martinimade

I can't stop watching Celebrity Rehab.

I know. I know.

But if you haven't seen it, you can't judge. When I first read about it, I thought it was the worst piece of crap tv to come down the pike, the last desperate scramblings of a writer-free world. I was completely wrong.

Given that it is hosted by Dr. Drew, who is among the smartest and most compassionate "celebrity docs" out there, I should have given it the benefit of doubt. Dr. Drew has always been the anti-Dr. Phil. Dr. Drew is not in it for the bombast or the moral judgments or the fame. 

Still -- I know. Celebrities in rehab. But it's not that. It is real rehab, with the puke and the searches and the turmoil. I have a little bit of experience with locked wards -- and this series brings out all of the worst and the best of what happens in one.

Is it exploitive? Yes. And no. You just have to see it first. I can almost promise that your first thought will be similar to this one. Then you'll get it.

From an interview with Dr. Drew, who I want to, I don't know, adopt me or write with me or have a cup of coffee with me:

"Drug addicts are funny. Out of the most poignant moments comes great comedy. We use comedy and laughter to deal with these intense experiences, and that goes for our staff and our patients. To make light of or to belittle these people’s experiences, that concerns me. However, to laugh at them comes from a deeply connected place. People are funny. People are funny even in the most intense circumstances."

"It is treatment. It is the human experience. It doesn’t pull any punches."

And that is why I can't stop watching it.