You can see how Vh1’s Celebrity Rehab sounded like a great idea. It’s simple: combine America’s celebrity obsession with the current trend of self-redemption-themed reality TV shows, get yourself some B-level stars with substance abuse problems (no shortage of those), and put them through the recovery ringer with Dr. Drew Pinsky. It practically produces itself.
Genius, right? Only not really.
There are a number of flaws in Celebrity Rehab’s design, not the least of which is the fact that Dr. Drew might be the biggest celeb on the show. The rest of the cast includes Brigitte Nielsen, pro wrestling’s Chyna, the singer from Crazy Town, Kenicke from Grease, a porn star, a girl who was briefly on Family Matters, and the least famous of the Baldwin brothers.
Oh, and MMA fighter Ricco Rodriguez is also coming to the party late, hopefully with an explanation of why he tried to auction off his UFC heavyweight championship belt on Ebay (my money’s on cocaine).
In other words, when talking about this show with your friends you would likely put air quotes around the word “celebrity” the same way you do when talking about your cousin who is working as a “dancer” to put herself through “college”.
It begs the question: where does entertainment end and exploitation begin? Watching Celebrity Rehab is strangely compelling – the way watching people struggle with addiction often is – but it has little to do with the fact that these people are (according to a very broad definition of the word) famous. It’s more like a watered-down version of A&E’s Intervention.
The fact that this show features celebrities really only encourages us to revel in their pain and feel better about seeing their broken lives on display. To a degree, that’s understandable. Celebrities in our society make a deal with the devil. They receive money, undue adulation, a false sense of accomplishment, but in exchange they give up certain things, like their privacy.
The drug and alcohol-addicted celebrities on this show, however, are really just messed up people who may or may not be using their “recovery” as a way of revitalizing their careers. It’s like everyone is using everyone else in this sordid game. Maybe that’s why I feel a little dirty after watching it
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