all about," said Pinsky. "As people watch the show and see how many of these people go from celebrities to human beings, my hope is we'll stop and think about the mud we sling at the Britney, Lindsay or Paris."

"I feel like VH1 is my family," said Nielsen. "They have seen the wild, drunk Brigitte, and now they allowed me the chance to come back to who I really am by doing 'Celebrity Rehab.' Maybe there's another show about life after rehab?"

Yeah but....wouldn't a real celebrity rehab get you over the need to be in another show.....EVER?

Keep coming back!